In a recent interview (2025), Paul Jones reflected:
“When we first opened the hatch and stared at that rusted dashboard, we didn’t know we were building a new language for cinema. ‘Dir‑portable’ was never a marketing buzzword; it was a necessity. The world is full of stories hidden in the backroads, and if you’re not willing to drive there, you’ll never hear them.”
Leya added:
“OldJe taught me that the director’s authority isn’t anchored to a chair in a sound‑stage; it’s carried wherever you are willing to go. The Jeep is just the vessel, but the real power is the willingness to listen to the road. oldje 24 08 01 leya desantis and paul jones dir portable
The vision behind this project was to create something that could be easily accessible, something that breaks the chains of locality and offers a universal appeal. The term "portable" in this context doesn't just refer to physical portability but also to the ease of use and accessibility.
The transformation of an aging 1994 Jeep Cherokee into a portable directing hub—the brainchild of Leya DeSantis and Paul Jones—illustrates how ingenuity can repurpose everyday objects into tools that reshape an entire industry. By marrying mechanical restoration with a visionary workflow, they forged a “dir‑portable” model that democratized the director’s role, inspired technological innovation, and broadened the horizons of independent filmmaking.
The date 24 August 2001 now stands as a landmark in the annals of cinematic history, not merely because a Jeep was revived, but because a new mobile mindset was born. In an era where stories are increasingly fragmented across digital platforms, the lesson from OldJe endures: the most compelling narratives are found when we follow the road, not the studio. In a recent interview (2025), Paul Jones reflected:
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The string "oldje 24 08 01 leya desantis and paul jones dir portable" seems to contain several elements:
Given the information and assuming this relates to a blog post about an event, project, or collaboration between individuals named Leya DeSantis and Paul Jones on August 1, 2024, here's a creative interpretation: “When we first opened the hatch and stared
On a sweltering summer afternoon in the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a rust‑spotted, 1994 Jeep Cherokee—affectionately nicknamed “OldJe” by its owners—rolled into a dusty garage. Inside, two ambitious creators, Leya DeSantis and Paul Jones, saw more than a relic of the 1990s; they saw a canvas for a portable directorial workshop that would allow them to chase stories wherever the road led.
What began as a modest restoration project quickly evolved into a pioneering experiment in “dir‑portable” filmmaking—a term the pair coined to describe a fully equipped, mobile directing suite capable of operating far from the comforts of a traditional studio. This essay traces the journey of that old Jeep, the vision that reshaped it, and the lasting impact it has had on independent cinema and on‑location storytelling.