Jason Rodi - CoFounder at Moment Factory & President at Nomad Industries

Welcome to another Founder Wisdom podcast. We have Jason Rhodey with us today. Jason's a special guy. I really wanted to have him on the pod. He's the president of Nomad Industries since 20 years. He owns the place he's in right now. So he's also a real estate owner. But most importantly, and what caught my attention, right? It's like Moment Factory. What a great Montreal gem that was. And Not necessarily as a company, but like the creativity itself, right? It's like scaling creativity. I would define it as such. And nowadays he runs nomadlive.tv, which is home of nomadslo.tv, which I've been watching on my TV screen while working. Yeah, welcome to the pod. Tell us a bit more about yourself and what you're up to.

Well, what I'm about myself, In order of importance, I'm a father of 3 kids now. I have 2 teenage daughters, and Jane is gonna be 18 in a couple of weeks. Alex is 14, and Kino, uh, Kino is, uh, 2 years old only. So he's cinema incarnate. And I've, um, My— what I do, to talk about that briefly, what I've really specialized in is creating films that are atmospheric or ambient in a way. So I have a streaming service that you mentioned, Nomad Life TV, and we essentially create content that is not vying for your attention for a change, but really more passive content that helps you concentrate if you're working on something, or when I'm writing even an email, I'll have Nomad Slow TV rolling. So that's my main project, and I've always been doing that kind of content indirectly through, let's say, you know, just through Moment Factory. I became a VJ after film school, so as a VJ, I was creating a lot of environments and experiences, you know, and just with projections, kind of like making movies without a screen in a way. And so yeah, I've sort of come back to that with this project, and I could go much deeper, you know. In short, I used to say I'm a filmmaker, but really I'm an artist is the— is a better way to put it. I used to say as well, like, I'm a creative entrepreneur, whatever that meant, you know. Because all of my businesses have always been for me kind of art projects first. You know, it's the real reason I'm doing any business, the reason I own this building, for instance. This whole building is kind of a work of art for me. So, uh, yeah, the simplest way to put it besides saying that I'm a dad is that I'm, I'm an artist.

Yeah, yeah. What looks, uh, what you're in right now looks like you're playground, right? It's just a place you can enter every day and have fun and flow. And, uh, or do you have like some kind of structure to your creativity/madness?

Of course I have a, uh, I don't know if I would call it a structure. I call it a process, you know. I, of course, I have a creative process that I've developed through the years, uh, consciously and unconsciously. But when I bought this building, it was right after I sold Moment Factory, and I was looking for a building to bring my activities. And my father was saying, well, why don't you— could do what you do from your basement, basically. Why don't you do that? But I wanted to be surrounded by people. I didn't want to be working alone, even though I didn't necessarily want to get again into a kind of structure with dozens of employees and that sort of thing, though I did fall into that trap again at some point. So that's how I started offering coworking space. I bought this building and invited collaborators to work from here as well. And this was before the word coworking even existed. So It was really natural for me. You know, it wasn't like a business plan or something. It was just more of a lifestyle approach and a change in my relationship with the people that surround me every day. You know, I wanted to break that employer-employee dynamic and be surrounded by people that are here of their own accord, which really changes the dynamic when you're hiring one another to do different work. Everyone kind of feels like they're working for themselves, which is the case. So yeah, it's a different way of working. I got up to nearly about 20 employees again a few years back, but then I scaled it back when my ex left me. It's been, I guess, 11 or so years ago. I thought, well, this is a good opportunity to you know, run less, basically changed that again. So now we're just a handful of people working on Nomad and all kinds of things go on here. I rent the place out for events. So there's events here every week. There was one last night, there was one the night before and so on. Last night was a book launch. The night before was the 15th anniversary of a theater. We had the 25th anniversary of Pop Montreal here the week before. So It's really become a kind of cultural hub, nomad, through the events, through the coworking, and through the shoots, because we shoot a lot of things here. There have been a lot of TV shows and films and my own projects, of course, that have been shot here. We shoot here every month. We have a series that we've been shooting here for 3 years. So it's super active. It's also very loose. You know, it's not like I'm organizing these networking events or anything of the sort. You know, people that you know join Nomad as a coworker or or do an event here, whatever it is, it's really what they bring to it that makes it what it is. So I'm extremely proud of it, and lately I've realized, you know, Moment Factory turned 25 this year. We have another institution here called the SAT, La Société des Arts Technologiques. that just turned 30. I have a friend as well, Elizabeth Ann Doyle, who has an organization called MU, who have done many of the murals throughout the city. So people recognize, they know Montreal for what MU does without even knowing that MU exists. And they just turned 20 years old. And so there's a lot of I, I was at MAP Montreal yesterday, this festival that I'm on the board of, um, and that just turned 10 years old. All of this to say that I'm realizing that I've planted these seeds without really being aware of it about 25 years ago, and that now there's all this kind of ecosystem around it. There's all this stuff that has gone on way beyond me, like the MAP Festival, you know, is, uh, you know, has little to do with me, but it's strange to think that I might be kind of at the origin of it. And Moment Factory, I'm obviously at the origin of that, but what it's become today is so far beyond, you know, really anything that I might have brought to it. So it's an interesting and wonderful kind of pride, you know, because it's all beyond me. It's the stuff that exists now But I, yeah, it's, it's, there's a lesson in it that I'm learning is to just plant seeds, you know, like they say in the Bhagavad Gita, it's you don't work for the fruits of work but for the work itself, you know, and, and I'm really, really seeing my, the fruits of my work lately, it's, it's been amazing honestly.

