We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jimmy Blanco. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jimmy below.
Hi Jimmy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear you experience with and lessons learned from recruiting and team building.
From the start of my company it was just me, I did everything myself from shooting to lighting to sound and editing. I did that for quite a few years until I got really good at each position. It also taught me how to communicate exactly what I wanted efficiently to every one of my department heads when working on bigger projects. It’s something I recommend every aspiring director try. my first few team members were “try and and see what sticks”. I went through quite a few people before I started finding a few who I creatively mesh with. I’ve learned that it’s not how good you are at your job (that can be taught) but how good of a person you are and how your energy is when people are around you, I’m very big on energy. I also see potential, most of the time I recruit new members when I meet them on sets other than my own. If I see your hunger and your passion I will take you under my wing and guide you to be the best version of you. I employ a couple of film school students as well, there are quite a few cases where I come across an uncut gem in the form of a film student, sometimes i’m right sometimes i’m wrong but I let God lead the way and I wouldn’t change a thing if I could, I believe that is what makes me the man I am today.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m originally from Brooklyn,NY a former NYFA dropout who got my start in music Videos and did that for about 10 years before I made the transition to films. I’ve worked with some well known artists in the industry creating beautiful visuals for them and building lasting relationships along the way but something was missing, I felt like there was a hole inside of me that wasn’t being filled even though I was pursuing my passion. That void was making films. But before I get there I have to let you know how I came to this realization. I was in a long distance relationship living in New York and my girlfriend at the time was in Florida. I would travel every 3 months to spend time with her for about 2 years, working for myself allowed me the flexibility to travel whenever I wanted. After 2 years of dating she became. pregnant with my 3rd child and traveling every 3 months was becoming expensive so in 2019 I decided to make the move to Florida to be there for the birth of my daughter and rebuild my career in florida. I had a Networking plan and business strategy all set up and then BOOM! the pandemic hit and all my plans went out the window. I had to figure out a way to put food on the table and still chase my dream while everything was locked down. My brooklyn hustler’s instinct kicked in and I made the switch to product photography and commercials. I was shooting products for brands completely remotely in my garage and making a good living doing so, that alone got me through some of the toughest times but once again something was missing. I didn’t feel fulfilled because I wasn’t making movies but I was making excuses. I kept telling myself I needed this next piece of gear, or this next light, or a better lens when in reality I already had all the tools I needed to make a movie. One saturday I told myself no more excuses and I stayed outside of my house at 3am in the morning with just my camera a tripod and a couple lights and no help and I shot my very first short film “Voicemail”. The rest is history.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Absolutely! My mission is to tell the black stories that aren’t being told or spoken about in films. There are so many social issues we deal with being black in America, and I mean the stuff below the surface, the things that people are afraid to talk about. These are the stories I want to tell and resonate with my audience so they can feel seen. That was something that affected me in huge way ever since my childhood, growing up in brooklyn I would see all these horror and action and superhero movies and as a child they were very entertaining but I never saw myself in any of those characters, even if we were to dress up like them it would feel like cosplaying, Like deep down inside we knew we could never really be them. Not at least until I saw “Meteor Man” and “Blank Man”, that was the first time as a child I thought someone who looked like me could have super powers and that was the rarest form of purity I felt as a child, I remember. that feeling so vividly and my goal is to give others that same feeling through my art.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
For me Consistency was key, I had to outwork the last thing I did even if it was the day before. Consistently get better and keep growing, because if you’re not growing you’re dying. I hit the ground running when I moved to Orlando and got on every set I possibly could and made sure I surpassed every expectation from every person I worked with. I strived to be the best person in the room and on the crew. I was constantly learning and expanding my knowledge of cinematography while applying it in the field, And within 1 year I became the most sought after DP in the orlando area, and that’s only the beginning. I’ve since expanded my reach and have been building my network to the Tampa, St. Pete and Atlanta area all with promising projects on the horizon.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrjimmyblanco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MrJimmyBlanco
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyBlanco
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14885485/
Image Credits
adriana Rocha, Tamela Allen, Ashton Kristopher