We were lucky to catch up with Caleb Leanza recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Caleb, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
It was the Summer before freshman year (2015) of high school. I started to gain an interest in editing videos throughout middle school, doing silly skits with my friends for YouTube to other projects with my dad like The Disgruntled Eagles Fan.
My dad saw my interest in filming/editing, and guided me towards that direction by making me decide to pursue my high school soccer team after school or focus on creating videos, but I couldn’t do nothing.
My choice was to quit soccer, which I had been doing since I was 3 years old at that point, and pursue developing content. From that moment, I did weekly videos reacting to the Philadelphia Eagles games, along with other videos of creative ideas with friends.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have started doing freelance video editing since freshman year of high school which at that point in time mainly involved family members or friends asking for my help, and tossing a few bucks my way. I wanted to develop my skills more, and I decided to go to Temple University for Film & Media Arts with a concentration in post-production.
College is where my skills, passion, and connections blossomed into the career that I am doing now which is still freelance editing (lol). I gained connections through internships in the summers (in college) that include Mako San, Jack Nelson, many talented creatives also attending college, and it lead me to editing shorts for the It Needed to be Said podcast hosted by Tyreek Hill for a few months.
I also gained a couple awards for my senior thesis short film, ‘Simmer’, for Best Editing. I spent a semester editing Simmer which taught me how to work with a director and bring their vision to the big screen. Another thing that working on Simmer provided is teaching me patience while doing VFX work. I spent an all nighter doing VFX work which a 2 second clip took me 6 hours to complete, but it was worth it.
Throughout high school and college, I had multiple personal projects that include my YouTube Channel (Caleb Leanza), a few podcasts like League of the Wing (130+ episodes) and Kids With Divorced Parents (30+ episodes and counting), and documentaries, ‘The Life of Mr. Krow’ being the proudest creation. I filmed reactions to Philadelphia Eagles game while doing analysis on the team, lead to me making 250+ videos over an 8 year span dedicated to that series.
I provide any video/film editing help due to working on many different forms/styles of editing. I also do BTS/Concert videography for artists, and other creatives that want to capture their process. I have a startup company called C&L Media which I started with my marketing graduate friend, Logan Hess. We interview personalities like content creators, influencers, musicians, artists, athletes, etc and post weekly shorts and interviews telling their stories. We also provide a service of filming and editing content for musicians or influencers.
I have multiple clients and personal projects due to the love of editing, and wanting to touch as many projects as possible.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I am currently making a documentary (Ikr cliché of a creative lol) of my story, so not to “spoil” anything, i’ll keep it short.
Back in June of this year, I got hit by a car while riding my bike to my catering job (source of income to pay bills while I get more clients). I had to go into emergency head surgery at Jefferson Hospital, luckily for me I was only a few blocks away from the hospital in Philadelphia, so they were able to operate quickly.
I was unable to do physical labor so I couldn’t film for clients, and had to stall professional projects that I was working on. Luckily, with the little energy that I had, and my brain was/still is operating normally, I was able to edit my personal projects in the hospital, and is a main source of what I do now in my day to day since I was dispatched. I have been able to start filming since September, and even though it was a bad accident, I am grateful because it allowed me to spend more time editing and working on my craft, i’m also grateful that I am alive lol
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of being a creative is seeing the impact my work has on people whether that is seeing people clap, cheer, laugh, etc. watching my films/videos live or people reaching out to me of how much it meant for me to tell their story or loved ones story to the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.calebleanza.com/
- Instagram: leanza_caleb6
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebleanza
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CalebLeanza
- Other: Email: calebleanza392@gmail.com
C&L Media YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CLMediaTeam/videos
Image Credits
Light up microphone: Trey Tyler
Outside sunshine photo: Joshua Afiriyie
Film Studio: Kent Ichikawa