A JP Catholic student mans the camera on the set of No Reception, the school’s second feature film that is slated for
Several weeks ago, during the dog days of summer, a small little film school located in the heart of Escondido did something revolutionary in the film industry. It premiered to the public, as a regular part of its curriculum, a full-length feature film.
If you haven’t heard about it yet, that small little film school is John Paul Catholic University on Grand Avenue and the feature film it premiered was “No Reception,” a comedy about a son coming home to close the estate of his late father, but who encounters heartwarming and quirky surprises along the way.
A film school releasing a feature film is revolutionary because film schools do not produce feature films. They produce graduates who are taught how to make them.
“You’ll have universities where they make a feature film as a kind of post-graduation thing, where a faculty member will recruit some of the top graduates and invite into a project, but no other university is doing it the way that we’re doing it,” George Simon, the school’s Chair of Communications Media and head of the feature film program confirmed to the Escondido Times-Advocate during a recent interview.
It is a tumultuous time for film studios. In a recent report by “The Hollywood Reporter,” only one studio posted profit growth in 2023—while the others were either in the red or suffered losses in profits from previous years. Notable of these was Disney—who operated under a $666 million loss.
Streaming profits weren’t any better. Only Netflix and Warners posted a profit, while Disney, Paramount Global and NBC Universal all operated under losses.
But during their premier screening of “No Reception” at Escondido’s Grand Ritz Theatre, JP Catholic enjoyed a full house of students, family, and faculty who shouted, laughed and applauded the comedy raucously, often at scenes where only the cast and crew knew the punchline, as the rest of the crowd sat back and enjoyed a well-produced, high-production value movie.
JP Catholic’s George Simon, Department Chair, Communications Media and head of their feature film program poses in front of the school’s office on Grand Avenue in Escondido. Photo by Michael Howard
So how do they do it?
“The technology has gotten to a point where it really is possible to make a feature film at a really high level of production value without having massive resources,” explains Simon.
Traditional film schools are not able to produce feature films because of the cost and the time it takes. Typical Hollywood movies take about four to five years to produce and range from $65 to $100 million.
But under JP Catholic’s program, a feature film is made every two years, with the costs embedded into their curriculum along with the revenue from past films.
This is the school’s third year producing films, so “No Reception” hasn’t hit distribution yet, but it’s previous film “O, Brawling Love,” a comedy about two rival acting students forced to play “Romeo and Juliet,” is now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video for $1.99 to rent or $4.99 to purchase.
And while it’s already streaming, the school is just starting the marketing and distribution cycle for “O, Brawling Love.”
“Once we’re ready to go to market, we’re going to go to market, and then the strategy that we have to determine internally is what kind of rights are we willing to grant to distributors,” explains Simon.
These rights can include theatrical release rights and the rights to sell the films on DVD.
“The plan is to assess what our opportunities are from a distribution standpoint and then determine what’s going to be most effective for our film to maximize its exposure to an audience,” Simon says.
And who exactly is the school’s audience? If you thought Catholics, or the Christian community, think again.
“The majority of the faculty and students here do not want to make overtly Christian or Catholic films that are really on the nose and acting as kind of a sermon for the audience,” Simon says.
The idea is to produce compelling films with an underlying theme of good, according to Simon. And while faith-based films are a market, the school recognizes the impact it can have on the wider, broader market – and not to mention the business side of things too.
No Reception movie poster, JP Catholic’s second feature film. Photo Courtesy of JP Catholic.
“The business focus is so critical because we don’t want to be graduating a bunch of starving artists, right?” Simon says with a laugh.
Up next for the feature film program is getting “No Reception” into distribution and begin filming its next project “Pickle for Pickleball,” a story about an unlikely group of elderly women who find themselves caught up in a high stakes pickleball tournament.
We are going to be fully enmeshed in that project [“Pickle for Pickleball”] through 2025 and we will get a release date for No Reception hopefully in the next three to four months,” Simon reports.
As for advice to film students, Simon recommends visiting their website jpcatholic.edu for more information about enrolling into their film program, but also, don’t forget what really matters.
“The message that I would have is to reflect on what is going to ultimately make you happy, and I don’t mean happy like you own a yacht or you win the lottery, I mean deep peace and fulfillment in the way you live your life,” he advises, saying he tells this to all his new students.
But most of all, there’s a single piece of advice Simon has. “Don’t forget to have fun!” he laughs.
