Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr
Interviewee: Jordan Cobb
 |
| Self Portrait courtesy of Jordan Cobb |
Hello and welcome to the Artist Ant Interviews People Fall Series! Welcome to another edition to my latest talks with local and global creatives that are alive, hustling and thriving in their respective crafts! Today I have a special guest that I’ve known since my earlier years as a Fine Arts student. She has come a long way from her years as a NYU theater student. Since then she has gone on to create a universe of her own and it’s only going to get bigger. Ladies and Mechs from cyberspace, please welcome to the digital realm, Jordan Cobb!
Q0. Who are your inspirations?
JC: Depends on which me you ask! As an actor, I'd say my mother -- watching her, seeing the joy of being on stage and her commanding range, what she can do with just a few lines of text, made me believe from a very early age that absolutely anything was possible with words. As a creator, it was my high school drama teacher, Mr. Pridham. He introduced me to so many pieces of film, art and literature that became central to the way I see the world, and he instilled in me a fierce love for the wild and strange nature of the universe. As a human being, my biggest inspiration is my father. He's the smartest person I know, kind, thoughtful, and always ALWAYS seeking to better himself and those around him. He's absolutely tireless, and you'd be hard pressed to find a sturdier foundation.
Q1. How did you get into art, most notably writing and acting?
JC: The arts were always strongly emphasized at my school. I was the lead in my very first play in the second grade, a piece written by our teacher about two sisters who were lost in the Amazon, and talked to a bunch of animals who helped guide them back home. And I was just instantaneously hooked. I've always been a reader, but it wasn't until I was put up on stage that I found there was more than one way to tell a story. I started writing in 7th grade, after one of my cousins introduced me to FanFiction.net.
I remember reading a bunch of stories in fandoms I'd never even heard of, and thinking to myself, "Well I bet I could do something like that." So I tried it, and maybe it was all those years of reading and acting, but it just stuck. It was like slipping on your favorite sweatshirt -- coming home to something that fits you perfectly and makes you feel happy, and comfortable, like you're exactly where you need to be. I've been writing fairly obsessively ever since.
Q2. When did you take art seriously?
JC: I think I always knew I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't start taking it seriously until middle school. That was when I started getting cast as ensemble roles in the musicals, and then incrementally larger parts in the straight plays. I was there for every rehearsal, learning my part and (probably incredibly annoyingly) starting to soak up what everyone else was doing and learning all their lines as well.
The less attention our director seemed to pay me, the more determined I guess I was to MAKE myself be seen. I was there to work. Not necessarily to be "the best" but to be an important part of the whole, no matter how small my part actually might have been. And it was all just so much FUN. Being in those rehearsal rooms, learning my lines and the dances and the story made me feel wholly myself. At that point I hadn't started writing just yet, so I didn't know there was anything else that COULD make me feel so entirely myself, so I threw the whole of myself into it.
Q2.1. What kind of projects have you created that was influenced by your passions?
JC: Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE nerd for dinosaurs. I absolutely blame Mr. Pridham for that too, because he's the one who showed me Jurassic Park for the first time. Then my dad told me it was based on a Michael Crichton book -- one of his favorite authors -- and it was all downhill from there. I'm currently developing a science fiction novel set in a universe where humans and dinosaurs evolved simultaneously. A lot of the time, writing the main character just feels like "this is what would happen if you let Jordan loose around a T-Rex." Needless to say, I'm having a LOT of fun.
Q2.2. You have a fictional podcast called Janus Descending. What is the podcast about? What inspired you to take your story and turn into an audio drama?
JC: Janus Descending is a science-fiction horror story about two xenophobia-archeologists who go to explore the ruins of an alien civilization, and instead find themselves trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the creatures lurking just below the planet's surface. I'd already been writing scripts for audio dramas for almost a year when the idea for Janus Descending came to me. I'd been talking to a close friend of mine, Anthony Olivieri, and we'd agreed that we really wanted to work together. But he lives in Texas, and so recording something in the same room was just impossible.
I started playing with the format of how I look at a script, and I decided on going with the two-single perspective narrators, looking at the same story separately. Then, because I had absolutely no idea how a horror story was actually supposed to work, I decided to mess with the structure a bit further. My character (Chel) tells the story from beginning to end, and Anthony's character (Peter) tells the same story from end to beginning. You end up with two people having the same experience, but two different kinds of horror stories, one based in the physical, and one based in the psychological. It's something you could absolutely pull of in a book, but I'm just not there yet with my abilities in prose.
Q2.3. What was the development of that project like? What adversities did you experience when creating this series?
JC: I think the hardest thing was getting the timelines to match up. I wrote the entire thing in chronological order, then flipped it so that Peter's timeline went backwards, and it felt like I'd walked into a house of mirrors. It wasn't just that I had to fill in plot holes, I needed to make sure that, if we skipped from episode one to episode thirteen to episode three, that in episode thirteen you found out what had happened in episode two, so that the audience wouldn't be scrambling to put all the pieces together. We also lost our sound designer early into the project, but that wound up being a happy accident as it lead me to Julia Schifini, who now sound designs all of my audio projects.
