We recently had the chance to connect with Joseph McGovern and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joseph, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I’ve always felt others struggle with being true to their originality, due to judgements based upon jealousy and/or envy. Every person has characteristics which make them different and beautiful, many are fearful to reveal or be open and honest with others or even themselves. It takes an immense amount of courage to be your true, wholesome self – most people attempt to blend instead of standing out. I encourage anyone I come in contact with to be their true original self and always hold their head up high, even in the difficult moments when facing judgements.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m an independent filmmaker, owner of JAM Productions, and a published writer/poet. I create independent films mainly in the drama and thriller genres; most of the films I create question societal boundaries and help the audience question their surroundings and how they think. I pose questions but never provide answers – I believe in leaving films open-ended. I hope after an audience finish watching a film I create, they’re inspired to have meaningful conversations with each other. The poetry and novels I write typically have to do with discussions of the human experience and tell different stories from every walk of life.
The most important part to this journey is I get to work side by side with my loving wife, Constance Reshey, who is a major driving force behind all work concepted and completed by JAM Productions and the books I’ve published. Connie believes in our film and literary work together with all her heart and makes sure we complete everything we start to the best of our ability. My eternal love goes out to her every day – Always and Forever my heart (in my greatest Screech Powers voice) – JC4EVER!
My first book, “Perception” was an artistic collaborative anthology I put together with a group of artists from Chestnut Hill College where I graduated, containing: poetry, short stories, photography, and different types of illustrations. My first solo debut poetry collection, “Words Left Unspoken” published under J.A. McGovern, was released April 2024 by Anamcara Press, LLC – my love forever goes out to Maureen Carroll and Amber Fraley of Anamcara Press, LLC for believing in my collection and promoting “Words Left Unspoken” to be a wonderful success! Make sure you check out Anamcara Press and all the wonderful books they’re publishing and promoting!
Currently, JAM Productions released the following films: “All Over Again,” “Hush,” “Is this the bed we lie in?,” “All Over Again” Music Video, “History in the Making,” and “Inside Jonathan Fox.” “All Over Again” is a family drama about an aging guitarist who never gives up pursuing his passion for playing music. “Hush” is a silent, experimental, drama with thriller elements about young married couples and when an obsession is taken too far. “Hush” takes the #metoo movement a step further and brings pro-life/pro-choice into the conversation. “Is this the bed we lie in?” is a relationship drama involving a conversation between a husband and wife one evening after work: the wife brings into discussion her bi-sexual curiosities she would like to explore and experience. “All Over Again” Music Video, is derived from the film, “All Over Again,” but contains unused footage to help expand the story further into the main character’s relationships between his: wife, son, and best friend. “History in the Making” is a documentary discussing different events in history – positive, negative, and indifferent and what will your touch of history be you leave behind? “Inside Jonathan Fox” is a silent drama centered around the daily routine of title character, Jonathan Fox, who works through the difficulties of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
I have produced, directed, edited, and color graded many other films – the most recent being “The Farm – Behind the Character of Juani” I directed and helped produce.
All films I have produced and/or directed, under JAM Productions, have been filmed with a RED One or RED Epic Dragon camera with Rokinon Cine Ds Lenses, with the exception of “Is this the bed we lie in?” which was filmed with Sony Fs5 Camera with Shogun Inferno attachment and Sony Full-Frame Standard Prime Lenses, “History in the Making” was filmed on an iPad Pro, and “The Farm – Behind the Character of Juani” was filmed on an ARRI Alexa Mini with Zeiss Compact Prime Cp .2 Cine Lenses. I have experience in post-production workflow with many different types of footage.
What makes JAM Productions content unique is I’ve completed a majority of the behind-the-scenes work: lighting, filming, and taking sound at the same time with early work such as “All Over Again” and “Inside Jonathan Fox”. I complete all Editing, Visual FX, and Color Grading work for the films and my Sound Designer, Matthew Amadio, takes care of all the Sound Design, the Audio Engineering, and the Original Score.
I have a strong producing team who helps make sure all productions I create come to completion: Constance Reshey, Joseph Fuoco, Christine Juanita Noble, Joel Blanco, and Eli Hayes (who lives with us now in memory, RIP my little filmmaking brother – if you have the chance to check out his content he created over the years it’s worth your time and energy and helps keep his memory alive).
