Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
The Professionally Casual World of Jack Coleman
Jack Coleman's new film ProCasual gets its European premiere at the London Surf / Film Festival x Finisterre on Friday 6 November. Ahead of the screening he talked to Chris Nelson about how the film came together with Steph Gilmore and Caity Simmers.
Filmmaker Jack Coleman is something of a stylistic polymath, his work is always an explosion of colour and flair and panache and groundbreaking surfing, all set to a kick-ass soundtrack. He has been an ever-present creative force in the London Surf / Film Festival line-up. In a way his movies have been a cultural anchor for the gathering, centring the ethos around just what is important. As some in the surfing world scrambled toward a crisp, technical horizon of Red Dragons and drones, Jack leaned into capturing his diverse wave-sliding landscape through sumptuous celluloid and rich aesthetics, sprinkled with a good dose of animation for good measure. For 2026 Jack is back - his new masterpiece ProCasual, fresh out of the edit suite, is an ode to joy. Featuring Steph Gilmore, Caity Simmers, Bryce Young, Ryan Burch, Derrick Disney, Leah Dawson Lopez, Tosh Tudor and Jaleesa Vincent, charging waves from California to South Africa to Indonesia, you are not going to want to miss this.
ProCasual has its European Premiere Friday 6th Nov as part of the 15th Annual London Surf / Film Festival x Finisterre. Ahead of the screening and fresh off a run of pumping swell, "Might have got a main movie Burch clip today (fingers crossed)," filmmaker Jack Coleman spoke to Chris Nelson about his inspirations and cinematic journey.
Tickets are available here.
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
What got you into filmmaking and what / who were the early influences on your unique aesthetic style?
Jack: I first started doing photography in my mid 20s, focused on portraiture, then went to Art School to understand more what the camera was actually doing. Then digital cameras came in. After a few years, it felt like everybody was a photographer. I noticed that film/video was another form of photography that was relatively untapped at the time, around 2008, so I decided to focus on shooting motion film & eventually video because nobody wanted to do it. I felt like there was more room for me to grow as a person by making motion films so I went all in.
Throughout my late teens into mid-twenties I was a huge fan of Jack McCoy's films, his colours, added animations & fast fun world beat soundtracks were a huge influence to my film making style. Also, Taylor Steele's movies were way up there, I just loved how fast things moved and how it was mostly performance-based surfing laid over punk music that I was into at the time, and had a huge connection with Sipping Jetstreams which I think was Taylor's best work. Thomas Campbell's movie Sprout really changed my perspective on surfing, as well as the Woodshed films like Shelter & Thicker Than Water. But definitely when I first saw Albert Falzon's Morning of The Earth & George Greenough's Inner Most Limits of Pure Fun I knew making surf films was what I wanted to do.
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
You've always been drawn to an incredibly talented scene of stylish surfers outside that mainstream channel. How do you decide who you'd like to include in a project and how does the process evolve? Do you work closely with the surfers in choosing the clips you're going to use or do you go away and build the film and then reveal it?
Jack: Wow yah that's a great question. The cast in my movies are basically my family now. We've all become so close mostly through region. Diz, Burch, Kobe, Tosh, Leah & Caity all live within 15 minutes of me, we surf the same spots, eat at the same restaurants, so it's so natural how it all comes together as far as choosing who 'I want to be in my movies'. This is my most curated movie ever, I just respect and love everything they're doing to push the needle in surfing both culturally, and competitively, so I've been hyper focused on them these past four years. Most importantly, you gotta be a kind person outside of the water. Yah I'm drawn to the outsiders, the rebels, the weirdos, I'd like to think of them as 'Performance Artists' not just surfers. Gotta be a fun hang, sense of humor is the number one best attribute a person can have. Surfing is meant to be fun so I'm usually drawn to similar people who just love surfing for the fun of it. Most of my cast I've been working with now for over a decade, think they understand shooting with me isn't very serious. Burch, Disney & Kobe are my core friend group, we pretty much hang at home daily.
Yah I'm drawn to the outsiders, the rebels, the weirdos, I'd like to think of them as 'Performance Artists' not just surfers.