Q2.4. As a writer, what kind of creative challenges that you face?
JC: Burnout is a HUGE problem for me. I'm a very driven person, and I have a very hard time with slowing down and taking the time to take care of myself. When I get excited about an idea, I will run with it until I have run myself into the ground, and then STILL try pushing further because, "well if I just love it, the work will be enough!" And that's... just not true. It CAN be. My ability to write and create is EVERYTHING to me, but a lot of the time, I have to remind myself that I can't create if there is no me left TO create.
Q2.5. As a stage actor, how does your experience influence your writing? How do you balance writing, acting and producing Janus Descending? What are the pros and cons?
JC: Being an actor makes it a LOT easier for me to put myself in the shoes of a character and find their voice and their wants. I sit with them like I would sit with a script, and I try to figure out what drives them. Once I have that, it's a matter of portraying them realistically and fully, as I would with a character on stage.
I try to balance things by taking it all in seasons. If I'm working on writing a project, then I am WHOLLY devoted to writing. If I'm producing, then I'm spending my time running our Patreon, managing social media, helping Julia put together episodes, and taking care of all the business ends of production. And if I'm acting, either in a show, or in a voiceover project, I let my focus lie in creating the best performance possible.
I try not to spread myself too thin by trying to work on all three at once. If I absolutely HAVE to, I make myself stick to two things maximum, and then do my best to give myself some grace when things inevitably fall through the cracks. My To-Do list has become my best helping hand, and it's nice to be able to, even in the midst of a big project, tick off a few little things, and feel like I'm inching towards progress.
Q2.6. What genre do you tend to immediately escape to when you create and why?
JC: Science Fiction. I'm completely fascinated by human beings and what we are capable of. Some of my favorite shows are Doctor Who and Star Trek, because I think they so beautifully encapsulate three things; One -- that we humans are capable of great and terrible things. Two -- the universe is vast, and beautiful, and complicated, and there is more mystery and enchantment out there than we can ever hope to fully know. And Three -- at heart, no matter where you come from, who you are, or what you look like, we are all essentially the same, and worthy of respect and love and better understanding.
Q2.7. What genre do you have the most difficulty writing in and why?
JC: Romance. I can do... you know, a romantic moment or two, or convey love between characters, but when I deliberately sit down to write about two people and the most interesting thing they do is fall in love, the writing gets melodramatic and soppy. And there aren't nearly enough explosions -- or if there are, I've turned it from a romance to a tragedy, which is entirely the opposite of the point.
Q2.8. When you create and act out the stories that you make, what themes tend to recur in your projects? Why do they appeal to you? And where do you hope for the projects go down the road?
JC: I write a lot about found family and what it means to be human. I like exploring all that we're capable of, both good and bad, and what drives us to become the people that we are. And I've always believed that the family you create is more important than the family you are born into. A big part of the hero's journey is finding like minded friends who somehow inherently change them, often for the better, and get them to seek and understand deeper truths about themselves. We almost all have found families, and that's an incredibly powerful kind of love, and it deserves to be celebrated.
Q2.9. What other projects do you down the pipeline that readers should keep an eye out for?
JC: I'm currently producing an audio drama called Primordial Deep. It's a science fiction adventure thriller set on a research station at the bottom of the ocean. Hopefully it will be debuting in the Winter, while I continue plodding away writing my novel -- and who knows when THAT will be done.
Q3. What drives you in your daily life?
JC: The need to grow, and learn, and do better than I did yesterday. I don't like the idea of getting comfortable or stagnating and never changing. There's too much out in the world that needs seeing and doing, but I won't get there if I sit still and never bother to look around or find out something new.
Q4. What made you the person that you are today?
JC: Travel, and the unceasing encouragement from my parents. I've visited four out of the seven continents, and well over a dozen countries and it helped me to realize just how wide the world is. And I'm very lucky in that my parents have always supported me in my art and other endeavors. And they not only encourage me, they actively try to help me get better at the things I'm passionate about, and challenge me to think of myself and my art in new ways.
Q5. If you could speak to any living creator or inspiration, who would it be, why, and what would talk to them about?
JC: Lydia Diamond or Lynn Nottage. I'd love to have a discussion about what it is to be a black female creative, and how they take what their experiences and raw emotions and turn them into such passionate and powerful stories.
Q6. If there were any deceased creators , actors, singers, writers, etc that you would want to speak to, who would it be, and why?
JC: H. P. Lovecraft. Not that the racist old bastard would probably want to speak to me, but I'd LOVE to hear him read one of his stories aloud, or to talk about how he creates the best of his monsters.
Q7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
JC: Egypt. Or to see the Northern Lights. I've wanted to go DESPERATELY for years now, but my parents would drag me off the plane if I tried to go to Egypt right now with all the unrest, and it's very difficult to convince anybody to go sit in the snow with me to stare up at the sky.
