Emily: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of the ultimate creative podcast.
I'm your host, Emily milling. And today I have a brand new setup. Why? Because I'm sitting in someone else's office and someone else's studio. I R L I have a guest today. He just happens to be the love of my life. The only person I've seen in person in a long time,
Justin: [00:00:55] that's not true. You went to some shops just a few
Emily: [00:00:57] days ago.
I went to shops, but I have not recorded a podcast episode and like yelled into somebody else's mouth. And anyway, I have the love of my life with me today, just to clue
Justin: [00:01:08] the love of my life.
Emily: [00:01:10] I'm so excited because you were on my podcast, like Way back when it started. And I was like, so nervous to interview you, even though, like
Justin: [00:01:18] I'm a very imposing figure as people can hear on this podcast, you know, the podcast that I do, I'm like fun, loving, and I'm a jokey guy, but in real life, I'm like grand Knight, just stone faced all the time.
Emily: [00:01:28] Well, and that's what I was hoping for today for you to be granted and stone faced. And so with that, my first question is if you could be any sort of. Stone surface, what would you be? Is it granite or is it more of a marble texture? Marble,
Justin: [00:01:41] marble feels much nicer than granite, right? Granite is kind of like prickly or not prickly, but like prickly rough when you touch it.
Yeah. You know, cactus, granite, aren't you in the know when it comes to stone rocks.
Emily: [00:01:53] Yes. I know everything about the great Canadian shield. So Justin let's do a check-in last time you were here. You weren't like a full year into your business gold ninja video. And you've since launched yet another podcast, I believe about a star wars or star wars adjacent something or other.
So give us a rundown of what is new with your business, with your podcasts. Tell us everything well, the
Justin: [00:02:16] business, when it comes to Blu-ray stuff has pretty much stayed the same. I've upped the number of copies that I make just because I was running out of stock. And so the print one would be done because for people who don't know, gotten into video, I do limited edition Blu-rays.
And if I run out of stock and people keep messaging me, Hey, Hey, Hey, do you have more? Do you have more? That is not good. So I try to have enough that it feels limited and it will run out and I can still get it to people that want it. And I am moving to bigger and better things. We're going to start scanning film prints of stuff, which I'm really excited about.
And as far as the other new podcasts that I started, yeah. Uh, the star wars podcast is mostly just something for me and my pals that we can just hang out due to the pandemic, which we couldn't do. And talk about something that one of my friends has always wanted to talk about, but me and another friend, Matthew Kumar, we never wanted to watch, but now we're doing a podcast for them.
We can make fun of him on it. So that's good.
Emily: [00:03:11] I mean, that's enjoyable and you're still doing the bay street video podcast. You're still doing no such thing as a bad movie. And of course the important cinema club, the classic podcast belt, cinema
Justin: [00:03:23] podcast, Trinity. Yes.
Emily: [00:03:25] Okay. And so today I wanted to have you on also to talk about why it's so hard to be creative sometimes because I know we both struggle with this from time to time, and then there are other times when we're super prolific.
So my first question on this topic is. What happens when you realize that creativity is not coming to you as easily as you want it
Justin: [00:03:44] to? Ooh, like how do I get over it? I don't know. I feel sad about it for awhile. And then I probably consume stuff that I like hoping that that stuff will inspire me, whether that be movies or books.
And then when I really like something, I go, Ooh, I want to do something like this. And that leads me to it. I mean, that's an easy answer. It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it's a long process, but that's usually the way that I go about it.
Emily: [00:04:03] Well, I mean, yeah, get let's get into that long process.
Cause I kind of feel that too. I just came through, I think like a two and a half week period of like absolute creativity, drought. I was feeling depressed. I was feeling angry and sad. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that like we got her vaccines and then still couldn't do anything. And it just felt so stifling.
And like for me, what happens is I get angry at myself that I can't. Make my brain be creative. Do you ever have that? I don't
Justin: [00:04:31] know if I get angry at myself. I think I get frustrated sometimes because like making movies, what I really want to do, and I feel like I don't do that enough. And I think about it all the time too.
When I go to bed, when I wake up in the morning between pauses of things, but as human beings, I think we tend to distract ourselves very easily. And just do something else and you go, oh, I need to have the perfect moment in my day to get to this thing. So I'll put it off and then months pass and you never actually get to it because it was never the perfect moment to work on it.
Emily: [00:04:59] Yeah, there is a lot about that. Like waiting for the perfect moment or waiting for the spirit to move you. And like, sometimes I'll push myself to be like, I must have a minimum of 15 hours spent on comedy per week or 15 hours on 15 hours. Yeah. Like it's in my calendar too. Or like 15 hours a week on specifically creating content for the ultimate creative or whatever it is because I'm like, I just got to like plow through it.
