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Jax Ryan

@thejaxr

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Exec Producer + Documentary Filmmaker
🎬@shotinthedarknola 📍New Orleans
Imperfect optimist about the climate & indie media
Let’s collab ⬇️

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One of my favorite jobs l’ve ever had was working for The Late Show with David Letterman, in that absolutely freezing Ed Sullivan Theater. What a loss it is for all of us to have such a special show end tonight. l’ll be watching Stephen Colbert’s final episode and remembering the wild times I had hyping up the crowd who loved this historic show as much as I did.

Not to be overly sentimental, but I met my husband while working there so it changed my life in more than one way. It was really a special place.

Thanks for decades of comedy and entertainment The Late Show. May we all throw a metaphorical watermelon off the roof tonight.

(I’ll be looking through the back of my closet to find the fantastic blue and yellow Letterman jackets that Dave gave us to wear in there until then.) taken in Ed Sullivan Theater by @thejaxr

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5 months ago

Shot in the Dark’s docu-series “Beyond Catastrophe” has been named TV’s Best Environment and Climate and Best Documentary Series in the record breaking 47th Annual Telly Awards.

This eight-episode show spotlights human resilience and innovation in the face of worsening extreme natural hazards around the world.

“Beyond Catastrophe” received the silver award for Best Environment and Climate in TV General, which honors content that raises awareness about environmental and climate issues, for its Wildfires episode.

“Beyond Catastrophe” also received the Bronze award for Best Documentary in TV Series, which honors TV documenting important and interesting events or people.

Huge congratulations to everyone involved including our executive producers: @thejaxr and @nolaproduction !
A huge thank you list will follow soon.

The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks, production companies. In addition to Shot in the Dark, this year’s winners include Paramount TV, Warner Brothers Discovery, FOX Entertainment, Sony
Music, TED, Al Jazeera, Variety, and more.

Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Entrants are judged by The Telly Awards Judging Council—an industry body of over 250 leading experts including
advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks, reflective of the multi-screen
industry. taken in New Orleans, Louisiana by @thejaxr

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5 months ago

There was an article published in the Guardian today headlined “Point of No Return: New Orleans Relocation Must Start Now Due To Sea Level, Study Finds.” It’s based on a scientific study I also read today. As a journalist and New Orleanian, I am writing a response article now but part of that response is this:

They may have read the facts right but the conclusion is critically wrong. The first and primary answer is not to tell all of South Louisiana that we should move. The answer is not to simply voluntarily surrender to the fossil fuel industry - the very industry responsible for eroding our coastline through the carving up of our seafloor and for the increased emissions that have set us on this path to 1.5+C degree warming and that convinced our governor to axe efforts that would help stop the bleeding and forced us to subsidize the damage while leaving our pockets empty. It is NOT easier or better to force my community to upend our whole world than it is to DEMAND AN END TO FOSSIL FUELS AND MAKE THE POLLUTERS PAY.

Because the problem doesn’t start or stop with New Orleans. What’s happening here is coming for all of us in the future if we don’t stop the biggest source of emissions.

The answer is not to keep looking away and accepting that we should be the ones to pay for the actions of an industry that has known it’s harming us since the 1970s. The answer is to join us in this fight.

To paraphrase Al Gore at @climatereality in Nashville a few days ago: The fossil fuel industry has tricked you into believing there is no option where they are the ones who have to change. They are wrong. taken in New Orleans, Louisiana by @thejaxr

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5 months ago

Grass turns into a weapon, flying eggs can go unbroken and other bizarre things can happen in a tornado, according to Tom Pastrano who has been chasing storms for decades at a TV station in greater Oklahoma City, an area considered the global capital of tornado activity.

I caught up with Tom for a documentary series about the science of natural hazards and the power we have to save lives. He experienced some of the worst tornadoes in modern history and shared fascinating insights, including these:

1. Tornados are so powerful they can turn the most innocuous objects into lethal weapons. Tom said he once witnessed blades of grass wedged into a tree as if they were slicing into the bark. “They were in the tree like bullets. I was trying to take one out and it was stuck,” he said. Just about everything in a tornado’s path can become a deadly projectile, especially when winds are going 100 miles an hour or more.

2. The power and movement of tornado wind can be inexplicable even to experts at times. After an enormous EF5, the highest on the tornado rating scale, Tom said he was walking through a field littered with debris from refrigerators to gas tanks when he came across a carton of eggs, sitting right side up without a single crack in them. “There wasn’t any house probably within 100 yards of where I was. Somehow these dozen eggs were carried and placed in the field - and not broken,” he said with surprise, even years later.

