Free Drinks and Business Cards | Josh David Jordan

Show Notes

Indie films, preacher’s kids, Elvis motels, and Troy Aikman commercials — this episode has it all. Mike Rhyner sits down with Dallas filmmaker Josh David Jordan, the mind behind This World Won’t Break and the upcoming El Tonto Porcristo.

Josh talks about growing up as the son of an evangelical preacher and how those fire-and-brimstone Sundays shaped the stories he tells today. From scribbling notes in moleskins to chasing the perfect song for a scene, his process is messy, passionate, and a little bit like “building the airplane on the way down.”

Along the way, we get Dallas love letters, border-crossing mishaps, and what happens when your indie film somehow collides with Troy Aikman’s commercial world. It’s raw, funny, and exactly why you tune in to Your Dark Companion.

Chapters

00:00 – Mike Rhyner and Josh David Jordan: film, life, and why Dallas always sneaks into the frame
04:17 – Orthodoxy, cinema, and telling stories no one else is telling
12:54 – Childhood memories: motels, Elvis, and little sparks of inspiration
15:14 – This World Won’t Break: a filmmaker’s love letter to Dallas
23:30 – Touring pains: crossing borders with too much gear
25:20 – Film premieres, surprise connections, and the music that stays with you
28:09 – What’s next: El Tonto Porcristo and making films against the odds
34:44 – A pit stop at CBD House of Healing (because indie film hurts)
35:57 – Storyboards, scripts, and the obsession behind directing
39:28 – Why festivals are equal parts heartbreak and high-five
44:50 – The toll of filmmaking — and why they still do it anyway
46:29 – Wrestling with endings, edits, and when to finally “let it go”
53:14 – Family, legacy, and the indie hustle
55:51 – The weird joy of shooting commercials with Troy Aikman

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Creators and Guests

Host

Mike Rhyner

Mike Rhyner… "a little on the bumpy side, but rather likable"…so stated famously by a grade school teacher in Oak Cliff, where Mike grew up. A complicated guy, yet a guy who can do long division and remember call strike three to A Rod. Probably best left unattended. Don't expect assistance from him if a medical situation arises.

What is Your Dark Companion Podcast?

"Whatever I want it to be about on a given day; is what it is." Your Dark Companion couples your familiar friends from radio, Mike and Grubes! Mike brings his classic interviews that draw you in, and Grubes—The Devil—drops…well the drops, and throws the occasional grenade. Mike likes to draw on his fascinating acquaintances and friends allowing them to tell their stories as you've never heard them. But he also goes outside his network, sharing Grubes' network, and often outside of both, to bring you those they don't know, but believe have a story that will make you laugh, make you think, think differently, or just entertain you…"that's what we are trying to do here."

0:00:00 - (Mike Rhyner): Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Reiner, Sports talk. Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, okay, now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys.
0:00:20 - (Josh David Jordan): What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window.
0:00:25 - (Mike Rhyner): The Texas Rangers win the World Series. All right, all right. Here's a tip, right? All these Americano League teams don't.
0:00:34 - (Josh David Jordan): Wait, you said tip?
0:00:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, tip with a P. Keep jamming the ticket, colon. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off session. This is a cool night. Or what? Although somebody would hear that and go, I'm back.
0:00:55 - (C): Anything about it? Oh, we're on.
0:00:58 - (Josh David Jordan): And we're on.
0:01:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes, we are on. We are live at 5, man. And if you were by the channel out there, then cool. It is the 29th of September. This is your dark companion. I would be Mike Reiner. We are here inside the nurturing biosphere of the mothership, where everything's nice and comfy and warm and nobody's real itchy or anything like that. We don't think. It's actually kind of cold in here today. It actually is kind of cold in here today.
0:01:38 - (C): I like it.
0:01:39 - (Mike Rhyner): Like it, too. This is episode number 158 that we're doing today. And we have in here with us Josh David Jordan. Josh David Jordan is an actor, okay? Leave me alone. I'm an actor. How you doing?
0:02:03 - (Josh David Jordan): I'm doing fantastic. It does. It feels great in here, by the way. I was just gonna say, like, sometimes it's a little too warm and you get nervous and this is great.
0:02:11 - (C): So you're not gonna be pitting out.
0:02:12 - (Josh David Jordan): Or anything like that? No, yeah. I'm more of a back. Lower back sweat, but it's okay.
0:02:17 - (Mike Rhyner): How's the vibe?
0:02:18 - (Josh David Jordan): The vibe's great. The vibe is fantastic in here. Yeah, I feel at home. Yeah, it was the mothership. I should.
0:02:26 - (C): I gotta say, though, ship shoopy. You know who the vibes are not immaculate for, though?
0:02:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Who's that?
0:02:33 - (C): Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Oh, they've separated. Yeah.
0:02:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Wait a minute. You're telling me that love doesn't last forever?
0:02:44 - (C): Apparently not for them.
0:02:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, my.
0:02:47 - (C): Yeah.
0:02:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, my.
0:02:49 - (C): Do you have the vapors now?
0:02:50 - (Mike Rhyner): I thought if anybody would stay together and make it, that was them.
0:02:53 - (C): But no, love isn't real. Just like birds.
0:03:00 - (Mike Rhyner): You don't think birds are real?
0:03:02 - (C): There's a whole Internet conspiracy that birds aren't real. Oh, that they're all actually.
0:03:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, they're it.
0:03:06 - (Josh David Jordan): Drones.
0:03:07 - (C): Drones that the government sends to traffic.
0:03:09 - (Mike Rhyner): I think I saw something about this.
0:03:13 - (Josh David Jordan): My. My car says otherwise.
0:03:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Our yard says otherwise. All I know is we got a couple of big feeders back there, and they empty out pretty quick. So. Yeah, something's going on. How you doing, man?
0:03:32 - (Josh David Jordan): I'm doing fantastic. You know, I'm a little bit. I feel energized now, but I just got back from San Antonio. I've been going nonstop, and it's about to be, you know, the world premiere of my new film. And it's one of those things, like, it's so much freaking work, and then you get to the fun part, and you're just exhausted.
0:03:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Because of all the work. Because of all the work. They don't tell you about the work.
0:03:57 - (Josh David Jordan): No, it's all red carpets and flashing cameras, and I haven't gotten to that yet.
0:04:02 - (Mike Rhyner): So much fun and everything. But then. No, no, there's all this work.
0:04:06 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh.
0:04:07 - (Mike Rhyner): It goes with it.
0:04:08 - (Josh David Jordan): So I've been doing that, and so. Yeah. But I feel good. I'm in my hometown, you know, I'm back.
0:04:13 - (Mike Rhyner): So now, how many films have you made and been part of?
0:04:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Okay, so I've. I've made on my own, as in, like, writing and directing, too. I've been in several films as an actor. I did some TV shows and. And such, and. But yeah, just, like, overall, two feature films on my own, written and directed. But my first film was in 1998, was the film called the Prodigy. No one's ever seen it or heard of it. Sorry, it's. You can buy the DVD for a dollar.
0:04:48 - (Mike Rhyner): I know. I said I wasn't trying to make it. Like, you know, I have.
0:04:53 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. So. Yeah.
0:04:57 - (Mike Rhyner): And this one that you got now.
0:04:59 - (Josh David Jordan): Yep.
