Tell us your backstory. How and why did you get into filmmaking?
I grew up splitting time between divorced parents. My mother lived in Illinois and my dad lived in Texas. I would spend summers with my dad in Austin. We had a hard time actually talking to each other, but we both loved movies, and really that’s how we spoke to each other, through movies. The University of Texas used to play truly amazing rep movies in the gorgeous theaters on campus, and at the Varsity Theater on Guadelupe and 24th. My dad was a bit of a cinephile and took me to see movies by Akira Kurosawa and David Lean, among many others. At the same time, it was in retrospect, a great era for popular movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, all of the awesome raunchy teen movies that were coming out — it was a lot of fun to be a teen and go to the theater. I was becoming a little bit of a punk rocker and so seeing Quadrophenia and then Rock ‘n’ Roll High School changed my life. And finally of course that was when westerns were still playing everywhere so you couldn’t help but see John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in these old westerns which — in spite of my desire at the time to escape my rancher family — infiltrated my psyche and finally became part of the inspiration for Broken Land. Movies were always what inspired me, moved me, and taught me how to live. It was only natural to me that I would want to be involved in their making.
If there is one or more thing you think would make the film industry better, what would it be? There is really not just “one” thing to talk about. The film industry is struggling right now with many things, including studio consolidation, the atrophy of the theatrical experience, and the incredible difficulty of penetrating media awareness so that people know your film exists. I guess if I had to pick one thing to focus on, I would say, really it’s a question of how to connect the supply and the demand. Great movies are being made, and I think audiences are hungry to see things that are interesting, but right now it’s incredibly difficult to get audiences into theaters, even for a studio blockbuster, not to mention a small independent movie, particularly a drama, but any movie. I won’t flatter myself and say “Broken Land” is perfect, but it is a good movie and in another time it would have been seen in the theaters. We all know that many people have stopped going to the theater, especially since the pandemic, since it’s now so easy to watch films at home. People are also distracted by shorter form media. Myself included. That said, there is no replacement for the theatrical, collective experience. Movies are diminished when seen at home. I would say that right now the one thing that would make the film industry better is people getting out of their houses to go to the theater. When people start going to the theater, money gets made, and when money gets made, more movies get made. When more movies get made, more interesting offbeat Independent films get made as well as larger Studio franchise movies. I love all kinds of movies and I love a big cinematic ecosystem. So, for me, the one thing we could do is get people back into the habit of going to the theater. I know that’s a tall order.
What’s harder? Getting started or being able to keep going? And what drives you to continue making films?
Haha! It’s all hard! Isn’t that part of the point? To do something that’s hard? I feel that that has intrinsic value. But of course, it’s also ideally satisfying. Getting started, I would say for me is the hardest part. First of all, you not only have to believe in the project, which is definitely not a given, but you have to believe that making a movie is worth it at all. You have to believe people are going to see it, and be moved by it and be excited by it. I’m not one of those filmmakers who is just making movies for myself. I want the film to go out in the world and have an impact on people the way other peoples’ movies have had an impact on me. I want my movie to go light up the world the way other people’s movies have lit up the world for me. Given the current media and cultural climate, it can be hard to convince oneself of that. On the other hand, what are you going to do? We have to try. So, you get punk rock on it and you just go for it. Once you’ve overcome the hurdle of believing in movies again, then you learn to love your idea. I would say, if you’re a beginning filmmaker struggling with this, the thing to do is just start, because a lot of times belief doesn’t come until you’re into the process. Process leads to belief rather than the other way around. It took me a long time to figure this out. Just start. Punk rock. And then if you’re into it at a certain point and it doesn’t seem to be catching fire, You Can Let It Go but you have to start. Once I’m really started and I can feel the energy and start believing in the world that I’m living in in my head, it doesn’t become easy, not at all, but the momentum and the weight of the forward movement of the characters in the story and the images in my head keep me going, so on a certain level it’s easier, although it’s still a massive uphill climb. But again, what else are we going to do with ourselves? Let’s make something! Let’s connect with our fellow humans. Failure is not an option, so get to it! That’s my feeling.
How do you know when your story’s finished, when to walk away?
