INTERVIEW WITH J Stevens (they/them) - Director and cinematographer and co-creator of 'Slo Pitch' which is also available on OUTtv in Canada and on KindaTV worldwide. J talks with Perrie Voss about coming in last minute to help out on the Avocado Toast the series set, getting inspiration on a cross-Canada road trip and what makes their creative clock tick!
Perrie Voss:
This is the J Stevens, cinematographer director extraordinaire, show creator, filmmaker, all things incredible. And we were lucky enough to beg for them to come on and save the day as our camera assistant when we were in a bit of a bind halfway through shooting. And yeah, we were really lucky to have you. So thank you for chatting with me today.
J Stevens:
Of course. And it was awesome to be a part of, as you alluded to there, I don't assistant camera very much anymore but Sam Coyle, the director of Avocado Toast, is one of my best friends and she also directed my first feature as a cinematographer. And so I got a very like hurried panicked text [message] one night being like, “anyway, you're free for the next 10 days and can help us out because we had someone who can't finish, to finish the rest of the show” And I was like, for you Sammy? I got you. And then it was really lovely and such a talented group of people. And I think a very important story to be out there in the world. So yeah, it's not something I do often, but I was happy to jump on board because I think it's an important story that deserves to be seen.
PV
We were very lucky to have you.
JS
And it was really fun. I hadn't met Cam [Roden], the cinematographer, beforehand at all. So it was really fun to get to know him and wonderful human and super talented orange few things from him too. So yeah, it was a good experience.
PV
Yeah, Cam is awesome. So having the two of you is just like a total dream, so yeah, that was fun. So, J is also an incredible filmmaker, as I said, and has a series out called Slo Pitch, which is also airing on OUTtv as well as KindaTV.
JS
Yeah. It's on OUTtv in Canada and then KindaTV, which is a YouTube channel pretty much worldwide, but it's yeah, if you don't already have it getting out TV subscription, you can get, you can see both of the shows. It's just fun and cool.
PV
Ya 2-for-1 content, female and non-binary driven stories and yeah, very, very cool. It's an awesome show. So yeah. So you did that, you shot that around this time last year, right?
JS
Yeah, I guess so beginning of October last year is when we shot it. Yeah.
PV
And so what else have you been working on in the COVID times? How have you, how have you been coping?
JS
Pretty good. Yeah, we earlier we were talking about COVID wall and I like to say that there's been many different COVID walls of different sizes. ‘Cause I feel like some days it's like not so bad and some days it's like, Oh my God, I just want to go hug everyone. But I can't. And that sucks. I spent the first three months with everyone else just not doing anything at all. And at first it was like, ‘Ooh fun. I can do whatever I want'. And then I was like, 'okay, this is now dragged on for much longer than we thought it was going to'. But I used it to kind of think about what I wanted to do. Because it can be very easy when you're just jumping from project to project to not really think about what you want to do and just be like, ‘okay, I've been offered this, I'm going to jump on it’. But having the time to be like, ‘no, what, what is the impact I want to make?’ What are the roles that I want to do? I thought was very, very helpful in figuring out what I want to do and what I definitely don't want to do. It can be equally as helpful.
PV
Did you find anything that you were like, ‘Hey, I didn't actually realize that I really wanted to pursue that’. Or like, is there a part of your career that you're now sort of like re-emboldened in to explore and discover?
JS
I don't know if there was like, ‘Oh, I've never thought about this before’, but I think that I always saw myself as a director and like, that was, that was my end-goal. I never really saw myself in the camera department to be honest. And then I went to school and right out of school, got a job as a PA and then the camera assistant dropped out the night before the shoot. And so one of the producers was like, ‘you know how to work with cameras, right?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, I had to do it at school’. And they were like ‘sweet, tomorrow, you’re getting upgraded to 2nd AC’. And I was like, ‘okay, great’. And then from that just kept with the same production company, kept getting offered camera assistant or camera operator rules. And I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really fun’, and my brain works this way’. So I started doing more stuff with that and then - oh, I’m from Calgary, so that was all in Calgary. And then when I moved to Toronto, it was just like the thing that hit for me was people hiring me as a cinematographer. And so yeah, I kept doing that and because they were great projects that I was working on. So I think [the downtime in the pandemic] just made me realize like, ‘Oh, I want to direct a feature film’. Like, I directed slow-pitch last year and hopefully there'll be a season two and stuff like that. But I was like, ‘what, other than that, do I want to direct?’, and making the steps forward to do more of that because that's ultimately what I do love to do.