0:05:00 - (Mike Rhyner): What's the story there? Is that this world won't break?
0:05:03 - (Josh David Jordan): No. This one's El Tanto per Cristo. This is Screw. It's okay. It's okay, because here's the deal. It's not out yet, so you wouldn't know.
0:05:14 - (Mike Rhyner): There we go. Okay. El Tanto. Poor Cristo.
0:05:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:05:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:05:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:05:18 - (Mike Rhyner): So is this Tonto for Christ or what?
0:05:20 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, it is. There we go. Yeah. And Tonto is full. So, yeah, it's the fool for Christ. And so it's based on Orthodox tales. Orthodox Christians, a lot of people are like, what is that?
0:05:39 - (Mike Rhyner): Right?
0:05:39 - (Josh David Jordan): People say, like, Jewish. I'm like, no, it's Orthodox Christian, like, Russian or Greek. You know, it's the oldest part of Christianity before the Great Schism happened and the Catholic Church broke off. So I've been Orthodox for about 11 years. Me and my family and I was really trying to create some other films, some other Texas tales. And when you go inside an Orthodox church, there's just iconography everywhere and you just start thinking of things, and my mind wanders. I mean, that's just what it does. And.
0:06:18 - (Josh David Jordan): And so I had to tell this story. It was. There's never been one in America made about orthodoxy in America. So I thought, let's go. Let's do it.
0:06:29 - (Mike Rhyner): This does seem like a rather unusual and perhaps even isolated topic for somebody to get into. Was there any one particular thing or one particular incident or happening or anything that. That drove you toward this?
0:06:48 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, I mean, I think it was reading all these crazy stories about these desert fathers and these holy fools, and they're bizarre. They're wild, wild stories. Like, I grew up evangelical. My dad was an evangelical preacher, traveling evangelist. And things were always, you know, pretty boxed in. Yeah. You had a tie and, you know, everything was pretty buttoned up.
0:07:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:07:13 - (Josh David Jordan): And I'm reading these stories, and these are dudes that are getting drunk, living in trees. Cool. Now I'm like. I'm like, I want to see that movie. You know what I mean? I'm passionate. The Christ is great, but let's.
0:07:26 - (C): With George of the Jungle, apparently.
0:07:28 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. And I have a small person in my film. It's after St. John the Dwarf. It's a story from 300something B.C. actually, speaking of B.C. around here, it's before Christ and before COVID both of those. And I was like, where are these stories at? You know, let's start telling these stories, you know. And so that was the catalyst for. For doing that, you know, kind of being a. A front runner in. In making new cinema that no one's ever seen before.
0:08:05 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm reading some of the notes, looking over some of the notes here.
0:08:08 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, no.
0:08:09 - (Mike Rhyner): And this. I mean, this sounds rather deep and rather dense, shall we say, for sure.
0:08:19 - (Josh David Jordan): And if you know me, you wouldn't think it. That would come from me. It really is very. It's deep thinking and it's very spiritual. But, you know, I. I think it was more like I was just sort of the vessel. Like I was reading all this material, you know how you just read stories and stories and you just want to get it out. You want to gossip about it and tell it about it. So that's really. I'm not really. You know, I'm not.
0:08:49 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, I didn't. I don't have a master's in anything. You know, I didn't. I didn't go to school for. For deep thinking. But after reading all the books and stuff, I just wanted to. I saw it cinematically, is what it was. You know, I saw the story. I saw it. And so I was like, if I can see it, I can tell it. You know, I got a good group around here in Dallas, Texas, and we're able to do that. Who were.
0:09:13 - (Mike Rhyner): I guess if you got an idea like this. I mean, this is a rather.
0:09:21 - (Josh David Jordan): Deep.
0:09:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Almost abstract concept that you're working with here, for sure. And I'm probably using wrong words there. Don't hold that.
0:09:30 - (Josh David Jordan): I love them. I love them.
0:09:31 - (Mike Rhyner): But when you got something like that, where do you go with it? Who do you start talking to about it?
0:09:38 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, I think probably the first is my wife and my kids. So my kids. They're not kids anymore. They're. They're young men, 21 and 24. They went to Booker T. Washington. They made their own movies. They did their own thing. Like, I'm still like, dad. And I was just telling them the story, and they were like, oh, we see it, we like it, we see this. And then I start, like, I write for people, as in, like, the actors, and I just call and ask if they're available.
0:10:10 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, it's. I learned that from Matthew Posey, who's the lead in this film, but he's also. He was in no country for Old Men. He was in True Stories. He's the Okra House Theater creative director. And I've been there for 15 years. And Matt doesn't have auditions. He just calls you up and he says, hey, what are you doing next Tuesday? We're gonna be doing a play. And I got this character I'm writing for you.
0:10:36 - (Josh David Jordan): And so I would call. I called Matthew Posey. He plays the lead. Father John, you know, I called Max Hartman. I said, hey, there's this pompous bishop. I think you'd be perfect, Max.
0:10:50 - (Mike Rhyner): I think perfect for that, too.
0:10:52 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:10:54 - (Mike Rhyner): He is a veteran of that chair. Yes.
0:10:57 - (Josh David Jordan): Yes. And so I've known Max for a really long time. We've never actually worked together. And so it was really cool to write something for Max. I would get John Pedigo involved about sound design and recording. And.
0:11:15 - (C): What does he know, though?
0:11:16 - (Josh David Jordan): What is. I mean, what does this guy know?
0:11:19 - (Mike Rhyner): And the more I hear of that guy and the more I get to know that guy, I think he knows everything about everything.
0:11:25 - (Josh David Jordan): Pedego. Yeah, I think so, too. I don't think there's nothing he can't at least play or strum or Something.
0:11:32 - (C): I mean, figures it out.
0:11:33 - (Josh David Jordan): If he can't play, he'll record it. Yeah, yeah, he'll get somebody to play it.
0:11:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Anyway, this, this seems like a, like I say, a really deep topic. I mean, was there something in your youth that sent you down this road or.
0:11:52 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, I mean, you know, it was the exact opposite. You know, I didn't grow up orthodox, I didn't grow up Catholic. I grew up evangelical. My dad's a traveling evangelist, he still is. And it's the only world that I knew. I didn't go to a real school. I mean, I was born in the boot hill in Missouri. And I feel like we packed up our station wagon and I went to everyone's summer camps. You know, my dad performed or performed. He preached was a performance as well.
0:12:25 - (Josh David Jordan): We would go in the backwoods of, of Mississippi to white tent revivals. I wore a three piece suit. There was this lady, her name was Geraldine and she looked just like Loretta Lynn. And she had this puppy puppet named Ricky. It was a wooden puppet and she had this long dress and she would go up in the middle. Then my dad would come in and bring the house down and we'd pass the offering plates around and then we would go to a motel.
0:12:54 - (Josh David Jordan): And if you're a kid, man, a motel was the coolest thing back then. Yeah, I mean, we had. And we had. My dad would be counting money on the bed, I'd be doing cannonballs in the pool. My brother's watching cable tv. You know, we're getting stuff from the vending machine and ice machine. I was like, we've made it. You know, this is. What do you do? What's next? And that went on forever.
0:13:17 - (Mike Rhyner): I had an aunt who ran a motel once in Santa Fe and I just loved going out there to stay a few days with her, you know, see what was going at the motel. Although I never could understand why guys and would bring girls into a room that stay about an hour and then leave again.
