July Feature Interview: JC Calciano
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JC is a graduate of New York University film school. During his early days in the entertainment industry, he started his career producing and directing music videos for MTV.
JC is responsible for a number of feature films, such as the hit romantic comedy Is It Just Me?, eCupid and and short format programming with Steam Room Stories.
JC is currently in pre-production on his third feature film, The 10 Year Plan. Cameras roll in August 2013.
Diversity Rules is honored to feature JC Calciano in the July issue.
JRK: Can you give Diversity Rules readers an idea of who JC Calciano is and your background and how it’s impacted the person you are today?
JC: My grandfather had an old 8mm camera that I borrowed to making short films when I was nine. Me and my family would spend weekends making silly films with it. I’ll never forget how how fun they were to make and how we laughed watching those ridiculous movies in our living room. Making those films made everyone so happy and brought us such amazing memories. Those little movies are the reason I wanted to be a filmmaker. It’s forty years later and I still feel like that same kid with a camera having fun and trying to make people happy.
JRK: What are you passionate about, and does your passion come into play in your productions?
JC: My passion has always been people and what makes them tick. Life is tough, and stories can inspire and transform people. My favorites stories convey positive messages about love and community. My hope is that after seeing one of my films, people can learn something about themselves and feel connected to each other.
JRK: Your biography says you began your career producing and directing music videos for MTV. For those of us who remember MTV as having music videos, which ones did you direct and produce?
JC: I started making music videos back then for a company called “Cutting Records” in the Bronx. The owner was a guy named Aldo – a DJ at the local radio station. I convinced him that I had a revolutionary process that would make video look like film. Of course, I didn’t have a process at all, but knew I could figure something out.
I made a video for the band, The Girls Club. With help from a few technicians I got the video to actually looked pretty decent. Everyone was happy, so they asked me to do more videos for a band called 2 in a Room. I heard their other song called “Wiggle It” and asked to make that video, but they didn’t want to do it. I offered to do it for cost, they agreed. “Wiggle It” went gold and played in heavy rotation at MTV.
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