With Our Powers Combined: Justin + Travis The Interview
For our two co-founders, Justin Jarrett and Travis Capacete, it’s been one wild decade. From the “old days” of running around the country with a DSLR Camera and boom mic to setting up shop on the third floor of a crappy row home in North Philadelphia during the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression – one thing has always been true. These two knuckleheads are the closest thing to brothers as they come and they keep this place running day in and day out.
They are usually too busy to chat, so we forced them to sit down and rap about the early days of JTWO.
Justin
Do you remember the first time we met at PSU?
Travis
Yes, I don’t know if it actually counts as the first time we met but I remember you pitching your documentary on how the film program should be better. And you couldn’t have been more right so naturally that was the project I wanted to work on. We still passed even though all the professors canceled on us last minute.
Justin
What do you remember most about film school together?
Travis
I think it was the time that we had a plan in place that you were going to direct the senior film and tell what’s his name to fly a kite. The only problem was, you were supposed to keep your mouth shut until I got there and we know how that went down... Long story short, you became the "Producer" on the project then we ended up recutting the whole film ourselves. That might be the first ever “Producer’s cut” to go down in history.
Travis
When we were talking about naming JTWO that day in the hub or that other weird building that I don't remember the name of at PSU - When I said I was in for whatever you wanted to name the company, do you remember the name that I gave you as an example?
Justin
I’ll never forget. You wanted to name the company, “Two Black Ice” or something ridiculous like that. For some reason when you say it fast you thought it sounded like [two - black - guys]. You said, “so when people ask who made that film, people would respond – “two black guys”. That was the day I knew I would handle all of the creative decisions during our partnership.
Travis
When I told you that I was not going on the For Aaron trip, what was going through your head?
Justin
You were all but dead to me until I had questions about which hard drives I needed to purchase.
Justin
When we first started and I moved to Philly, the plan was that you would continue working for four months at your full-time job at Alkemy X to support us both while I worked on getting clients. You quit after two days and went full- time at JTWO. What the hell were you thinking?
Travis
My initial thought is, it was a severe case of FOMO. Then I think back and I remember that I had fully intended to stay for four months but there was an incident involving folding a coat and I knew we would make it work. If I quit, we had no other choice.
REMEMBER THE OG OFFICE?
Travis
Do you think we'll ever move from Strawberry Street?
Justin
God, I hope so. This alley is the absolute worst. However, I think we’ve done a great job of maximizing the limited space we have to work with for a city based studio. I’d jump off a bridge before moving to the suburbs though.
Justin: Do you think you intimidate the interns?
Justin: Do you think you intimidate the interns?
Travis: Not the good ones.
Travis
Do you think we'll ever open that bottle of wine?
Justin
The Justin Wine your Mom gifted me the year we started JTWO?
Travis
Yea.
Justin
The wine we always said was our Mojo? The secret to our success.
Travis
Yea, that's the one.
Justin
I drank that five years ago. I didn't want to tell you. Kidding - we aren't cracking that bottle open until the day we retire.
Travis
What was the hardest thing that you've ever done in the past 10 years?
Justin
I think learning how to manage and navigate a team. When we first started it was just us and we wouldn't sleep for a week until a project was done. I had to learn that not everyone is like that and employees don't necessarily want to sleep at the office.
Justin
What was the best decision we've ever made as business partners?
Travis
Travis: Either making all of our decisions together even though it means arguing for hours sometimes or hiring Jelani Thomas. Early on he kept us in check and was much more than just a friend and an employee. There were so many times that we wanted to kill each other and I feel like he acted as our shrink when we needed it. That to me is priceless and one of the best decisions we ever made.
Justin
...and the worst?
Travis
It'd have to be either investing in that real estate fund and not realizing it was essentially the same thing as a pyramid scheme (some things are too good to be true) or not getting an agreement in writing before you traveled abroad for a project 5+ years ago. The way things are trending, I'm going to say it was the - not getting an agreement in writing before you left.
Travis
I know you've always wanted to work with Nike and Charity Water as clients, but clients aside - if you could do one project and budget/logistics wouldn't be an isssue, what would it be?
Justin
That's a tough one, but if I had to make a choice I would probably jump back into narrative filmmaking and do an indie film - but not some low budget Little Miss Sunshine - it would be Inception meets John Wick.
Travis
What was the scariest/most nervous moment for you in the past 10 years?
Justin
Honestly, I've never really been nervous or scared about Directing a project or anything like that. I think the most scared I've been was when we signed the lease for our first office. We could barely pay rent where we lived at the time, but we knew we needed an office if people were going to take us seriously. I think that's the moment it became real to me and I knew we were all in or it was going to end up in flames.
Justin
What's your favorite project we've ever worked on?
Travis
The Maury Show. Just kidding, technically all I did for that was get the contract signed. Define yourself was really exciting because it was something that I was extremely passionate about and it launched our company. I really loved the first Louix Open that we did. I had always wanted to do the open for an award show and working with all of the creatives all over the city isn't something you get to do every day.
Justin
You trust me an awful lot with our creative choices around here? Has there ever been a time you thought I was crazy or simply went too far?
Travis
I think you're crazy on just about every project for one reason or another, but that is what makes our products the best.
Justin
Justin: Our office dogs, Griffey and Nova, have won Employee of the Month, for a combined, 72 consecutive times. Do you think anyone will ever dethrone them?
Travis
As Vince McMahon would say, "no chance in hell."
Travis
Who do you think in our company is most likely to get a JTWO tattoo?
Justin
Wait, they didn't already get them? I thought it was in their contracts? But, gut reaction says Omar if we pay him enough money. Then again Conor does owe us a life debt.
Travis
What's on the docket for the next 10?
Justin
Honestly, I'd love to keep going in the direction we are headed. I have never loved our team more and creatively I think we are just beginning to tap into our potential. I love this family and I am excited to see what they can do when we push them to the limit.
Justin: What's been your proudest moment at JTWO?
Justin: What's been your proudest moment at JTWO?
Travis: Every day we keep our team employed is my proudest moment. The first Addy we ever won was pretty badass too.
Travis
Remember the random name that we put in the credits of our first documentary Failure by Design back in college?
Justin
"Kyle XY" - he had no belly button and for some reason we thought it was funny. I can honestly say now, we weren't