How do you become a great seed planter? What skills do you need to nurture to become a great seed planter?

That's a really good question and way to put it, and no one's ever called me that. So I mean, I, I brought it up myself, of course. How do I become a great seed planter? It's a really, um, it's really interesting because I don't know if you can really so consciously approach it like that, you know. So what I would answer to that, my personal approach to all of it. It might be a little vague, but it's to follow my intuition. David Lynch calls intuition as intellect and emotions working together. So, throughout my life, I've made some decisions that some people might have thought strange, like to sell Moment Factory just as it's taking off, or Another one is even just to buy this building. It wasn't in the shape that it is now, but when I was about to get it, I showed it to a bunch of people. I mean, like dozens of people, and not a single person thought it was a good idea just because of the way it looked. And now today, everyone's patting me on the back. Oh, wow. So why? Like, why did I make these moves? And even how did I start Moment Factory? initially was really just following my heart. You know, it's, um, you might be doing something that's working well for you, but knowing deep down that perhaps someone else could be doing the same thing and doing it better than you, you know, because they might care for it, uh, more deeply. Or, um, it might be that you know that you're— you've done good work somewhere, but that your true calling uh, is somewhere else. So if you get trapped, you know, in, in there, then you, you wouldn't have the courage, let's say, to jump, uh, to the next, uh, chapter of your life. So how to become a great seed planter is to follow one's heart, you know, and do things from a place of, of joy and, uh, ease. Um, without necessarily, um, too much thought for what may come of it. Um, hey, Len, he's a good example of this. Uh, he's planted plenty of seeds. Uh, Glenn here. So it's, um, so yeah, it, it's a difficult thing to answer, but in my day-to-day, it's not difficult for me to exercise, honestly, because I've become ever better at this because I found it to be beneficial. You know, like, just to use the Moment Factory example, I, I was a VJ. You know, I studied film, then I became— when I started working as a videographer, I, I became a VJ, like a video jockey, mixing mixing videos the way a DJ might, for those who might not know what that is. And so I became that kind of artist. I started another company. I started a company, my first company, that was a web company. This was in the internet bubble in '99, I believe I started that other company. And a couple of years into it, I was starting to itch, you know, because I was getting too far from what I really do. So I thought, I gotta start it. I want to start a website. I always had this dream of having— of creating a movie that never ends, something that I— a movie that I can just keep feeding without asking for permission, that would already have a kind of audience to it. So back in the day, like in maybe '98 or '99, when I had that vision, I— to me, that seemed like kind of a TV station. You know, it was the best way to put it. So I was always chasing that. So in the midst of this web company, in the spring, I thought by the end of the summer, I have to start this website, this video website. And then came August, the summer was practically over, and I just went to one of my guys. I said, okay, let's put this website together, this video website. He goes, well, I need an address, a name. So that's when I came up with Moment Factory, and I started putting one movie a week on there. And within a couple of months, the guys that became my partners kind of came out of the woodwork and, you know, had interest in what I was doing. Same thing with other collaborators that I work with to this day, like the kind of people I was seeing last night, Tien Vu Dang, who organized MAP Montreal, I met, and, um, and so many others even that I just saw last night. It's, it's, it's amazing, really. So I had no description on momentfactory.com as to what Moment Factory was, and I had, um, no explanation for it. If you asked me what it was, I might have said like it's a Rolodex of moments of sorts, you know. So moment 1, moment 2. I'd have a little description per video, but beyond that— and back then there was less than a handful of video websites out there, so it was unique, you know, it was different. And we were way in the forefront, way at the avant-garde. You know, this is like 10 years before YouTube even existed, you know, almost 10 years before Vimeo. And to think that of all that came from that, eventually, obviously, if you go on momentfactory.com now, there's a description for what the company does. But really, I'd gotten some investment money for that web company initially. And so it made me start kind of on the wrong step in a way. And with Moment Factory, we really developed it so organically, really following what the market wanted, you know. And that's the most important lesson I learned business-wise, is, you know, first thing to do is not to build it, is really to start to sell it. You know, you bring it to people, you pitch it, and, and you listen. You know, you really listen to what the market wants, what people want essentially. And that's what I've applied. That's what, you know, now I call myself Nomad for the last, you know, over 15 years, um, that I call my, my company Nomad. And Nomad is synonymous with that. It's synonymous with movement, with adaptation, um, and it's really a lesson I learned early on, um, from planting that initial Moment Factory seed.

