Joe Russo shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Joe, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
As a screenwriter, outside people working in the industry that actually read a draft of your screenplay, almost everything we write – everything we build – goes unseen when the general public consumes the movie.
A million things can go right – and wrong – during the production of a feature film and that can create an interesting dichotomy as a screenwriter. Because of changes along the way, in some cases, executives and producers in Hollywood who have actually read my writing will understand that I’m a better screenwriter than a general audience member who has consumed the end product.
That’s a weird space to live in.
On one hand, you can be a celebrated screenwriter making several of the year end “best of” screenwriting lists. On the other, you can have movies on your resume that you had no control over and the reviews don’t live up to your expectations.
All you can do is take pride in the work and, when you hand it off to the movie gods, hope for the best.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’ve been called a lot of things since I moved to Los Angeles fifteen years ago.
The “Other” Joe Russo. The “Horror” Joe Russo. “Not That” Joe Russo. “Screenwriter” Joe Russo.
I’m a lot of things to a lot of different people. Over the course of making seven movies, I’ve worn a lot of different hats. Producer. Writer. Director. Podcaster. I’ve interacted with and worked with some of the best creatives in Hollywood.
At the end of the day, though, I’m just a movie-lover who stumbled his way into a career making movies.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I don’t know if I’ve *ever* been powerful, but I remember the first time my writing got the attention of someone powerful.
Will Smith’s producing partner, James Lassiter, had just read a pilot I’d co-written. Because I was still an assistant at the time, I got to listen in to James talking with my old boss, Bill Todman, Jr., about the script. Thank God I was on mute when James said his company wanted to partner with us to produce the project, because I jumped out of my chair, hooting and hollering.
The man who helped turn Will Smith into a superstar had deemed something I’d written “worthy”.
That electricity that runs through your body in moments like that – that high – that’s the closest I ever come to feeling “powerful.”
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Hollywood is a business of big egos.
If you don’t get lucky out of the chute, the road to success is paved in failure, and, after making seven movies, I know there’s no better way to learn humility than surviving all the “nos” along the way.
The indie movie I was going to make right out of college fell apart in the wake of the 2008 recession. I went from being the boss on a feature-that-never-was to an intern at a small Los Angeles production company. All within a year.
That will teach you humility fast. And it’s never really gotten any easier.
But through all the struggles along the way – the underfunded productions, executives hijacking creative, producers never paying their contractual obligations, and so much more – you become more grateful for the wins.
Most importantly, you learn how to navigate the system better.
I’ve got an incredible slate of projects right now – some with creatives I would have only dreamed of working with back when that feature fell apart in 2008. The humility tempered my ego in a way that allowed me to be ready to meet this moment.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Hollywood is always chasing fads.
Every time there’s a new win at the box-office, studio execs and producers race to find the next version of that hit. That’s been especially true for someone like me who specializes in writing for the horror genre over the last ten years.
First it was “We need to find our version of GET OUT?” Then it was HEREDITARY. BLACK PHONE. M3GAN. Now it’s SINNERS and WEAPONS.
As someone who benefitted personally from a streamer looking for another READY OR NOT, what I’ve learned is, you can’t chase those fads. If you have a script ready to meet that fad when that moment strikes, amazing! But if you started writing YOUR version of GET OUT in the wake of GET OUT’s success, the industry will have already moved on to HEREDITARY by the time you’re done writing.
To me, my true north is story.
I don’t worry about what fad is selling at any given moment, I try to find stories that I would want to see. With that strategy, hopefully, I’ll write a movie where I’m the one creating the fad, not chasing it.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What will you regret not doing?
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I gave myself a ten year clock to make a movie.
Unlike some of my other peers who hoped to do it much faster, I figured that was a realistic enough timeline to get a feature-film made – after all, I didn’t know anyone in Hollywood when I got here.
Turns out, I wasn’t that far off.
It took me seven years to get my first feature film as a producer into production.
Despite pandemics, economic upheaval and strikes, I’ve averaged about one film-per-year since.
Not a lot of people can say they achieved their goal. I’ve gotten to achieve mine seven-times over, so far.
At this point, I’m sure there will be stories I love that I’ll regret not being able to tell, but I can say, I chased my dream with no regrets.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joerussofilm.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joerussogram/
- Twitter: https://x.com/joerussotweets
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joseph.russo
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@joerussotokshttps://letterboxd.com/joerussofilm/
Image Credits
Ryan Hartford / Post Mortem Finale photos
