Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanna and Jil Pasiecnik.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We started our company in 2016 after working freelance in the film industry since we moved to Atlanta in 2013. We have always wanted to own our own production company and have always been huge film fans so after a few years of working as editors, PAs and script supervising, we realized that the opportunity to become a producer wasn’t going to be given to us and that we had to position ourselves as producers in our own right and start making our content and running our own sets. We started taking improve and sketch writing classes and making our own sketch comedy shorts and producing them for other local writers and directors. Now, we have produced over 20 sketch comedy shorts, 2 web series and are working on our first short film.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The film industry has been a male dominated business for so long so being female filmmakers and the owners of our own company, we have encountered a lot of sexism. We love working with women, providing opportunities to women on sets that they might not usually get and empowering them in that way and we often have all female crews, which we have gotten a lot of negativity about, only ever from men. The industry we are in, is also tough to break into, for anyone. So, creating our own community and investing in the people we know, their hard work and all of their talent, has been the best way we’ve found our success.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about J and J Productions – what should we know?
J & J Productions is a woman-owned production company that writes, produces and directs short films, videos and web series. We are mostly known for our sketch comedy videos, we are huge comedy fans and love doing them, but I’d say our specialty is in producing.
Opportunity is something that is very important to us, so in all aspects of our business we make sure to be open-minded and committed to creating opportunities for people who are underrepresented in the film community. Something that sets us apart is our all female production crews we work with often. We always have at least a 50% female crew.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I would say that how we connect with people is the most important characteristic to our success. We love to empower the people we work with and provide the knowledge, trust and encouragement to our clients and our crews so that we get the best product we can. We know that by investing the people who are investing in us, we can all work together to be the most successful we can be in every project we take on.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jandjproductioncompany.com
- Email: jandjproductionsatl@gmail.com
- Instagram: @jandjproductionsatl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jandjproductionsatl/
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