PV
I think it's really cool that you're able to shoot and direct. Cause I mean, I know that like cinematographers and directors have to create a short hand together and that you can just do that in your brain
JS
For Slo Pitch, it was the best thing ever because it's a mockumentary. So yeah, it was really easy rather than as a director having to go to the [camera] operator and be like, “okay, on this next one, when this person says this line zoom in just a little bit. And then when they say this next time, like crash zoom in”, like obviously with shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation it is done people do it and it works well. And but as a director, it was just so fun because I feel like that is my instinct to just get in there. And it's really adding to the comedy, I think in terms of like when you zoom in on something or, pan to someone else or whatever. Yeah. It was really fun to do both. And that's where I think that worked really, really well hand in hand.
PV
That's really cool. I mean, working with you, like where we have, I feel like I've seen you work with directors really well, and I've also seen you like take control and just like shoot and direct, which I think is really cool. Like I think it's an amazing skill that you're not just like, I need to do everything. Like you're not a control freak about it, you know?
JS
I hope it doesn’t come across like that!
PV
Not at all. It’s cool. It's nice to see that you can transition like that. There's a directness, but like there's like humility that comes with that. So I think it's really, yeah, I'm inspired whenever I work with you. So it's very cool.
JS
I think my biggest thing as a director is that I feel very passionately that when you're directing something, it should be a story that you should tell if that makes any sense. Like, I, there's just certain stories where I'm like, I think the story should get made. I think people need to see it, but I'm not the right person to tell this. And so what I love about cinematography is that when it is one of those stories that I don't feel like my voice is the most important one, I can just help support other filmmakers that I absolutely love. And then, yeah, don't feel like I have to be like, Oh, I should be directing like this. It's just fun to see them flourish and like see these other stories that are important, but aren't mine to tell come to life and support.
PV
That's really cool. And I think that is really important to be able to take that step back and let that sort of come to it actually leads me to my next question, you just nailed that segue for me.
JS
Haha!
PV
Thank you. Do you think that it is the filmmaker's responsibility to sort of like cater to an audience? Or do you, do you like to sort of release things to the world however it might be received, if that makes sense?
JS
Yeah. Nope. Hmm. I think I'm bad for this one because I think that I like to make stuff that I would like to see as an audience member. And so I'm not necessarily thinking of the other audience members, which maybe I should more but I'm never like, ‘Hmm, what are audiences craving these days?’ I'm more-so go about it and think like, ‘what do I want to see? What are the stories that I think should be being told’. And then I think growing up, I do think I was one of those like audiences that queer films were targeted towards. And so watching all these horrible, and some not so bad and some really good queer stories being told, and then talking about it with different friends and stuff within the community, I could kind of tell when my opinions lined up with other people who are queer and when they, diverged and I believe I'm a pretty good litmus test for, if I think it is queer good content others might. So this sounds really egotistical but like, hopefully if I think that it's a story that should be told, there are others. I'm not saying the whole community. I'm not saying that, but like, hopefully there's more audience members for that out there. Does that make sense?
PV
No, it does. Because, and I think you've sort of talked about that with me with Slo Pitch that you're like, ‘I know what they want, this is exactly what I would want to watch. There's an audience for this”. I think the cool thing about Slo Pitch is that like, it transcends. You know, my mom watched it and she was so excited about that, which was cool. I think for both of us.
JS
I just think that like humans are humans and experiences are universal. And so when, when you're making content, that's not necessarily about being where you just have characters, experiencing other things. I think there's, there's like nuggets that anyone can get from that. Because so much is universal, but I think Avocado Toast had the same thing where like, in just your content, you cover more than just like a bisexual coming out story. But I think the reach as well is someone who's going through heartbreak. It's someone whose family is now like shifting somewhere other than what they thought it was. And I think those are things that regardless of your sexual orientation audiences can connect with. And I think that's what your show did. So there are universal themes throughout there. And then like on a few queer characters also.
PV
Yeah. Always. I mean, more queer characters for everybody!
JS