As movie fans, we all have a pretty good handle on the roles and duties of positions like director, writer, and editor.
But even on a relatively smaller independent film production, the credits can be sprawling, with loads of assistant positions, technical roles, and behind-the-scenes movers and shakers that are each integral to the making of a movie, and with the continuing explosion and expansion of Oklahoma’s film and television production industry, more and more young filmmakers are learning how to fill those roles.
Filmmakers like OKC-based writer and director Justin Jayne, who is making a name for himself with his own shorts gracing festivals and competitions, but who has already established himself on much larger sets and productions with an aptitude for lesser-understood, but no less important jobs like assistant directing and production assistance.
But unlike many creatives that find themselves drawn to the world of filmmaking from a young age, Jayne took a more circuitous route through a love of writing and storytelling, an innate understanding of organization and process, and a strong desire to get away from the loneliness of solitary work and be a part of a team.
Justin Jayne: I've always really enjoyed the creative writing process.
I thought for a long time that I wanted to be a video game developer, and I learned making video games is a lot of math and it's a lot of staring at a screen, and it is not a lot of creative processes.
But I really liked the process of soup to nuts making a film, and so that is what kind of caused me to change my trajectory.
Brett Fieldcamp: After being advised to pursue film school, Jayne found himself drawn to the communal, all-hands element of professional production that calls for everyone to work efficiently and creatively at all levels, from the actors and director all the way down the line to the production assistants and background crew.
When he was asked after graduating to fill the assistant director role on a TV pilot production, Jayne felt like he had just the skills required.
Justin Jayne: I had only been on one real film set at that point, but I had really paid attention to what the first AD was doing on that, like this guy is telling the crew “here's what we're gonna do, here's what we're not gonna do, hey, we need to shoot this or we're not gonna make our day.”
Like, it's kind of an interesting overlap of, like, safety and also, like, rushing people, but I kind of realized that that's what I had been doing on all of the college student things that I had done anyway, without really realizing that that's what it was called.
And I just have, I guess, a knack for it. It comes naturally to me in a way that holding a camera really doesn't.
Brett Fieldcamp: But even that kind of natural knack for the details and logistics of a film set doesn’t make a career in movie production on its own. It also takes a lot of networking, a lot of late nights on location, and plenty of jobs secured at a moment’s notice.
And a bit of luck also doesn’t hurt.
In Jayne’s case, that was jumping into the film world just as the film world itself was jumping more fully into Oklahoma, a development that’s only grown and continued and made it easier than ever than Jyne to meet and prove his skills to the people that could connect him to the jobs he wants, jobs like second assistant director on Mickey Reece’s newest feature “Every Heavy Thing” and assisting production behind-the-scenes of Sterlin Harjo’s new Tulsa-set “The Lowdown.”
Justin Jayne: Everybody's path is a little bit different, and I think I was just kind of caught in one of those waves, because it is kind of weird how perfect the timing was for me.
In a lot of ways, it was really nice, because when I was getting ready to graduate, I was like “I'm probably gonna have to move to Los Angeles or Atlanta,” but then, you know, stuff kind of started falling into place here, and I've been able to work more or less steadily since early 2023
Brett Fieldcamp: But while steady work can be the dream of many in the world of film production, Jayne’s heart remains with storytelling and with his ambitions of crafting and directing his own stories for the screen, stories like his short film “Ultraviolet,” which is nominated for a slew of awards at this weekend’s Red Brick Road Film Festival in Paul’s Valley, including Best Okie Short and Best Director.
A creative and radiantly colorful new twist on the vampire thriller, “Ultraviolet” has become Jayne’s longest lasting labor of love to date.
Justin Jayne: It was a lot of writing and rewriting, and then it eventually got to the point where I was like “I'm going to start crowdfunding, and I'm going to do it, this, that, and the other way.”
We shot it in December of 2023, it didn't get finished editing until mid-2024, and it got its first festival in February of 2025.
It's had longer of a life cycle than I've had for any of my films up to this point, but having it play at local festivals has been really cool, because I get to go and watch it in person, and I get to see people react.
Brett Fieldcamp: That experience of seeing the fruits his efforts through the eyes and reactions of an audience is what Jayne says continues to propel him forward in filmmaking, whether he’s making schedules and wrangling crew or if he’s sitting in the captain’s chair and steering the ship himself.
Justin Jayne: I think just being able to take the lessons that I'm going to take from “UV” and apply them to my next films, and, you know, keep moving and growing as a filmmaker is the main thing for me.
Brett Fieldcamp: “Ultraviolet,” written and directed by Justin Jayne, is screening Saturday, October 11th at as part of the Red Brick Road Film Festival in Paul’s Valley.
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