Meet John Gibson | Professor, Storyteller, and Imperial Stormtrooper Dropout

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

Hi John, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
Of all the roles I have, I think being a parent is probably the most important — tied with being a husband.

In both of these roles, there’s been successes and struggles, for sure. But, I think the most important thing I’ve done as a parent to impact my children is to give them a consistent message. It’s a message I’ve told them since probably even before they were ever able to talk, but as they’ve gotten older (Emery is 9 now; Silas is 11), I’ve tried to reinforce it even more.

“You have one job in this world. That’s to be a good person.” I usually go on to add that it doesn’t really matter how much money they make, or how many hours they work, or if the career they find some day is what they say they want to be now (9/10 times, it’s a YouTuber … or ninja …). As long as they are a good person, and care for others and let that guide their decisions, they will be a success in my book.

So, now, their mom and I are proud that we’ve got these two small creatures that we’ve brought into this world, who — despite bickering, arguing and general sibling rivalry sometimes — do genuinely care about other people, and the impact they can have on the world around them (whether it is picking up garbage and recycling, or being good friends to those in need, etc).

I feel like this is probably the biggest impact I’ve tried to make on my kids — just put good out into the world. Because we all need more of that. That’s your job.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I believe that as long as we are creating, and putting something we’ve made out into the world — to be seen, heard, viewed, experienced — a part of us is living forever. It’s not so much an artist statement that drives me, I guess, but is something that is an undercurrent that runs with my passion projects.

I am a storyteller — I love the flow of a narrative, character development, twists and turns — but I love, too, working my own personal elements into the stories I tell because, again, that’s an immortality of sorts. As long as that work exists, and as long as someone can still see it, they can still connect with a piece of me, even if it is years, decades or centuries from now (provided we survive the undead apocalypse, followed shortly after by the robot uprising).

A prime example of this, for me, is in my feature film “Revelation Trail,” the two main characters — a preacher and a lawman — are representative at times of my own view of life, death, faith and and finding a purpose. When you hear their dialogue, even if you don’t know me, you are hearing snippets and aspects of my own worldview. You are hearing from me.

And I don’t think that is necessarily unique to me. I think with any storyteller, as long as their stories exist and continue to be told, then they, too, are alive forever. Why do we pass down stories of our ancestors? Our parents and family who have passed? It’s to keep some part of them still alive as well.

—

Along the way, the most valuable things I have learned can be distilled into what I call “Gibson’s Gold Rules.” These are things I tell my students that, if they learn nothing else from me, I want them to remember these. There’s about 10 … maybe 12 … and some are relatively simple, like “Always use headphones (when recording audio).” But, two that are very huge, and have been the most important lessons I’ve learned, are “learn from your mistakes,” and “check your ego at the door.” Every success I’ve had in production is a culmination of all the mistakes I made in the previous production. I believe we learn just as much from our mistakes as we do our successes, and I try to take those mistakes with me as I go as reminders. And, as I tell my students, no one wants to work with an a**hole. You can be okay at your job — maybe you aren’t the best camera operator out there, or best sound recordist, but you are good to have around because you will dedicate yourself to the art and the crew, and have a good attitude. And I will take you a thousand times over the person who is a jerk, believes they know everything, and for real–might be a better camera operator or sound recordist. Because, I want to surround myself with good people. I want to surround myself with the people who learned, like my kids, that you have one job in this world, “Be a good person.”

—
As for how I got to where I am today, this is a long drawn out story that I will try to summarize! So, here goes:
Way back when, in middle school and high school, I used to make movies for class projects that were really, really bad. But, I did these, and they were fun, and they made classmates and the teacher laugh. And, well, I often got out of writing papers. But, this wasn’t really going to develop into anything. I was going to be a high school history teacher, daggummit.

Jump ahead to college at Murray State University, and my best friend Josh and I were rooming together, and someone slid an invite under our door to a campus poster sale. We opened the door quickly, and there was this cliche pop-punk skater looking dude (full disclosure: I love me some pop-punk, so that’s not a dig) standing there. He saw some posters on our wall, which struck up a conversation about movies, and this guy — Chris Schweizer, an art student–invited us to join a film club on campus he was starting. From there, Josh (a pre-med major) and myself (a history major) started making more really bad (but slightly better) films with friends. And it turned out, we realized our movies could not only entertain our classmates and teachers, but people who didn’t even know us. A crowded theater on campus was cracking up at our zombie parodies and stop motion action films. Something started to change in me.

