Meet James Tyler Shaw | Filmmaker and Film Curator

We had the good fortune of connecting with James Tyler Shaw and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James Tyler, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It all really started with me feeling alienated from Los Angeles movie culture. What I’ve always loved most about cinema is it’s fringes, the wildest and weirdest parts, and here everything is so Hollywood-centric that it seemed there was no place for people like me. Now, I tend to think, if you have a difficult problem, the thing to do is find other people who have the same problem and then combine your resources and skills to solve the problem for each other. So, Take Your Medicine and Smile Productions and The New Film Underground shows were started around 2015ish as a way of doing that for underground cinema lovers in Los Angeles. Our goal is to celebrate and support the ridiculous amount of cinematic talent that is just too weird to get attention from the big institutions. A big part of that quest is the New Film Underground screenings where we showcase these contemporary fringe films, give audiences an experience that is wild and unpredictable and provide a place for underground cinema fans to meet each other and feel accepted. It’s always been important to me that the shows be almost like a church potluck; a friendly, communal event where we share short films instead of casseroles. I love seeing familiar faces at our shows, and I think it’s meaningful for people to go someplace where they know people are happy to see them. And then Take Your Medicine and Smile Productions actually helps short films get made and, more importantly, helps filmmakers help each other by bringing them together. The community has really grown over the last few years, and I’m looking forward to bringing even more folks into the fold.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The most unusual and controversial feature of TYMAS and The New Film Underground is our vision of cinema’s future. We believe that the feature length format will continue to recede and eventually be overtaken by the short format. I think there will be a hunger for something with the brevity of television, but without the attached multi-episode commitment. I also think the short format is just a better one because audiences are more accepting of experimentation in shorts, so those films can go further and surprise us more. That’s why my intention is that TYMAS will never produce a feature film, not counting the anthologies. As far as I know, we’re the only company to exclusively devote ourselves to shorts in that way.
The other key feature of this company is the DIY ethic. I think everyone knows the cost of filmmaking is what’s holding it back, so Take Your Medicine has been experimenting with lo-fi techniques like shooting on phones and using basic chroma keying. That can be a bit contentious, and I know lots of cinematographers hate it, but I don’t think the medium can evolve until it becomes more technically accessible and that means developing an aesthetic that uses the one camera that everyone already has. Only by escaping the chains of the “cinematic” look can cinema finally be free. That’s my opinion anyway.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love walking outside, so a place like Los Angeles Arboretum is beautiful and relaxing. It’s also supposedly haunted, which I like. Brand Library in Glendale is another great spot. It’s an art library with a gallery and a park that’s great for walking, thinking, writing. The Smell is a great venue to experience underground music and see a DIY ethic in action. Expression 58 is a really nice artist friendly church in Glendale. I also love the San Fernando Mission. It’s great if you’re interested in history. And Calvary Cemetery is also a beautiful place for a walk if you aren’t spooked by the whole cemetery aspect. I also must mention LA Film Forum which screens amazing avant-garde films from around the world and has been doing so for decades. I haven’t even mentioned video stores like Vidiots and Videotheque, and I could go on about art museums and such, but I’ll leave it at that.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Art Share LA is a really cool art space and community in downtown that was super helpful when The New Film Underground started. My friend Morgan Barajas is an important part of that community and connected me with the venue. So all our first shows were at the theatre there, and several of the filmmakers come from that community as well.

Website: https://www.takeyourmedicineandsmile.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/take_your_medicine_and_smile/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylershaw89/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/takeyourmedicineandsmile

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@takeyourmedicineandsmile

Other: https://filmfreeway.com/newfilmunderground