Conversations with JJ Moffat

Today we’d like to introduce you to JJ Moffat.

Hi JJ, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story starts in Bakersfield, living in the heat, using Slip n’ Slides in the summers, making grenade water balloons until I was 9, then goes over to Chula Vista, living in the burbs, playing in a pop punk band called Three Piece Scandal, going to Tijuana for my first bucket of beers at 16. Then heads to San Francisco for college, inspiration, openness and a love for archetecture, commerce and strangers and then to LA for career. When I came to LA I had no idea how to jump over the giant stone wall that is Hollywood so I was working at the Apple store to make a bit of a living. After many failed craigslist gigs at 50 dollars a day and a 6 months stint editing self defense videos, I decided I better take a step back. I wanted to understand being an assistant in all major areas of movie making. I began an internship at a development company called odd lot. There I was a script reader for about 8 months, and then got an opportunity as an assistant editor for a movie called From Prada to Nada. From there a movie came in their company called ‘Drive.’ I remember reading the book and the script when it came in. A very straight forward action film. And I asked if I could be a PA on it, and they let me. Thrust into the fast paced whaky world of a Nicolas Winding Refn movie. Working with Ryan Gosling, Carry Mullican, Bryan Cranstan, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman and Christina Hendricks. All pretty house hold names now, but back then, many were up and coming. But through that gig I learned so much about how a set operates. After that I ended up on a few other movies as a PA, and then said to myself, ‘I have to stop being a PA, it is killing me.’ I got an opportunity as a freelance editor at an ad agency called ‘Petrol.’ That got me out of the sun and into the office. They specialized in video game marketing at the time, and I had a nack for it. So for the next three years I learned how to do sound design, and create a bit of sizzle. Also got an opportunity to direct a couple of commercials and music videos while I was there. I also made my first feature film somehow while there. In 8 days in a small brick space. A bit of a Saw rip off with a script that a friend of mine handed me. I’ll never make a movie that way again I said to myself. Since the Petrol days back in 2015, I’ve meandered my way through this town, mainly freelance for over ten years now. I have continued my love for long form story telling and filmmaking and continued my need for paying the bills. The latter has led me to multiple agencies, from learning speed editing with Bud Light and Microsoft, learning how to find the perfect tone or set of music to blend with visuals, how to tell a visual story even if there are no words, how to recognize beauty, how to be deliberate with design, and to learning deep documentary story telling at Uproxx, the NFL and Netflix. It has taught me how to work with people, how to get things done on time and how to constantly be willing to start over. The former, independent filmmaking, has tought me how to be comfortable being uncomfortable, it’s taught me psychology, given me an understanding for mental health. It’s taught me pain and agony as well as triumph and elation. My second movie, ‘Goin’ Around’ started as a camera test with a motorcycle, and since I had a motorcycle I became the main character on a three year journey of making the movie. Me and my good good friend teamed up and went for it. We shot the movie documentary style even though it was narrative. We rolled the camera and tried to create real moments. And then relied on our editing skills to find a story in post. We ended up with a pretty deep look at the grieving process. You see, at that time, many important people around me died. My dad and my grandpa. And one cannot help but think, ‘well shit I guess I’m next.’ And all that was running through my head through the entire process. Of course it’s not like we had unlimited money. So we would work, and then go shoot, rinse and repeat. And after watching that with friends and family, both of us felt, you know, we really did the best with what we have and no matter what happens, this thing has a lot of heart and is earnest. It also led me to create another movie during covid. It was supposed to be a short, but the short was about 40 minutes, so I kept it going. The process of making that was a mix of pure beauty and soul and absolute torture. I shot it in the woods. And most would go right up here to the angeles forest, but I wanted to showcase the best locations California had. So I went on a month long motorcycle ride up through the sierra Nevadas and all the way into Oregon, then down the coast. Saw the biggest trees in the world, saw the tallest trees in the world, and fell in love with nature. That was another 3 year process. And it was brutal. One of my actors moved back home right after Covid, and her home was Slovenia. So it meant flying her out whenever we can shoot. Anyway, so now, here I am, with three feature films under my belt, multiple projects in development and a hyper developed editing arm. Now facing new challenges like where we’re all going to net out with AI, how to transition from editor to Agency, how to get my next movie made. But one of the main thing that I keep asking myself is, if I make something, was the process of that something I would be proud of? Not the end product. Because, you can cheat the result, but you can’t cheat the way you get there. And through this, I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with many people who feel the same way.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I feel like I touched on a lot of this in the last prompt, but challenges have been, trying to navigate office politics traversing the snow to try and get the best shot, wrangling actors and crew to help you with your passion project, mustering up enough work, trying to use time wisely, not being tugged and pulled away from what you want by social media and youtube. Staying healthy in a community that has a work hard play hard spirit. Trying to stay connected to the real things that matter, nature and humanity. Trying to keep a sense of wander and to stay inspired. My biggest inspirations aren’t other art, even though that’s fun to watch. But really, it is the human experience. It’s heart break, it’s friendship, it’s family. It’s walking through the streets and seeing how others live.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I feel like I added all of this in the first prompt.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think for me, finding a mentor was super important. He is now my manager. And how it came about for me was working for free as an intern. As I was reading scripts, I was always bouncing into his office to pitch some idea I had. But I think when people see you work hard for them for no money, they tend to want to help you get to where you are going. I also would say, don’t try to hard finding one. Because a mentor is super important. And is just as important for you to be selective in this process as it is finding one. Because a mentor is someone who can break you out of your thought process, who can guide you, who can push you past where you thought you could go.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://subversion1.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johndmoffat/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdmfilmmaker/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@johndavidmoffat/videos
• Yelp: https://tubitv.com/movies/100033774/goin-around
• Soundcloud: https://tubitv.com/movies/100033860/territory?startPos=1
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3921548/?ref_=tt_ov_1_1