We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Martinez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brandon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
My first job in my field came to me by allowing someone popular to work with in my field a day to spend with their family. In stunts we have to train extremely hard but also network. This coordinator was at the renaissance festival with their family and instead of hustling them I asked our group of friends to leave him to enjoy a day with his family. That coordinator heard me say that but didn’t find us. 2 weeks later at the renaissance fair again he recognized my voice when I went to say hi to a group of other stunt performers I know. He offered me my first job there. I am forever grateful to that man.
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 trained gymnastics for 10 years, then trained parkour for about 7, and martial arts briefly. I took a chance to follow my dreams and flew to Georgia where I trained every single day and met hundreds of other performers each year hence forth. Every training day doesn’t have to be physically intensive though. Sometimes it’s emotionally taxing; having to redo a scene over and over due to acting or timing and sometimes it can get frustrating. What’s great about that though is the stunt community is really good about supporting each other here in Georgia.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Being polite and respectful and kind and pleasant to be around. This industry is more about networking than it is about your skill. Your personality opens the door and provides opportunity. Your skill solidifies your place in the community.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I would choose the same profession each and any time I could. There is no other profession that makes me as happy as performing