I used to build the film, reveal it without too much input from the surfers, then make small adjustments. But for ProCasual I was very open with all the footage and suggestions from the surfers way more than I've ever done with a film before, especially with Caity. It was our first time working together so I really wanted it to be a 'pleasant & transparent experience' for her.
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
Another big part of your style is the music and artistic flair like animation, claymation etc. Where in the process are these elements added ie do you edit after you've chosen the track or do you have a track list in mind upfront?
Jack: The soundtrack is always evolving, but yah I do tuck away songs I love and usually know, this is a movie song. Especially for a particular type of wave or surfer. After collecting the footage it all just flows for me, like 'this is the Intro song', or 'this is great for Bryce's section' etc, and I lay the footage to the track. Sometimes the song will get changed out, sometimes put back in. It's ever changing. The music element is always what drives my movies, I love songs that make you happy, surfing needs more of it!
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
My early films were all analogue based, so I'm super attracted to that stop motion/animation feel. I just love having some texture & analogue visuals as a small part of my movies now that I'm mostly shooting digital video. Claymation is my favourite stop motion exercise, it just seemed the most hands on and simple to me, so figured I'd give it a shot in this movie and try to do it with my friend Max Roemer. We just winged it, learned as we went, the claymation armatures of Caity, Steph, Kobe, & Justin were plugged in after the footage had been shot & laid together. Wanted this movie to be fun and light, so it was a fun way to transition through to some sections with an analogue /visual fun, almost comedic feel.
You've worked with Steph and Caity on ProCasual. How did that come about?
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
Jack: Well without Steph there is no Caity. Story goes, my best Aussie mate Harry ended up becoming Steph's partner, it's been a little over 5 years now. That's how I met Steph. We naturally started shooting together whenever we had the chance, she split time between California & Australia so we were hanging quite a bit. Steph at the time, was being coached by Tommy Whitaker who was also Caity's coach from day 1 on the WSL. So that's how I was subjected to Caity on a more regular basis. Early on I saw the potential in Caity and saw the similarities in their characters and their God given surfing abilities. Was thinking it would be great to feature them side by side 'cause they are both just my favorite surfers ever! It's really a dream come true for me, just pinch myself everyday like how the fuk did I end up here?? Very blessed and thankful. Universe has put us together - energy finds a way. Also, Caity lives only 2 beach towns away from me, so we've been able to build a solid working relationship whenever she's home. We have become pretty close and I've been adopted into Caity's circle of friends and it feels really natural. There's so much pressure and obligations in their lives, I feel like I'm here to just bring the fun back to their surfing from grinding it out on tour. ProCasual started when Steph won her 8th world title back in 2022, felt like a surreal dream when that happened. Then two years later Caity did it. It was just so special to be there as a witness to both and to see them achieve the highest honour in the sport; it was only fitting to feature that as an integral part to the intro of the movie.
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
Tell us a bit about the ethos of ProCasual.
Jack: ProCasual is subjective, it's up to the viewer to decide. I feel like it's the quintessential Caity Simmers profile piece from age 16-20. It's the path Steph forged before her. It's the brilliance of Ryan Burch's board design & lineage. Wanted this movie to showcase relatable waves, primarily based out of California. A movie you can watch with your 8 year old son or daughter. ProCasual is where the girls shine as bright as the guys. ProCasual is about friendships through surfing & surfboard building. It is a love letter to Steph & Caity. ProCasual is a home movie. ProCasual is a surf movie. I feel like after you watch the film you can tell how close we really are. From the highest level of competitive surfing to the outer fringes of surfing's eccentric sub-culture, ProCasual is my attempt to capture the utterly profound pure joy of surfing.
Photo: ProCasual / Jack Coleman
15th Edition London Surf / Film Festival x Finisterre touches down 5-7 November 2026 hosted at the iconic Riverside Studios. Serving up 3 nights of the ultimate in cinematic surf inspiration - travel to stir the wanderlust, documentaries to inspire, plus cinematography, stories and surfing that redefine the bounds of possibility – all accompanied by talks, icons, change, culture, community good times and more, you don't want to miss this. londonsurffilmfestival.com
