We dive into the gritty and electrifying world of independent horror filmmaking with director and producer Joe Begos. Known for his visually arresting style and commitment to practical, in-camera effects, Joe shares the unfiltered story of how he built a career outside the traditional studio system.

Joe walks us through his unconventional path, from early childhood fascination with horror to the decision to skip film school and make movies the hard way. He recounts the experience of making his first feature on credit cards and pure hustle to create a film that landed on a major festival stage and launched his career. That same DIY ethos carried through to his next projects, where he refined his skills not just as a director, but as a producer, cinematographer, and even editor, learning every part of the process.

Throughout the conversation, Joe opens up about the evolving challenges of staying independent while growing as an artist. From raising money and managing crew to navigating creative control and working within tight budgets, he offers an honest look at what it takes to keep your vision intact in a collaborative—and often unpredictable—industry. He shares how each film pushed him to learn something new, and how embracing limitations often led to his most creative breakthroughs.

We also explore Joe’s latest film, Jimmy and Stiggs, a deeply personal project built almost entirely in his apartment over four years. What began as a response to the creative paralysis of the pandemic became a full-fledged feature, and now slated for a wide theatrical release through a major new distribution label. Join us for a raw and inspiring conversation where we explore what it truly means to stay creative and resourceful throughout the ups and downs of production.

About Wrapbook

Wrapbook is a smart, intuitive platform that makes production payroll and accounting easier, faster, and more secure. We provide a unified payroll platform that seamlessly connects your entire team—production, accounting, cast, and crew—all in one place.

Wrapbook empowers production teams to manage projects, pay cast and crew, track expenses, and generate data-driven insights, while enabling workers to manage timecards, track pay, and onboard to new projects from any device. Wrapbook brings clarity and dependability to production payroll, while increasing the productivity of your whole team.

For crew: The Wrapbook app eliminates the headaches of production payroll by providing a fast, transparent, and secure solution for workers to complete startwork, submit timecards, and track pay.

Trusted by companies of all sizes, Wrapbook powers payroll for some of the industry’s top production companies, including SMUGGLER, Tuff, and GhostRobot. Our growing team of 250+ people includes entertainment and technology experts from SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, Teamsters, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and more.

Wrapbook is backed by top-tier investors, including Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, Andreessen Horowitz, and A* Capital.

Get started at https://www.wrapbook.com/