Yeah, crazy seed you planted. Um, isn't it wild? Listening to you is like— I think it's heart-centered, right? Like, whatever that means. I think you let your heart take decisions. But isn't the heart the brain? There's brain cells in the heart. Um, yeah, before, before I ask you a question on that—

Intuition. That's the right word. And I love how David Lynch puts it. You know, intellect and emotions working together, that's intuition, you know. And, and so you say follow your heart, it's very— what does that mean, you know?

Yeah.

It's very hard to even— for anybody to, to, to know what that means. But to, to have to, you know, you have feelings, you're in a meeting, you know, you might be feeling like this is where I belong, these are my people. Or you might not have that feeling, you know, you might, you might feel, um, uh, who knows, like you just don't connect. Maybe you're, uh, who knows, you know, but then you gotta listen to that. And when you do feel good, follow your bliss, you know, that's a Joseph Campbell line. He has 2 that I follow.

The addicts do that and end up in the street, right? So what's the difference between to follow one's bliss. Yeah, bliss is that scale, and bliss is that bring you down shooting heroin in the street.

Yeah, well, that, that's true, but, um, it's not— that may be, um, a different kind of bliss, you know, kind of manufactured bliss, not the, the real kind.

Um, and, uh, what's the real kind? Like community, connecting with people? Arts in your case, right? Self-expression. And I guess one that doesn't tend to fall down, right? Like not a roller coaster one, but just like a one that keeps— that is strength, just like Nomad TV, right? Like it's somewhat stable and yeah, it's increasing, right?

