Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Bennett
Joshua, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I began writing short stories starting in second grade, when my second grade teacher encouraged me to continue creative writing until I became a successful author. Unfortunately, that only continued through fourth grade, since creative writing was removed from the curriculum and my fifth grade teacher told me that creative writing would likely never come back to public school curriculum, so I set aside that dream to try to do well in school. In high school I got back into the creative arts again with photography classes when my high school teacher told me that I have “the eye” for photography. In that class one of my photographs was entered into a county competition in Pennsylvania and won recognition.
It wasn’t until my freshman year of college when I began pursuing creative writing again after one of my college professors went out of her way to tell me that I wasn’t just a good writer, but a great writer. Since I wasn’t sure what I wanted to pursue as a degree, I decided to pursue what I was good at and ended up graduating with a bachelors degree in English from Robert Morris University. During my time at college I focused my writing skills in screenwriting and combined it with my skills at camera framing to self-produce, write, direct and sometimes even act in 13 short films. Four of my short films were shown on local Pittsburgh, PA TV stations, and I was also interviewed on live TV three times for my films. Waking up to see my college roommates watch one of my short films on TV one morning when I wasn’t expecting it to be on TV very much inspired me to passionately pursue my film-making dream.
After graduating college I embarked on a journey to self-finance, write and direct a feature film. That journey ended up being much more difficult and taking much longer than I anticipated. Due to being so busy working full-time to pay for school loans, rent, and daily life, I had to often delay my dream and slowly chip away at creating a high quality project I would be proud to release.
Eventually, I ended up filming a feature length film that I also starred in, but I decided to not release it as a feature film and instead turn it into a multi-part web series that would be combined with a novel, along with a related side project that would combine micro versions of the films and also combine it with a book of poetry, stories and the visual arts. My goal became to release multiple projects that would showcase my skills as a filmmaker, author, poet and thinker. I decided that I would rather take my time to release a massive multi-part project that makes my work stand out in a flooded art world rather than rush to create something I may not be as proud of just to say I released something.
My project is called ‘Imagination Unchained’ and in the fantasy/sci-fi/comedy genres. The first installment of the multi-part project that combines a story, mini-films, poetry and the visual arts. It’s scheduled to be released before the end of this year! Next year I plan to release the larger novel and web-series combo project. It’s a project that’s a journey through the imagination and how it shapes the world in dramatically important and sometimes comical ways.
I also release poetry and visual poetry on Instagram @officialjbart and my website www.JoshBArtistry.com
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. During college I was able to make many short films and gain recognition, which made me think that smooth road would continue after college, but after graduating college the cost of living and demands of life, along with my high expectations for creating much higher quality and bigger films made that a very difficult and time-consuming task. There was also a time when I was on the verge of having a TV show I wrote for some Hollywood actors get financed, but financing got pulled at the last minute. In spite of those struggles, I have continued focusing all my time and money on finishing my self-financed independent project. Balancing my creative dreams with the demands of life has routinely been a struggle, and though progress has not moved as fast as I would like, I have always been making steady progress. Thankfully, the fruits of those labors are going to start being released this year.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My specialty is storytelling, whether that’s in film-making, novels, poetry, the visual arts or articles. Any way that I can tell stories and take people on journeys that help them think about life in unique and interesting ways is my thing. What I’m most proud of is that I’ve continued to work on creating a massive project in spite of how long it has taken and demanding life has been, and now being at the finish line to start releasing it. The time-length will have been around 9 years from start to releasing the multi-book and multi-film project. What sets me apart from others is attempting not to just tell stories, but telling stories with big ideas in entertaining, unique and comedic ways. For example, the subtitle of my first ‘Imagination Unchained’ project is “The Poetic Story Behind Reality”.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I moved to Los Angeles nearly 8 years ago, and my favorite part about Los Angeles has been living amidst such a diverse community of people and being surrounded by so many creatives. Coming from a small town in Hanover, Pennsylvania, this been a real treat. It’s nice living amidst people who consider creativity a career choice rather than just a pipe dream. The weather is also fantastic!
My least favorite part about Los Angeles is the cost of living compared to what it would buy me in my home town.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.JoshBArtistry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialjbart/
