Josh Stifter

Josh Stifter is a filmmaker, animator, and founder of the independent production company Flush Studios. His creative journey began at age eleven making homemade stopmotion cartoons with his family’s video camera, which eventually led him to study Media Arts and Animation and pursue a career in storytelling through film and animation. Early in his career, Stifter worked as an animator creating cartoons for filmmaker Kevin Smith and SModCo, contributing animation to projects tied to the SModcast podcast and Smith’s film universe. This experience helped launch Flush Studios, where he began producing short films, animations, and independent projects. Stifter gained wider recognition after appearing on Rebel Without a Crew: The Series, the reality series produced by Robert Rodriguez that challenged filmmakers to create a feature film with a limited budget in two weeks. For the series, Stifter wrote and directed the horror-comedy feature The Good Exorcist, which premiered on the El Rey Network and launched his career as a feature filmmaker. He followed that film with additional independent features including Greywood's Plot and Scumbag, continuing his DIY approach to filmmaking with small crews and creatively ambitious storytelling. Outside of directing, Stifter hosts the indie filmmaking podcast Low Budget Rebels, where he speaks with filmmakers and artists about creativity, the realities of independent filmmaking, and building a career outside the traditional studio system. Through Flush Studios, Stifter continues to produce films, animation, comics, and podcasts while championing the philosophy that artists should create boldly, fail often, and keep telling stories regardless of budget.