And yeah, I like that. It's true that Nomad Slow TV has that kind of calm, you know, kind of steadiness. Um, the way I would define, um, my, my bliss, my, my own bliss, you know, is, um, let's say in relationships. I found myself in relationships, obviously I was, uh, happy enough to be with the person, you know, and, and might have been even content enough to stay with them. But when something just feels good, you know, in a relationship, we're talking about love, you know, you meet someone and you might be very attracted, but then it's complicated. You feel nervous, but in kind of the wrong way, like you need to come up with something else. Whereas when it's easy, You know, you're with the person and it's just easy, whether you're talking or not talking, you know, whatever it is. Um, there's, uh, there's a joy in the presence, you know. I found this, um, obviously in my relationships with, with my children. I, I have an immense amount of love that surrounds me, and it brings me an awful lot of bliss, if you want to use that word. But when I'm playing— I've been playing music now for only 3 years, and I'm— and, and I have this musical ensemble called Antenna. We record 2 to 3 music, uh, 2 to 3 hours of music together every week. And, um, I'm, I'm glad I didn't, uh, fall into music at an earlier age because it would have sent my life in a whole other direction. Because it is so blissful, so very blissful. We play together, we improvise, and we kind of forget. We transcend in a way, you know. We find ourselves in this space kind of above the space. And then when we kind of come down and, you know, a song naturally comes to an end, you can open your eyes, you look around, and you kind of forgot not just that there were other people around you, but that you even existed yourself. You just kind of became the, the music. That is pure bliss to me, truly. And throughout my work, throughout everything I do, I, I found I used to put a lot of pride in, in the effort I would put into things, you know, into getting up early, into, you know, hitting the grind and all that. You know what that means. I know it. But more recently, I had some very nice successes that came out of pure ease, you know, out of me doing something just the easy way, out of my own studio, my own way, not hiring other people, just having the confidence to do certain things myself, you know, from the heart. And it just You know, when things come together easily like that, then there— it's, it's so much easier to get in the flow. And I know you, you think a lot about the flow, what that means, you know. And, um, and when you're in the flow, you're in that place of bliss, you know. If you're— whether you're climbing a mountain or, uh, like if you're climbing up a rock and all you are in is that moment. You're in the flow of that, and there might be a kind of stress to it, or whatever it is. It might be accompanied by these different things, but this renders results. You know, when you follow your bliss, you know, if you find yourself in environments where you feel good, where you feel secure, like yourself, where you feel like you're closest to your own essence, whatever it is, whether you're talking about business, relationships, your art, whatever it is, even spirituality, if you find yourself in a context like that, then you follow that. Then you take— you go on that path. I'm not talking about like just taking the easy road all the time, because once you take that path, it'll bring you challenges, you know, but they'll be so much easier to tackle. You'll enjoy the challenge because you'll be in the right place and you'll be the right person to tackle that challenge. So I know this is a little philosophical, you know, but It's, it's kind of— I'm 49 now, and, uh, these, these are things I'm just coming to, coming to in, in recent years, you know. Um, and it's, uh, yeah, I mean, I'm grateful for my journey, you know, but, uh, I went— I chose a lot of wrong paths, and most of the time it was because I was following the wrong idol. You know, they say in the Bible praying to the false idols, you know, that is a sin. Um, and so why would that be? It's because it's sending you in the wrong direction. Let's say you're chasing, uh, you know, money or something, um, and it's just for money's sake, you know, then it's going to be hard to have some success because there's going to be a lot of people competing for that same dollar. that are following their bliss. They're falling asleep thinking about it, and they're getting up in the morning thinking about it, and that's— it's what occupies them all day. It's what they love to do and be, you know.

How can you compete with that? Yeah, yeah, true. But do you know effective altruism is like, uh, there's a bunch of people a part of that, and their goal is to make as much money as possible, mostly through Trading and Wall Street and then redistribute that wealth and power that they have accumulated. So you're saying that doesn't scale?

No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying those people that do well at that, they're following their bliss doing it.

But most of them are not. The very thesis of EA is to make as much money possible. And Wall Street for most isn't really fun. It's, uh, it's actually destructive for their soul, right?

Maybe they're making a lot of money and And, uh, and, uh, that in and of itself is enough for them. I don't know. You know, my father is a pure businessman. You know, he, for him, it's the only question. What is there money to be made? You know, there's, there's no other question. I talked to him about this stuff. It, it's like I'm speaking a different language. Literally, he does not understand what I'm talking about if I'm talking about Playing music. Why are you doing that? What's the point of it? You know, if I told you everything that's come from playing music already, even financially, it's, uh, it's amazing, you know. But I could not have planned for it, of course. So my father, he's, he's a, you know, a fay renard, you know. He's a smart fox, very smart guy.

It's like different times as well, right? Like the '50s, like people used to struggle a lot.

That guy is super active today. He's very smart today. His principles that are applied are contemporary, and he changes, you know, like through his life he learns and he grows and he's bettering himself in all kinds of ways, but he's definitely not an artist, you know, and he's not an entrepreneur just to start a business and like He's just focused on making money. He doesn't care if there's employees there or not, or no, no. The game is simple, very simple. And in the purity of that, his mind works so well, you know, because he knows what he's going for. And he might hear about 100 projects, about 200 projects, not just hear about them but research them, dig in, you know, do the research, spend 2, 3 weeks on it. He has people working for him that even help him analyze these. And then out of 200, he might not even go for one, you know. So he's got to enjoy doing that a hell of a lot, you know, for him to find the right thing, you know, every once in a while. For— he says often, I don't need to take the risk of, uh, becoming poor just to get a— become just a little bit richer. You know, so he's full of wisdom, and but his bliss he finds in that game, you know, in that chase, in that hunt, whatever way he talks about it, you know. But it's good for him, it's pure for him, and it's simple in his mind. That's how his mind works, you know. So yeah, I don't— I can't say that like It's not like he's not following his bliss. He's completely doing that. You know, like I'm, I must have learned it from him even, um, in a way because of how good his focus is. It's incredible. Completely, um, completely embodies, um, uh, the business type, you know, that, that archetype.