Jump ahead a few years and a few more bad (but slowly getting better) films, and I had given up wanting to be a high school history teacher. I was working at Walmart in the automotive section (indoors, selling stereos and tires–believe me, you don’t want me working on your car), and I was about to graduate in two weeks with a history degree and no prospects on the horizon. A guy walked in to buy a car stereo, and during the exchange, he noted I had a really good voice. He asked if I had ever considered radio, and I said, “I dunno. I’m about to graduate in a few weeks and don’t know what I’m doing.” He told me his name was Gary Scott, that he worked for the local NPR station, and gave me the number of the station manager. He said they were hiring, and that if I didn’t call that number for an audition, he was going to return in a few days to ask me why.

So, Gary Scott was either a serial killer, a guardian angel, or sent by future John Gibson “Terminator 2” style to come back and change the course of history. Or, well, he just happened to find me at the right time, at the right place, and a connection was made.

Regardless, I got a job as a board operator for the NPR station (WKMS) and that changed the trajectory of everything. It caused me not to leave Murray when I was originally planning. Which led to me getting a part time job working in local advertising and public television (Murray Electric System), which I could do because I had experience in video production (thanks to the film club and Chris Schweizer) which was developed from a hobby I had in high school with my friend Josh, among others. Eventually, I went back to get my Masters in Communication, started adjunct teaching, and poof: here I am, 20 years later, still teaching and telling stories.

Life works in these weird, chaotic ways sometimes, especially when you are able to look back and weave the thread along the needles and points. This is also in part why I’m largely drawn to plots involving multi-verses. Haha. My thread went like this: filmmaking hobby to get out of writing papers -> film club -> radio station -> public television ->masters degree in communication -> teaching at Northern Kentucky University, and all the productions that have come with that.

Somewhere along the way, I met my wife, had two kids, and some crazy tales to tell. I’m just glad I opened the door when that poster sale note slid under our dorm door, and that I wasn’t on break when Gary came in to buy a car stereo.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m going to have to lie a smidge, because my best friend doesn’t drink. But, let’s just say, he listens to the devil on his shoulder, and says, “What the heck, let’s do this.” Here goes:

We’re definitely going to hit up the Brickery at Newport on the Levee on one of our first days. I’ve yet to go here, but it is on my radar. I feel like if you are a Lego fan, this is your go-to spot. Plus, this is going to give you a great chance to walk out of the Levee, across the Purple People Bridge, and start to experience the fun of Cincinnati.

Making our way through Cincinnati, there’s a few stops for entertainment that are coming to mind (well, a LOT of stops … but, we’ll save some of those for another week). We’re going to go to 16 Bit Bar + Arcade / Pins Mechanical to enjoy duckpin bowling and three levels of drinks and arcade games, and when we’re hungry, get some food delivered to us from Milkman Burgers.

Eventually, from there, we make our way to Findley Market where I load up on way too much cheese and some other great items, and then head over to Cosmic Gorilla Comics. A fun store where I could easily spend way too much, but usually contain myself. We’ll swing by Level One Bar +Arcade for more drinks and free games, and maybe do dinner one night at A Taste of Belgium in OTR. Somewhere along the way, we’re also checking out that amazing Kenner toy mural painted by Artworks Volunteers.

(Hey, wait…all of these places are giving me free stuff for name dropping, right?)

For a movie sometime, we are going to go to the Esquire and enjoy some inexpensive popcorn and drinks (for real — I think my wife and I paid $35 for two tickets, a bucket of popcorn and sodas one time … that was insane).

And then when all is said and done, and we are looking for a cool brewery to hang out at, I’m going to go to Darkness Brewing in Bellevue KY for a Bellevue Common.

—
When all is said and done, and my friend is about to depart, I’m going to say, “look at how much fun we had up here. There’s SOOO much that we still didn’t get a chance to do. So, well, you need to move here.”

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So many people. But, my wife Candace first and foremost. I’m a person who dealt with undiagnosed anxiety and depression for many years, which has led to some debilitating decision making at times. And Candace has been the one has been patient and supporting enough to help me break through those walls, even when I’ve lacked that same patience.

Chris Schweizer — a college friend who invited me to my first film club meeting at Murray State, which changed the trajectory of my life forever with one simple invite.

Oh crap…I think I hear the cutoff music now.

My students, past and present, who hopefully know they teach me just as much as I teach them.

Website: https://directorjohngibson.wixsite.com/portfolio

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXkGHt84NYpAg0ySh_YCh7g

Image Credits
Candace Gibson Larissa Heck Aaron Reizner Kyser Lough