Meet Radomir Jordanovic: Movie Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Radomir Jordanovic and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Radomir, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
My college required me to take certain types of courses that were outside of my major as a way to offer a well-rounded education. I thought it would be fun to find a minor whose courses mapped out to the requirements for the major, and film studies worked well for its English and Communication classes. The primary classroom for film studies was a large lecture hall, and the few film students in any class usually sat in the lower levels. I noticed one quiet student in the far back, sitting in the corner, so I sat right next to him. The first semester was awkward, but the following semester, he invited me to his Halloween party. We then became roommates so we could most conveniently shoot short movies together. I had such a great time working on short sketches that I tried shooting corporate videos professionally, and even that was a great time. I still enjoyed creative videos more, and when I mostly figured out how to get maybe paid to make those, I moved out to Hollywood to make movies. A few months after I moved out, I flew back to visit family and friends and to attend that friend’s wedding. I told him that I may not have moved away had it not been for him and thanked him for getting me interested in making movies.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to do stuff that feels like it’s on a whim but is underscored by what turns out to feel like a prank. For example, I was living in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I had never met Bill Boodell in person until he invited me to watch the 2018 Golden Globes on TV at his apartment in Hollywood. It was an online invite, and I clicked Going. He told me it was more of a fun jab to say that I could watch TV at his place if I lived in LA. So, I drove across the continent to watch TV at his place. My friend Brett Hibbard and I went on this crazy trip and told no one why, and all along it I was posting on social media a lot of misinformation about my travels. This story and the posts became the 2019 Motion Pictures International Film Festival Best Documentary Short award-winning mockumentary, The Road Trip. It is now on my YouTube channel. I could not let a quick joke about me driving out to LA slide, and I one-upped my own road trip by making a mockumentary that competed with documentaries and won first place in a film fest. This is pretty much my art, excitement, overcoming of challenges, and brand in a nutshell. This is how I got to where I am professionally, too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This happened to me! Right before everything shut down, my friend, Jared Ades, came by Los Angeles for a week. You can see him on my YouTube channel in such hits as Eugene Eubanks: Baltimore’s Favorite Son, a Bowling Story and Naptown Vice. I remember that I was living near Venice Beach at the time, and we went to Venice and Santa Monica. We rode the Pacific Wheel and ate hot dogs. I highly recommend the Getty Villa, but we could not make it from all the other museums and attractions – we went to the Getty Center and got beautiful views of the 4,000 square miles of Los Angeles and then LACMA. My friend Toti Suono was here from Italy to film a movie, so Jared was the sound guy. The best burgers are at Stout, which from 4-6 PM on weekdays has all its food half off. But also, we tried In ‘n Out and Astro Burger. At the time, Mole Richardson had not yet closed its student program, so I took Jared over there to help teach movie lighting to film students. I don’t know if that’s possible, but a strong alternative is a movie studio tour. I hear that a lot of people tour Hollywood by walking down Hollywood Blvd, but there is so much more. Especially if you have a friend in the city, it’s a great spot to visit or live. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am fortunate to have my group of friends who make movies with me, and they all deserve to try to find their names in a massive block of text. Bill Boodell is a prodigious writer, director, and editor who liked my YouTube channel and wanted to stay in touch, and now we are roommates in LA. We room also with Dave Jia, whom I met when I moved out here. Dave is an endlessly driven and innovative working actor in LA who makes my movies look too good. There are also people I met in Indiana who moved to LA coincidentally at around the same time as I did. I had met RJ Maurer when we both lived in Indiana, and then I did color grading and sound mixing in post for his feature, Haven. His movie was edited by Toran Farrow, who now works alongside RJ and me as Assistant Director when we shoot stuff. Recently, I met Eric HongHui Luo, a professional Director of Photography on movies and TV shows, and we became friends for having the same cameras and being generally cool people. Now, we’re shooting movies together, and he’s joined the currently titled DarkEx, a project RJ Maurer wrote that Toran Farrow and I are producing and that Dave Jia is starring in. Bill Boodell and Dave Jia have a huge group of friends who have become my own friends, and I’ve absorbed them into my moviemaking group. I’ve worked with Victor Salvatore, a SAG-AFTRA actor whose improv skills are unmatched; Dominika van Santen, an actress/comedian/model/dancer ; Kayla Eva, a self-proclaimed grocery store; Nicola Singer, once a roommate as well, a SAF-AFTRA actress who is like a big sister to me; Jeanne Mailloux, a world traveler, film crew member, and actress; Tony Zequeira, an agent and producer who is always down for a road trip to Vegas; Jason Skorski, a currently Vegas-residing screenwriter who just optioned two features and who helps me write my own scripts; Tom Gander, a photographer and filmmaker who has gone on road trips with me, acted in my movies, and introduced me to numerous, talented people; and Rafael Saud, a filmmaker from Brazil who’s studying film in LA, whose eye for moviemaking and patience for reading my shoutouts are of legend.

Website: https://www.custommadename.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/custommadename

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radomirthegreat

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/custommadename

Image Credits
Brett Hibbard, Ghasem Ebrahimian, Toran Farrow, and Bill Boodell