The Fabio Podcast (00:00.63)
Hello Jason, my name is Fabio from the Fabio Podcast, Success Stories and today we're going to talk about your journey to success. But first, how are you?
Jayson Johnson (00:10.055)
great. Thank you for having me.
The Fabio Podcast (00:12.102)
Super yeah of course so all right all right so let's see who is Jason Johnson so Jason started from scratch in the entertainment industry and has now become a content producer for networks like Discovery, Amazon, Netflix and more but before this who are you so what was your life like so can you tell us about your comfort zone before you became the person you are today so go on
It's all yours.
Jayson Johnson (00:43.091)
Sure. I am originally from the Chicagoland area. I moved out to California probably about 12 to 13 years ago. But from an early age, I always was just really, I loved movies and just TV and just always just thought that was just something magical. I never knew how I would get an opportunity to get into it just because it just seems like.
you know, whoever's on TV, that's like another world. Like, you know, like these magical people that walk amongst us. So, you know, I just always wanted the opportunity, didn't know how it would ever come to fruition. But as I got into college, I had got a small opportunity to work in a, like an independent film. And then from there, I just really got, you know, opportunity and just, you know, developed a love for it and really went after it.
The Fabio Podcast (01:40.482)
All right. Nice, nice. You know, I'm going to make some question to you very, very. I don't know if someone made to you this already. But you know, we dream to become maybe a singer, or an astronaut, or a chef. But you became, so you wanted to become a producer and writer for a show, so specific. So.
Jayson Johnson (01:41.18)
I guess that's who I am.
The Fabio Podcast (02:09.846)
different. I mean, what was the motivation that led you to think like, hey, I want to become, I don't know, a writer for a show. You know, so it's very, very targeted. So what was it?
Jayson Johnson (02:21.767)
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think I tried a lot of different things before I eventually settled and said, hey, I really wanna do this, I'm gonna go after it. It's funny that you said, you know, we imagine ourselves being a chef and I actually at one time wanted to be a chef. Yeah. I grew up cooking with my mom and she said, what do you wanna do? And I said, I don't know, I really like to cook.
The Fabio Podcast (02:40.25)
No way. I didn't know that.
Jayson Johnson (02:51.439)
And I went to culinary school for three years and we had like an externship that after you finished like the basics and the training and the school, you go work at a restaurant and I absolutely hated it. I was just like, Oh my God, this is terrible. Uh, so, you know, I, I said, okay, well, at least I'll know how to take care of myself and then I went back to school. So.
The Fabio Podcast (03:02.638)
Okay.
The Fabio Podcast (03:08.034)
Heh.
The Fabio Podcast (03:15.918)
Alright, well just a question out of topic. So what is your favourite Italian dish and what is your best Italian dish you have ever made in your life?
Jayson Johnson (03:32.823)
So the best Italian dish, I'd have to say, I'm really a pasta guy. So any type of, this is probably gonna sound really generic, but you know, any type of like pasta, whatever it be, fettuccine, angel hair. I guess I really like spaghetti with clams. That's like a favorite of mine. But you could put any type of Neapolitan pizza in front of me, I'm gonna just chop that down, especially if it has
The Fabio Podcast (03:38.431)
Okay.
The Fabio Podcast (03:48.097)
Alright.
The Fabio Podcast (03:53.166)
Okay, fair enough.
The Fabio Podcast (04:01.457)
Oh my god, I love it.
Jayson Johnson (04:02.791)
right crust and you know just the right undercarriage and everything. I watched Port Norrie on YouTube a lot with his pizza reviews and it's just like...
The Fabio Podcast (04:10.81)
Yeah, but it's... Here I see that you actually know about food because you didn't say I like pizza, but you specified napolitan pizza because we have a different type of pizza in Italy, you know? So the Roman is more thin, the napolitan is more thick and like gummy. Okay, okay, okay. So you like to...
Jayson Johnson (04:27.359)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (04:39.022)
cook and still you decided to work in the environment industry but do you remember the trigger like something that I don't know do you have any memories something like that truly led to you to say you know what I actually like to be in this environment so what was it?
