656805 Times-Herald ees AND COMMUNITY Business Entertainme ro a he Dh August 4 Vallejo A&E Source: Vallejo filmmaker loving the doc scene : (B6Boo Vallejo filmmaker Jayson Jonson chats with assistant Ling Ghen during a recent fllming. conTRIsuTED PHOTO By Richard Freedman, Vallejo Times-Herald POSTED: 0009/10,11:19AM POT | UPDATED: ON owveaze1e 0 COMMENTS Odd, how one’s vision sometimes finds focus. ‘Take Jayson Johnson. He wasn’t even involved in the film industry when he fled Chicago for California to work for Francis Ford Coppola — at the iconic ty director's winery as a pourer. “All hy chance,” Johnson remembers. “I never wanted to move to California.” Apparently, Johnson and his then-girlfriend agreed in college to go wherever the other landed a solid job. On the set of ‘Neighbor’ — a film on sex trafficking “I tried really hard, but couldn't find a job in — Is leftto right) Justin Vu, Erika Svensson, and. Vallejo filmmaker Jayson Johnson. Chicago,” he said. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO. His girlfriend, however, found work in Northern. California. “I just couldn't believe it,” Johnson said. ‘I moved here without having a job. I didn’t have a solid plan. But he did send out resumés and was actually hired quickly at the Coppola winery “educating people about the wine industry.”680805 Itled to work as a post production assistant for “Marie Antoinette” — a 2006 film dirested by Coppola's daughter, Sofia, Johnson was finished with Francis Ford a year later after working a nationwide wine and film tour. “Four very hard years,” Johnson said, calling Coppola “very demanding. I'm sure everyone who has worked with Coppola has a story.” Johnson left Coppola, landing as a teacher's assistant at Napa Valley College. Though he had an itch to act, “I got no callbacks,” Johnson said. “So I'm thinking, ‘Maybe I can help in production somehow.” Whimsically, he started producing his own program — “The Jayson Johnson Show.” “I thought it wes crazy at the time, but it's probably been the best idea I had,” he said. “It was poorly thought out with very low production (values).” Johnson posted the variety show on Facebook and YouTube because, if nothing else, “I wanted to be in the industry that seamed to have this ‘closed door’ policy and unless you're completely in it and navigating around it, it canbe a nightmare.” ‘The low-budget program “gave me the confidence that I could at least make something,” Johnson said. “It was nothing great but at least something,” He produced 24 episodes ranging from 20 seconds to three or four minutes “based on a dumb idea I had. But I taught myself editing and lighting, all the things necessary in production.” From there he “ad-libbed a ridiculous 1980s ‘blackplcitation’ movie” filmed in Vallejo where Johnson was the lead actor. “I didn’t take out any permits and the camera man was a janitor,” he said. “It at least taught me how to get started by doing these embarrassing, cheesy things afford me the opportunity for other films and other shorts.” . 2 ‘Though Johnson worked hard to learn eae Raia the business, he said his family back in EARN 5 5 000 the Chicago suburb of Aurora thought MEMBERSHIP REWARDS? POINTS. his filmmaking quest “was a risky endeavor. They still do.” Not that his parents didn’t encourage Johnson. “My mom would tell my brother and I that if we were going to have any type of life, we would have to leave” the area, Johnson said. “While I was in high school, that really didn’t make sense. After the summer I graduated, I think Ifound out why. I noticed 2 lot of friends getting into trouble.” Advertisement Tk seems like an eon ago. Now, at 42, Johnson is all in for this film career, having started Indigo Films after freelancing jobs for the Napa Chamber of Commerce. ‘His most recent effort about suicide bombers has made its way into the Venice Film Festival in Southern California.