Q8. What is one thing that you fear?
JC: Not being good enough. That I will throw all of my love, and time, resources and effort into these things that I love with all of my heart, and that it will still somehow fail and go sour in my mouth. That my stories won't ever reach anyone, and I'm just screaming into the void.
Q 9. If you had a superpower what would it be and why?
JC: I'd want the ability to shape reality with my mind. Which... says a lot about me. No wonder I became an artist. But I think it would be incredible to just THINK of a world and then be able to fully bring it into existence. To be able to conjure and reshape things, and make them better. I think I could make the world a kinder place if I could change it with my thoughts. Or, at the very least, there would be more trees and we'd be able to see the stars much brighter at night, no matter how much light pollution there was.
Q10. What catches your attention when you meet people?
JC: Passion. I absolutely hate small talk, and so I try very hard to turn conversations as quickly as I can to something that they are passionate about. I can listen to someone talk about the things they love for hours. There's just about getting to see the way their faces light up.
Q11. What is one word of advice that you would impart to your younger self?
JC: Never apologize for being yourself and taking up space.
Q12. What are three books that you always remember or return to, and why? How did they shape you?
JC: Jurassic Park/The Lost World by Michael Crichton
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
These books made the universe seem bigger, and brighter, and wilder. Jurassic Park and The Lost World (because whenever I read one I IMMEDIATELY have to read the other) were my first forays into science fiction literature, and it's just a perfect depiction of human ingenuity and hubris, and the power of the natural world. The Golden Compass never fails to make me feel like a child again -- though the world always seems a little darker and sadder when I read it, but it's a beautiful story full of love and perseverance. And Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is not only my favorite in the series, but it's a wonderful lesson in how things aren't always as they appear, and that there is the potential for great good and great harm in all of us.
Q13. If you could continue or remake a movie, or franchise, what would be your film of choice ?
JC: Jurassic Park. Mostly because I very very VERY much want to be in one of those movies!
Q14. If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an album, what album or artist would you pick?
JC: I'd choose Panic! At The Disco, because they have such an incredibly versatile sound. Their music always takes me on such an intense roller coaster of emotions, and I find they weave their albums together in such a way that it's easy to find pieces of a story in the lyrics.
Q15. Who In this life, has motivated you to stay true to what makes you who are?
JC: Sarah Rhea Werner. She's my mentor, and one of the dearest, truest friends I've ever had. I first met her, because she created the podcast Girl In Space, and we just clicked as creators working in the same space. But it wasn't until I started listening to, and discussing her podcast Write Now -- which encourages writers to find the time, energy and courage they need to pursue their passion and write every day -- that our relationship really deepened. She understands me like no one else, and we constantly strive to each help the other grow. I wouldn't be the creator I am if not for her, and she encourages me to be the best possible version of myself I can be.
Q16. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?
JC: I hope to have written two, maybe three books, have my Actor's Equity card, and to be well on my way to making a fully sustainable living on my art alone.
Q17. What are three albums or songs currently, that you listen to on repeat? And why?
JC: “Glory” by Bastille, Wilder Mind by Mumford & Sons, and “Selene” by Imagine Dragons. They're all on my playlist for my latest creative project, and they really help me get into the mindset of the world I'm trying to create.
Q18. What color speaks to you the most and why?
JC: The dark blue of the ocean under a cloudless sky. I've always been drawn to the ocean. It's one of the most beautiful and mysterious things on this planet, and it fills me with such an intense sense of peace and curiosity.
Q19: What is your greatest weakness?
JC: I hold myself to higher standards than I would ever hold anyone else to, and I am extremely hard on myself when I can't meet those standards. I've found it can be extremely damaging to my psyche, and usually leaves me feeling like I'm not actually capable of achieving much of anything at all.
Q20. What is your greatest strength?
JC: Empathy. I have a very keen eye for understanding who people are and why they act the way that they do. It makes me a better storyteller, but more than that, I think it helps me to be a kinder, more thoughtful human. Knowing where a person is coming from can help shape an interaction, build a friendship, or just make their world a slightly better place.
Q21.What's one thing that you're proud of?
JC: My acting resume. Because on the one hand, it contains roles I've created for myself, as well as a number of roles other people have cast me to play. But on a very basic level, still having that resume and going in to update it means that I'm still pursuing acting as a craft. I know a number of people I was friends with in high school and even college have already given up on it, and I'm proud of myself for continuing to pursue something that I want, even though it's hard.
Q22. What is a mantra that you tell yourself?
JC: "Done is better than perfect," "Give yourself some grace," and... "You can do everything. You cannot do it all at the same time. You probably can't even do it all right now. But you still have time to do everything you want to do in this lifetime."
Q23. What is success to you?
 |
| Promotional Art courtesy of Jordan Cobb |
Janus Descending Podcast: http://www.janusdescending.libsyn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janusdescending?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nosuchthingradio
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nosuchthingradio/
No comments:
Post a Comment