How 9 Months of Unemployment Was the Catalyst to a Filmmaking Career by John Goshorn
Film Courage: Where did you grow up?
John Goshorn: I grew up rurally, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside the small town of Bedford, Virginia, which is not that different from Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life, though it might be a little smaller. Living in such a secluded location — a half-mile from our nearest neighbor and an hour from the nearest movie theater — we were a fairly close family. I was the youngest of four, and we spent a lot of time playing outside in the woods, mostly various make-believe games, climbing trees, swimming in ponds and creeks. I read a lot. If I wasn’t outside, I was probably reading.
Film Courage: Who is your biggest supporter?
John: Most people I know are supportive in different ways. My parents are probably my biggest cheerleaders but my wife has also made a lot of sacrifices for me to be able to make art. Several good friends have been willing to look at scripts or pitch in their acting talents or editing talents. Some folks I haven’t seen since high school or never met at all contributed to crowd-funding or spread the word about the film on social media. Independent filmmaking always seems to consist of asking for thousands of favors, and the absence of any one of them could send the whole endeavor crashing down.
Film Courage: What made you pursue a Bachelor’s, Master’s and other continuing education for film, media and acting?
John: I don’t think I had a specific formative experience beyond my attachment to the world of storytelling from reading and make-believe games, but I think visiting colleges my junior year of high school really crystallized what I wanted to study and what I wanted to do with my life. I was weighing studying politics or the arts, and ultimately, it just seemed like art was going to allow me to live more honestly.
Film Courage: When you were laid off from your job in 2008, what was the position like?
John: I was working as a commercial videographer and editor for the local ABC affiliate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I had just moved from a similar position near my hometown six months earlier. It was far from my favorite job, but was a good way to practice single-camera production skills and learn Avid while I tried to get into a graduate film program. I knew the business climate wasn’t great, because business had slowed at my previous job before my move — fewer clients, fewer work orders for commercials, more spec work — and wasn’t doing all that much better at my new station, but no warnings or rumors of layoffs had made it down to my level.
When I found out, I was stunned. I don’t think there’s a way to take that news well, and there’s always going to be a sense of unfairness about it, but I will say that I’ve since learned that terminations are usually handled with less generosity than they were in this case. Those of us who were downsized were allowed to continue working through the end of the calendar year, and got modest severance packages. There was none of the “here’s a box — clean out your desk immediately” or being escorted off the premises by security that you hear about with a lot of other layoffs.
Film Courage: What were the first few days like for you during your initial week of unemployment? What were the Holidays like?
John: I was still working out the string to my final date of employment through the 2008 holiday season, but knowing I’d be dumped out into the worst recession since the Great Depression as soon as the calendar flipped was incredibly daunting. And even when the people closest to you are supportive — and they all were — a lifetime of cultural conditioning can still make you feel like you’ve failed as an adult, a husband, a man, etc. when you can’t provide for yourself or the partner you asked to quit her job and move to another state so you could take the job you just lost because a corporation deemed you expendable….(Read the full Q&A on FilmCourage.com here)
More information can be found at happiestplacemovie.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/happiestplacemovie, and on IMDb.
BIO: John Goshorn was born and raised in a rural Virginia town an hour from the nearest movie theater. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Multimedia Film and Production at Georgia Southern University, having previously taught cinema studies, screenwriting, and film production at Full Sail University and the University of Central Florida. Goshorn holds a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Design from James Madison University, a Master of Fine Arts in Film from the University of Central Florida and a professional acting certificate in the Sanford Meisner technique from Truthful Acting Studios.
