IFH 463: Clapboard Jungle - The Truth About Indie Filmmaking with Justin McConnell

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On the show, today is an indie film director, and CEO of Unstable Ground multi-media company, Justin McConnell. Even though he’s known for his work in post-production, Justin has also directed and written projects like Clapboard Jungle, Skull World, Lifechangers, and Galaxy of Horrors across the sci-fi-horror and documentary genres. Justin is a man who wears many hats; his multi-media company, Unstable Ground, which he has been running successfully for the last 22 years specializes non-exclusively in film and television production. The main reason I wanted him to come on the show was to discuss his new documentary called Clapboard Jungle, which explores the painful and brutal journey of a filmmaker trying and the movie-making process. I absolutely loved the documentary. It’s in a great tradition of films about making movies sort of a love letter to independent filmmakers. Clapboard Jungle, directed by Justin in 2020, is a documentary that follows five years in the life and career of an independent filmmaker, supported by dozens of interviews, posing one question: how does an indie filmmaker survive in the current film business. Clapboard Jungle was birthed from his lacking for such resource at the start of his career in the industry and launched onto developing the project/thought after directing and writing his 2013 documentary, Skull World, which follows two years in the life of Greg Sommer, aka Skull Man, as he builds the Canadian chapter of Box Wars, an international underground movement of cardboard-based combat. Talking about horror, he wrote and directed a fantastic yet disturbing horror feature film, Lifechanger in 2018 that is about a homicidal shapeshifter who is obsessed with reconnecting with the woman he once loved. To cheat death, he leaps from one body to the next, stealing the form of his murdered victims. And with each new identity, he circles closer and closer to her, looking to wind his way back into her life and her arms, no matter the cost. Clapboard Jungle is a MUST WATCH FILM for all filmmakers. It shows you the raw truth behind the dream of being a filmmaker. Enjoy my eye-opening conversation with Justin McConnell.