Jayson Johnson (05:07.595)
Um, I'd say I, I probably back in about 2008, I was working at, um, I was working at this, uh, in this design job and, um, it just circumstance had it that, you know, I was, uh, the job was ending and I didn't know what I was going to do. And I ended up taking a job working in a computer lab teaching, um, like illustrator and things of that nature.
The Fabio Podcast (05:13.613)
Great.
Jayson Johnson (05:37.051)
And they also had Adobe Premiere, which was an editing software. And at that moment, I started to learn how to edit. And at that point I said, I'm going to go after this with everything I got. I don't know anything about it. I know that I've wanted to do this forever. So here's my opportunity. I'm going to learn whatever I can. And I'd stay.
The Fabio Podcast (05:55.572)
Oh yes.
Jayson Johnson (06:06.523)
At some point, you know, during that job, you know, I don't know, I was working part time, but I would stay overnight, just learning how to edit and just the ins and outs of just how to put together a nice video.
The Fabio Podcast (06:15.778)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (06:22.882)
I truly feel you, you know, I was actually thinking this today. I was thinking, okay, so to become successful, you need three keys. Oh, well, that's what I used to think. So it's persistent, consistency and discipline, right? But with these three keys, I was thinking myself. So after a decade of a lot of experiments online,
Jayson Johnson (06:41.524)
Mm-hmm.
The Fabio Podcast (06:52.05)
and around trying to get the financial freedom, blah, blah. I mean, I never got it. OK, so now I'm a podcaster, so I love it. And today I understood that the fourth key is belief, you know, believing. When you truly believe 100 percent of you really want to do in your life, you give everything of yourself. And I think that...
once a person Reach that point then he can truly do whatever he can do So I think that's what happened to you. I guess and to all the people that achieve their dreams, you know what I mean?
Jayson Johnson (07:40.807)
I 100% agree. I do believe that you have to have persistence because you can be really great at something, but if you just fail one time and then you stop, then you're never gonna see your full potential. And you have to have your grit because stuff is not easy and I guess I would align with discipline. But you're right when it comes to the dream aspect. You have to believe or dream that it's possible.
The Fabio Podcast (07:52.545)
Yeah.
Jayson Johnson (08:10.683)
Otherwise, you're never going to take that first initial leap to try and do it.
The Fabio Podcast (08:14.698)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so well, after this experience that you had about editing and you liked it, I mean, I don't think it was always, in Italy we say roses and flowers, right? So we say rose fiore, you know? I don't think it was everything smooth. So I guess maybe you question yourself if you were good in this environment or everything was smooth and beautiful.
Jayson Johnson (08:50.407)
Oh no, in some cases it's been a nightmare.
The Fabio Podcast (08:54.982)
Oh Jesus, I didn't expect this answer. Okay, okay, go on. I'm very curious now.
Jayson Johnson (09:04.339)
Yeah, because there's times where I had no money coming in. And this was a really humbling thing for me, but probably about seven years ago, I couldn't find a film freelance opportunity. So the only place that I could find steady work was cleaning up the streets.
in the city that I worked at. And this was not a very glamorous job, especially since I went to college, I have a master's degree. So I was thinking, man, I'm trying to follow my dreams here with this film thing. It's not working out. And now I'm cleaning up after other people that live in the parks and stuff like that. It was just, I couldn't believe it. But I think...
The Fabio Podcast (09:40.099)
Alright.
Jayson Johnson (09:59.467)
Maybe this is true. You let me know but I think when you have a dream Life has a funny way of saying is this what you really want because I'm going to test you And any time you give up then you really didn't want it anyway
The Fabio Podcast (10:14.71)
Yeah, yeah, it's true. I mean, this reminds me a little bit all the old actors, you know, like Sylvester Stallone, for example, he sold his dog or cat to, and another one, I think, he was a taxi driver for four years before to be...
Jayson Johnson (10:31.889)
Mm-hmm.
The Fabio Podcast (10:42.61)
inside this environment. So but if you believe in something you truly do whatever you have in your power. If you don't have a power you create that power. So that's what I that's what I think. Yeah.
