About Jonathan L. Bowen

Jonathan L. Bowen’s interest in film led him to start a review site in high school, where he posted more than 600 movie reviews continuing into college. After graduating Oregon State University with a degree in philosophy, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film. Starting with independent music videos, Bowen learned the skills he needed as a filmmaker and established a production company, JLB Media Productions, that specializes in business-to-business marketing videos. His music video, short film, and feature work has been selected to more than 50 film festivals nationwide from California to Florida and Alaska to Hawaii. His first feature, Amy Alyson Fans, won Best Comedy Feature at two festivals and a Grand Jury Prize at a third with other nominations as well.

His day job, JLB Media Productions, has been active for 16 years and created more than 1,000 videos for companies nationwide including eBay, Raddison, Charter Spectrum, Paul Mitchell, Grant Thornton, CBRE, Pearson, and Infosys, among others. The company has shot in 47 states, D.C., and Canada over the years and worked with both private companies and public entities. You can check out work from JLB Media Productions at JLBMedia.com.

As a feature film director, Bowen’s main focus is telling a story with passion that has personal meaning but also connects with audiences. With a background in philosophy, Bowen values meaningful movies that inspire as well as entertain. He still is an avid movie buff, watching on average two movies per day and subscribes to every streaming service. He enjoys films of all genres, styles, and time periods, but especially appreciates movies with thoughtful themes that resonate with audiences looking for a bit of depth to their entertainment.

His newest feature, The Comic Shop, is not just a tale of a midlife crisis and one man’s response to it, but also a deeply personal film for Bowen, who had more than a decade absence from feature filmmaking between his first and second movies. Being stuck with “Plan B,” creating corporate videos and focusing on profits, left Bowen wondering when he would have a chance to return to the director’s chair and focus on his primary dreams. The opportunity finally arose and the result is a movie he hopes inspires others never to give up on their dreams and always remember it’s never too late to become what you might have been.