We had the good fortune of connecting with Jean-Pierre Isbouts and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jean-Pierre, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
For many years I had a long and fruitful career as an executive with a major international media company, but as a scholar and filmmaker I missed creating books and films on my own. As a result, in 1994 I took the plunge and established Pantheon Studios as an independent media company in Santa Monica, and my former employer was kind enough to give me a major project to start things off. Over the subsequent 30 years, I have been very fortunate to be able to work with leading publishers like National Geographic and major studios like Disney to create the type of books and films I wanted to produce.

Can you share a bit about what you do and the challenges you face?
The most challenging aspect of the creative industry is change. Our industry is constantly changing. I started to create programming with 16mm film, switched to a new optical medium called laser videodisc, then moved into the digital domain with CD-I, which was succeeded by CD-ROM, followed by DVD, and ultimately streaming video. To pull that off I had to constantly seek new technical and production talent to be able to engineer the type of programming I wanted to make.

How much risk is involved in doing what you do?
Going out on your own and founding your own company always involves risk. It is a plunge into the unknown. Being in a salaried position at a large company may give you a sense of security, but that turns out to be elusive given the pace of change, and the rapid staff turnover that we see at most media companies today. Sure, over the past 30 years we’ve had some anxious periods when funding was tight, but you are in charge of your destiny; you are the captain of your ship.

What was the most important decision in your career?
Not to compromise quality in any way. You are only as good as your last book or film. I have been fortunate to have over 30 published books and about the same number of films, but in every project I strive for the highest possible quality in production values, even if it takes a significant bite out of the budget and reduces our profit margin. In our most recent production, we worked with a talented 3-D designer to create a digital version of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, using photographs I had taken some 10 years ago with a Nikon long lens. For several years now, you are not allowed to take photographs in the Sistine Chapel; even the production of the motion picture “Conclave” was compelled to recreate a life-size model of the chapel. Our model turned out to be everything I had hoped for, even if it consumed a significant part of the budget.

What is the key factor of your success?
The most important factor of our success is the ability to make complex content accessible and immersive. I have written a series of hardcover books for National Geographic about biblical history, and that type of material can quickly become dense and too academic for the general reader. I have tried to avoid that, and the books became bestsellers. The same is true with the series of films about Leonardo da Vinci that we produced over the last 10 years, or the courses I have been able to make with The Great Courses (https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/). You have to make sure that your material keeps your reader or viewer fully engaged, using the essential principles of great storytelling. When I see some of the productions on Netflix today, many of which take forever to get to the point, that core value is often lost.

What would you like your legacy to be?
What is my legacy? Every day I receive emails from folks who have read my books, or have seen my courses on The Great Courses+ or Amazon Prime Video. Some of these emails are quite moving, in the sense that these people were inspired and uplifted by the things I wrote or produced. Sure, I have received awards over the years, but these emails, written from the heart, mean the world to me. I hope that will be my legacy.

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.
The best thing about my area–Santa Monica–is the beach. I go to the beach several times in the week for inspiration, for exercise, or to meet people at any of the beachside cafés. The Pacific Ocean is one of the most beautiful sights on earth. I lived for many years on the East Coast, but the Atlantic Ocean doesn’t come close. Walking, running or biking along the Pacific coastline is an exhilarating experience, so when we have friends or guests over, we drag them to the beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am indebted to many mentors in my life, including Gordon Stulberg, Bernie Luskin, Katrina Rogers, Christopher Brown, my literary agent Peter Miller, and above all my wife Cathie, and the support of my children: Bianca, Philip, Natalie and Alysia. 

Website: https://www.jpisbouts.org

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jisbouts

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-pierre-isbouts-89373713

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1090080; Wikipedia; https://vimeo.com/pantheontv

Image Credits
Pantheon Studios, Inc.

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