Yeah.

But he's— and he does, you know, give money to charities and that sort of thing. He doesn't talk about it. He's not on social media. You know, he might give a good chunk for Alzheimer's, you know, whenever he gives a speech or something like that, if he's paid for it. Sometimes he's paid well. And that it just goes straight to charities, you know. And so he, I'm sure he gets joy from that, and he's got a good mind. He's not there like giving his money away like it's nothing, you know, like kind of, he's not a, he doesn't gamble in that way. So I don't know about making money, guys. You know, I, I don't know those Wall Street guys. I'd have to have a discussion with each individual to, to, uh, to maybe see whether or not, um, each one of us individually is following our bliss the best way we can. But, uh, I know that my father is, even though it's leading him down a very different path from mine.

Yeah, well, Wall Street typically, you know, is pure financial engineering. Wall Street is win-lose as well. Anytime someone lose, lose, there's another winning and vice versa, which is pretty toxic. It's also very much winner takes all, right?

So he's on the market, you know, but the market fluctuates. And if you're there chasing all the time, every day, in, out, in, out, in, out, you know, it's very hard to win ultimately.

A robot can do that better than a human, and that's why dehumanize a bunch of people in there and also The typical Wall Street, especially in the '90s, it was all fake engineered machoism, right? It's like who shouts the more, who has the more testosterone. And inevitably that will fold because there's always a stronger alpha male next to you, right?

Exactly.

And that's again a zero-sum game. So that's why a bunch of people on Wall Street, most people on Wall Street are unhappy. It's a good start in your career as a founder, starting as an investment banker, because you need to make money and you need to make healthy money to run a business. I'm feeling in your case, a lot of your father rubbed on you on the business side of things, because as you probably know, most artists don't make money, right? Like most artists don't start a Moment Factory like you did.

Mm-hmm.

And I think that's a problem. Also, it's a, it's a synergy of being good at business and being an artist. And ultimately, business can be an art, right? And especially when you're doing win-win stuff. And I would argue that some of the best entrepreneurs of all time are also artists, right? Whether you love these billionaires or not, a bunch of them are eccentric, right? And they get their insights from weird places. They have this manic energy. They don't sleep at night. And they're just like— thinking and solving problems and building, right? And I feel right now we're in the age of building, right? And I think the human magic won't disappear, right? Like, I think you can outsource a bunch of this execution stuff to AIs, right? But I feel the 1% best on planet Earth and their creativity, that won't disappear. What do you feel about the synergy of humans and AI in this age, and especially around everything you're doing?

Well, um, before answering that, just to say, you know, those guys might not be artists per se, because an artist is not just someone who makes art, it's someone who's devoted to their art. They live for that. Um, so that's not their case. However, um, Just about everyone who has any business whatsoever has to exercise great creativity, you know, on every level, you know, whether you're talking about not just R&D, but like the human resources. You need creativity with how you deal with people, you know, how you manage your team, how you build your team, and so on and so forth. At every level, marketing is an easy one, an obvious one where that requires creativity. But when you're talking about, you know, the, the production itself, whatever it is you're producing, if it's a cup of coffee or a film, it takes some level of creativity. And that's what will set you apart, really. So I do think those guys are extremely creative. Like if we're talking about an Elon Musk or a Leonardo da Vinci, you know, Leonardo da Vinci is an inventor, you know, a scientist, an artist, biologist, and everything else, you know, but you can feel in their work, it comes from a place of creativity, you know, and wonder and curiosity. And I—

And chip on their shoulder.

Huh?

And chip on their shoulder.

Maybe. Again, I, I don't know.

Uh, well, Leonardo was gay. He was, uh, jailed for that. Uh, he was, uh, he had a pretty severe trauma for that. Elon was bullied. They had—

Yeah, I don't like to talk about things I don't know, you know. Uh, like, I don't know these, uh, you know, if I knew Elon And he told me about that, then I, I might be able to speak to it. But, um, yeah, I, I, uh, I don't like to, uh, you know what I mean? I— yeah, it's not, uh— I don't know, uh, this person in particular, even if I've seen them on TV or whatever, uh, or even if I've read some of their books and stuff. So To answer your question about AI, if you want to talk about that, um, it depends really. You know, the question is extremely broad. We can talk about today with AI. We can talk about the near future, which is like, let's say, a year, 2, 3 years from now. And we can talk about, you know, the possible futures of, of a decade ahead or whatever else.

