Joe Asta is a content creator, writer, director, podcast host, and all around pop culture enthusiast living in land of dreams (Van Nuys, CA)
ORIGIN STORY
Born in Bergen county, New Jersey and raised on a healthy combination of Springsteen albums and 80s pop culture, I spent most of my childhood recapping the adventures of my favorite heroes to anyone who wouldn’t walk away.
One day when I was slightly older than I care to admit, I learned that Gotham was not a real city. Harrison Ford is just an actor - not a scruffy-looking nerf herder who saved the galaxy - and radioactive spider bites are pretty damn hard to come by. I was devastated, but then I had an epiphany: legends come from somewhere - or more appropriately - someone.
My list of heroes started to grow; Stan Lee, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis. They are the people who made the impossible, possible.
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Just like Luke when he went to the dagobah system, I moved to the Midwest to join Wright State University's award-winning Motion Picture department. WSU taught me basic and complex skills of the craft. I got my hands dirty; cut on film, pulled all-nighters and watched every flick I could get my hands on from the masters: Fellini, Godard, Hitchcock, Kurosawa and Bergman.
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The list of heroes got a lot longer, adding names like Martin Scorsese, Dario Argento and Nicholas Ray. The storytellers - the ones who make us feel something personal or profound - they were my inspiration. I had found my calling: a mission at 24 FPS to join the ranks.
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Bukowski said: “find what you love and let it kill you.”
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About a decade ago I flew out to LA to write & make movies - I’m still kickin’.