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Eric England

Before Jason Padgitt joined the Nashville Film Festival as executive director in 2018, he was working in another creative industry near and dear to so many Nashvillians’ hearts: the music industry.

After receiving valuable experience fresh out of college at the award-winning entertainment PR and marketing communications agency Rogers & Cowan, Padgitt followed his love of music and knack for creative global marketing campaigns to secure leadership roles at both Gibson Brands Inc. and Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

“Over several years, there became many natural tie-ins to the film industry, and I gained a strong interest in how film and music worked together in the broader entertainment industry,” says Padgitt. “I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to work in roles throughout my career that have not only been of great personal value to me, but have also helped build careers of musicians and filmmakers. It’s been a very rewarding journey so far.”

Padgitt recently took a break from the frenzy of film festival preparations to tell us more about hanging out with rock stars, working behind the scenes at major industry events and how the NFF is developing engaging film and education programs to ensure the next generation of Nashville’s creatives have a place to grow and explore.

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HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Immediately after college, I moved to Los Angeles and landed a job as an assistant at a major entertainment PR firm. Within months, I found myself being responsible for running the press room at the Grammy Awards, so it was a pretty big leap in a very short amount of time. Beyond all of the impressive aspects of the talent and celebrities involved, it became very clear how much of an actual business the entertainment industry is, and while it can be a lot of fun, it also takes an incredible amount of work to be successful.

JOB PERKS

Building an organization that is able to present new and innovative films to the Nashville community is incredibly rewarding. For me, the joy in the experience is not as much about the films themselves but getting to experience some of the creative journey with the filmmakers. Being able to spend time with a director and share their experience of seeing their film on a big screen with an audience for the first time is amazing.

JOB CHALLENGES

The biggest challenge I face is generating funding to help grow the organization. While the actual festival is a very high-profile part of what the Nashville Film Festival does, it is not all we do. We produce year-round film screenings, an education program, music and film mentoring projects and more. We depend on a mix of grants, sponsorships, memberships and donations, but it’s always a challenge and takes a lot of time and energy to get our message out to build a larger, more engaged audience.

BEST ADVICE

One thing most aspiring filmmakers don’t inherently recognize is that any great film is equal parts art and science. The skill sets required are both creative and technical, and you can’t underserve either one. So if you have a strength in one and a weakness in the other, focus on strengthening your weakness first. The other thing to remember is that the film industry is a very difficult business, and as much as you may want to be a creative filmmaker, you also need to learn to be a businessperson to succeed. You need to sell yourself and your film to get it made. That can be a lot more difficult for people who are highly creative.

PROUD MOMENT

One of the most memorable and certainly unique periods of my career involved working closely with Eddie Van Halen to help brand and launch his line of EVH guitars and amplifiers. We would meet at his studio and go over things, and then, he would always start sharing stories about his life and career. He was one of the most impressive, intelligent and generally misunderstood people of all time. What I loved about working with him was understanding that his musical genius was driven by a passion that is really hard to achieve. You don’t become great at anything just because you were born with talent. You take that talent, add passion and work really, really hard, which is exactly what he did. More than a great guitar player, he was truly a great person, and I miss him a lot.

IN ANOTHER LIFE

I would almost certainly want to be in a recording studio somewhere with all my musical friends, trying to simultaneously write and record the next great American classic album — maybe even a concept album that would later be adapted to a film.

IN THE WORKS

The 53rd annual Nashville Film Festival is taking most of my time now. We’re thrilled with how it’s shaping up, and it will take place Sept. 29-Oct. 5. We hope everyone in Nashville will be a part of it.

FUTURE PLANS

I would love to see a year-round cinema workshop in Nashville that could serve everyone in learning the basics of filmmaking, screenwriting and music for film. This would take the place of an arts degree but give everyone a chance to explore the art of filmmaking in a fun and collaborative way. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on how to make this work and would love to put all the pieces together to make it a reality someday soon.