0:13:37 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, that's a waste of money right there.
0:13:38 - (Mike Rhyner): I could understand that.
0:13:39 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:13:40 - (Mike Rhyner): I thought this was, was like supposed to be a place where, you know, you're doing a cross country trip or something.
0:13:45 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:13:45 - (Mike Rhyner): You put your feet up for the night.
0:13:47 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:13:47 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, but that way it wasn't the way it was.
0:13:49 - (Josh David Jordan): No. I bet she has stories.
0:13:52 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, I'll bet.
0:13:52 - (Josh David Jordan): Golly. She could. She could tell. She could write a movie.
0:13:55 - (Mike Rhyner): I bet she did too.
0:13:57 - (C): Didn't you meet Elvis at a motel?
0:14:00 - (Mike Rhyner): Did I meet Elvis? Yeah, at a motel. That was at a hotel. Oh, that wasn't a motel. That was a. I almost didn't do motel shoopy.
0:14:10 - (C): Okay.
0:14:11 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, when I ran into him, he was. He. He was actually as big as he ever got.
0:14:18 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh.
0:14:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Which was massive. And he was also really, really loaded and really, really out of shape.
0:14:27 - (Josh David Jordan): Was he gray? Was he gray?
0:14:29 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no. Whoever is on the die beat for him was really doing their job.
0:14:36 - (Josh David Jordan): I mean, his skin color, remember, Remember his skin turned kind of gray.
0:14:39 - (Mike Rhyner): I don't know. I didn't get that good to look at.
0:14:41 - (Josh David Jordan): Okay.
0:14:42 - (Mike Rhyner): I just knew that all of a sudden Elvis was standing like four feet away from me and I'm like, wow.
0:14:48 - (C): Did you have like a bucket of ice?
0:14:49 - (Mike Rhyner): I did have a bucket of ice and I threw it up in the air.
0:14:52 - (C): He says, I'm like, you're Elvis now.
0:14:54 - (Mike Rhyner): The words were, my God, Elvis Presley.
0:14:56 - (C): Yeah. And what did he say?
0:14:59 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you very much. He was walking up the stairs at the time and he kind of turned and said, hi.
0:15:06 - (C): That's a story.
0:15:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, that's my story. That's my Elvis story. But you know what? We're not here to talk about that.
0:15:13 - (C): I'm sorry.
0:15:14 - (Mike Rhyner): We're here to talk to Josh about his story. Now, I mentioned at the start of this thing, I got a little off track and mentioned another film of yours.
0:15:26 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, yeah.
0:15:26 - (Mike Rhyner): This World Won't Break.
0:15:28 - (Josh David Jordan): This World Won't Break.
0:15:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Was that the first one that you did?
0:15:32 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, that was my very first full length feature film that everybody said I was crazy for trying to make a film. And like most you'd ask, you said, you know, how did El Tanto per Cristo come about? It's really my wife. We'd be watching or trying to watch a movie, you know, it's. It's date night or whatever. And we spent about an hour and a half of me watching trailers, basically. And she's like, just pick.
0:15:56 - (Josh David Jordan): What are you trying to find? And so one night she's like, what are you trying to find? I was like, well, there's crazy hard about the, you know, the guy who's made it and then it's the Fall From Grace or it's Country Strong about the young kid. I said, is there not a movie about a guy who doesn't make it? And he turns 40 and he says, well, what do I do now? I mean, I put all this on the line and I haven't made it.
0:16:21 - (Josh David Jordan): And what does he do? She says, well, maybe you should make it. And I said, all right. And so I made it. I made that film. And it. It starred Greg Schrader, who's a local musician, who I think is one of the best folk country singers. He just has something, man. When he plays, you could hear a pin drop in the room. And it was Dallas before everything really went away. Like, I filmed in Doug's Gym. I filmed all over Deep Ellum. I mean, when people.
0:16:53 - (Josh David Jordan): When people watch it now, they're like, how did you.
0:16:57 - (Mike Rhyner): How did you afford to film this?
0:16:58 - (Josh David Jordan): Because everything was so. The production value is so cool in the movie. And I've really. It's a love letter to Dallas, Texas. And I just got everybody around me. You know, Tim Delaude was in the movie, and just anybody who was. Who was next to me was in that film. And, yeah, at the time, it was always a love letter to Dallas. You know, this is a. It's a strange city because, you know, it's home to me. I wasn't born here, but it's always been my boy's home. You know, I traveled so much growing up and didn't have a home. And my boys have only lived here. You know, I went to Booker T. And they got their Eagle Scout, and. And this is home for them. They've never known anything else. And it was a love letter. You know, it's hard to get this city sometimes. For me, I guess it's hard to get this city's attention sometimes and, you know, get a little bit of love back. It's a transient city. And so it was more me, like, you know, nudging Dallas a little bit to say, hey, I'm here.
0:18:02 - (Josh David Jordan): I'm still here.
0:18:03 - (Mike Rhyner): And you were born here and everything?
0:18:05 - (Josh David Jordan): Well, no, I was born in the Boot hill in Missouri. My dad came here when we were about. I was about 13 years old. Okay. Yeah.
0:18:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:18:11 - (Josh David Jordan): That's when the grand tour ended. The. The final. The leg of the revival. We ended up here. And there was a lot of scandal happening at this Baptist church in Dallas, and my dad was a temporary preacher, and we ended up staying.
0:18:26 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, man. You've been here ever since?
0:18:28 - (Josh David Jordan): I've been here ever since.
0:18:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Did you go to school here or.
0:18:32 - (Josh David Jordan): You know what? I did, I went to. It was brand new. It was called Naaman Forest High School. It's still called that, but it was brand new. And they had this brand new theater, right. And it was my dream to, you know, be a part of a theater group, and so I did that. And then my junior and senior year, I actually got a basketball scholarship and went to Garland Christian Academy, and I played basketball At Garland Christian Academy.
0:18:59 - (Josh David Jordan): We won state that year. Not because of me, but you still have a ring. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah.
0:19:07 - (Mike Rhyner): I had to pawn it or anything like that.
0:19:08 - (Josh David Jordan): Not yet. Not. Yeah, I don't think it's much worth on the. On the black market out there. The. The guard. The GCA ring.
0:19:16 - (C): Yeah. It's not a hot eye.
0:19:19 - (Josh David Jordan): It's probably not. Nothing's real in that, I'm pretty sure.
0:19:22 - (Mike Rhyner): So that movie came out in 2019?
0:19:25 - (Josh David Jordan): It did. It came out in 2019. And we got into 14 festivals, and we won 16 awards. I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I'm just giving history here, y'.
0:19:35 - (C): All.
0:19:35 - (Josh David Jordan): No, no, that's what we want. Yeah.
0:19:37 - (C): Yeah.
0:19:38 - (Josh David Jordan): And then we went to the Glasgow Film Festival. It was a big hit. And I thought, here we go. You know, this is it.
0:19:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:19:47 - (Josh David Jordan): I'm heading to south by Southwest after this. And, you know, this is it. I've made it. And we're on the airplane. We all get a text says, south by Southwest may cancel.
0:20:01 - (Mike Rhyner): I was like, what?