Obviously it doesn't happen every single time, but if I don't hold myself accountable to like, Some sort of hourly quota. That's just how my brain works. And then, and then I actually get stuff done. But the other thing like that I think is a tip off for me when I'm not feeling super creative or I'm like, I really, I need something else to inspire me is when I start doing really mundane tasks.
Like, I'll go into all my accounting software and I'll like categorize everything. And then recategorize all of my transactions. And I know sometimes you kind of face this too, when you're like, you have to do something creative for your blue rays, but instead I hear you working the paper cutter, like cutting out the covers for your blue rays, that you're you're manufacturing.
Cause like. For the listener. Justin does everything from this office. He literally manufacturers the discs here in the office So sometimes they'll catch you doing that kind of stuff. And it's sort of like a, just a way to keep feeling productive, even though you can't be creative in the moment.
Talk to me a little bit about that.
Justin: [00:06:22] Well, the manufacturing of the stuff I usually do just to get it out of the way. And also, so I don't get caught when I have to send some stuff or I ran out of Blu-rays. I make them manufactured on demand basically. Like, so I have enough in stock that it doesn't take up too much room.
Yeah. And when people order, I can just throw it in a package and I always make sure that I'm topped up. And so the reason I do that is we do not have enough space in the apartment too, for me to order a thousand Blu-rays that may then not sell for a year. So I would just have boxes laying out all over the place and the cutting of the Blu-rays.
Yeah, it's something I do because I can listen to a podcast or watch a movie while it's happening. It doesn't really take that long. And my arm usually gets pretty tired, but it is something that can fill the time when you're supposed to be doing something else. And you're like, oh, but I also have to do this
Emily: [00:07:05] task.
Get to this thing. Cause it's just so important to even know it could happen at a later time. I mean, yeah. You know, there's always like things that we can use to distract ourselves from the reality, the crushing reality, sometimes that it's like, you know what, my brains are doing stuff today. And I just kinda gotta let that go.
I had to do that. Like I said, for the last couple of weeks, I had to let it go. And then all of a sudden over the weekend we had a very prolific. Collaborative creative time. So my next question is actually about that, like the value of being creative with a collaborator. So we shot and edited three new sketches about a character named no luck.
Chuck who gets killed by a gorilla at the end of every scene. In very bizarre ways. I will link to that in the show notes when the sketches actually come out, because they're going to come out after this episode airs, but. So, I know you were a bit of a creative, dry spell with your work right now in this particular disc that you're working on.
So what do you think the impact of working on a super low pressure project this weekend, was for you if at all, or maybe it wasn't maybe working with collaborators makes your brain work,
Justin: [00:08:12] work, work. No. Collaborators are essential in terms of the products that we did this weekend. It was nice to do something and then to have it done, uh, it only took an hour, so that's nice to do something different.
And I, everything that I do has collaborators. So all the podcasts that I do, uh, you know, I host movies. I do it with Peter coupler whiskey. I've written a book by myself, but even then, that's not fun. It's always fun when you do that,
Emily: [00:08:35] I was there the whole time for the record. Yeah.
Justin: [00:08:39] I mean, I wrote the book by myself and you did all the layout.
So pretty much, so much hanging out, but like, you can't really do anything by yourself and finish it. I mean, maybe some people can, I don't feel that way that you get like satisfaction when you're done to hand it over and be like I had, it's done, man. I feel great. Usually you want to do it. Um, with somebody else, like even editing podcasts, I've edited thousands, thousands of them.
And I still dreaded every time. The recording of it is fun because you can always bounce off somebody else. But editing is. A lonely endeavor and then when you hand it and then you just post it and it's done and you share it on social and then you move on unless you made a mistake and then you have to go back and fix it.
Emily: [00:09:12] That's very true I think there's a lot of value in working with collaborators. I think sometimes too, like if you're not super comfortable with the people that you're collaborating with, it becomes very easy to self edit and that can kind of lead down a path of like, oh, maybe this isn't actually as good as I thought it was going to be.
Or like, put an idea out there, but it's not as well received because the people that are with you, aren't in your brain and you've, they're joining you like halfway through a regular scheduled program. Already in progress. That's what it is a program already in progress. And so like that, that collaborative piece, like you really have to be able to trust the person that you're collaborating with.
It took us a long time to get to a point where we were like having fun, doing very low pressure collaborative things. Cause we have collaborated on so many things throughout our very long, many number of years together. Oh, we're ancient lovers at this point. What do you do? When you are totally tapped out for creative ideas.