Jayson Johnson (10:56.139)
Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. And one more thing that I do, I always listen to tapes of people like Sylvester Stallone or Steve Harvey, or just, there's a lot of people that had hard times and how they were able to kind of get themselves through that onto the ultimate success that we see.
The Fabio Podcast (11:22.462)
Yeah, yeah, correct. I'm gonna make some sensitive question, Jason, yeah? And I, of course, I'm not here to offend, so in case, stop me if I do. But like, do you think your etnia, you think that kind of slow it down, like the process to become who you are right now?
like your... the fact that in some somehow... how can I say... the fact that in Hollywood or in this environment, in this industry environment, they pick up certain type of people. Did it kind of slow down? Yes or not?
Jayson Johnson (12:19.339)
Uh, yeah. So, uh, I want to say that there, there is, or may have just ended the Hollywood strike and, you know, there are, there are opportunities for, uh, people and, you know, I, I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people that go to Hollywood and they have good intentions, good work, work ethic and everything, and for whatever reason, it just doesn't work out for them. Uh, so.
The Fabio Podcast (12:29.236)
Okay.
The Fabio Podcast (12:45.121)
Okay.
Okay.
Jayson Johnson (12:49.169)
I know that could be a possibility for me.
The Fabio Podcast (12:51.61)
Okay, okay. Well, evidently for you was good anyway. I mean, you went through and here you are. So it's very, very good. And what was your recovery moment? Like, did you have any crisis that for you was kind of something that you...
How can I say something that impacted you in a very strangle way and at the end you recover but with some difficulty. Was there something like that or also in this case your recovery moment from some crisis was smooth?
Jayson Johnson (13:40.903)
Um, I, well, we may need more than 30 minutes to talk about my crisis. He's, but, um, I guess I can sum up a few of those. Um, at one point I, I was homeless. Um, and, you know, had to figure out how I was going to get back on my feet. Um, I've had, um, people that, you know, I've been in relationships with people that I absolutely loved and, and they left me because, you know, they didn't feel that.
The Fabio Podcast (13:51.415)
right?
The Fabio Podcast (13:54.828)
Okay.
Jayson Johnson (14:11.671)
I would be successful. I had someone in particular that told me I would never make a dime. And, you know, and so that after, you know, she was leaving me. So, you know, in all these experiences, it's almost like, you know, someone, you know, takes a, like the big crocodile dundee knife and cuts you in half. And you have to kind of stitch yourself back together.
The Fabio Podcast (14:16.843)
Oh my god.
Jayson Johnson (14:39.131)
you know, because you have the hope and believe and faith that things are going to work out the way that you envision them. So, it is painful, but you use that pain to propel your dreams forward.
The Fabio Podcast (14:46.734)
understand.
The Fabio Podcast (14:55.946)
I mean, it looks very painful. We are talking about someone who used to love and this person didn't believe you. So I don't know. What is the feeling? Frustration maybe or what was the feeling at that moment?
Jayson Johnson (15:18.811)
Um, at the moment, you know, I went through just the, you know, a gut wrenching despair, just because, you know, at this time, um, I had vested a lot into this relationship and I thought that I would be with this person. Um, I think that maybe, uh, I guess I can admit it. I feel that I'm a, I'm a romantic and you know, I want to have that.
that wife and that family, et cetera. And when she left, I felt that all of that was completely gone and I may never get that back again. So I had a lot of despair and just hurt and betrayal and just every raw emotion in the book. And I had that for a really long time.
The Fabio Podcast (16:13.542)
I understand. Well, I think it was your love of your life. So, and as you say, you are a romantic person. I feel you. And well, maybe you also experienced some self-doubt, I guess, or not, or you were sure about yourself, your path at that moment.
Jayson Johnson (16:37.387)
Uh, you know, I, I'd like to say I was, but you know, one thing that I've realized is, uh, during the artist's journey, there's not always going to be days where you believe in yourself. Uh, but there's, um, there's almost always someone that will kind of come out of the shadows or the woodwork or whatever you want to say. And
And they'll give you that little small piece of inspiration to keep going. And I've luckily always had that right when I was able to, ready to give up and throw the towel in, saying that I can't do this anymore. Someone would say, hey, Jason Johnson, you really inspire me. I hope that you keep going. And that really gave me the strength to keep going, to aspire towards going after my goal.
