Jonathan Pickett was a producer on the documentary Clean Slate. This documentary is about people in recovery producing a short film, and the challenges that they faced.
What messages do you want people to take away from the documentary, Clean Slate?
For me, I feel like the main thing that I would love people to walk away with the film thinking is that addiction is not a moral failure. This is a disease that really anybody could have fallen into if their life had been slightly different and the cards had been dealt slightly different. I think just for myself personally, that was one of the main revelations that I had working on. It was like, oh, some of these characters, Cassidy, for example, he was in a traumatic accident at a young age. He was predisposed to addiction and then he was prescribed painkillers and that led to this cycle of addiction and then mental illness that he could never really truly get on top of. So I would love it if people walked away going, you know what? I feel like I have a deeper understanding and a deeper compassion for people who struggle. And that when people use, it's not just because they made a choice to go use, but there's so much other stuff that's kind of causing them to slip back into it. I think that'd be the main thing. Yeah.
What types of people do you most want to see Clean Slate?
I think I would love for it to be seen by people who it challenges their views about the world on that very thing, for people that might have less understanding or less empathy toward people that deal with addiction, I think, I think if the film could be a revelation for certain people, that would be really great. But at the same time, I also really hope that people who have family members or who have loved ones who struggle with addiction. I hope that they might watch the film and feel seen and feel like, yes, this is what it feels like and it's tiring and it's exhausting and we're broken, but this film is an accurate representation of what that feels like. And that they might have hope that the film continues to spread so that other people might know what it's like to love someone who struggles with addiction.
What were the main challenges of creating Clean Slate?
I think the process was just so incredibly long. It was hard to stay encouraged that the film would get done, that the film would get seen by people. We filmed it during this intense and crazy summer in 2016 in Georgia, and then we had to go back to film certain things. And when there were new updates for the character's lives, we'd go back and we'd film graduation, film the premiere. And the editing process for me was super, super challenging because I had never edited a feature film before and I had never edited a documentary before. So editing a feature documentary was very much a trial by fire kind of situation. And so it took a long time.
It took me sitting there and waiting through hours and hours figuring out what should go on the timeline. And then ultimately the first cut of the movie was like four hours long because I had no choice but to just keep putting things on the timeline because I didn't really know what I was doing. And then the process from there, which continued to be really long, was just distilling that down. How do we get it from four hours to three hours to two and a half? And then finally version 16 of the movie, I think is the final film. And that's version 16 and now it's an hour and 36 minutes, I think. So the length of time and the kind of new adventure that editing a documentary was very challenging and also very rewarding, but challenging.
Are you pleased with the reception that Clean Slate is getting so far?
Yes. Oh my gosh. I mean, it hasn't even really been seen by a ton of people yet, but the people that it has been seen by the response has been really, really encouraging. And it releases to public through VOD on December 2nd and will continue to come out on various platforms in the next weeks that follow that. But yeah, in the test screening process, we did test screenings of rough cuts to certain family and friends and friends of friends. And the response, even when the film was unfinished and in a very raw form was super like, okay, you're on the right path, keep at it. And that was kind of what helped us get to the end. But yeah, there were people that came up to us after screening and we were like, I never really realized what it was like to struggle every day.
And I have a brother who struggles with addiction and I think that this film opened up a space in my heart where maybe I can now connect with him again because we've long since shut him out of our lives. But I think now I have some compassion and I can try to build that bridge back. So stuff like that is like, oh my gosh, that's why we made the movie is for responses like that. And I hope that when more people see it, more people might be able to experience some sort of profound moment or life change as a result. For sure.
Do you think that there should be more funding for arts and/or film programs so that people who may have struggles have an outlet?
Oh yeah, absolutely. 100% all the way. Yeah, I don't even know what to add to that. I think obviously in the film it's so clear that having an artistic outlet, having a creative outlet allows for space for these guys that have been through really, really hard stuff to be able to come to understand their experiences, reflect on the pain and help move past it through that. So yeah, I mean I think one great response from the film is if recovery programs and rehab centers watch it and are able to incorporate creativity into their treatment programs, I think that would be a huge win. I'm all for anything that's additional arts incorporation or arts funding or all that. I mean that's just seems like such a win for humankind.
In your opinion, what steps could society take to make life better for addicts and people with mental health issues?
I mean, a big thing just seems like it'd be providing additional funding. I mean, I'm certainly no sociology expert, but from where I stand as a filmmaker and from making this film, I think if there was more access and more funding so that access could be increased. And then also through telling stories about mental illness through telling stories about addiction to help fight the stigma that still comes along with that, I think our country's gotten a lot better with handling the stigma, especially around mental illness. But I think that with addiction and still with mental illness, I think that there's a long way to go. So yeah, I guess fighting stigma and increased access.