And, uh, well, let me reformulate that question then. Um, you said like, uh, the combination of emotions and intelligence, right? I love that. AIs don't have emotions, but they have hyperintelligence.

They pretend to, you know, because sometimes they don't know.

Yeah, but maybe they won't.

Oh, you made me laugh when you said such and such, which I always think is so weird.

Yeah. But they may, they may have emotions. We may engineer emotions in them just like we may engineer survival factor in them, right?

Yeah.

And I can see already that AI is producing crazy art, very impressive art, right? Maybe not Jason Rohde level. Is it art?

I don't know if it's art. It's hard to say.

Well, it's creative, it's new, it's novel.

Yeah, it's new. I don't know if it's creative either. It's— these are new. We might have to reinvent some of these terms when we apply them to a machine, you know. But formulate your question better.

It's human-built, right? So, and it's data ultimately. We love to think we're all fancy as humans, but ultimately also human is a baby of ours, right? Like we've birthed it. It's weird, obviously it's different. Yeah. So with that being said, do you think— I mean, I sort of know the answer to that. I mean, there will always be desire for human-built art, impressive or not, right? Because some people may just want to buy from humans. But ultimately, if I can have an AI create custom art just for Charles Cormier, right, versus meeting with a human and telling them my specification, would that still leave place for art?

Yeah.

And I'm talking about this from a capitalism standpoint because I would buy this art, Like you said, art doesn't need to be sold as well. It can just be a way to sustain someone and be their, their life's goal. So I'm not sure if I reformulated the question, but I gave it—

So why don't you try it? What's your question?

Is there a commercial place to art in an AI future?

Commercial?

Yeah. Is there a place commercially for human art In an AI future?

Oh, of course. I think the opposite is a— it's probably, um, you know, that I wonder if there's a future for AI art, you know, really, because the— you know, it's— I'm trying not to think too much in examples here. But if if I see some if I see a video on my phone of a dancer, of a great dancer doing a choreography, I'm enjoying the video itself. So there's a filmmaking aspect to that. There's an art vivant, like a living art aspect of it with the dancer. Then there's people in the also like with the decor and everything. There's the staging and so on. So I'm watching that and I'm enthralled, you know, I'm enthralled by what I'm seeing, by how it's packaged together, how it's brought together. This is a collaborative work that involves many people, not just the dancer themselves, you know, um, so I'm, I'm connecting to it. I might even emotionally connect to it, you know, it might raise some kind of emotion in me. Now, let's say I come to the end of that and I find out that what I just saw was actually AI, that it wasn't real, you know. I know for a fact, because I've experienced it more than once, that that feeling will instantly disappear. The feeling I had of being connected to this piece of art you know, to these dancers, to whatever it was that, that went out and, and got me, suddenly it's fake, you know. So the emotions also become that for me, you see.

But there's a human being that they are.

What I was connecting with was the human beings behind it, you know, and the wonder of it, of humanity. So if it's just, um, if it's just a cheat, you know, if it's just, um, a copy of something that, that exists somewhere else, then what I was really connecting to was not the copy but the inspiration from which it came, you know. So that's, uh, that's not just me. That's something we're seeing across everything. You know, it's like, um, the AI slop that, of, that we saw at the, at the very early beginning was impressive because we're like, wow, you know, there it is. It looks so real. We don't realize how real it is. Um, I mean, we don't realize that it's fake really. Um, but that lasted like weeks, not even months, you know, before. Now we're at a different stage from it. from where we were at the very early onset, but what we're living now also will come to pass, you know, and it will become a kind of prerequisite for us to even gaze at something, to go like, wait, is this real what I'm looking at or not? Because You know, don't bother me with, with, with the fake stuff, you know, unless that's what I'm asking for, right? So that's— I have no doubt about that. Now, will there ever be a film, a feature film, or a TV series entirely produced by AI? Yeah, of course there will be that. Will we enjoy it? Yeah, we'll probably enjoy it to some degree. But it'll never replace really the human experience, really. You know, I love Tom Cruise. You know, I just, I'm in awe of this guy the same way I was in awe of Charlie Chaplin, you know, of Buster Keaton, of these kinds of artists that are able to write the film, direct the film, act in the film, not just do the stunts but do the dancing. Like Gene Kelly is one of my favorite actors of all time. He's a choreographer, you know, he's an incredible dancer, and on and on and on and on. And, and the admiration I have for, for these people is that I know when, when I'm seeing Tom Cruise hang from a plane, that it's Tom Cruise hanging from a plane, not a stunt person, you know. And that's the attraction to it. That's why we That's why it's a it's it's a brand. You know, that's why Charlie Chaplin is a brand. Tom Cruise is a brand, and so on. So there's no doubt that AI is an incredible tool. I use it all day long, not just every day, all day long. I use it.