Justin: [00:10:12] Well, even before to answer that question, I think that like collaboration is something that's important. I just thought of it while you were talking. And it's something that takes a while to figure out is like delineation of like, what are the responsibilities of people collaborating? I've always found when, like it's 50, 50, and both people are equally invested in what's going on.
It's very difficult to collaborate on something. So for example, some of the podcasts I do, one of the deals I made with the people that I do it with was like, I don't want to edit it. Like, I don't want any of that responsibility. Like I'll show up, I'll record and then you do it. If you need me to post it, I can do that as well.
But like, it's a lot less pressure on your back. Same thing with like creative of movie projects. If you just show up and you have all the ideas and you're ready to go and the other person can share ideas, but you're not, they're not competing with you. Like you have two completely different things, right?
Um, that's the best way to do it. Like, oh, I'm showing up and I'll record with you. We'll do whatever you want. We have fun. We collaborate on set, but it's not like I'm involved a hundred percent in everything that you're doing. I think that's a very destructive thing and was me and you. I think that the best way we figured out how to work is like we delineate stuff.
Like when you were doing the music, I don't hover over your shoulder offering advice the entire time. Right. I just offered advice at the beginning of your general idea, and then you come to me with something completed and you give it to me. And then I'm like, oh, okay. I understand. Instead of trying to be involved creatively the entire way,
Emily: [00:11:28] and you're talking of course about when I was doing the music for our film, impossible horror, which I will get to a little bit later, but, okay.
So back to the question, What do you like to do when you're totally tapped out for creative ideas? What is like, what is your go-to thing that you. Do to start getting your creative juices flowing again,
Justin: [00:11:45] go lay in bed and feel sad. Watch a movie and then fall asleep.
Okay. Yeah. I don't know. There's no real solution. Like I jumped on the treadmill and then I go through all the ideas and I put up the papers in front of me and I concentrate it. Now. That's not really a solution. It just eventually comes to me later.
Emily: [00:12:01] Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's a realistic way to look at it because I personally feel.
So deflated, I'm like, I'm a total failure. If I go lie down in bed and fall asleep, where is that? Oh, no,
Justin: [00:12:13] not me, but I don't know if it helps me that I fall asleep. Then I wake up to go to the next thing. But that's what I do
Emily: [00:12:18] usually. Hey, you know what, if it works, it works. That's fine. And then when you're in a particularly prolific period of creativity, what are some of the routines and rituals that keep you there and keep you going?
Justin: [00:12:30] The thing that I've learned is I like to make lists and plan out days and then not follow them. So. Yeah, I don't really have any specific plan every time I'm like, I'll do this much amount of time before lunch. And then after lunch, I'll do this. I wanted to broke down my day and like literal hours of how it's going to work.
It never even lasts the entire day. I don't know how to get it to work. I just go with the flow man. And. When I start something, I try to complete it. Usually within that day, I don't want it to drag on too long because otherwise it grows in stature in your mind. And it seems much more difficult than it is to complete.
Like, I was just editing something before we started recording and I was playing around with it, adding a bunch of stuff and I realized, okay, I got to go back to the beginning and I got to go beat by beat through this, to be able to get to the end or just be noodling around all over the place with it.
Just start at a go to Zed and then you can go back, watch it. You'll have the structure it's like rewriting, right? Writing is rewriting. As long as you get something down on paper, then you can go back
Emily: [00:13:24] and fix it. Yeah. I mean, I'm totally the opposite because that calendar blocking and like specific numbers of hours to do things really, really helps me to keep going with my creativity.
And I think like I was talking to you about this yesterday, when we were going up for a walk as lovely couples do when there's nothing else to do. I was talking about how I really need to have like a separation between like my Workday and then specific creative things that I'm doing. because I think like it puts me in a completely different head space.
So I need that like, A specific hour blocked off for that kind of thing as well. The other thing that I think was helpful for me that is very different from what you've just described is like breaking down big.
Projects into smaller tasks, but that had the same outcome that you described. So like finishing something from a to Z, that is just a portion of what the big overall project is. So even if it's just working on something for an hour, like, I know I'm going to edit this episode for an hour and then tomorrow I'm going to do something else related to it for an hour.
And then that way it's not like. Super overwhelming and all encompassing of like, this is my whole day. I have to do all of it. Cause I really need that variation to keep the car. I agree
Justin: [00:14:34] with you. I don't think that you should look at the totality of a project. I think you do need to kind of like break it up into pieces and know that like, you know, once you do this piece, once you do that piece, once you do this last piece, it'll be done.
