We recently connected with Vega Montanez and have shared our conversation below.

Vega, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Looking back on my career, one thing I would do differently, is go to school for the networking opportunities. When I take the time to compare my experiences against those of my peers, I find the biggest difference to be thee relationships they share with people in their network, many of whom they met while enrolled in university. The skills, techniques, ideas, and creativity can be learned in school but can be learned in the field. Most filmmaking skills can only truly be mastered in practice, the task of building your network on the other hand is a powerful task, You truly have to commit yourself to meeting, engaging, and growing with strangers at the risk of losing things you value when you grow your network in the “real world” as oppose to on a college campus. Given the chance to do it over, I would absolutely go to school with the goal of expanding my network with the added bonus of learning in a low risk environment.

Vega, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It’s always exciting to hear the many stories of “how we met” whenever I gather friends from different parts of my life in the same space. Though it took me a lot of exploration through various fields, I couldn’t be more satisfied to proudly say that I am a Commercial, Television, and Film Writer, Director, and Sound Designer. I get to spend my time writing impactful stories about the human experience, directing talented actors and crew members to create compelling cinematic visuals, and designing immersive sound scapes that pull you into the world on the screen. I’ve had the privilege of working with major brands and small businesses to create commercial content that connects their audiences and customers to the core values of their product or service.

My most proud works cover topics that effect the communities I live in and come from everyday like mental health, domestic violence, body positivity, although, I do dive into blockbuster work occasionally as well.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

To date, there has not been a Dominican filmmaker to win an Oscar. As a proud Dominican-American, this historical lack of representation feels absurd to me. Are the movies we make really bad or are they not being acknowledged? When I first embarked on the journey to make a film, I had one very simple and selfish goal; make a movie I would watch and enjoy. Accomplishing that task opened my network and it was afterwards that I was educated on the history of Dominican filmmakers absence from the academy awards. I’m still driven to do the work I do and make the projects I make by my simple selfish goal of self amusement but there is now a fire burning, right beneath the surface, to win an Oscar and bring more eyes to the creatives of our island.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Abstract marketing is my specialty. I was born in Washington Heights, NY but spent my luxurious “growing years” living in Providence, RI. The late move gave me the privilege of regularly visiting my grandmother back in New York, where we would frequently go on “shopping walks”. On these walks I would notice all the hardworking self employed migrants lining the streets from the heights down to wall st. selling anything you could need. It wasn’t the sales specifically that stood out however, it was the presence, You could not walk down the street and be unaware of what these professionals were selling. That ingrained understanding of making sale by being present stuck with me and powered one of the most effective, and simultaneously absurd, marketing ideas I ever had.

One weekend I convinced my cousin to gather a few of her friends and let me take them on a day trip to the big apple. This trip would be an all day thing with some fun in the evening like dinner, parties, and excitement in exchange for 3 hours of their time. In that three hour window, I staged them downtown and had them wait till they saw me and then come running, screaming my name as if I were a celebrity. The commotion cause regular tourist to think they were going to miss an opportunity to meet a star so strangers came running to get my autograph and take a picture. Long story short, I sold a couple hundred copied of my album at the time and gather a ton of new followers on social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whatupvega.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/whatupvega
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11751195/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Image Credits
JustinCase Media