The Fabio Podcast (17:32.098)
All right. You actually anticipate my next question because I was actually asking you how did you recover? How do you recover on bad experiences or sad experiences? But it looks like that in your case, your strength was the people around you, the people who believe in you. So that's also very beautiful.
Jayson Johnson (18:00.734)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (18:00.79)
the other side of the coin, you know.
Jayson Johnson (18:04.251)
I can also add a little bit to that if that's okay. I would say, you know, whenever you are in a compromised position and you're hurting, like let's say you had a breakup or you lost a job or, you know, whatever this scenario, the key is to keep moving and to not just, you know, get on the couch, watch Netflix and, you know, eat yourself until, you know, you can't fit in your clothes.
The Fabio Podcast (18:07.866)
Mm.
Jayson Johnson (18:33.923)
uh ideas to keep moving because when you when you're active then things just kind of happen um you know certain difficulty uh you'll have you'll meet someone or you know some type of opportunity will arise so i think that is what's really key
The Fabio Podcast (18:55.434)
Right, beautiful. And all right, all right. So, well, I guess any experience give us some strength and motivation to go forward. All right. Which experiences gave you the right motivation and strength to go through and to realize your dream? Tell me.
Jayson Johnson (19:24.211)
Sure. So I'd say after my breakup, I had this friend that, you know, really encouraged me. And I was telling her that I didn't really have any experience or anything. And she suggested that I just go door knocking, you know, on people's doors. And it would say no solicitation. But, you know, I put my resume together.
Jayson Johnson (19:52.731)
experience that I did have and I would go and I would knock on doors and say hey I'm Jason Johnson really want an opportunity in film and a lot of times they say no solicitation get out of here but you know one production company gave me an opportunity and that gave me a lot of confidence to keep going because I ended up working there for three years and really learned a lot of stuff that I never
thought that I would ever get an opportunity to learn.
The Fabio Podcast (20:24.394)
Wow, beautiful. Where have you been actually? So if you, can you mention some movie or TV show where you were into with some creation?
Jayson Johnson (20:38.987)
Sure. So the company that I was just talking about, it was called Indigo Films and it's a small boutique production company here in the Bay Area, but they produce a lot of content for Discovery ID. And it's kind of like your docudrama themed. So they would do shows like
The Fabio Podcast (21:01.934)
Okay.
Jayson Johnson (21:06.083)
I almost got away with it where someone went to jail, they escaped, and then they're documenting their life on the run. Yeah, so I was hired as a production coordinator and for that role, I would get to see the breakdown of what each show cost, the line items as far as expenses
The Fabio Podcast (21:12.599)
school.
Jayson Johnson (21:37.339)
what was appropriate in a film production. So right there I started to get an understanding of, okay, I can estimate how much this is gonna cost. I know how many people we're gonna need to make this film production. I know what the insurance is gonna cost, or travel time, meals, breaks, et cetera. So I got a really good understanding of the film industry just from working in that role.
The Fabio Podcast (22:06.054)
Beautiful. Love it. Nice, nice. Well, today you are in a better place. So you have your experiences and you experiment a lot before to know what to do in your life. And today, who are you? So who is Jason Johnson's? Tell me.
Jayson Johnson (22:30.087)
Jason Johnson is a film director, writer, and an independent producer that is on the cusp of making a feature film. I am someone that, although I don't take myself too seriously, I do have respect for my peers, and have done quite a bit of film.
production work in a very short amount of time and have won and have had some accolades in doing so.
The Fabio Podcast (23:09.006)
I love it. It's good. It's good. It's good. You know, I... As you notice in this episode, also in a previous episode as well of my podcast, I really like to show the trigger, the crisis and the recovery, and especially the better place. So in this way, people around us, my listener, my community, but...
generally all the people who reach my podcast, they understand that it doesn't matter what happened in their life. So we are all human, but if we have that light, and that consistency and persistence and dream especially, so if you have that dream, if you just believe, you can reach it. So if you have that amount
of strength and motivation. So that's the reason why I really like to go forward on I don't know on this on this circle that every human being has basically. So yeah and you did very good and I'm very happy that you are here Jason truly.