0:20:03 - (Josh David Jordan): And then, sure enough, we landed, and they're doing the thermometer to our foreheads. Get another email. South by Southwest is closed. And they were the one of the first ones to really stick their necks out there. And just in general, they kind of, like, called that. And after that, festival after festival after festival closed. But I was like, of course, you know, that's my luck. That's what I always think. It's my luck in my first movie.
0:20:31 - (Josh David Jordan): But what happened was this, which is. Which is crazy, is everyone was stuck at home, so everyone was binging, right? And the world wasn't prepared for that. And so they had run through most things, so distribution companies started reaching out to us, and there was almost a little bit of a battle of trying to get our film. And so in the midst of all this darkness and these black clouds, we were able to get our film out there. And then I thought, well, our Drive in theaters closed, and they weren't. And so I put our film. So we actually did have a theatrical release. It was in drive in theaters.
0:21:13 - (Josh David Jordan): And so it was kind of a different. Kind of cool. It was different. It was new as kind of the Wild, wild West of. Of doing stuff. And I've kind of held on to that, you know, that idea of doing stuff like the Wild, Wild west around here, which is like just, you know, march to the beat of your own drum. That's.
0:21:31 - (Mike Rhyner): That's what you do when you. When you're getting nowhere. Exactly. Make it up as you go along. When. Yeah, when things shut down around you, you got to figure something out. So, you know, it's one of those situations where you just do what you got to do and you, you. You make it up as you go.
0:21:50 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. Out of necessity, but also, like, I got nothing. I got nothing else to lose.
0:21:55 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Yeah, man, that's. That's a extraordinary story.
0:22:02 - (Josh David Jordan): I was like, you know, no one's watching my movie anyway. If I get one or two cars in there, even if they're making out the whole time, at least I got a couple people watching my movie. It's got a good soundtrack to it.
0:22:13 - (C): Yeah.
0:22:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Got the price of admission going, so.
0:22:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. Yeah.
0:22:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Now, you mentioned Tim Delauder.
0:22:22 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:22:22 - (Mike Rhyner): He is very well known musician around here. I don't know him very well, but I really admire the guy.
0:22:29 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:22:30 - (Mike Rhyner): With what he's done with A Polyphonic Spree and just the way he sees the world around him, the way he goes about his business and the way he's. He's kind of out there on a trip by himself, you know.
0:22:43 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, for sure. I mean, he's always been a mentor. You know, we've been family slash, like, friends. You know, I would spend a lot of time because I didn't have family here in Dallas. My mom and dad moved back to Missouri, and I was just here, so I would spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Dilaudor family and. And he looks at the world in a different way. Yeah. You know, and when you're around somebody like that for a long period of time and they also believe in you and you're just in the world, it really does rub off.
0:23:15 - (Josh David Jordan): And, you know, he took 30 people around the world, you know, on a tour, and to be able. It's hard enough, you guys, you know, it's hard enough just to go to a local gig and play a show with all your gear.
0:23:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Tell me about it.
0:23:30 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, traveling. They're going to Australia, you know, and.
0:23:35 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, I can't imagine what it must take for an undertaking such as that. That is very, very people intensive.
0:23:45 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh.
0:23:45 - (Mike Rhyner): And that just doesn't even start to take into account gear and everything. The logistics and everything else that goes with it.
0:23:53 - (Josh David Jordan): People that have warrants that you're trying to get across to Canada, you know, that was a thing as, you know, Chris Penn, you know, God rest Chris Penn soul. And he passed away recently. And listen, I do too. That's the. You know, it was really tough with this movie. I'm putting the, the, this, this new film it's coming out in double vinyl. So it's a double vinyl record sound and score. And Chris really helped me, helped me do that. And it's just part of that. It's like the Tim DeLauer thing. And they just really pushed the envelope and it's sort of like building the airplane on the way down, you know, they'd really taught me that you'll figure it out, you know.
0:24:30 - (Josh David Jordan): But we'd be crossing into Canada and he'd be like, one more chance. Does anybody have a warrant? Does anybody have any weed in their pockets? You know, like, you got to make sure, because Canada doesn't play around when you go over there. So, like, I mean, have anything that.
0:24:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Might get you stopped?
0:24:49 - (Josh David Jordan): Yes.
0:24:50 - (C): Anything we've gotten stopped?
0:24:52 - (Josh David Jordan): No, we've just had to like, lose merchandise just because, like, you know, that was. They're strict on that kind of stuff. Just, you know, tax stuff. You have to account for everything. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's wild. I mean, I'm gonna tell a quick story about the Polyphonics spree, Australia. And then my son, full circle. So I take my son to the this World Won't Break premiere in Australia.
0:25:20 - (Josh David Jordan): He co edited my film. And we had landed. It'd been a long day. It's a know a 24 hour turnaround. You don't even know what time it is. And we had gone to the premiere and a couple said, we'll bring you guys back to Yalls, the place you're standing. Y' all can't go to the afterparty. He's wiped out. I said, all right. Julian's in the back seat, he's snoring and we're driving. And this guy was like, too bad you're not here. This is a horrible accent, by the way.
0:25:46 - (Josh David Jordan): He's like, too bad you're not here for Splendor in the Grass, mate. And I was like, splendor in the Grass. I was like, that sounds so familiar to me. I couldn't think of it, you know. And he's like, mate, one year, legend goes, splendor in the grass. It's 2005, it's raining, it's pouring, everybody's miserable. This band comes out, they start singing about the sun, mate. They're all dressed in white robes.
0:26:15 - (Josh David Jordan): The sun comes out. So. And the place goes nuts. And they play Nirvana's Lithium. And my son wakes up and he goes, it's the Polyphonic Spree. My mom's in that band. He goes back to bed. And both people like turn around and look at me like, what in the world? And we're in the middle of nowhere like kangaroos, you know. And my son, it's just, it's just his life, you know what I mean? That's wild. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah.
0:26:45 - (Mike Rhyner): So how many premieres have you been to?
0:26:47 - (Josh David Jordan): Premieres? That's a good question. I guess I've been to three or four maybe. You know, just films I've been in.
0:26:57 - (Mike Rhyner): In the minds of a guy like say me, the premiere is the premiere and there's only one.
0:27:04 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:27:05 - (Mike Rhyner): But that's not the way it is in your world, is it?
0:27:07 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, I mean you'll have like, like the world premiere is going to be here in Dallas and then we're going to do a European premiere that'll be in Romania. And so I get it's. We live in that day and age where you try to milk everything, I think is what it is. Really?
0:27:21 - (Mike Rhyner): Sure.
0:27:22 - (Josh David Jordan): But like, yeah, movie premiere should just be one. That's fair when it comes down to it should just be one.
0:27:27 - (C): Can only be one premiere.
0:27:28 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, you start fine tuning it. Well, it's the, the left side of Texas premiere.
0:27:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Are all the premier. Are all the premieres like the premiere? Like is it a big event and everything?
0:27:42 - (Josh David Jordan): Like, yeah, some are the one. The one that we're doing will be the ones. I mean, I've gone to some in Hollywood and you go to a premiere and it's. But it's not, it's miserable, you know, like if you go and you get all dressed up and you're probably a little nervous and sweaty and the drinks aren't ready yet and you walk across the red carpet. Then after you walk across, you're like, what I do now? And you kind of feel exposed, you know what I mean? Like, what do I do?