At the moment, JAM Productions released: “Is this the bed we lie in?” onto the 2025 festival circuit run this year, “All Over Again” Music Video will be our film for next year to be released for 2026 festival circuit run, “History in the Making” will be our film for the 2027 festival circuit run, and “Inside Jonathan Fox” will be our film for the 2028 festival circuit run. Each film is completed and ready for release with the exception of “Inside Jonathan Fox” – currently, I’m working through the visual fx color grading work and rotoscoping needed for completion of the film.
While JAM Productions is competing with these films on the festival circuit over the next few years my team will be completing a new film, “Wild Hearts,” a provocative thriller and we will be preparing to complete our first feature film. We’re extremely excited for the future!
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
This question is actually interesting because it’s the reverse for my journey. The world and everyone in it told me I wasn’t going to amount to much. I had many teachers along this journey who told me I wasn’t intelligent enough to complete their classes, I had high school guidance counselors who said I wasn’t good enough to go to college and I should just go into construction where I belong (which some of the most intelligent people I’ve worked with are construction workers), bosses who had the nerve to patronize and jump to conclusions and tell me you never graduated from college and you don’t deserve to be paid your appropriate due (funny thing, this is in reference to a pastor who I worked for in a blue collar position who stole a two-thousand dollar bonus from me which I rightfully earned two weeks prior to a past Christmas and said, “You earned enough Joey” with a smirk on his face as he preached he went to school for business and told me I didn’t even earn a degree so I meant nothing – which I kindly corrected him, even though I know I wasn’t going to receive the money I earned, my degree is a double chemistry major in Forensic Science and I completed Ovarian Cancer Research for my Internship at Temple Medical Research Center and smiled and walked out of his office with his jaw dropping) my personal life with friends, families, and lovers told me I wasn’t good enough or who do I think I am, or you’ll never amount to much, or you’d rather make $20 writing and selling song lyrics to a musician than find more actual work that pays well. Even though when I graduated into the recession, I couldn’t find much work to begin with – which is an entirely different conversation.
Roughly six months after I graduated from college, with a job working at The Hospital University of Pennsylvania Call Center, not making much money. I had a liberating experience where I spent my last dollar, all my credit, and hit rock bottom financially with a mountain of debt above me between student loans, loans for a production company I was trying to start, paying rent amongst all other bills – I watched the film, “Into the Wild,” the story of Christopher McCandless, and finished reading simultaneously, “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. I learned valuable lessons from both the film and book, disregarding the recklessness aspects both stories carried alongside the lessons. The most important lesson and turning to my perspective was: you have one life to live, don’t waste time or energy (money will always come and go) not pursuing your dreams, create small goals to obtain your dream no matter how long it takes and difficult it is. Most importantly, don’t worry what others think of you because they’re most likely jealous they can’t find it within themselves to go after something greater than their own ignorance when you have a specific vision you’re working towards – others have their own journeys, even if they would like to dictate yours too, and you have your journey: protect it, keep it safe, and never stop keeping the creative candle lit. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get to your destination, as long as you arrive – the journey is what’s most fruitful, so make sure to be conscious of it and pay attention along the way.
I will say this, and I hope any aspiring and inspiring artist is paying very close attention to these next words because it is a phrase you will come to realize and live by if you remain a fighter within this industry or any entrepreneurial creative industry and decide to never give up:
My work is an extension of myself. Fuck anyone and everyone who patronized my work, criticized in fruitless manors my work, said I was stupid and didn’t deserve what I’ve fought every day for, hated on my passion and drive to never give up – due to their lack of and inability to dream, figure out a course and contain vision, have direction to create small goals to obtain a dream, and straight up jealousy and envy. But hey, it’s ok – everyone’s got to have some number of haters…
Never Ever Give Up On Your Dream – I Believe In You! We Need Your Work! It’s That Important!
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
This is a very interesting question and I would like to take it to a similar question most people ask or hear in present day, today – What’s a three word phrase you would tell your younger self?
My response would be (which I’ve thought about this response for many years) – Never Stop Trying. This response is a phrase I live by every day. I’ve never given up and I give one hundred and twenty percent of my time, energy, and effort to this dream! Which is why whenever I formulate updates on my Facebook fan page or personal pages for social media I always place a #NeverStopTrying.
