A mere few minutes spent with him on a set and it’s obvious where J.D. Cochran is most in his element. Yet having grown up in a blue collar, biracial household in Long Beach, CA, J.D. didn’t imagine that a career in the film business would be an option available to him. In fact when he decided to “give college a try,” he thought music production could be the career he’d go after, having spent many high school nights deejaying parties and dancing at clubs.
Still, his fate was sealed after discovering the School of Cinema Television at the University of Southern California. He directed a number of films and an award-winning play before graduating with high marks in both Theatre Arts and Cinema along with a passion for storytelling through film.
His study of story structure and technique was enhanced when, after USC, J.D. worked as part of a team at Screenplay Systems, Inc focusing on the story development software, Dramatica. During that time he made use of his unique perspective on both black and white culture in America while writing and developing TV and feature stories and screenplays. He also applied that knowledge in practice through directing: shooting and editing various independent projects from music videos, short and feature films, PSAs and spec commercials. Among his projects were two well-received short films accepted at many film festivals, “The Right Man For The Job (2001),” and “A Fight For Glory (2002).” In addition, J.D. was cinematographer, editor and co-producer on the direct-to-video feature film "Soul Talkin'."
Then came “the big decision”, go-for-the-dream time. He decided to put all other pursuits on the backburner to focus completely on his feature film directing debut. "Paved With Good Intentions," which he co-wrote, enjoyed a successful festival run that concluded in 2007 and in which the film garnered several awards including Best Director at the San Diego Black Film Festival. Particularly admiring film director Robert Rodriguez’s “Jack of All Trades” approach to filmmaking, he aspires to make his mark just as solidly and creatively in motion pictures by utilizing his own experience and many talents to bring many more stories to life. He also enjoys and applies a technical acumen to his directing, performing all the graphic design and authoring of a “Paved” DVD which he is self distributing while working on new story ideas.
A mere few minutes spent with him on a set and it’s obvious where J.D. Cochran is most in his element. Yet having grown up in a blue collar, biracial household in Long Beach, CA, J.D. didn’t imagine that a career in the film business would be an option available to him. In fact when he decided to “give college a try,” he thought music production could be the career he’d go after, having spent many high school nights deejaying parties and dancing at clubs.
Still, his fate was sealed after discovering the School of Cinema Television at the University of Southern California. He directed a number of films and an award-winning play before graduating with high marks in both Theatre Arts and Cinema along with a passion for storytelling through film.
His study of story structure and technique was enhanced when, after USC, J.D. worked as part of a team at Screenplay Systems, Inc focusing on the story development software, Dramatica. During that time he made use of his unique perspective on both black and white culture in America while writing and developing TV and feature stories and screenplays. He also applied that knowledge in practice through directing: shooting and editing various independent projects from music videos, short and feature films, PSAs and spec commercials. Among his projects were two well-received short films accepted at many film festivals, “The Right Man For The Job (2001),” and “A Fight For Glory (2002).” In addition, J.D. was cinematographer, editor and co-producer on the direct-to-video feature film "Soul Talkin'."
Then came “the big decision”, go-for-the-dream time. He decided to put all other pursuits on the backburner to focus completely on his feature film directing debut. "Paved With Good Intentions," which he co-wrote, enjoyed a successful festival run that concluded in 2007 and in which the film garnered several awards including Best Director at the San Diego Black Film Festival. Particularly admiring film director Robert Rodriguez’s “Jack of All Trades” approach to filmmaking, he aspires to make his mark just as solidly and creatively in motion pictures by utilizing his own experience and many talents to bring many more stories to life. He also enjoys and applies a technical acumen to his directing, performing all the graphic design and authoring of a “Paved” DVD which he is self distributing while working on new story ideas.