0:28:09 - (Josh David Jordan): The movie. The doors don't open for another 45 minutes and then I nervous drink. That's not good for anybody.
0:28:15 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no, you can't nervous drink.
0:28:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, like that. No, but I do.
0:28:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, yeah, everybody does. Yeah, but for some.
0:28:23 - (Josh David Jordan): And then if it's a movie and you gotta pee and that's when I, you know, I. At 48 years old, if I fly on a plane, if I go see a movie, I got to sit on the aisle even though it's not the best seat in the house. I'm on the left or I'm on the right, I can't sit in the middle cuz I know I'll have to go pee.
0:28:43 - (C): You got to be ready.
0:28:44 - (Mike Rhyner): I feel you.
0:28:45 - (Josh David Jordan): That's just. That's just me, you know, that's just.
0:28:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Where you're at, man.
0:28:50 - (Josh David Jordan): You just got to face it.
0:28:51 - (C): Yeah.
0:28:51 - (D): You know, the first aisle on the rail, because I can just jump right underneath the rail and go.
0:28:56 - (Josh David Jordan): That's a good one, too. I do that out in North Park. Yep.
0:29:00 - (C): Did you have a designated seat filler at your premieres?
0:29:04 - (Josh David Jordan): What was that?
0:29:04 - (C): Did you have a designated seat filler at the red carpet stuff?
0:29:07 - (Josh David Jordan): What does that mean? Wow. I missed.
0:29:08 - (C): I don't know, at the award or. I guess that's a different thing.
0:29:11 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. What is it?
0:29:12 - (C): I don't know. I'm. I've just confused myself. Yeah.
0:29:16 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, do they get. Yeah, no, fair enough. No, that's just too much money, probably. I don't even know what that cost.
0:29:27 - (C): I don't know. Probably. Pretty pity, right?
0:29:29 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, you can.
0:29:30 - (C): That's like.
0:29:30 - (Josh David Jordan): That'd be a good gig, though.
0:29:31 - (C): I'm telling you. There's people that do that, apparently. Yeah.
0:29:35 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. That's mostly for, like, televised daytime shows.
0:29:39 - (C): And stuff like that.
0:29:40 - (Josh David Jordan): Like the Oscars and that kind of stuff.
0:29:42 - (C): Yeah.
0:29:44 - (D): Right when everybody's going for a drink.
0:29:47 - (Josh David Jordan): Brilliant.
0:29:47 - (Mike Rhyner): So tell me a little bit more about the process.
0:29:49 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:29:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Get the idea for a film.
0:29:51 - (Josh David Jordan): Yep.
0:29:52 - (Mike Rhyner): You start to jot down stuff.
0:29:55 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:29:56 - (Mike Rhyner): When does actual writing start? And what does actual writing look like?
0:30:00 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, So, I mean, I start with what you have right there. That yellow notepad.
0:30:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:30:05 - (Josh David Jordan): I start most of my stuff with that. They're just ideas. And then I write them in these little Moleskin books. And nowadays I do the voice memo. That way I'm doing, like, the inflection, the accent, Australian grooves, like my Australian accents. And then I start to, like, have something. And then I do note cards, just the blank, white note cards. And that's going to be the scene or the idea. And David lynch said, if you have 72, two of those note cards, you got a movie.
0:30:41 - (Josh David Jordan): And I've already done the other stuff, and so I. I sit down. I'm not a very good typer. I'm not. I'm just not. I'm slow. So I have to have it all set up. And then I start doing the outline and final draft, which is the program you use. And lo and behold, it looks like a real script, you know, and, like, with dialogue. And dialogue and all that. Yeah. And the dialogue comes from my voice memos because it's. You. It's too hard to write. That down.
0:31:14 - (Josh David Jordan): And so I just do monologues. I just keep it going. And, you know, really, I don't do a lot of rewrites because a lot of my rewrites are in the notepads or the voice memos when I. When I sit down to write it, it's pretty much good to go. I mean, I made. I may tweak a little bit here and there, but you.
0:31:36 - (Mike Rhyner): You sit down to write, and you feel like you're pretty organized and everything.
0:31:39 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. Which is. I'm not a very organized person at all.
0:31:42 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, I picture this in my mind as a guy who's going to write a film, and he has got index cards scattered everywhere. He's got legal pads scattered everywhere.
0:31:54 - (Josh David Jordan): Yes.
0:31:55 - (Mike Rhyner): And he really has. Not a real good idea of what's where.
0:31:59 - (Josh David Jordan): Yes.
0:32:00 - (Mike Rhyner): And you managed to avoid.
0:32:02 - (Josh David Jordan): I don't even. I don't even know where my keys are right now, to be totally honest. And that's just how. You know, what's crazy is my life has been like that, but it always, in the end, works out. You know what I'm saying? Like, in the end, it always kind of. Well, obviously, we're about to have a red carpet, so some. I didn't. I'm doing.
0:32:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Something went right.
0:32:22 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. And I couldn't. I wouldn't recommend it. I think it's a horrible idea. I think it's. There's probably an easier way to do it, but that just seems like too much. That just seems like hard work to me.
0:32:36 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, this is Josh David Jordan. He has a film called El Tanto Porcristo.
0:32:45 - (Josh David Jordan): That's perfect.
0:32:46 - (C): Nailed it.
0:32:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Think. Gosh.
0:32:48 - (Josh David Jordan): So good. Yes.
0:32:49 - (Mike Rhyner): And it is finished.
0:32:52 - (Josh David Jordan): It's. We're locked and loaded.
0:32:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes. It will be upon us before we know it.
0:32:57 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, yes. Actually, a week from today.
0:33:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, really?
0:33:02 - (C): Oh, yeah, yeah. October 6th. Right.
0:33:04 - (Josh David Jordan): October 6th.
0:33:05 - (C): I did the math.
0:33:06 - (Mike Rhyner): Where will it be?
0:33:07 - (Josh David Jordan): At the Historical Texas Theater. Ah. No better place to watch a film.
0:33:13 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no, no. Absolutely not.
0:33:15 - (Josh David Jordan): You walk in that place, you feel like something's happened here before me for sure. Yeah.
0:33:25 - (Mike Rhyner): I can't tell you how many movies I've sat through at that place back in the day.
0:33:29 - (Josh David Jordan): I actually have two seats. When they remodeled, I have two original seats in my house.
0:33:33 - (C): Nice.
0:33:34 - (Josh David Jordan): That Barack gave me at your dinner table. Yeah. My TV tray.
0:33:38 - (C): Yeah.
0:33:39 - (Josh David Jordan): Perfect.
0:33:40 - (Mike Rhyner): There's a chance, however slight, that I sat in one of those.
0:33:44 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:33:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Could happen. All right, this is Josh David Jordan with us today. And we'll have more with Josh coming Up. But right now. That's right. Nobody gets out of this. It is time for the dreaded and feared mid show. Ready?
0:34:08 - (C): Just a sponsor.
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0:35:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Slushies are fun shoopy.
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0:35:53 - (Josh David Jordan): Nailed it.
0:35:53 - (C): We survived.
0:35:54 - (Mike Rhyner): All right. We did survive. We made it.
0:35:57 - (Josh David Jordan): I thought you were just going for that. I didn't know you had this little thing here, but I was like, gosh, he is a steel trap.