Cause like I've done projects where I'm like, I have three Blu-rays that I have to finish. This will never get done. And then it gets done because you just chip at it every day and then eventually it. Done. I mean, we live in a society. We live in a society where, you know, you think you have to do something instantly and then put it out in the world.
And that seems really, um, I don't know, daunting. So you just have to figure out how you can get through it, knowing that if you keep working at it, eventually it will be done. And then you can move on to the next thing. Okay.
Emily: [00:15:12] So speaking of things that eventually get done, what do you do when you've been working on a massive project that demands.
More creative brainpower than you've ever had before, but you're up against like bajillions of external challenges. And I am talking about impossible horror, which I alluded to earlier. How do you get comfortable with creativity again, after like so much big, massive creative
Justin: [00:15:33] output?
I mean, you just chip away at it, right? Like you do a little bit each day and then you're eventually done. And that's a really like high wire act to walk because you want to make sure that you're not working on something forever and it goes on and on and on because you can just noodle with stuff you need to be moving like.
Toward a direction of finishing it by doing a little piece here, a little piece there and not get caught up with like, okay, well now I know more I'm going to go back and fix it. It's like, no, no, no, just get it done. Finish it, put it out in the world. Try not to think about it too much again and move on to the next thing, which will be better.
Of course,
Emily: [00:16:04] exactly. Because of all the things that you learned, I mean, the first, the first. Soundtrack that I wrote for what was it? Personal space. Invader sounds pretty awful compared to what I wrote for impossible horror. So, you know, you'll learn the things as you go, but it's so important. Like you said, like don't go back and fix it and make it so perfect because it'll never be perfect.
Justin: [00:16:25] And if you're thinking of like legacy or the totality of your work. Just remember that. No one cares. No, one's going to think about all that stuff. Like it'll be there. They can go listen to it and you don't need to be perfect out of the gate.
You don't even need to be perfect when you're done and you pass away from this mortal coil. You just keep working at it. And if you think it's getting better, if you think that you're learning, that's all that really matters at the end of the day. And
Emily: [00:16:46] this is coming from somebody who as has made a career out of studying the bodies of work of many cinematic.
Giants. And so, you know, I think maybe what you're trying to say is it's not that nobody cares. I think people care. I think they're just going to find more interesting things that are unique and creative to you. My dear lovely, wonderful list. Well,
Justin: [00:17:07] I think that when I say nobody cares, I mean, that. You know, people will care when you do good stuff.
They They won't care. Really, when you do bad stuff, they'll just move on to the next thing. Like it's not going to haunt them or anything like that. It's like, um, there's like a madman line where somebody tells the character, oh, you know, I've been thinking about you about this and that, you know, it's been haunting me and then, you know, the other character goes, wow.
I didn't think about you at all. And that's really the way that you have to go through life at a certain point that like the people that you care about that will like your stuff, there'll be there. You'll have your own support circle. You'll probably make fans as you go along, but don't worry too much about the stuff that doesn't work, because that gets forgotten.
Maybe you learned a lesson in it and you can move on and that's really all that's important. Uh, when you do that kind of stuff. Oh, my gosh.
Emily: [00:17:52] It's so good. That will be the sound bite for this episode, because now I'm going to wrap up this episode. Thank you for being here, Justin. Now tell us all of the places where we can find you and what else you are plugging right now.
You can
Justin: [00:18:04] check out my podcast, the important cinema club, just search it in Google. It'll come up as the first thing. You can also check out my YouTube channel, film, trap, and yeah. And film, trap.com as well, where I collect all of the stuff that I do. So you can see all the other podcasts and the other stuff that Emily mentioned throughout this podcast.
Oh, and golden video.com. You have money. You want to buy some, Blu-rays go there, buy them. Thank you.
Emily: [00:18:24] And Justin declare.com and also make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Why are you making that face? I made you that website
Justin: [00:18:31] years ago. It's just with the clue.com so active. I don't think I visited an agent.
Where does it go?
Emily: [00:18:35] It goes to the website that I made you. I'm gonna have to
Justin: [00:18:37] check it after this because I thought that had disappeared a
Emily: [00:18:40] long time ago. No, I made you a website on the train one time. Anyway. Also subscribe to our YouTube channel pineapple skeleton. I will also link to that and you can watch the new, no luck Chuck series and see how a gorilla.
Kills, no luck, Chuck, that's it for this episode. If you enjoy that, please remember to rate, review and follow on apple podcast. It's no longer subscribed for those of you who are listening, who are podcast people. Make sure you are updating your intros and outros with follow instead of subscribe. That's the podcast gem I'm leaving with you today.
Thanks, bye.
Justin: [00:19:12] Oh, yeah, I do a website
