#009: Jon Spira - Documentary FilmMaker, Video Store Owner and Author

<p><strong>Today’s guest is Jon Spira - a film-maker, ex-video shop owner and an all-round digger of things that only exist in your peripheral vision.</strong></p> <p>His most recent documentary is called <strong>Hollywood Bulldogs</strong>. If you’re in the U.K. you can watch it on BritBox (I believe there’s a 7 day free trial available for that and you too can complain to nobody who cares that they have renamed <em>The Avengers</em> as <em>Steed &amp; Peel</em> on there). It documents the rise and many falls of the unsung heroes of the movie industry - the humble stuntman.&nbsp;</p> <p>Dig around on his site - <a href="https://www.jonspira.co.uk"><strong>https://www.jonspira.co.uk</strong></a> - and you’ll also find some great samples of his other work including BFI (British Film Institute) interviews with the mighty Roger Corman, Dario Argento, Neil Gaiman,<strong> </strong>trailer docs and all sorts of goodies.</p> <p>Across the hour we discuss (my first career choice in life) being a stuntman, being well paid to fall down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair as an 80 year old woman (true story), Radiohead, the Oxford music scene, video shops, how - despite there apparently being everything available all the time - you can no longer watch <em>Mr. Holland's Opus</em> nor <em>Three Men And A Baby</em> anywhere, pre-code cinema, crying at movies and much more.</p> <p>This one was great fun… hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I did.</p> <p>•••</p> <p>Here’s the official stuff:</p> <p><strong>Starfish and Coffee</strong> is available on all podcast hosting platforms. It would help me out a lot if you were a subscriber wherever that may be and even more so by nudging a friend and their ears in that direction.</p> <p>My website is here: <a href="https://scenes-from-the-coffee-house.ghost.io" target="_blank"><strong>sionsmith.co.uk&nbsp;</strong></a></p> <p>Follow me on <a href="http://instagram.com/mrsionsmith" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">instagram.com/mrsionsmith</a></p> <p>Follow me on <a