What do you have to say about Denis Villeneuve? Do you talk to Denis as? one of the greatest producers of our time, in my opinion.

Yeah, one of the greatest filmmakers, uh, of our time, maybe of all time. Um, it's still, uh, to be seen because he's, uh, he's not— still young. Um, so I, I, I've met him. I don't think he'd remember me, but I, I, I met Denis, and, um, you know, I was at the a few years ago, I was at the post office and he was just in front of me, and it was just the two of us, and it was before I met him, so I didn't say anything, you know, because it's Montreal, you don't want to be like bothering people, and I know he lives around here, but it was so amazing to think, wow, like I pride myself in being a pretty good filmmaker, but this guy has really proven himself to be an incredible filmmaker, truly. And I let him leave, and then I asked the post office guy, do you know who that was? And he said, oh yeah, like that. I just love this feeling that grows as we meet people of that stature, that we're all just human beings, you know. It's— he's an incredible artist.

Why is he so good?

Why is he so good? But it's— he's an incredible artist, but when you meet someone like that or anyone at that level, whether it's As an artist or a business person, you know, I met the grandchild of the man who built the Empire State Building, and now the guy runs the Empire State Building and other real— I interviewed him a few years back. He arrived, I didn't even notice if he was late. If he was late, it was like 30 seconds, but he apologized for being late about 5 times before we started the meeting. He brought a cookie to his secretary. He said, oh, I noticed you like these. So he brought her a cookie. He was so human, the guy, you know, and that's what you find from these greats, you know, is that they're just down to earth. They have nothing to prove, very easygoing. So is that what makes Denis, to answer your question, a great artist? I think it's part of it. It's a great part of it. You know, it's not just like false modesty. or a kind of humility. It's just an understanding that we're all at the same level, really, you know?

Or you're only as good as your last work, right?

Huh?

You're only as good as your last work. In my mind, it's like, how could they not be? Because when you start thinking that you're the shit, basically you start sort of stinking, right? Like you're, you're not.

Yeah, well, you'd never, you'd never think that if you're the shit. You never think that. You know, you never come to that conclusion. You know, you because you know better. You know, you you know that there's that you're just a human being. You know, I'll I'll I'll close with saying it. This is where I learned this. Okay, it sounds wild to put it like this, but as I was reaching the summit of Mount Everest, you know, as I was maybe like. Uh, 200 feet from the summit, 150 feet, let's say, pretty close. And it was becoming a kind of certainty that I was going to reach it, you know. So it's only then that I let myself realize where I was and what I was doing, and that, oh my God, I'm gonna be a Everest summiteer, you know. Until that moment, I wasn't letting this come to me because I didn't want to psych myself out. I wanted to really conserve all of my energy. And so I only let that thought come into my mind when it was a sure thing. And when it did, the first thing that occurred to me was, wow, I didn't need to become somebody else to achieve this. I'm not a great athlete, you know. I'm not like some special person. I'm the same guy that's had ups and downs and that's going to keep having ups and downs. Someday you might be in the gutter, another time you might be at the summit of the world. And it's a lot of circumstance, a lot of good luck, a lot of faith, you know, in all kinds of things, in myself, in in, in God and, you know, a lot of faith. And, uh, but really, after that, when I came back down, everyone I met, I felt like I knew their potential better than they knew it themselves, you see. Um, because I knew that I wasn't anything special, you know. I, I was just a human being, and that's what I could have Pride in. I'm—I was proud to be. There's a line in the movie Alive that came to me then, which is: "I'm proud to be a man on a day like this, alive." You know, it's just an amazing thing. It's all about gratitude. You know, so if you're achieving these amazing things, you know, by chance or not, a bit of both. You know, a lot of it is about gratitude. It's like. Wow, you know, here I am lucky enough to be right here experiencing this. You're going through an Ironman, you know, a marathon. You're you. How much did you run there? It was an insane amount, like ninety-four kilometers at once. You know, you said that to me. I I thought, wow, man, we're so friggin amazing. Human beings are just amazing. people, you know, and it's, um, it's kind of like it shows me the strength that is inside of me to know that you can do things like that, you know.