Do you plan on producing more documentaries and what are some of your ideas, if you don't mind?
Ooh, good question. I absolutely plan on producing more documentaries. I love, love, love documentaries, and this project is kind of what made me fall in love. I fell in love with documentaries, but I also have a strong inclination towards scripted movies and narrative movies. So honestly, I would love to make movies that kind of blend the two, that find that in-between space where certain moments that are so intimate and so raw that they could only exist in a documentary. And then certain moments that because of the nature of them, they could never be captured in a documentary. So they have to be constructed through a narrative film. To be able to make work that kind of falls into that in-between space, I think is fascinating.
Specific ideas, I think I mean so many ideas of projects that I'm drawn to very much come from the characters. So I think it would just be meeting the right people that are worth hanging a documentary on. There's this guy right now that I met who's a country western singer who lives in Tombstone, Arizona. He's such a character. And I was visiting Tombstone and I heard him play in this country bar late one night playing Johnny Cash covers and listening to him kind of ramble and monologue in between his songs and immediately I was like, this guy, you could hang a movie on him for sure. He's like 70 years old and an incredible warm presence. So yeah, I went up and talked to him and we've kind of been going back and forth a little bit over calls, talking about what that might look like.
What part of filmmaking do you enjoy the most?
I almost feel like paradoxically, I enjoy whatever I haven't been doing lately the most, because if I'm doing one thing for any too long of a period of time, I get antsy to move on to the next thing. So right now we're releasing Clean Slate and we've been writing and developing a lot of projects. So I'm just super, super eager to shoot again. I just want to be on set, I want to be filming something. And then when you're at the end of a three week shoot, all you want to do is just go away in a cave and just edit and don't talk to anybody for a while. So I really like all parts of the process. I like being on set, I like editing, I like producing, writing. It's all great.
Apart from documentaries, are there any film genres that you enjoy producing?
I would love to make a horror movie one day, I think because I'm just such a fan of horror movies and always have been from a young age, and I've produced a handful of horror short films. So yeah, that feels like it's the kind of genre where when you're watching it with an audience, it's just a total blast to be watching with people. You've made the movie and you kind of know what's around the corner and what scares might be coming. I've been in a handful of Sundance midnight screenings of horror movies, and they're the most memorable film going experiences of my life. So to make something in the horror space, I think would be really, really exciting for sure.
What other projects that you've produced are you most proud of?
I'm very proud of Clean Slate, but aside from Clean Slate, there's a short documentary that I was lucky enough to be a producer on called Mr. Somebody that's like a 13 minute documentary. It's directed by my friend Brian Wertheim, and it tells this story of this guy called Bam, who was incarcerated for I think eight to 10 years. And before that was living in Watts, Los Angeles and was kind of in and out of involvement with Crips, the gang. And when he gets out of jail, this film takes place. And my friend Brian followed him around and he was kind of talking about life in prison life being back in Watts and reflecting on what he wants to do now and how he wants to be there for his son.
And so it's this just really affecting. Beautifully shot black and white, partially analog too. There's some super eight footage in there that's really great. And that film to me is definitely one of the projects I'm the most proud of and that I'm the most eager to share with people. I think it's a really great story. It's a really important story, and it's just beautifully told tons. I mean, the artistry that Brian brought to the story was I mean, a big part of the reason that I wanted to produce it. Oh, that's on Vimeo, by the way. It was a Vimeo staff pick where it debuted and yeah, it's called Mr. Somebody on Vimeo. Check it out.
You've also directed some projects. What's the most challenging aspects of being a director?
Well, I think when it comes to documentary specifically, maybe it's the greatest challenge, but maybe it's also the greatest part of directing documentary. But the relationships and balancing between you yourself as a filmmaker and the subject as the person starring in the film, I think is just... It's a relationship that requires a lot of effort and thoughtfulness around it. And I think, yeah, it's one of the reasons that I love documentaries so much is because I feel like the really great documentaries are the ones where a lot of rapport was built and there was trust built. And you can tell that the filmmaker really cared about the people involved and even maybe lived at the place and embedded themselves in the community. So yeah, directing documentary in that way is super challenging because it just takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of personal emotional investment in the story. But yeah, again, and with Clean Slate, this is just exemplified even more. But that's so fantastic and so rewarding about it too is the relationship.
Where can people follow you and your work?
Well, for me personally, you can find me on Instagram. My username is JPHowdy. And then our production company that produced Clean Slate is at People People Media on Instagram, and our website is peoplepeoplemedia.com. And yeah, we're posting a ton of stuff on there right now about Clean Slate because we're close to coming out. So there's links to showings that we're doing theatrically and updates on where people will be able to watch the film if you just follow People People Media on Instagram. And we've got some exciting projects that we're going to be working on in 2023 that if you're interested, you can follow along there.
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