Navigating Chaos and Creativity Through Storytelling and Controversy - Jeremy Norrie

Renowned filmmaker Jeremy Norrie invites us into his world of chaos and creativity, navigating through industries that challenge the norm like cannabis and mixed martial arts. Jeremy opens up about the resilience it takes to merge controversy with value, uncovering the power of storytelling in bridging divisive topics. With a mix of humor and gravity, he shares his personal journey, illustrating how his experiences in these polarizing fields have shaped his unique approach to filmmaking. The conversation touches on the art of finding common ground and having mature discussions, all while balancing the seriousness of his documentaries with the unpredictability of life itself.

What if the futuristic dreams we once thought far-fetched have already become part of our everyday reality? Jeremy takes us on a fascinating exploration of imagination meeting reality, from Star Trek’s teleportation to the evolution of smart technology that surpasses Dick Tracy's iconic watch. His personal tales from the cannabis industry reveal the challenges of shifting trends and the courage to embrace unexpected paths. Through these stories, he underscores the importance of perseverance, gratitude, and the willingness to venture into uncharted territories. This episode promises to inspire listeners to appreciate the nuances of their own stories and find strength in their unique experiences.

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Chapters

• 0:06 Balancing Chaos
• 13:34 Embracing Chaos and Creativity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hey everyone, welcome to Pleasure Principle, the podcast where we dive deep into the magical and downright fascinating stories that shape who we are. I'm your host, avik, and today we are peeling back the layers of resilience, creativity and chaos with someone who's lived a rockstar life, both personally and professionally. Yes, I'm talking about Jeremy Norrie. Welcome to the show, jeremy. Hey, thank you, lovely, lovely. So, jeremy, like before we start our conversation, I'd quickly love to introduce you to all of our listeners. Dear listeners, from directing award-winning documentaries on Amazon, fox and CBS to growing Canabes, promoting epic music festivals and writing about MMA, jma's journey is a wild blend of extremes. So today we are thinking about, like, overcoming the adversity, finding the balance and the stories that connect all of us. So buckle up, because it's going to be a ride. So welcome to the show again, jeremy.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Yes, thank you. What an intro. I really appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Yes, thank you. What an intro. I really appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 1:53

Thank you, thank you so much. So, which is another thing that separated me from everyone else I had to overcome growing up and it, you know, it didn't all happen at once, so it was a long journey of you know, step by step, dealing with all these different things and things change and you have to deal with those things too. So any sort of adversity I gravitate to and you know what. Also, doing what I do now in filmmaking, you learn that humans in general kind of gravitate towards a story of adversity, because I think pretty much everybody faces it.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Understood, yeah, and, like you, have worked in cannabis and MMA, two polarizing industries. So how do you reconcile the controversy with the value they bring?

Speaker 2: 2:50

Absolutely yeah. So I do all kinds of polar opposite stories and I kind of delve into different kinds of lifestyles, cannabis and MMA. There's a small niche of people that do use cannabis in the world of martial arts and jujitsu and other things, but there's also a large percentage of just the general population, and of course then martial arts too, that are very healthy and won't take any sort of supplements or substances or anything that could, you know, affect their temple of a body Right of its own situation, where you are approaching it with optimism, you're hoping that it's going to go well and you kind of lightly touch on things and try to be respectful. And that doesn't always work for me. Sometimes I've done something offensive and I didn't even know, uh, that I did it. But, um, you just try and be aware that that that can happen.

Speaker 2: 4:09

And, um, when you're dealing with subjects, I try to be factually based. You know, if we're talking about something, don't let your emotions get too much into it. You know, try and deal with the, the facts. And for cannabis, there there are some health factors that could be useful for martial arts, and even Bruce Lee used to eat pot brownies. So there's like certain little things that you can kind of talk about where you can bridge the two, the gaps right, and you can kind of make common ground.

Speaker 2: 4:44

And you try to do that with all subjects. So no matter what it is that we're talking about whether I'm talking to somebody about Bigfoot or I'm talking to somebody about diet and nutrition you try and find the common ground and then anything that is controversial, you know, if we're all adults, we can talk about those things in a mature way too, and I think that's healthy to do. And one of the things we don't do enough in life is compromise. And we've kind of got these lives that are very personalized and they become more and more dialed in to what we very specifically want, and I don't think that's a really good thing. I think that it's actually very good to engage with people who are different than you and have healthy conversations about those differences.