Jayson Johnson (24:36.991)
I'm very happy that you've given me the opportunity to tell my experiences on your podcast. And I'm really thankful for a podcast like this because there's a lot of people that have dreams. I think that as kids, we're told that you can be anything that you want to be. And then as life happens, then you know.
The Fabio Podcast (24:52.712)
Yeah.
Jayson Johnson (25:04.155)
somehow you start to devolve from or kind of go from that dream into what's comfortable. Because you know there's this reasoning or rationale that we're kind of you know programmed into saying well you know that was that was what we told you as a kid but now that you're adult then you need to get into the real world and you need to give that up.
The Fabio Podcast (25:07.25)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (25:29.134)
It's true. They program you, they program us indirectly or directly. Like, you know, everything starts from our parents because they have been programmed as well. That's what I think. And so on. So from parents, family and school and society, and, you know, after a certain age, you don't even know what you want to do in your life.
because someone else decided for you. And this is very sad. Truly.
Jayson Johnson (26:04.251)
Yeah. And that's why it's really, you know, I'm really happy and thankful for what you do, Fabio, because people need to unlearn what they were taught from their parents. And it's not that their parents are bad people. I don't want to, you know, make that, you know, connection, but I think your parents, in the most case, you know, they had dreams too when they were kids, but then, you know, the real world happened.
The Fabio Podcast (26:11.436)
Thank you.
The Fabio Podcast (26:17.119)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (26:20.246)
No.
The Fabio Podcast (26:30.268)
Yeah.
Jayson Johnson (26:32.455)
And then they said, okay, well, I'm going to, you know, do this because it's going to get me money. And then that money is going to give me the life that, you know, you're going to get.
The Fabio Podcast (26:42.754)
They do this to protect us, like they don't want that we are gonna get the same disappointment they had. But the truth is that if you go through a little bit more and if you try to climb the rock a little bit better and if every time you fell you get up...
Jayson Johnson (26:52.456)
Yeah.
The Fabio Podcast (27:11.998)
a little bit better, so then you go through. And if you go through, then you can realize whatever you want. So that's what I think, yeah, definitely.
Jayson Johnson (27:22.311)
Yeah, yeah, you know, because if we gave up on, you know, like, let's say you're a baby and you're trying to learn how to walk and the life of a walking baby is, you know, they crawl and they try to prop themselves on to a table and stand up and then they fall and, you know, walk a little bit, then they fall on their butt and then they keep trying, but, and eventually, you know, they're able to walk, but in between that time from their crawling to the time they're walking.
They fell like probably hundreds of times. And you have to really look at your journey in life that you're gonna fall, but you have to keep getting up and keep being diligent.
The Fabio Podcast (27:53.998)
I don't know.
The Fabio Podcast (28:03.29)
Yeah, yeah, but it's true. It's like they put you the third and the fourth wheel on the bicycle, but doesn't matter because if you take it off both of them then you still fell because you didn't learn to you know You didn't learn to go To do bicycling. So it's the same Beautiful. Nice. We were a little bit in the flow. I love it
And right, so is there anything else would you like to say or promote before concluding, Jason? Tell me.
Jayson Johnson (28:37.131)
Um, well, I don't have anything to sell at the moment. I guess if, um, well, I guess that's, I'll take that back. I do have, um, hats, uh, that are on our website, uh, strike five, uh, film hats. And our, our model is a strike five because, uh, they say in life, if you strike out three times or out, but I believe that you have to keep striking until you, you get the hit or.
The Fabio Podcast (29:03.946)
Yeah, correct.
Jayson Johnson (29:04.207)
or the home run you're after. So that's why we call ourselves Strike Five. But yeah, if your viewers want to come to our site and check us out, then we have films there and we'll post this podcast there as well.
The Fabio Podcast (29:16.798)
Super and with this we can close the episodes then. So thank you Jason for being here to the Fabio Podcast and Thanks to my community for always being here. A hug and see you next Wednesday. Cheers