0:36:04 - (C): Generally is.
0:36:04 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no. I. I used to. I don't anymore.
0:36:07 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. You just let it go.
0:36:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. I'm an old guy now. That happens to you when you're an old guy.
0:36:13 - (C): Comes for us all.
0:36:15 - (D): I wanted to ask you a question.
0:36:17 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, yeah.
0:36:17 - (D): As a. As a writer, I'm fascinated when I read scripts and a very long time ago, had a friend who started screenwriting, putting together scripts for movies and for television, and he would show them to me. I am. They are so stark.
0:36:36 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:36:37 - (D): They're you. There's so much. You're like, how does anybody build a film off of this?
0:36:43 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:36:43 - (D): How difficult is it when you're writing and directing and you're putting this whole picture together? Do you have an entire Separate yellow pad, moleskin notebook, whatever that. Full of everything that goes in around that stark. Just scene and dialogue.
0:37:05 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, everything is in them. Like you said, a moleskin. I carry so many moleskins around. And I also do my own location scouting and production design. Design. I do the costume design. I mean when we're on set by people there who obviously. Because I can't do everything at all at once. But I mean I. It's the whole film, it's. I know what you know, I know what it smells like in the room, you know, and I think you really do have to have all these things. And I think that's why sometimes there's probably really bad movies, you know, Cuz someone read the script and they, they didn't know. They didn't know the details. They didn't know. They didn't really know how to. And that's why there's great directors who aren't writers.
0:37:48 - (Josh David Jordan): They can read something that's a whole nother world, you know. And so, you know, a script really is just the blueprint. It's to keep you on pace. It's to give the actors their line. And you don't want to give the actors too much because maybe they're bringing something special. If you write too much, it could really throw everybody for a loop, I think. Yeah.
0:38:11 - (C): How much do actors change lines or add lines with your movies?
0:38:16 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, what's wild is on this film. Zero. They didn't add anything on this. I don't think they really added much on this role. Won't break either.
0:38:28 - (C): You're too good.
0:38:31 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, I think it's one of.
0:38:32 - (Josh David Jordan): Those things of like I write for. For them.
0:38:34 - (C): Yeah.
0:38:35 - (Josh David Jordan): And so I think they feel like they're in their own shoes maybe and they're able to. They're off to the races and you know, they'll always do this. Like when I had Barry Corbin on set, I, I said it was the day before and I said, you know, he's like, you want me to improvise at all you miss? I said just do what you want. And so that morning he goes, hey, I'm gonna read the monologue, I'm gonna perform it normal.
0:38:58 - (Josh David Jordan): But I wrote him a monologue before your monologue.
0:39:01 - (C): Whoa, a pre monologue.
0:39:03 - (Josh David Jordan): He wrote a pre monologue and it's not in the movie. Not because it didn't fit. It was just the movie's already too long and so I have it as like a, an extra feature for the Blu Ray.
0:39:16 - (C): Nice.
0:39:16 - (Josh David Jordan): It's Barry Corbin given him Given his. His monologue. That guy was a trip, man. That's a hero of Barry. It's Barry Corbin, you know, Good thing.
0:39:28 - (Mike Rhyner): It'S not Patrick Corbin.
0:39:30 - (C): I mean, he might still be good as an actor, but we've never seen him.
0:39:33 - (Mike Rhyner): Little Ranger reference there for everybody. Yeah, yeah, season's over. I couldn't resist. And I don't mean to denigrate the work of the great Barry Corbin.
0:39:46 - (C): I don't think he would have taken it that way.
0:39:47 - (Mike Rhyner): He is absolutely a favorite in there. Everything I've ever seen.
0:39:50 - (Josh David Jordan): And he was good. He wanted to be here tonight. He. He's on a new TV show that filming, so. But he. He. He did he. Him and his wife. Joe sends their. Their thanks and says thanks to you for the invite. But, yeah, maybe soon I can come back like Max has so many times, and maybe I can bring Barry Corbin along with me. Yeah.
0:40:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Boy, talk about one upping him.
0:40:12 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:40:13 - (C): Scoreboard.
0:40:14 - (Josh David Jordan): Who you bring, Max? Oh, nobody. I brought Barry Corbin.
0:40:17 - (C): Yeah, maybe you've seen.
0:40:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Max brought beer.
0:40:19 - (Josh David Jordan): Maybe you've seen films like Urban Cowboy and War Games and no country for Old Men.
0:40:25 - (C): Max brought Rob from the Clubhouse.
0:40:30 - (Josh David Jordan): And Glitter.
0:40:31 - (C): Yeah.
0:40:35 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, so you go to these film festivals where you were nominated for something.
0:40:40 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:40:42 - (Mike Rhyner): What's that like? Do they treat you. You get any special treatment or anything like that or.
0:40:47 - (Josh David Jordan): No, I'm. Yeah, I love. I love free stuff. Swag, dude, you know, you brought us hats.
0:40:54 - (C): I immediately put it on.
0:40:55 - (Mike Rhyner): He did.
0:40:56 - (Josh David Jordan): And that's what's free.
0:40:57 - (C): It's me.
0:40:57 - (D): Yeah, it's a nice hat, too.
0:40:58 - (Josh David Jordan): And, you know, they. As a filmmaker, you're probably, you know, if you're going to film festivals, you're probably not in Hollywood. And so, you know, they give you free drinks. They normally get you a hotel, a motel or whatever. Probably for me, a motel. And then there's a party. They take your picture, they interview you. Feel important.
0:41:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:41:22 - (Josh David Jordan): And I think because film festivals know how freaking hard it is, man, to make a movie, you know, it's not. I always tell people, I was like, you know, if you're a musician. Not, you know, not comparing the two, but, like, if you make an album, you know, on a Friday night, you can go open up for somebody or you can play a couple of the hits. When you're a director. Well, you. I mean, here's my movie.
0:41:46 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, that's it. And you.
0:41:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Here's the movie, and you start it and you finish it.
0:41:51 - (Josh David Jordan): Or I'm probably not even in the room.
0:41:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, there's no no middle ground there.
0:41:56 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, there's no. Only on a premiere. That's why premieres are so important in film festival. Just the only time you're in the room with people watching it, you know, everything else, you give it to a distributor and it's on Netflix or Amazon prime and you just, you know, you can't play the hits.
0:42:12 - (Mike Rhyner): So you do a lot of schmoozing situations.
0:42:15 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, but it's one of those things. I think everybody smoozes and everybody. You know, I probably have a whole stack of business cards that I've never even. I don't even know who these people are. You know, you, you combine free drinks and business cards. Well, I don't know who gave me what, you know, and. But yeah, it's, you know, you get, if you're lucky enough, you get some awards, you know.
0:42:40 - (D): Are you nervous in that audience?
0:42:43 - (Josh David Jordan): No, not in those. Because I think it's just, it's such like, everyone's, you know, like minded, you know, everybody. And they ask really good questions, you know, I think, I think in those situations, unlike these. No, but you know, you're, you guys are interested in it and they're interested in.
0:43:02 - (Mike Rhyner): We see the difference between us and them is they know we don't.
0:43:09 - (Josh David Jordan): Exactly. And so, yeah, it's. Yeah. You feel important for a day. That's. That's all you need sometimes.
