1. How long have you been in this industry and what jobs?
I have been into creative arts of various forms professionally since last 20 years. Primarily from advertising background, I started as Creative Executive in the capacity of Copywriter but in terms of music it’s been even longer when I picked piano at the age of 12, I used to sing before that. MJ Thriller was the first cassette I bought with my pocket money. I have written commercial for many global brands and since the invasion of You Tube have written several YouTube infomercials.
I had my first band when I was 20 and I made my first stupid music video when I was 22 on Betacam. Since then the tech has changed a lot and has moved from studios to bedrooms. Over the years I have been fortunate to study and acquire a variety of skills all integrated into creative art forms. This includes writing, graphic designing, film editing, videography, special FX, photography and directing. They are all either vertically and horizontally integrated. As a result for my clients, there is a creative unity of command and thought. The force creates the momentum and impact that is normally missing in collaboration in terms of synergy and cohesiveness. Recently, a make up artist that I have with for a long time got angry when I asked her to teach me some skills. She accused me of gulping everyone’s bread and butter. To me it is translating the ideas faster instead of briefing it to someone and expecting the results with the vision that I have in my head. It is missing most of the time. They deliver the goods but it is mostly about a knockout combination and the interactive result than isolated excellence.
2. What is a typical day/week like for you?
Well, I wake up- get my protein shake. Sit on toilet with iPhone in my hand, scrolling through tending news, emails and social media. Then if the workload is less I go to LA fitness, if not I get to my creative pending workload. It could be writing, could be editing some film, listening to the latest mix of my unreleased song and/or a beauty brand that I have work on- which will be launched on Amazon soon.
After that I have my breakfast, play with my kids and get back to work. Sometimes it is about meetings in conjunction to upcoming projects or just expediting to the due assignments. In between I keep playing with my kids. When I am bored I pick guitar or piano and go on Facebook live to sing a tune or two to my friends.
Then I eat again, go to the gym if I didn’t go in morning. Come back, watch Rachael Maddow feel depressed. Watch a stand up comedy show and then finally a movie before brushing and going to sleep.
On weekends I go to live music, standup and/or movie. Shopping and eating out with kids when our nanny is off- I mean my kids nanny is off, gives us some time off to party out at Chucky Cheese or any other outing.
That’s the kind of fun that keeps repeating.
3. What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue this career?
I would suggest just follow your heart. Love what you love so much that you are left with nothing else to do. Then it won’t be a job, it won’t be hard work, it will be sheer love, excitement, dedication, pursuit out of curiosity and adventure. Of course, you’d be able to pay bills and stay financially independent to be so.
So as long as you are ready to pay the sacrifice to not conform to family, society and peer pressure and dance to your own beat- this is a tough ride. You need to find your own domain, if it overlaps with others, it is fine- if not you need to move on and rewire your brain. You need understand that there are certain files that need to be deleted in your head and you need to empty the trash bin. That’s how you can create new space in your mental hard disk- to deliver more and create more. If someone or something is holding you back in a wrong way and is creating a cognitive challenge or dissonance for you. You need to move on. That’s how you give birth to creativity and that’s how you hold on that creative integrity- without that you cannot create original output.
4. How many appearances are needed to be made to promote your work?
You need to appear all the time. Or as Harrison Ford says just show up or as President Obama said just be there early and catch on before everyone else. So appearance is great in the entertainment field- not only is it the lifeblood of your work but it is also a mode of advertising and/or promotion as you just said.
Eye level is the buy level. Out of sight is out of mind- out of sight means out of screen in this context or appearance even as a Podcast or this interview so to say.
5. What’s your favorite film/work ever done?
I don’t believe in Epics, I believe in reclusive stories that are simple and single tracked- yet much more powerful at least in terms of true human association with regards to its bond to nostalgia. In this dispensable or disposable age- thing of past is considered old fashion. But best songs and films never grow or go old. They keep on growing with you and on you. It doesn’t filter out with the passage of time- they are metaphysical.
That’s what I keep in perspective when I am working in some creative direction, or entertainment product so to say. I try to keep this factor intact, that it should be timeless at least in terms of relevant content and its reception to various comprehension backgrounds. Of course that has a lot to with viewers and their own set of experiences.
So all my outputs are my personal milestones too that become a mode of creative development and personal/professional grooming. I am proud of each of them as they are all my brainchild. I treat them with full integrity, sincerity and devotion. And rarely do I come across anything that I reflect upon and feel that I should have done that. Perfection may be a never ending process but it keeps changing- at some point you to put a lid on it and pay it forward. So there is nothing I feel I should have changed when I look at whatever I do in past- times keep changing and so does their relevance with the passage. Their meaningfulness keeps transpiring.
6. Which body of your work are you most proud of?
At this point my book Automation vs. Autocracy is my creative and intellectual peak. It’s available on Amazon/Kindle. Then I am working on my debut film project “The Disowned” which I am doing single handedly, a rare feat in the cinema history. It’s a big challenge and with a bunch of futuristic actors like Gil Gilead and Kay Gamaldi this passion project is coming to life slowly and gradually. I think cinema as being the culmination of all art forms will make “The Disowned” something that I will always be proud of both in terms of concept and the collaborate appeal as a one man show.
7. Tell us about your latest film/what can we expect from it?
It is going to be fresh “The Disowned” will put your faith and ideological base at stake. You will find your psyche in gross-hairs. Although I don’t want to reveal a lot but there is more to horror in terms of paranormal, metaphysics, parapsychology and myth. Also there is real thriller out there beyond zombies and vampires. More importantly because the like Metallica said in their song “Enter Sandman”
Hush little baby, don’t say a word And never mind that noise you heard It’s just the beasts under your bed In your closet, in your head
Exit light, enter night Take my hand We’re off to never never land