Written by Nick Michael
“There’s this idea that I’m going to be meek or I’m going to be humble,” said Joe Aaron, in his parting shot to aspiring filmmakers. “Like, ‘Oh I don’t really need to be a big director. I’d be happy just doing local commercials in Bald Knob.”
Aaron is co-creator of the animated children’s sitcom “Doug” and the writer, director and star of his independent film “Crazy Jones.” He’s written for HBO and E!, and his daughter stars in the HBO documentary “Autism: The Musical.” Now, he’s visiting Harding University with a new film project to pitch. His achievements may not be humble, but his demeanor is.
Aaron looks the Hollywood director-type. With his crisp, classic blue shirt and knowing, thin-lipped smile, he looks something like Conan O’Brien (with meeker hair) in Woody Allen’s glasses. He continues to dispense advice in high-tenor with a jumpy, emphatic energy.
“No! If you want to be a director, go to Hollywood and be a freaking Spielberg,” Aaron said. “Why think small of yourself? Don’t think that because you’re from a small town and went to a small school that you’re less than.”
Aaron moved to the small town of Searcy at age 9, attended Harding Academy and received a degree in speech from Harding College. The afternoon after graduation, he was in the backseat of a car bound for New York. There he waited tables, auditioned for stage roles and wrote free-lance for HBO movie promos.
“My feeling is figure out what you want to do and move in that direction,” he said. “If it comes easy to you then, great. Good for you. But if it comes hard, roll up your sleeves and say, ‘Well it’s going to take me longer than everyone else, but I’m in it for the long haul.'”
Tired of the spotty pay of job-hopping, Aaron applied for a position behind the proverbial curtain as a production assistant at Children’s Television Workshop. Behind the scenes he learned a sense of humor and found a grasp of children’s entertainment, which prepped him for “Doug.”
Aaron and illustrator Jim Jinkins had coined “Doug” as a children’s book series in college. Nickleodeon asked the pair of creatives to translate it onto the screen. “Doug” ran on Nickleodeon from 1991 to 1994 and on ABC from 1996 to 1999.
Post-“Doug,” Aaron chased his dreams of independent film to Los Angeles, where he filmed Crazy Jones in 2001. Now, he’s back in Searcy, still spilling film ideas. There’s one with a Faulknernian lean about a love-story between a teenager and a snake-handling preacher’s wife. Then there’s a journey story about four kids road-tripping out of a small town, a film which he wants to shoot in Searcy.
“Look, I’m 47, and I’m still knocking around. But what else would I do?” Aaron said. “If I went and did another job where, quite frankly, I could make more money, would I be happy? No. So what’s success? Is it the bigger house or doing what you want to do?”
What Aaron wants to do next is to invite industry professionals from Holllywood to Searcy and hire Harding students to act, shoot, produce and edit his journey story. This project would allow students interested in the entertainment industry to rub shoulders with directors, cinematographers and producers who have made it. Aaron wants to bring the big time to a small town.
“You’re not nobody, and Harding isn’t less than anyone who is born in New York or wherever,” Aaron said. “Don’t be intimidated. That’s the parting shot.”
