We recently connected with Elliot Passantino and have shared our conversation below.

Elliot, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Despite dedicating my life to filmmaking,songwriting,performing and comic book creating,it wasn’t until my 30s that I started having successes.Even then,because of my traumatic upbringing,I didn’t know how to appreciate success or allow it to validate my goals or all my talents.Being that I wasn’t raised to understand how the film biz works or how to make a living as an artist,it took until my mid 40s to understand who I truly was as artist,visionary,businessman and human being.Looking back I will always regret not listening to my instincts at 20 years old and taking bigger leaps while knowing the struggles of the last 20 years have made me a better artist and person able to make art that connects with people.In 2022’s scary stressful socio cultural landscape,the biggest challenge now is how to stand out in a world saturated by vapid art and social media celebrity and how to make a living off art that needs to say something more than ever

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At the age of 14 all I wanted to do was write and draw comics until seeing Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil” and Scorcese’s “Mean Streets”.Instantly I knew I needed to now translate my comic book ideas and love of Frank Miller, Peter Sellers,horror films and 70s cinema into my own cinematic mythology.After making over 50 films over 5 years with my Tollie Onitsap crew,one of my scripts got a producer’s attention,allowing me to P.A. on an indie film.On that film I learned and worked every role on set,beginning my start as professional filmmaker.Since then its been 22 years of taking my lessons as key P.A. and A.D. and using them to make five no budget films in the Cassavettes/Kevin Smith DIY filmmaking way of telling stories.Though my horror film “Season in Hell” got into stores,seeing it in the window of NYC’s legendary Kim’s Video meant more to me than sales as did getting to work with heroes like Ron Perlman,Michael Shannon,Keith David,Gina Gershon,and Thomas Lennon.Through it all every job taught me to enjoy the moment and their successes but to always be hustling and listening to the advice of my heroes and their own hard lessons.Today my films are still evolving with the festival success of my film “The Furies” validating the notion that even in genre story telling you have to be personal with something to say.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In today’s socio cultural climate, I believe social media is hurting artists more than ever.Though it helped us to navigate the isolation of the pandemic I believe now we as a society must get back to in-person socializing before artists and their audiences lose even more of their humanity.As we see streaming services destroy significant voices getting theatrical release and a podcast landscape become even more saturated,we need to go out to support indie filmmakers at festivals and bands of every type at concerts.More importantly we need to stop rewarding artists operating on a shallow,narcisstic basis and give spotlight to those with messages and lessons learned from the pandemic.Museums and festivals for every artistic medium need to stop only rewarding or spotlighting mainstream artists or those with corporate backing and give audience to the struggling and those who’ve paid their dues.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

From being homeless many times after my mother’s death to having rely on friends for couches to crash on,I’ve had many obstacles since age 26 in being able to make a living making art,film, and music.Countless times I thought a script award or movie deal or even film production job was the big break we all crave before realizing they were just validations for my talents and new lessons to learn in the film business.The same was true in the music business where I got to be on tracks with Wyclef, play with Tom Morello and meet many musical heroes before ending up right back to biking to Dominos to work the pizza ovens.Through all the ups and downs I realized how to be grateful and humble while learning you also have to jump at every opportunity,no matter how small.Though still facing challenges each week,I now understand that you have to keep working on projects and practicing your craft daily so that when the next big break comes you are fully prepared and ready to impress.

Contact Info: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elliotpass
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBuRA2UPmkkO9AZz-bPxzUw

Image Credits
All photography by me Elliot Passantino