Speaker 1: 5:45

And also, do you think filmmaking heals the storyteller or the audience more?

Speaker 2: 5:53

Well, filmmaking is a great way of telling a story. Podcasting has been a very, very popular thing that has come out, and one of the things I do like about the popularity of podcasts is that many of them are unedited or very, very infrequently edited. So editing we do in filmmaking and we can tell a better story that way. But a lot of times I can't include somebody's whole thought. You know, if they're talking for 20 minutes about something and I have, you know, five or six other people that are also in this film, you know I might not be able to just include that whole statement of what somebody says.

Speaker 2: 6:44

So it's bits and pieces, no matter what, and while that is a great way of addressing a lot of these stories and keeping people engaged in the conversation, it's also not the most complete way of like a podcast that's unedited. It's slightly better in that sense and that's something we talk about, you know, like as filmmakers. Maybe we could reuse some of our footage and put them out unedited for people that do want to just hear the whole conversation raw. However, it happened, and stories can be told all kinds of different ways and I don't think they have to be kind of compartmentalized into one way either. So I'm a big proponent of all kinds of storytelling, even super condensed. You know, five minute versions of a story, that it all is good lovely, great and and um, okay.

Speaker 1: 7:46

So uh, if we talk about this, your documentaries are serious, but you have lived a wild life, so how do you balance the gravity of your films with your personal chaos?

Speaker 2: 8:00

Yeah, it's something I think a lot about because there's an urge in me to do wild things still. But I'm getting older and it's a lot harder to recover from doing a hard life even a hard, healthy life like backpacking or something, a hard, healthy life like backpacking or something. And so as I've gotten older and my health has been a question for a long time, I've learned things that made me healthier and you slowly kind of do those things and you move away from the unhealthy life. That provides really a lot of stimulation in the short term, but it's just not sustainable from a general health perspective. The thing staying up all night and partying your health is going to diminish from that. You can only do that so much as you get older, some people more than others.

Speaker 2: 9:02

But I think that a healthy balance is kind of knowing that it's okay to to do those things once in a while but to live mostly a life of trying to be the best. You can be, taking in all of the best health practices that you can in life and look when you're young, live it up. I really am a proponent of that. I think a lot about my young life and I'm very happy that I did all the crazy things that I did and I'm grateful that I didn't suffer greater penalties personally or legally or any of those things and it's about being grateful for whatever you have and so, kind of, as you move forward, you try and focus on that and then do some things that are exciting, you know, because that's a healthy part of life too, and you know balance is built into life. No matter what you do, life will balance you out. So you either kind of make those choices for yourself or you're going to have to deal with them as they come up.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Okay, okay, lovely, and and also like um, um, uh. Listeners often face imposter syndrome. So did you ever feel out of place, jumping between stoop and such different worlds.

Speaker 2: 10:37

oh, I still feel imposter syndrome and in certain circles you know that you're kind of doing well in comparison to what some of the other people are doing, and in other circles you might feel like, wow, I dream of someday being as accomplished as some of these people are.

Speaker 2: 11:02

And it's hard to know your place sometimes too.

Speaker 2: 11:08

Sometimes you might overthink your place in the opposite way, where you think you're more important than you really are. That's a lot more common than imposter syndrome in my experiences, and I think having a little bit of imposter syndrome actually is kind of appealing, because taking yourself less seriously, just in general, usually is kind of received well by people, especially if they think that you're doing well. And being humble is generally a good thing, especially if it's genuine. So having a little bit of that is healthy, but also kind of knowing to not push that too. Storyline that when you are around people that are giving you respect to, to accept that respect and appreciate it and, um, even if you don't necessarily agree with it, it it makes a more positive situation and maybe you can strive to be that person that they think that you are. So, uh, yeah, that's kind of I I think, imposter syndrome, though in general is a healthy thing to feel and um people kind of uh receive it well, so it's not, it's not a bad thing and that's what got it.