0:43:18 - (Mike Rhyner): That's cool. I mean, that's. Everybody's nice to you and everything and you know, they, you probably don't think too much about after you walk off, what they're going to turn to somebody and say about you or anything because you had a good conversation with them and all.
0:43:35 - (Josh David Jordan): 100%. Yeah. And maybe you never know that, you know, there's always that hope that maybe one of those people is. It's your ticket. Yeah. It's the person you're supposed to talk to. And that hasn't happened yet, Mike, but maybe it will. One of these red carpet premieres.
0:43:52 - (C): Gotta kiss a lot of frogs.
0:43:54 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, a lot of frogs. A lot of frogs.
0:43:57 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, you do have to kiss a lot of frogs. But you're. I mean, you're doing something you love.
0:44:04 - (Josh David Jordan): I love it. I mean, you do, don't you?
0:44:07 - (Mike Rhyner): It's, I mean, this is, this has got to be a labor of love for somebody like you.
0:44:11 - (Josh David Jordan): I just don't think anybody could stand. I don't think you could do it. When I did this role on break, the day I dropped off my final movie, the final hard drive, my wife was like, we should go Celebrate. I was like, we should. I didn't really know how to celebrate. I was just so. Been working so hard. And we're sitting in the movie theater, and I start to see things are vignetted, and I can't really breathe very well. And the lady came by, and she's like, y' all want a margarita and some popcorn? And I said, I'm okay. And, boy, my wife looked at me like, what?
0:44:50 - (Josh David Jordan): And I stood up, and I couldn't feel my left arm. And I was like, oh, this isn't good. And I walked into the lobby, I was on my hands and knees, and I was, like, trying to say ambulance to the person at the front desk. And then I remember going, oh, this is it. And it felt real peaceful. I didn't know I was having a panic attack. It's just so much, I guess, from me dropping off that hard drive. I was done, right?
0:45:19 - (Josh David Jordan): And so my mind and body goes, we're done. And I think that kind of sums up making a movie in a way, is you just put yourself through so much just because I say it's like this. And this may sound psychotic, but for me, it's really just kind of getting the voices out of my head and getting everything. Getting the story out of my head and just. Because if it stays in there, I'm gonna be miserable. It's. It's a weird. It's a weird thing.
0:45:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Is that the only time that's happened?
0:45:51 - (Josh David Jordan): Almost die. Almost dying. Yeah. Yeah, that's. Yeah. Because now I know what it is.
0:45:56 - (Mike Rhyner): And you no longer fear it anymore.
0:45:59 - (Josh David Jordan): I mean, I take a lot of CBD products and other things to. To help out. I don't fear it. There's no more fear. Because I know the signs, and I know to take care of myself, you know, a little bit better. But, yeah, I mean, I. I have to do this. I have to tell. I have to make movies. I love every aspect of it. I love the months and months of location scouting. I love finding the perfect ashtray. I love finding the perfect song that goes with that scene.
0:46:29 - (Josh David Jordan): I mean, you have to love it to watch that movie over and edit and over and over and over again.
0:46:35 - (D): And thank goodness you do.
0:46:37 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:46:37 - (D): I mean, yeah, creatives, we all have those voices. We all have to put something out. But, gosh, this world would not be the same without you.
0:46:45 - (Mike Rhyner): And all of those things that you just mentioned, I mean, all that stuff, all that detail, all those things that have to be done. I sit here and hear that, and I think, man, this just must Take forever.
0:46:59 - (Josh David Jordan): Forever. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely this film. We shot it here. I always say, make it a movie's 90. Paperwork, 10% shooting the movie.
0:47:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:47:13 - (Josh David Jordan): Because we shot for 15 days only on this film, which is not very much at all. And we shot that in 2023 of September of 2023. So it's been two years of grinding. Did you edit it, too? My, my son is the main editor and I'm the co editor. Okay. So this is an editing question, because.
0:47:34 - (Mike Rhyner): That'S all I do was editing.
0:47:36 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. By the end of it, did you hate it? You know what's wild is when I do music videos and stuff. Like, I do a lot of, like, I, I've done all of Josh Ray Walker's music videos. I've done some Rhett Millers and Polyphonic Spree. And for some reason, after it's over, I kind of can't watch them anymore. Yeah. With this movie, I, I, I never got tired of it, which is so bizarre. This world won't break. I did for some wild reason, but for some reason, this one, I don't know what it is.
0:48:08 - (Mike Rhyner): There's probably, I would think, though, a little bit of difference between doing a music video for somebody and, you know, doing a movie. Because when you do a music video for something, you do it and like, you say you give it to them and that's that. And you really don't have to watch it anymore.
0:48:28 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:48:28 - (Mike Rhyner): It's, it's way more closely associated with them than it is with you, for sure. The film is something else.
0:48:35 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:48:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Film is yours.
0:48:36 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:48:37 - (Mike Rhyner): And it is yours until. Till who knows when.
0:48:42 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. Forever. Yeah. I'm chained to it. And maybe like a music video is. It's just one song and that can drive you bonkers.
0:48:49 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:48:50 - (C): I was going to say, how much of a song do you have to hear when you're editing like that? Like.
0:48:55 - (Josh David Jordan): Yes.
0:48:56 - (C): Are you hearing, like, basically sections at a time, the whole song?
0:48:59 - (Josh David Jordan): You're hearing seconds frontwards and back, like sexy after sexy after sexy after dark. And you're like, if I hear that one more time, I'm going to lose it. But a movie, you know, you can breathe, but because it's like peaks and valleys. It's like driving on the back roads. You're like, whoa, I forgot about that left turn.
0:49:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:49:21 - (Josh David Jordan): So there's a little bit of, like, refreshment to it.
0:49:24 - (Mike Rhyner): A little bit more ebb and flow to it.
0:49:26 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. And you're kind of like cooking something. You don't even really know, you know what I mean? Like, what if we add a little bit of this? What if we add a little bit of that and you put it in the oven and let it simmer? And, you know, there was two things that I. I wrote and we shot it. I mean, it. It was in the movie that I thought, well, this is going to get me awards right here. This is something. This is it. This is good.
0:49:48 - (Josh David Jordan): And my son was like. He'd watched it and he goes, we got to cut two scenes. And it was those two scenes a. And I was like, I don't think so, dude. No, you don't know everything.
0:49:59 - (C): And then did he say, excuse me, you're the co. Editor?
0:50:01 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah, exactly. And then my composer watched it and he goes, josh, the movie, it's so. I feel it. But the movie stops down on these two scenes. And I was like. And I got a third opinion. And I was like, all right. Yeah, you got to kill your darlings, man. But, you know, it's better off. You know, sometimes you're just too close. It's a weird thing. It's like a weird. You're too close to it, but you have to be close to it or it's not going to be yours. I don't know. It's a.
0:50:30 - (Josh David Jordan): It's real trippy if you really think.
0:50:32 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, you have to be close to it, or else it's not yours yet. If you get too close to it, well, that's not good either.
0:50:40 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, it's like being married.
0:50:42 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean. Yeah, it's children.
0:50:44 - (D): It's having children. It's having to let them go, and somebody else is going to do things.
0:50:49 - (Josh David Jordan): With them now, right?
0:50:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I guess at the end of the day, there's a sweet spot in there somewhere that you try to hit, but the sweet spot is very, very small. And. And a lot of time you don't even know when you hit it.
