JASON CONNELL
Advisory Board Member

Jason Connell is an award-winning documentary producer/director, film festival founder, and most recently a popular podcast producer/host. He was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in his youth, he saw Frances Ford Coppola come to town to film both The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, and thus, his love for cinema was born.

In 2004, Connell moved to Los Angeles, California, and shortly after that, he was in production on his first documentary, Strictly Background, which spotlights 10 career movie extras, the indispensable background actors in films, trying to make it in Hollywood. The film won numerous awards and would lead him to produce 9 more successful documentaries, including Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians, which follows the rise of the largest and most well-funded blackjack team in America and was made up entirely of churchgoing Christians. The documentary was featured on both This American Life and The Colbert Report. Another intriguing film he produced was GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which chronicles the rise and fall of the first all-female wrestling show through the stories of those who lived it. The documentary premiered on MTV/LOGO and was the basis of the original Netflix series, GLOW.

Connell also has a long and rich history with film festivals as he founded/directed The United Film Festival for 12 eventful years. This cutting-edge film festival had locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Tulsa, New York, and London and each event was uniquely programmed with independent films, presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to various industry veterans, and was voted as “One of the Coolest 25 Film Festivals” by MovieMaker Magazine.

In 2019, Connell chased another passion and launched Just Curious Media, which creates highly entertaining and immersive podcasts including Let’s Talk – Cobra Kai, a humorously nostalgic podcast covering all things in The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai universe. Due to good timing, and good luck, this show has become the #1 podcast covering Cobra Kai, the hit series on Netflix. Another fan favorite is That’s A Crime, a fascinating true crime podcast dissecting everything from a misdemeanor to a murder. And an exciting new show is Dog Gone, a dog lovers podcast devoted to honoring the lives and memories of man’s best friend. Having recently lost his beloved White German Shepherd, Niko, he wants to create this show to help others who are dealing with a similar loss and to assist in the grieving process.

In 2021, Connell moved to New England and has continued to grow his podcast company and has also become involved with the arts & entertainment scene in the nearby seaside communities.