Jordan Malama

20 Questions with Jordan Malama

Interview Questions by Chat Gpt

From shredding the trails to pushing pixels, Jordan Malama is living the dream and doing it all. We caught up with him for a no-holds-barred interview. Buckle up.

1. How'd you get into filmmaking? Was it just a way to capture the madness, or was there more to it?
   I’ve always loved BMX. The culture and the freedom have always been attractive to me, and videos and documentary is a huge part of that world. Music, photography, video, design; the world just opened up once I got a video camera for Christmas 1999. After that, I started shooting me and my friends riding. Then I learned to edit then I became obsessed.

2. What was your first real “moment” on film? That moment when you realized, “Okay, I’m in it.”
   That first video I made for the homies. I had a real deadline and the struggle and the fight to finish it and spit it back on to a mini dv tape, I knew I was in. I loved staying up all, night listening to crazy music and flowing with an edit. The pay off of premiering “The Homie Video” to your homies is the best feeling. It’s maybe about the first time digital filmmaking is accessible and it was just magic to me. Changed my life and gave me purpose as a kid. Hard work pays off editing gave me that.

3. What’s the hardest part of making a movie trailer?
   Myself. Haha. Falling in love with your work and getting emotional about it is tough. Being a trailer editor you have to swallow it and shut your brain off from time to time.

4. Is college worth it for creative careers, or do you think you can learn all you need in the streets and online?
   Probably now you can. The world wasn’t fully online online to learn how to do everything.
   
   I moved from the Bay Area to go to Columbia College in Chicago. Everything about film school and living in a new city just opened my eyes. Being a broke film student in Chicago was amazing.
   
   After film school I worked at a commercial post house were they cut commericals. Classic post house, ordering steaks and martinis for lunch. Grinding it late nights on the Avid for Dawn soap commercials. I got to just be a mess, learned take editing critically, work hard. play hard. Beautiful time.
   
   Editing: Are you a "one cut, go with the flow" kind of person, or do you obsess over every frame?
   When you’re working for a client there no one cut go with the flow. Navigating a collaboration is part of the art of editing. Laying it down and flowing is the best while editing. Everything is just clicking and it turns into the Matrix.

5. What’s your go-to method for keeping your creative juices flowing when you’re feeling stuck?
   If I can take a walk great. Eating helps too haha. I have all the tricks down. Showing another editor or a producer that I vibe with helps get myself in a different headspace. Sometimes you have to fight through a block and just keep digging and I do love that.

6. What’s the most punk rock thing you've done in the past week?
   Probably filming a dirt bike edit on zero budget. Grabbed my phone, strapped it to the handlebars, and went out with the crew. We made it work. No fancy gear, just raw energy.

7. Motocross vs. mountain biking. Which do you lean toward more and why?
   Both have their own fire, but there’s something about motocross that’s more primal. You’re flying, you're taking risks, and there’s just an intensity that you can’t get with a mountain bike. But MTB gives you that quiet flow, like you're part of the mountain.

8. Favorite movie trailer of all time?
   Favoirte Trailer that’ve cut is
   

9. What’s the worst advice you ever got when starting out in filmmaking?
   “Play it safe.” Man, screw that. Creativity is about breaking boundaries. The riskier, the better. If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough.

10. Is it harder to be a dad or a filmmaker?
    Honestly? They’re both tough, but in different ways. Being a dad has taught me patience, while filmmaking taught me discipline. The real struggle is juggling both—trying to be at every soccer game while finishing an edit at 2 AM.

11. If you could work on a dream project, no limits, what would it be?
    A full-length skate film that also dives deep into the underground art scene, blending animation, live-action, and skate culture. Think Blade Runner meets Street Dreams. And yeah, I’d want to direct, shoot, and edit it.

12. What’s your go-to track to throw on when you’re deep in the editing zone?
    It switches up, but recently, I’ve been into this crazy mix of heavy punk and electronic. Some Atari Teenage Riot, some Justice—stuff that’s loud and keeps the blood pumping.

13. What’s the most insane thing you’ve seen at a motocross event?
    A dude clearing a 150-foot gap, then losing control mid-air, and somehow landing it. It was like he defied physics. My jaw hit the ground.

14. How do you balance the chaos of your creative projects with family life?
    It’s all about prioritizing. Family first, always, but the creative work—whether it's editing, shooting, or filming—needs to happen around that. Early mornings, late nights, and lots of coffee. My kiddo knows “Daddy’s in the zone,” but I make sure to carve out real time to connect.

15. What’s the best piece of gear you’ve ever bought?
    My drone. It opened up a whole new world of shots—high-angle, wide landscapes, tracking a dirt bike across the desert. It’s made so many edits pop.

16. What’s one thing the world doesn’t know about the motocross scene?
    It’s all about respect. Sure, it looks insane, but it’s a brotherhood. Everyone’s out there pushing each other to be better, and when someone crashes, the whole crew’s there to pick them up.

17. Is there a film you wish you could erase from your memory, just so you could watch it again for the first time?
    The Matrix. I saw that in theaters when I was young and it absolutely blew my mind. I wish I could go back to that first time I saw it with fresh eyes.

18. What advice would you give to someone just getting into filmmaking or extreme sports?
    Don’t listen to anyone telling you "you can’t." Create for yourself, not for the likes or the validation. Get your hands dirty. And most importantly—don’t quit.

19. What’s next for you?
    A full-length dirt bike doc, a skate film, and maybe even a feature-length movie if I can pull it off. But I’m taking it one project at a time and keeping my eyes on the horizon. Life’s an adventure.
    

jmalama@gmail.com