Meet Jason Williams | creator/animator The Storytime Show with Story J””

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, what role has risk played in your life or career?

That’s a good one.
Every time I put on my fedora and stand in front of a green screen, I risk making a fool of myself. As much as I’m on camera as Story J, I’ve never been fond of seeing myself on screen or being the center of attention. The curse of being an artist, I suppose. We put our hearts on our sleeve and when we put our most vulnerable selves out for the world to see, sometimes we don’t even get seen – and it feels embarrassing. So it’s hard.

It’s probably for that very reason I’ve always wanted to be a behind-the-scenes guy. At my seventh birthday party, I remember pulling my mom aside and saying, “So when y’all bring out the birthday cake and sing ‘Happy Birthday’, could you all not look at me when you do it?”

I mean, I liked putting shows together as a kid, but never wanted to be onstage, so I put together a weekly puppet show with my cousins as the performers. It wasn’t until high school where I joined the drama department where I got a little comfortable onstage. It was when we were doing a show called “Voices from Washington High,” and just as we were getting nervous, our teacher told us an old theatre adage: “You know the story, no one knows your character better than you – so remember, if you make a mistake, nobody knows it but you.”

Basically, I didn’t have to be Denzel. I just had to get comfortable in my vulnerability and find whatever my strengths were in that, to navigate this world.

Being a former teacher, I remember the pressure everyday of wanting to get it right. Get them to get it and make the connections they needed to see what I was telling them. So if it took me doing cartoon voices, dressing up in a mask and cape as Zero the Hero for Kinder Math time, I did it with a smile on my face and loved it.

Kids accept the vulnerable, honest ‘you’ faster than adults. So if it took drawing out an entire comic strip of Jerry stealing wedges of cheese from Tom for fourth graders to get fractions, I’d spend my lunchtime sketching up Hanna-Barbera characters for algebra.

Sometimes artists do what they can regardless of the risk.

It’s a strange time now seeing all artists and their work now placed in danger of being stolen, repurposed, or digitally re-appropriated.

Yet… still we post.

Still we draw, we paint, we film, we edit, bake, sew, decorate, animate because we have to – and the world frankly needs to see it: something drawn by hand, something written with our ink strokes or even the click of a keyboard. Libraries still matter. Books still matter, words on the printed page. The aroma of read pages in a bookstore. That deep popped crackle when the needle first touches a vinyl record. The music of another language. I think people need to see that color again. I think they want to, and I think this time around, EVERYone gets to make that sound, play their music, sing their story. Show every color.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

It wasn’t easy, and it’s still not easy.

It’s hard to call a life of odd art and graphics jobs that are only scarcely connected by a thread to my degree ‘a career.’ My first paying job was as a political cartoonist for my Parish newspaper. I was actually the youngest political cartoonist for the newspaper. I first started writing my KnightWatchers science fantasy in the 90’s. Science Fiction movies at the time were really dark and had everyone in a dystopian future where they all wore black and were always low on gas for some reason. I created KnightWatchers because I wanted kids’ movies and fantasies to have color, humor and joy again.

After getting my film and art degree in the early 2000’s and finding quickly how difficult it would be getting a job in the industry, I took my dad’s advice and became a substitute teacher. In the meantime, I took freelance jobs in illustration, animation and graphic design. I never realized that in the mix of storyboarding and sixth grade, I’d fall in love with working with kids in education.

Becoming Story J and doing the Storytime Show during (and after) the Pandemic allowed me to do something bigger. I could use all of my skills in art and storytelling to connect with a bigger and larger classroom, all while showcasing and giving kids the spotlight and doorway I never had. Of all things and of all times, kids need what we all need: To be seen and heard.

One of my personal challenges is seeing a community need get turned into a hashtag or a trend. To have your need ignored is one thing, but to see your need put on store windows, placed on bumper stickers and then shelved after a few months due to a barrage of political sideshow distraction, it infuriates me…  because it happens all the time.

I’m sure you’ve heard the quote from James Baldwin, “To be Black in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”

We’ve seen mass shootings happen now on an almost weekly basis. Eighteen of them in schools. I’ve grown tired of posting quotes and videos to illustrate my thoughts when these things keep happening. If a child goes online and all they see are posts from one side to illustrate the brutality of this nightmare to prove a point, while the other conveys thoughts and prayers and images of weaponry, that’s not helping the child.

Mr. Rogers said “Be a helper.” I’ve never met the man, but I can’t find any wrong in that want.

So this is my doing something, and while it’s there to be a safe place where everyone can find read alouds, art, animations, and old stories, it’s also been MY safe space.

If we’re being completely honest, doing the show, this new career, is saving me.

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.

In the fantasy world where I had enough money to do this, I’m a quiet guy, so I would have to do a soft-start with Venice Farmer’s Market and Santa Monica Beach. Then, a movie at the New Beverly – anytime. Saturday mornings, there’s old cartoons, in the afternoons there’s a family matinee (usually an 80’s movie) or an evening movie always on 35 mm. If it’s family from New Orleans, there would have to be either a trip to Little Jewel of New Orleans or Darrow’s of Long Beach where they have the best gumbo west of Metairie. A show at the Pantages, especially Lion King, would be life-changing. Finish that day off with Rosalind’s in Little Ethiopia or an afternoon at LACMA and a night at Scum and Villainy or Sassafras depending on if you’re a Star Wars fan like me, or have a flare for the New Orleans speakeasy crowd.

And again, if money fell from the sky and onto our doorstep, I’d also finish out this most fun itinerary with Malibu Pier, the Hollywood Bowl, a breakfast at The Griddle (the Saturday Morning Fever was my jam) and finish out with an evening of arcade games and cheese fries at The One Up.

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?

I’d first like to give a shoutout to the person whom I could not have done this without – her inspiration and her never-ending generosity and patience, my beautiful loving wife (she does a great Little Brave Batsy Good). To my friends and family who have supported me in so many ways, from supporting roles and starring roles and connections to promoting the show on Instagram, bless you guys. I truly cannot thank you guys enough.
I’d also like to thank the families and teachers of all the schools I’ve ever worked, from Louisiana to Los Angeles, for the opportunities and on-the-job learning I’ve gotten from being a substitute teacher, to a fulltime art teacher.
Finally to all the children I’ve worked with, there’d be no Story J without you.

Also to all those whom I work with and wish to continue working with in the future: Gregory Franklin and Franklin Theatre Group, Leslie Maxie, Maxie Media, Jared Oluwa of JGotBeatz and BITV Music, VOYAGELA !! and Fionna and Madison Wright of the upcoming “100 DAYS INSIDE” animated short.

Website: storyjstorytime.com

Instagram: @storyjstorytime

Youtube: youtube.com/@storyjstorytime

Other: https://youtu.be/7uZGFHdgR3A

Image Credits
Stephanie Shearer as “Miss F” in episode 207: An Unofficial Crossover with a Super Cool Schoolbus.”