Meet Ian | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Ian, do you have a budget? how do you think about personal finances?
I have a budget for sure, but my views on personal finances vary quite a bit from topic to topic. In my everyday life, I try to be very frugal about certain things, like clothes I’ll wear until they fall apart and I go nuts with coupons on anything I can. On the other hand, if there’s an opportunity that I feel is a life experience that I won’t have a chance to experience again, I don’t feel bad spending my money on it. Experiences are always more valuable than material things, and luckily I’m in a financial position to drive to L.A. on the weekend to check out a new exhibit at a museum or something even if it’s a little pricey. The last thing I spent a fair amount of money on was my short film “Brain Rot”, which I was lucky enough to have great friends and collaborators who did me a favor by giving me discounts on goods and services. Still, I dropped a good chunk of change on it, but I’ve never been more sure that the money I spent on something was worth it. Whenever I can, I try to spend my money in places that reduce waste or go to a good cause. I buy my coffee from Awesome Coffee Club which gives all their profit to charity and is ethically sourced, I try to go to thrift stores for clothes, shop locally instead of at chains, that sort of thing. Overall, my spending is based on whether I think that I’ll regret spending or not spending money on that thing in the future.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My short films are mostly thrillers, but what I really believe sets me apart from others is that I admire a good story over anything else, which transcends genre and medium. I find it easier to tell stories and messages that I want to tell when I put them into a thriller setting, but I hope that people are able to get involved with the characters and their struggles no matter what the story is about. There’s something really fun about deeply caring for people and situations that aren’t real, and my biggest goal is to make a movie that makes people care about characters like how I cared about characters when I was a kid watching my favorite movies. That’s the reason the project I’m most proud of was my last one, “Brain Rot.” I feel like I’m improving on that goal with every new project I work on, and it’s been the biggest confidence boost ever in my decision to pursue film. I’m most excited about the feature version of it, which I’m making now. It will be my first feature film, and it’s beyond exciting to finally be able to take a good crack at making something at that scale.
I’m where I am today professionally because I made videos in high school, then went to College of the Canyons for my Associate’s Degree in filmmaking, then went to Emerson College for my Bachelor’s Degree in filmmaking, and now I’m creating as much as I can while trying to support myself. These experiences have all been easy and insanely difficult in their own ways, I think the biggest challenge was finishing my degree at Emerson College. I loved creating so many films with friends, and I had the time of my life there, but there were high highs and low lows. Being away from family and friends for the first time put me in a very difficult place, especially when it came to forming new relationships/ending unhealthy relationships with people. I think it’s easy for a lot of creatives to self-isolate and think that their suffering makes them a better artist, and it took me a while to convince myself that I didn’t have to be miserable to be creative. Therapy is a heck of a thing, and I’d highly recommend it.
Another lesson I’ve learned along the way is that, almost in any field, you have to fake it til’ you make it. If you don’t take opportunities because you don’t think you can be good at it, those opportunities may never come back. It’s better to try and fail with your best intentions, and always get better, rather than let fear make your decisions for you. I want the world to know that my story is really the story of many people. Nobody gets where they are without the help of someone else, and it’s okay to acknowledge that you need others to be your best self. I thought for a long time that the more I could do by myself, the more proud I would be of myself, but it always tends to be the things that I work on with others that make me the most proud.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Visiting Lancaster for the first time is something that a lot of my college friends experienced when they came to help me with “Brain Rot”, so this topic is fresh in my mind. If the poppies are in bloom, definitely go there. There’s literally nowhere else in the world with poppies like that, just hills of bright orange for miles, it’s really wonderful. Then if it’s soccer season, check out an AV Alta FC game. The community out here for local sports is great, the stadium used to be for the minor league MLB team Jethawks and I went there almost every week as a kid. Getting drinks at Transplants Brewing Company is always awesome, they have events there almost every night too so there’s a good chance that you can catch a concert or stand-up set on any given night. Of course, you’d have to check out the Lancaster Museum of Art and History as well, they do a great job of bringing art to the community and it’s on Lancaster Blvd. which has a slew of other activities. One of which is the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, where you can check out performances and plays depending on their line-up for the year. Honestly one of the best parts of Lancaster though is how you can drive into the desert and just be away from everything pretty quickly, it’s very peaceful driving into the desert surrounded by Joshua trees, disconnecting for a bit, and visiting the aqueduct for a nice walk with friends.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mom! My Mom of course! She’s supported me my entire life and I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am now without her. I’d also like to thank my sister who has always been there for me and my Dad who has been a great influence on my life. As far as mentors go, I’d love to thank Mr.Shepardson, Mr.Robertson, and Mr.Griffey. They were my teachers in high school and each of them taught me about how awesome telling a story can be and how telling that story can change people’s lives. My friend Daniel has also helped me a lot, if not for him I would have just been making my video projects by myself in high school, and I’m not sure if I’d be pursuing film at all today.
Website: https://ianjonassen.myportfolio.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iej2000/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-jonassen-2287b1197/
Image Credits
Isaiah Vivero-Ha