Ask A Genius 1352: Gumption and Talent: The Creative Drive of JD Mata and Lance Richlin
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/04/10
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What do you think are the best attributes of JD Mata and Lance Richlin?
Rick Rosner: Yeah. I know it sounds like we’re talking behind their backs, but… I mean, they’re both talented. JD is a really good musician — performance-wise, vocally, as a composer. And they both have this level of gumption — way more than I do — where they just keep going, no matter what.
Lance is a year younger than me, so he’s almost 64. JD’s not that much younger than both of us. And yet, Lance just keeps painting, sculpting, creating work that pleases him. And he believes it should please the world. And he’s going to keep doing it, regardless of whether or not the world gives him much in return.
Same for JD. JD has written, shot, directed, edited, cast — like — 15 feature-length films on fucking budgets of less than a few thousand dollars each. He finds actors — sometimes even semi-famous actors — and gets good performances from them.
He just keeps plugging along. He’s done scores of music videos. He’s superreliable. If you need him to do a job that’s in his wheelhouse — music, directing, shooting — he will get it done.
And he’s never had, like, a real budget — he’s never had a studio hand him a quarter million to direct something. But he’s still out there, fucking doing it. And his work is good.
He’ll even steal locations — which is an art form when you’ve got no budget. You get your cast in place, find somewhere to shoot. He does his own location scouting. Iwas in a movie of his once, shot under a freeway overpass — among homeless people — in the middle of the night.
You know, and he fucking got it done under crazy conditions. So — gumption and talent. I mean, those are the two chief qualities you asked for, and there you go.
And also — one more thing — even as we do our work and the decades pass, the three of us still believe, deep down, that someday we’ll be recognized and celebrated for some of the shit we’ve done. I mean, you and I — addendum here — we’ve been doing this blog-style work for over ten and a half years. Millions of words.
And a lot of those words are only lightly edited, if at all. So, yeah, there’s a certain gibberish quality to some of them, because they’re raw. And sometimes even the cleanup doesn’t help.
But the volume of material that comes out of our nightly talks is so massive that to go through and edit everything carefully and clearly… it would be onerous, and honestly, not feasible.
Still, in all that talking, we’ve generated millions of words. And there’s real value in what we’ve said — in these conversations. Not just here, but also in the thousands of other interviews you’ve done. I’m sure you hope to be recognized someday for that body of work, right?
Jacobsen: No fucking way, man.
Rosner: But I do. I hope there’s a fucking record here that someone, at some point, can wade into and pull out the stuff that doesn’t suck.
Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices. In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarks, performances, databases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: scott.jacobsen2025@gmail.com. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.
In-Sight Publishing 