“My dream is for WHEN I STUTTER to change how you view stuttering.”
John Gomez – M.A., CCC-SLP
Director, WHEN I STUTTER
Speech Language Pathologist
About John Gomez
John Gomez moonlights as a filmmaker. His days are spent as a Speech Pathologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District and as part-time faculty at California State University teaching a graduate-level course on stuttering.
Born and raised in Northern New Mexico, John attended Colorado College where he earned a degree in Philosophy and American Ethnic Studies. He originally moved to Los Angeles to become an actor but disillusionment with the industry-led John to a career in Speech Pathology. In 2009, he graduated from California State Los Angeles University with a master’s degree in Communication Disorders.
John’s first feature film, WHEN I STUTTER, premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in April of 2017. WHEN I STUTTER has been admired for its ability to effectively raise awareness about people who stutter and their challenges in life. The film has won 7 awards, been an official selection in over 16 film festivals with over 200 screenings worldwide. In 2017, John was honored with the Emerging Filmmaker Award from the prestigious Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. John’s most recent work includes serving as a consultant on the hit animated show MAYA AND THE THREE on Netflix.
4 Questions with John Gomez
1) How would you briefly describe your film?
WHEN I STUTTER is a film that reveals the humanity that exists within an often mysterious malady. Over the course of nearly five years, 19 people (from all walks of life) shared stories about how stuttering has impacted their lives. From the depths of hopelessness to the heights of redemption, these stories will change how you view stuttering.
2) What do you want people to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?
WHEN I STUTTER has been met with positive feedback from a wide range of audiences. I keep hearing from people that don’t stutter how it really changed their perspective on stuttering. I really feel like the objective of the film is being met when I hear things like “I had no idea what stutterers go through” or “I didn’t know what to do until I saw that section in the film.”
Sometimes, an audience member who stutters will stand up after the film and thank me for telling “their” story. Even though that person was not in the film they related to what was being conveyed on a personal level. To me, that is absolute gold.
3) What led you to become a filmmaker?
I had an unusual path into filmmaking. My only real training was through making over 75 wedding videos. Which is actually really good training for documentary filmmaking because you only get one shot to capture key moments and you better get it right or else!
One day while sitting in a speech pathology class I was watching an older documentary on the subject of stuttering. I liked the content, but I thought the production value was dated. I figured that I could make a documentary on the subject of stuttering that was modern and would engage today’s audiences. Little did I know how steep the learning curve would be.
Basically, I learned a lot about filmmaking by making WHEN I STUTTER. From talking to more experienced filmmakers, I have been told that “doing” is the only real way to learn so, in that respect, I feel good about my path. I’ve since shot my second documentary and it was certainly smoother from many standpoints because I now have some experience under my belt.
4) What does the future hold for your film and you?
I hope to continue raising awareness of stuttering through WHEN I STUTTER. I think that I owe it to the stuttering community to make sure that these stories get heard far and wide! What does the future hold for me? I just hope that I get to keep making movies!
Adapted from an interview with the Borrego Springs Film Festival
Interviews
NETFLIX CONSULTANT
MAYA & THE THREE
April 2022
RUV Icelandic
National News Interview
February 2019 | (4 mins)
Stuttering is Cool
October 28, 2018 | (45 mins)
StutterTalk
August 28, 2018 | (46 mins)
StutterTalk
April 7, 2020 | (29 mins)
Xceptional Leaders
September, 2018 | (36 mins)
“Behind the Lens” Interview
Kansas International Film Festival
October 2017
Schneider Speech: A Conversation with John Gomez
June, 2020 | (61 mins)