Speaker 1: 12:36

Yeah, and also like how do you think that sci-fi and mystery films connect with realized struggles like trauma or the recovery?

Speaker 2: 12:47

Wow. So films actually have kind of inspired real technology. It seems like life imitates art. That's a very famous saying, and all kinds of things have been represented in films. The Simpsons is one of the ones that kind of gets a lot of credit where it might not always be due, but it's almost like a prophecy of things to come in some situations, and I think that's what inspires innovation. You know, like little kids watching some sort of narrative like Star Wars and dreaming of a lightsaber or something, and maybe someday that'll be a real thing.

Speaker 2: 13:34

There's things they're getting step by step closer the teleportation thing in Star Trek, you know that's one of those things that people dream about being real. And then there's other things that we've surpassed. Like Dick Tracy used to have a watch that did all sorts of fancy things, and you know our phones are far superior to any watch that anyone has. We even have watches that attach to the phones now. So it's like a joint thing right. And that's true for a lot of the like spaceships. So if you were to see the deck in Star Trek where they're running their spaceship, it's pretty primitive looking in comparison to what our cars are like even today. So it's a balance in that as well, where some of the things we can imagine are better than real life and we still haven't been able to accomplish those goals. But some of the things we couldn't even imagine how good the future would be and I think that's what makes art interesting is people's different perspectives on all those kinds of concepts.

Speaker 1: 14:48

Got it Lovely and with this, what advice do you have for the listeners who feel stuck in their own stories and want to create change?

Speaker 2: 15:00

Yeah, that I went through myself While I was in the cannabis industry. I was kind of gaining notoriety and doing these things that were somewhat prominent and I had been in the industry for a long time and just not been recognized for the things that I had done. And now I was getting recognized and it was really a great thing for a while, but those projects started to kind of become less successful. The industry of cannabis just in general is very much a hype and trend based industry and the hypes and trends don't last forever, and so I was in some of those things and as they started to die out I didn't know what I was going to do. I tried to find other things that I could do, unsuccessfully, and I went through a long time of kind of maybe being depressed or not wanting to accept what I would see as something beneath me, like doing some sort of regular job, and I struggled for a long time until I found success filmmaking and looking back on it, I probably should have just accepted doing a lesser job and it would have been more profitable and better for me in my life and I would have had a lot less struggles that I put myself through just because I didn't want to accept that mentally and I think that ultimately, when I did have success with filmmaking, it was very, very lucky and I'm in this world in a very fortunate situation. That worked out for me out of perseverance. But for a lot of people it might not work out and I think that it's okay to kind of accept doing or being things that you might perceive as a lesser role.

Speaker 2: 17:02

A lot of the other people that I worked with they work in other jobs, like plumbing and what have you, and I know it was hard for them to do that, but now they make more money than they ever did in the cannabis industry and so you never know what that thing is going to be that's going to lead you to a better life.

Speaker 2: 17:20

So you never know what that thing is going to be that's going to lead you to a better life, and we make these mental obstacles and things, mental characters of ourselves that are kind of ego based, and other people don't see it that way. So I feel like it's really a battle of your own ego sometimes to kind of overcome, uh chains you put on yourself and as you kind of get out there into the world and experience things you'll learn to appreciate yourself and the more you can kind of focus on that just in general uh, thinking about the things that you are grateful for, the things that you are lucky to have done your own story and how unique it is that will make you feel better about everything in general. And I think that's something we all miss and that's basically my whole statement there. Like, if you can kind of be grateful in general and just explore new things and talk to people and share your story, you'll appreciate your own life more.

Speaker 1: 18:35

Very true, very true. So that's really awesome, uh connecting with you today and uh, jeremy, like I would say, what an incredible uh journey and the discussion with you today. So, dear listeners, his story is definitely a proof that life's chaos can fill creativity and connection if we embrace it fully. So check out his films streaming now on Amazon, fox and CBS and follow his journey as he continues to tackle big topics with honesty and heart. So, thank you so much for tuning in to Pleasure Principles. If today's conversation inspired you, then leave a review, share it with your friends and join us next time for more deep dives into the stories that make life extraordinary. So stay curious, stay bold and keep finding your pleasure in the principles of life. So until next time. This is your host, sivik signing. Thank you so much.