Yeah.

So that's how I think they— that's how I think the greats handle their success, you know. They, they, um, they know, you know, that they're surrounded by a lot of other great people, you know, that it was a very collaborative process. That I would not have reached the summit had it not been for my Sherpa, Mingmar Sherpa, for the person who was the guide for the rest of my expedition, for my father, you know, who was part of that journey as well, and on and on and on and on. And if I came back from the summit of Everest going, wow, I'm a big shot, you know, I can do this, I can do that, you know, it's like— That just doesn't happen. You don't see that happening because you understand if you've reached that point somehow what it took and how lucky you were to get there, you know. So it's— maybe it's a good closer, I don't know, for our discussion for today.

Yeah, yeah, what's next for you? What's next for you in this life?

Oh, what's next for me? I mean, I have said that I'm gonna live to 200 years old, you know, and, and that's just for me to kind of aim high and hopefully get at least halfway there. Um, but when my 2-year-old was born, it made me feel like, wow, okay, so I'm gonna be like 94 years old when he's my age. You know, he's 2 now, so now I'm 49. I, I I'd be a little older. Um, it really hit me, you know, it made me think, wow, okay, I'm gonna— because I feel very young, but when he's gonna be my age, I'll already be that, like, you know, almost 100 years old. So I'm gonna miss out on a big part of his life, you know. And that's how I feel about what's coming for me, is now I'm turning 50, uh, in the next few months. I feel 49 is even more important because it's 7 times 7. like 7 cycles of 7 years behind me. And I feel that finally I'm beginning my life, you know?

Love that.

It's— I'm beginning my life in all the ways with my boy so much because I'm like so much more present in the moment, you know? when I'm with him, when I'm with my other kids as well who are older, it's like I'm a better father now than I've ever been and will ever be, you know. So I'm— it's really beginning for me on that level. And then business-wise with Nomad Slow TV specifically and this kind of content and the fact that I'm making the music for my own films now, so It's like when you're watching one of my movies, it's all me. It's my image, it's my editing, it's my eye, my gaze, and even kind of my inner spirit through the music. And I've only just found that a couple of years ago, you know. So even my films now, it's like, wow, I've made all these movies, documentaries, fiction, all this, but now I'm really making the movies that are unique to me that no one else is making. Really closest to my essence, and I'm because of that I'm starting to feel the traction. The clients are coming, and they're not coming because I'm begging them to come or having to explain or pitch it. The fit is so natural that it sells itself, and they see it when they're speaking to me that I'm the guy. You know, because I'm so authentic, I'm not there selling them anything. I'm just there being. Present with them. So it's really like it's taken me all this time since planting those seeds early on that I mentioned to this point for me to really feel like I'm living in my essence and giving the best of myself along the way. So It's really only beginning for me, and I'm— I could not be more thrilled, honestly, I love it. about what's happening in my life. Yeah, I have a dinner next week with my ex-partners from Moment Factory just to celebrate amongst the 3 of us those 25 years, you know. And, uh, and I still feel like a kid. You could probably feel that from me. Um, so it's, uh, yeah, that's what's next for me is, uh, is the beginning really. It's, it's Nomad Slow TV. It's bringing this channel to, to the world, you know, bringing it to market any way that I can. Um, and learning really How to make the most of this amazing life.

Yeah, I love it, dude. You're a special human being. Where can people find out more about you, Jason?

Well, I think nomadlife.tv is probably the best hub, you know. Otherwise, just Google Jason Rohde and you'll probably find some things that are half true. And yeah, and don't be afraid to reach out out there, you know, if you connect with my kind of universe. It is exactly that. It's quite a universe with all the films and all the things too that are beyond me. Like I said before, you know, there's a lot of ways to engage with Nomad that are not— have nothing to do with my own films and my own personal projects. So it's— I would say don't be shy, you know, if you're feeling like you're connecting with me now, don't be shy to reach out. And who knows, there may be opportunities for us to work together.

There you go. That was Jason and Charles for