I envy those filmmakers or artists who arrive at a certain point when everything has perfectly fallen into place, or you definitively know that a film is never going to get any better and you call it “finished.” That’s not me. Even now, ideas are occurring to me of things I might have done differently or changed in “Broken Land.” Not just small things. Things that might have had a decisive impact on the story. During production, I was rewriting scenes the night before we shot them, almost every day. During editing, we kept trying different variations. The film got better, and we could have kept going probably forever. However, at some point we as artists have to recognize that perfection is an illusion and that we need to move on, both for our lives and onwards to our next project. A weird analogy that’s just occurring to me now is that it’s like space travel. You’re in orbit around this idea. You are totally in its gravitational field and circling it and circling it and working on it. Finally it starts to feel like you understand it and you’ve made this journey the best you could, and there’s less and less you can do. Eventually, you see another planet/idea, and you decide it’s time to depart. You move away from that first idea and for a long time you can still feel its gravitational pull behind you. Eventually though you move into space and maybe you’re floating for a while, but then you start to feel the gravitational pull of the other idea pulling you forward, and it takes the place of that first idea. That’s when that first idea is finished. It can be very hard to make the decision to leave that first idea but we have to continue on our journeys. We just have to have faith that that first piece of work is what it was supposed to be, and that we will make another project where we can explore the things we wish we could have done.
What is your favorite aspect of film production?
That’s a difficult question. In an ideal world, I think my favorite part of Film Production would be working with the actors. I love collaboration, and I love to see ideas, words and images come to life with other people. The first time that happens is often with the actors. Writing is creative and exciting, but it’s often excruciating, at least for me, and much of the time I’m by myself. When I get to the point where I’m working with actors, it’s the first time things really ignite for me. It’s absolutely extraordinary what an actor can do and how little in terms of production value you really need in order to spark something into existence. Rehearsal is also a great time to investigate new ideas and test things for their truth. That said, this kind of work with actors is very rare in the film industry unless you either have more money than you know what to do with, or no money at all. If you’ve got insane money, you can pay the actors for their time. If you’ve got no money, then everyone has already agreed that they’re doing it just for fun, so you have the time to play, if everyone is willing. However, if you’re anywhere in between, financially speaking, you’re on a very tight timeline. It’s very rare in my experience that one has the time to work properly with the actors before shooting in most production situations. Also, a lot of Film actors don’t want to rehearse because they feel (mistakenly, I believe) that it takes away the spontaneity of their performance. My belief is that rehearsal allows us to explore the material, probe it, play with it, find new nuances, and perhaps even new aspects or strands of the story. But, like I said, that usually costs money, and many people don’t recognize its value, so rehearsal often gets sacrificed.
Filmmaker Bio:
JT Walker is a writer/director originally from Austin, Texas. His first feature film, now entitled “Broken Land” (previously titled “La Gloria”), screened widely at festivals both in the U.S. and abroad, and was awarded “Best Feature Drama,” the “Audience Award,” and “Best Actor” for David Morse at the 2025 Breckenridge Film Festival. “Broken Land” will be released on June 12. His previous short films, “Passengers” and “Oldtimers,” have screened at over 40 film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, among them Sundance, Telluride, and AFI/Los Angeles, and won “Best Short” or “Jury Prize” at the Florida, Cleveland, Deauville (France) and Capalbio (Italy) Festivals, and have screened on HBO and PBS.
As a screenwriter, JT adapted Joey Pantoliano’s best-selling memoir “Who’s Sorry Now,” for Holedigger Films (“Rodger Dodger,” “The Secret Lives of Dentists”), and Kevin Canty’s novel, “Into the Great Wide Open,” for Tiny Dancer Films (“Forty Shades of Blue”). Joseph currently lives in Austin with his wife and daughter, and is at work on his following project, tentatively titled “Pickpocket,” to be shot in 2027. For further information, please visit: josephtoddwalker.com
LINKS + TRAILERS
BROKEN LAND TRAILER
BROKEN LAND PREPURCHASE LINK ON APPLE TV (TO BE RELEASED JUNE 12, 2026)
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/broken-land/umc.cmc.4c4utr57ppiouuh8bozqeekso
PASSENGERS SHORT FILM
OLDTIMERS SHORT FILM (DOCUMENTARY)