Never Stop Trying is that important of a phrase because I hope anyone who reads it; inspires them to pursue or believe they can accomplish their dream or whatever in life they’re pursuing. It could even be raising children as a parent – and being the best possible version every day to set an example for their children. It could be a teacher (one of the most important and under-appreciated roles in our society) who is about to throw in the towel and give up teaching because they can’t take the harassment and straight up emotional abuse they endure. Then they circle back and realize their role is the most important role in our society. They realize they’re the educators of our youth and their lessons will transcend into adulthood if they can reach the child. They’re trying to achieve the near impossible to inspire learning within a person and inspire them to never stop learning. That’s an incredible responsibility. Also, could be healthcare workers: representatives and nurses who take care of everything from bedside care to the administrative care of our healthcare system and make doctors lives significantly easier – who are not paid nearly enough but persevere because they know their jobs make a difference and the kind hearts they have transcend the ignorance of corporate officials preaching, “For the good of the business…”
#NeverStopTrying
Because your efforts and beliefs in the goals you’re pursuing matter!
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Personally, I don’t hold beliefs any longer because a belief is so strong you won’t allow any other influence or discussion provide growth or change or ideas to evolve your way of thinking – it’s too concrete, like foundation to a house – even water can make concrete crack in the long run. I believe in critical thinking and enjoy constructive conversations with people who share opposing point of views. Typically, I have ideas, this way I can be open to evolving my way of thinking.
Any literary project or film production I start, I never give up on, even when it takes years to complete, painstaking or not. My book, “Words Left Unspoken” took twenty years’ worth of writing, editing, and rewriting to be recognized and published. “Is this the bed we lie in?” took five years’ worth of frame-by-frame rotoscoping/visual fx workflow, and color grading to correct lighting errors from the production set – approximately over 100,000 frames/photos and different aspects to the picture I had to correct for the film.
Could you imagine undertaking this endeavor knowing your entire team is relying on you to complete the production and post-production process and you have to just say, “Trust me, it will work out”?
I’m very fortunate – my wife, Constance Reshey, helped me remain inspired and pushed me to Never Stop Trying – and after five years, every day, sitting in front of the computer for as long as I could (sometimes one hour or fourteen hours in a session) stay awake between working two jobs and any side construction work I could find; I was able to bring the production to completion. This was the most difficult artistic experience I’ve endured but I’m grateful for all the knowledge I’ve obtained.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I think about this question often, especially after the past twenty years, actually since day one. I knew I wanted to work within the film industry – originally, I thought it was going to be acting, like most artists. I acted in all the school theater productions, college productions, and independent film work around my area in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York. At these stages early in my career as an actor I was teaching myself writing screenplays because I always wrote poetry and felt I had something meaningful to say. The productions I was acting in provided zero fulfillment in the long run and that’s if they even saw the light of day. Most novice filmmakers don’t realize how much preparation and technical knowledge is required to create a successful film along with business and marketing knowledge to distribute a film properly. Most productions are shelved before they have a chance to make an impact (primarily because it’s not perfect, which as a beginner the production was never going to be – the first few productions were meant to serve as a learning experience for future more impactful productions) and many films in the past I participated in followed the same path.
I realized I could create the stories I wanted to act in but eventually found myself as a writer/producer/director which would eventually lead to learning editing and color grading too – which I had no issues with because when it comes to my work, I want to make sure it looks its best and working with Matthew Amadio I knew my productions would sound great!
I hope when I’m gone – if people do speak about me; first, they speak about how I was fair when it came to every decision I made within this journey. After that, I hope they speak about my determination – how I kept the artistic candle lit against all odds, maintained my original artistic liberties in the process for each artistic endeavor, never gave up, and never stopped trying. It would be wonderful to hope the film and literary work transcends my life and will continue to be watched, read, and the lessons I leave can be learned and discussed.
Thank you so much for taking the time and energy presenting the opportunity to discuss: JAM Productions, my film and writing endeavors, and overall artistic journey over the past twenty years!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4829557/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_7_in_0_q_joseph%2520mcgovern
- Twitter: https://x.com/joseph_mcgovern
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josephamcgovern
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