Rising Stars: Meet The Jellyfish Crew of West La

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Jellyfish Crew.

Hi The Jellyfish Crew, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Absolutely!
We’re comprised of a small group of people who have worked on many projects together over the years. At this point were more than just colleagues but a small film family. Right now, we’re calling our team “Viva Indie LA” as in Viva the Indie Revolution, baby! Together, we recently drove up to Seattle and filmed a movie called “Invasion! of the Nocturnal Jellyfish” (Hence the name Jellyfish crew) and spent a week on a boat making a monster picture.

The team is made up of: Nikolai Pike (Writer and Director), Genu Lee (Producer), Marco Bizio (Cinematographer), Jocelyn Catt (1st AD), Jordon England (AKA the one and only), Daniel McKinley (our set cowboy), and two incredibly talented actors: Lacey Buchanan and Joey Krulock.

You can contact and or hire any one of them through our Instagram: viva_indie_la

Together, we have worked on short films over the past year, including: “Attack of the Killer Condom”, “Anatidaephobia: AKA Killer Goose, and our Spec trailer for “People Watching”, which is a project I am very excited to talk about.

While I was not involved in this next one, Marco Bizio recently directed a very exciting TV Pilot called “Valley Daze” which will be premiering on December 13th, at the Million Dollar Theatre. A movie that both our producer and 1st AD wrote together. Mark your calendars, as this is a screening you don’t want to miss!

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?
The production of Invasion of the Nocturnal Jellyfish was an interesting one to say the least, and was definitely not smooth… But surely memorable.

After writing the script in April 2025, my first and main priority was to figure out how to get access to a boat, since the entirety of the story took place on a large Sailboat. I reached out to several friends, and friends of friends who had boats but unfortunately either got rejected from all of them, or the logistics couldn’t work.
The issue wasn’t just using the boat, but the fact that at least two or three of the shoot days would require us to take the boat out into open ocean- and finding someone willing to do that at the budget level we were working on was not easy.

I had set aside approximately 1,500 for the boat budget alone, but even with that figure, once you break down the days and include the fees of paying for a captain, it was just not feasible. So one night, I randomly found myself searching through Craigslist and ended on a listing for a boat listed at $1,500! Sure, a bit smaller than I was hoping for in the movie, and a bit of a fixer-upper but it would work!

My thought process at the time was that if I purchased the boat and then got a one or two month slip at the marina, and then re-sold it afterwards, I could get away breaking even.

So I went down and met the guy with the listing. He was nice enough, and the boat looked fine, but unfortunately it turned out not to be docked legally- the reason being the fact that it wasn’t insured (a requirment), and the reason for it not being insured is that owner doesn’t own any kind of ID becuase he threw it in the ocean since he didn’t want to be “Part of the system”.

I asked him if he’d be interested in holding it for me until I could figure out a way to dock it in a slip legally, and he said- and I quote: “My homie who’s basically a pirate over there will take care of it”.

So I gave him a temporary $200 to hold it while I tried to get it insured… And for reasons I’m not entirely sure yet, he gave me the pink slip. So I was technically at the time, sort of the owner of the boat.

I got my boating license the next day, and called every possible insurance company, but due to the age of the boat and its situation got rejected by every single one of them. In the meantime, the boat was also impounded and taken to the yard by the police, which made things complicated.

I told the guy I wasn’t interested anymore, and that I wanted to exchange the slip for the holding money I gave him, especially since it was towed out of the water, but he refused.

Finally, we came to the agreement that I would give back the slip so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the situation and he would get it out of the yard, but he told me that he didn’t want to meet up in person anymore…
But if he didn’t want to meet up, how am I supposed to give him the ownership slip?
He concluded that the best way to do it was for me to go to a public park and put it under a rock.
So I went to the park by the marina, put it under a rock for him to find and that was that.

Anyways, lesson learned don’t buy boats from drifters.

After all of that, I found that my mom’s partner co-owned a boat in Seattle Washington and that if I could rewrite the script to be on a motor boat instead of a sailboat he’d be happy to host me on it for a week. I did the math- and as it turns out, flying my crew up to Seattle would be cheaper than figuring a boat in LA.

So we went off to Seattle on an adventure.

A lot more happened in Seattle, but I think I went a bit too long on the boat thing, so I’ll save the other stories for another time!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
“Invasion of the Nocturnal Jellyfish” is part of a Grindhouse double feature alongside “People Watching” which we are calling our “Surf and Turf” Double feature.

Starting in January 2026, my crew and I will be taking the pitch deck around town and seeking funding.

I would say I am most definitely proud of the spec trailers, the proof of concept movie, as well as the scripts we have put together. I can proudly say that we will be able to present our idea with solid work in our pocket to back our claims.

I think having put in the time and money into making the proof of concept, as well as our “no nonsense” approach to low budget filmmaking really sets us apart. While most low budget indie movies typically cost 2-5 million dollars, we’ve put together a double feature pitch which we estimate will cost under 1.5 million.

Most people in the industry are pitching on the ideas alone. We are focused not only on having a great idea, but in streamlining the production of them through having a double feature, which is a great way of saving money in shared equipment, crew and marketing. This way we are able to cut costs and increase return on investment.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I am very lucky to have a great support system, and a Jellyfish Crew willing to go all out on a movie.

While I could sit here and list every moment of good luck, and bad fortune we encountered in the process of making this picture together, ultimately it was the crew’s commitment to the story and the good will that proved to be the biggest role in a successful production.

Pricing:

• 8000 (the production budget of our Jellyfish Movie)
• 1.26 Million (What we are seeking for our double feature)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: viva_indie_la
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KODJlb3d75Q