3. One of the worst places you can be during a tornado is in your car, Tom said. “When you’re in your car and you get hit by a tornado, it will pick you up and flip you multiple times. That’s like being in a major accident,” he noted. He added that if you can’t get to a storm cellar, protect yourself as best you can from the projectiles in and around the tornado, which can be the deadliest part. That includes putting on long-sleeve clothing, a helmet, shoes, basically as much as possible between you and the storm. Also, “wear a whistle in case you get trapped in your house” or need to sound out for help.

He shares more in “Deconstructing Disasters” airing in the US this fall (and I’ve got more coming here and on YouTube, too). by @thejaxr

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6 months ago

I am obsessed with the way New Orleans is turning the Mississippi River banks into enjoyable public waterfront space. So I was delighted to join the opening ceremony of the new riverfront park in the French Quarter yesterday.

What was once this private industrial warehouse is now this beautiful community area that creates a roughly 2.25-mile walkable-bikeable stretch of the Mississippi River, connecting Spanish Plaza to Crescent Park in New Orleans.

This is a killer upgrade for everyone. Huge shout-out to Jackson Kerby, Audubon Nature Institute’s VP of construction behind this project who not only is clearly wonderful at her job but is also a fantastic human being. taken in New Orleans, Louisiana by @thejaxr

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6 months ago

Did you know the face on most CPR dummies belongs to a girl who drowned in Paris almost two centuries ago?

If you’re into unusual history and peeling back the surface layers of modern life, you’re going to love this new TV documentary series I’m creating over at @shotinthedarknola.

“Dark Origins: The Macabre History of Everyday Things” explores the little-known tragedy, superstition, death or human error that lead to the creation of some of our most common items, phrases and places. It walks a fun line (yes, fun) between folklore and fact to expose history you didn’t learn in school and to offer new perspectives on how the past shapes our present in sometimes surprising ways.

It’s one of several shows in the pipeline for my TV, film and documentary production company based in New Orleans, Louisiana, where we leverage the state’s 40% Entertainment Tax Credit on every qualifying project.
If you’re a viewer, you’re in for a real treat. So enjoy this sneak peek. I’ve got more where that came from soon.

If you’re a commissioner, we have screeners, treatments and a strong slate ready for you. Message me or my partner Christopher Pownall and let’s talk. by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

“Why is the world so beautiful? It could so easily be otherwise: flowers could be ugly to us and still fulfill their own purpose. But they’re not... Goldenrods and asters appear very similarly to bee eyes and human eyes. We both think they’re beautiful. Their striking contrast when they grow together makes them the most attractive target in the whole meadow, a beacon for bees. Growing together, both receive more pollinator visits than they would if they were growing alone... That September pairing of purple and gold is lived reciprocity; its wisdom is that the beauty of one is illuminated by the radiance of the other... When I am in their presence, their beauty asks me for reciprocity, to be the complementary color, to make something beautiful in response.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer taken in Paris, France by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

In Paris last spring, I stumbled upon these tiny silhouettes in the subway station near the Opera one afternoon. I followed them on their storytelling journey for a bit and it was the delight of my day when I followed the link of the QR code I found on one of the last ones.
More of art like this everywhere please.

(If you click through or go to lessecretsdelopera.fr directly, you can hear it for yourself.) by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

Did you know Wisteria blooms only a few weeks each year? Witnessing their full bloom feels a little like catching a shooting star. In climates like New Orleans and Paris, wisteria blooming season is around the corner, usually from about now (in late March) to about May.

It’s looking a lot like French Quarter streets will be dripping in purple cascades any day now. So if you need a sign to plan a spring stroll (and maybe a jazz brunch under the blooms)… see above and get outside with your friends.

#wisteria #frenchquarter #neworleans #paris #wisteriaflowers by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

From the vault of unorganized photos that I sort during overly stressful moments of reality TV
📍Paris
🗓️ 2024 by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

I just learned it’s World Wildlife Day (sweet!), and I will always shamelessly take up any opportunity to share one of my favorite essays about how we live on this planet: “Wakanda Doesn’t Have Suburbs” by Kendra Pierre-Louis.

If you haven’t read it yet, please treat yourself to it tonight. It is deeply beautiful and full of so much hope. I’ll add shortened link(s) to it in the comments. But here’s a snippet:

“When we talk about climate change, there’s often a hidden resignation—like, of course we harmed the Earth. And when we talk about acting on it, there’s also an undercurrent: that it will require a level of sacrifice that is worth it, but just barely. What if, instead, the story we tell about climate change is that it is an opportunity? One for humans to repair our relationship with the Earth and re-envision our societies in ways that are not just in keeping with our ecosystems but also make our lives better?
If this doesn’t sound possible, ask yourself: Why not?
Maybe we should start telling ourselves a different story. One that is a bit more like Wakanda. One that maybe goes something like this…” by @thejaxr

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7 months ago

That sunshine arrived right on cue.
Prepare to find me outside from now until June. taken in New Orleans, Louisiana by @thejaxr

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8 months ago