Jon Westling Article

YoungY and ambitious Jon Westling is creating his oWn opportunities in life.

Meet 21 year old Jon Westling a Rancho Cordova native who’s sights are set on the film industry. Jon’s interest in making began when Jon was only four years old— his dream to be a cinematographer is now unfolding as he embarks on his career.

Jon’s passion and drive to create films is unmatched. Jon has taken on almost every role from writing, directing, producing, acting, editing, to sound directing—he has already made several independent films including “Wake up Blake”, “Fire Boys” , and “Road Trip Runaway.”

Jon’s devotion to create also extends into music as well. Jon plays the guitar and piano and is releasing his first EP “O’Marie” a folk album on December 25th, 2022.

With time on his side and a strong desire to bring his visions to reality—Jon Westling is confidently walking his own lifes path.

IntervIewI wIth Jon westlIw ng

Take a look into Jon’s driving factors and see what inspires this young film maker.

What’s up, Jon? For the readers who don’t know you, go ahead and give them a light intro.

I am a 21 year old artist from the Sacramento area. I’m a lover of movies, music, basically all kinds of art. I love Breaking Bad. I’m also a maker of movies and music! My new film “Road Trip Runaway” is streaming now on Prime Video. A sort of documentary. Ironically, it is mostly writing about myself. Well, it’s more complex than that.

So when does your journey in cinematography begin?

When I was four years old, I realized genuinely for the first time that making films was something you could do. Obviously, I think on some level I always knew that the moving images I was seeing in front of my face had to have been assembled by somebody with some kind of intention. But when it clicked that this was something people were getting to do every single day, as their jobs? It blew my mind. Why would anyone ever want to do anything else, but create? From that moment I knew.

Jon Westling doing what he loves most.

I know filmmaking has a lot moving parts what exactly is your primary role when making a film?

I’ve had the good fortune to be surrounded by a lot of very talented people that contribute to the projects. I’ve gotten to wear many different hats depending on what was being worked on. For ‘Road Trip Runaway’, though, I worked on essentially every aspect. Writing, directing, sound design, producing, editing, musical direction. Nonetheless, I couldn’t have done it without just an insane amount of help.

How do you come up with ideas for your new projects?

Dude they just appear in my brain, I can’t even explain it. Like they literally just come to me, in a bolt of lightning. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’ve got aggressive ADHD, so my brain is always wandering in a million directions. Being able to direct my focus onto this stuff allows it to travel in a cohesive direction. Now that I’ve worked on a few different films, it’s also gotten a lot easier. It’s become a process of applying what I’ve learned and trusting my instincts. Can you touch on your past projects and what those meant to you?

I think each project is a sort of reflection of what you’re going through when you make it. Or at least, I find that’s true for me. On ‘Wake Up Blake’, I was spending a lot of time reflecting on the dichotomous nature of my childhood. ‘Fire Boys’ came from a terrible identity crisis. “Road Trip Runaway” was a lot, too much than I have space to describe here. Usually I can’t fully process or comprehend what each film means to me/what they meant at the time until they’ve been done for a while.

Have you had any successful breakthroughs lately?

Yeah! I’m working on a few different screenplays that I’m really liking the shape of. They’re all early in the process, but I’ve got one in particular that I totally love. It’ll probably be the next feature I make, if all goes according to plan. I’ve got a few contacts that I’ve been talking with to try and see if I can get the film produced, but again, uncertainty. Either way, there’s always more to come.

Other than film making do you have any other creative passions/skills?

Yeah! I love music, I’ve been playing guitar and singing for about eight years, and noodling on piano for about two. Actually, I’ve got my first EP “O, Marie!” dropping on December 25. It’s a folk album, I’ve been writing it for about two years now, and to have it out of my skull and in the real world feels so good, I can’t even describe it. Even if people think it sucks, I’ll still be satisfied knowing I put out a project that was true to myself.

I understand it took a year and a half to edit the footage from your latest documentary “Road trip runaway”? What was that process like for you?

It sucked. I love editing, it’s the part of the process I’ve been doing the longest. I got my start making video game related content on YouTube when I was like, eleven. This was without the slightest competition, the most extensive project I’ve ever worked on. There were over 1600 assets in the project file by the end, and my computer was basically pouring steam out the ports. I can’t tell you the amount of twelve hour days, all-nighters. I’m super proud of it but also so happy that it is done. When you were traveling alone on the road and filming “Road Trip Runaway” did you have any eye opening experiences? How?

Yeah, I had a lot of time to think about myself and the person I was at that point. I also found that I really didn’t like that person and being around them, so that was pretty difficult honestly. I think that’s where this film materialized from, it was so hard to be myself on camera at that point because I genuinely had no idea who I was anymore. There are scenes in RTR where I repeat the same monologue over and over, obsessively trying to get it right. That wasn’t faked, I was kinda losing it.

What are your overall aspirations and dreams with filmmaking, where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I would love to turn this into my full-time living. Like, this whole micro budget niche indie filmmaker thing is a blast, don’t get me wrong. But it would be amazing to stand on a huge set, with a whole bunch of amazing talented people running around trying to help the vision come to life. But it’s not about the money at all, I don’t need to make twenty million dollars to be satisfied. As long as I can keep making

in some capacity, I will find a way to power forward. I can’t stop. I won’t.

If the year 2022 was a chapter in the book of “Your Life”, what would you title the chapter reflecting back on the year up to now?

I’d probably call it “Patience is a Virtue” or some cringe pretentious thing like that. For the past couple years, trying to pursue this professionally has been like pounding with my fists on a brick wall. I think last year, with the minor success of “Wake up Blake.” I got some real wind under my sails and it began to feel like I was going at the wall with a chisel. But now, things are starting to align. The possibility of real work. It doesn’t feel like a brick wall anymore. More like an obstacle course.

Any last thoughts you would like to share?

Please keep creating! I am constantly most inspired by work from small artists, and real people. I promise you I am paying attention. I’d love if people would check out “Road Trip Runaway”, available now on Prime Video & BugTV. Half documentary, half narrative, but full good! You can follow me @dadsradplaid on most places, I’ve always got stuff coming out. “O, Marie!” will be streaming on all platforms 12/25/22. Thank you for reading.

Feet up and focused Jon is in learning mode.

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