0:51:02 - (Josh David Jordan): A hundred percent. Yeah. And you can't really practice for it, or it just. You just know. Yeah, it's. It's a trip. And you gotta. And you gotta know when you're done. You know what I mean? With the movie, you gotta know when you're done.
0:51:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:51:18 - (Josh David Jordan): Like, when's the music done? When's the final, you know, bird chirping, Sound design. When's the. When is it? You could always credit. And I kept in. And these credits, we did all kinds of crazy stuff. The credits are fun, too. They're creative. And it's just like after a while, you're like, I just got to let this thing go. And then what. And then what do I do?
0:51:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Do you ever get to a place where you think it might be the end, but something drives you to keep on going and take it a little bit further? Or do you. When you get to the end, do you. You know, it.
0:51:51 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, what's wild is. On my films that I write, I have normally two or three endings. Yeah. And they're. I. I feel like they're. They're all plausible. I feel like they could all work, like, in this world. Won't break. One of the. The ending that I wanted was, you know, he hasn't made it. Dallas doesn't think he's a good musician. And he just can't seem to get out of town and, you know, go on a tour.
0:52:20 - (Josh David Jordan): What. The very end, he gets a phone call, and his dad says, there's this little bar in Texas that wants you to play on the end of the movie. He's going up these escalators, and you start to see he's the only American. Everybody else is Japanese. And he goes and knocks on this door, and it's this little Japanese bar called the Littlest Bar in Texas. It's a real place in Tokyo. I thought that's a cool.
0:52:46 - (Josh David Jordan): That'd be. He had to go all the way to Japan to play the Littlest Bar in Texas.
0:52:49 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:52:52 - (Josh David Jordan): And so that was an ending and it wasn't. It just didn't always feel right. 100. And so I. The ending that I have now is. Is the ending that I love. But I think it's. It's good to have an alternate ending for yourself to make sure that your ending is.
0:53:09 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:09 - (Josh David Jordan): Is right.
0:53:10 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:10 - (Josh David Jordan): You know what I mean?
0:53:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:11 - (Josh David Jordan): So it's comparable to something. Maybe.
0:53:14 - (Mike Rhyner): So how do you know when the ending's right?
0:53:18 - (Josh David Jordan): I think I just. I guess from watching. So I just. I watch so many movies, and I've seen so many movies that are wrong.
0:53:26 - (Mike Rhyner): When you're watching a movie, do you sit there and just analyze it?
0:53:30 - (Josh David Jordan): I don't. I don't. Unless. I mean, when I go back and rewatch it, I watch it for technical reasons.
0:53:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:37 - (Josh David Jordan): I just love movies so much that when I go, I just let it wash over me. And then if I love it like a no country for Old Men.
0:53:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:45 - (Josh David Jordan): I try to figure it out, but I don't ever go in. My son's not like that, though. It's hard for him to watch a movie because he's like, they should have cut that five seconds before or like. And you know, he's, he's like, dad, it's so hard for me to relax and watch a movie. He's like, how do you do it? I'm like. Or is a sweet spot in there somewhere? Yeah. I can't explain what it is.
0:54:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Is he following in your footsteps?
0:54:10 - (Josh David Jordan): Oh, I think that he's jogging past me. He just finished his first feature film.
0:54:18 - (C): Whoa.
0:54:19 - (Josh David Jordan): And he played it at the Texas theater to a sold out crowd.
0:54:22 - (C): Dang.
0:54:23 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:54:24 - (Mike Rhyner): So you are following him.
0:54:25 - (Josh David Jordan): I'm following his footsteps. You know what I mean?
0:54:29 - (C): What's his movie called?
0:54:30 - (Josh David Jordan): It's called Real Life. Yeah, he did a great job.
0:54:35 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, now, if anybody wants to watch any of these films we've talked about of yours, how would they do it?
0:54:43 - (Josh David Jordan): You know, I think the best thing, because things change with distribution and stuff. Like right now we've pulled this role won't break from everything because we're. We're doing a remaster 4K, a new sound design and we're doing a double vinyl record as well. And we're putting this thing on 35 millimeter. There's a company in London where you can send your 4k movie and they put it on film. And so we're going to do a 35 millimeter tour.
0:55:09 - (Josh David Jordan): A. I mean, obviously after El Tonto Peristo takes its toll, we're going to do this roll. Won't break again. But I think there's some places out there. I'm not going to like tell you which ones they are, but there's some places you can probably watch it for free. If you Google hard enough, you can see this wall won't break. But I think if you just go to IMDb, you know.
0:55:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:55:32 - (Josh David Jordan): And just type in Josh David Jordan, it's going to tell you all the music videos, all the stuff, you know, that maybe some embarrassing roles that I played on tv, maybe some commercials. My first commercial ever was with Troy Aikman and a chimpanzee for Acme Brick.
0:55:51 - (C): Right.
0:55:52 - (Josh David Jordan): It was for Acme Brick. And this is.
0:55:54 - (C): Yeah.
0:55:54 - (Josh David Jordan): And then a month later it was me and Troy Aikman for Wingstop.
0:55:59 - (C): Whoa.
0:56:00 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:56:02 - (Mike Rhyner): So he knows you now, huh?
0:56:03 - (Josh David Jordan): I don't think he knows me at all. He probably remembers that chimpanzee more than me, I'm sure.
0:56:09 - (C): I mean, I think everyone remembers the chimpanzee.
0:56:12 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah. For sure.
0:56:12 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. You put a run a chimpanzee out there and that's what's going to get remembered.
0:56:16 - (Josh David Jordan): Yeah.
0:56:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Everything else will be forgotten except that.
0:56:19 - (Josh David Jordan): Or the Brick or the brick. Yeah.
0:56:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, good luck with all this.
0:56:24 - (Josh David Jordan): Thanks so much.
0:56:25 - (Mike Rhyner): I really appreciate you coming in here and in lining us on how it is that you do what you do. This is obviously a world that I know nothing about, and it's been very, very informed, informative to talk to somebody on the other side of it.
0:56:40 - (Josh David Jordan): Well, thank you guys for having me on, and I've always been a big fan, so it's nice to sit in this chair and just chat for a bit with you. It's been good.
0:56:48 - (Mike Rhyner): That's all we're trying to do here, man. All we're trying to do here. All right, that is Josh, David Jordan.
0:56:56 - (C): Yeah.
0:57:00 - (Mike Rhyner): One more thing here before we go that we need to. To tell you about, and that is that you can find all of our episodes here on youn Dark Companion on our Patreon page. You can also find us on YouTube. You can find us on Spotify. So all that's really cool and everything like that, but there is something we need for you to do. Listen, follow, share us on your social media. That means everything to those of us who swim in the waters of the podcast.
0:57:32 - (Mike Rhyner): And while we're at it, if you're feeling what we're throwing down and you're digging it, how about a nice review? If you buy the channel on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, help others find us by leaving a review. We will be very, very much in your debt for that. Hell, we're very, very much in your debt for just watching this thing, you know, so we appreciate it. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Shupee. Thank you, Becca.
0:57:57 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you, Josh. Really good to talk to you, and we wish you the best, man.
0:58:01 - (Josh David Jordan): I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.
0:58:03 - (Mike Rhyner): That's your Dark Companion for today. Bye. All right, I'm gonna go take my pants off. Your Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.