Today we’d like to introduce you to Vega Monntanez
Hi Vega, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in New York, NY but raised in the beautiful city of Providence, RI. I’m a very proud creative from the creative capital and have found much success in both music and more recently film. After making the transition from Music to Film, I’ve fallen in love with the craft and have worked on 9 feature films since. My passion for writing has also been the driving force behind me writing over 2 dozen scripts in the past year and a half. My first film, “The Hurt We Share” was purchased by Dame Dash Studios and is currently streaming on Tubi. Within the next 6-9 months I’ll have 3 more films available to watch including the highly anticipated “Nico” and the festival sweeping action film “The Burden of Nine Lives”.
I learned to dream big from my mother’s regrets. To be clear, my mother never pulled me aside and listed off the things she wished were different, but I understood them as the undertone of her memories. My mother went to school for fashion design and learned to play the violin but birthed me and was married by twenty. Once I matured enough to understand she didn’t regret me, I could see the dreams she felt she missed out on. That’s what drives me. My determination is to live my dream. My dream is to entertain the world with stories that can impact the spiritual and emotional cores inside of us all.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not. Along the way there have been so many challenges and heartbreaks. I think the most impactful challenge I face is trying to understand the balance between work relationships and friendships. So much of the work we do is dependent on relationships and networks that you unfortunately have to be really careful who you trust. But I don’t want to spend to much time on the bad because I’m sure we all have our nightmare stories.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have the privilege of being a film writer, director, producer, and sound specialist. And I love what I do. Every project is it’s own world coming to life and the time I spend with each project is super meaningful. Whether It be a story I wrote, a film I’ve been hired to edit or do sound work for, each film is it’s own lifetime. My work is focused on telling unique and interesting stories about the human experiences. I love to open the door for audiences to see things through a different lens that may change the way we interact with each other.
I’ve said it before, I think what separates me from my peers in the industry is that I refuse to allow myself to start something and not finish it, which tends to be a normal practice in the film space. It was one of the biggest complaints all my actor friends shared but, even before then, for me it meant the world. Growing up underprivileged and never having attended film school, I tend to be more of a free thinker when it comes to problem solving with limited resources. Creativity should never be limited.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
No, not really. I think the majority of what I took away was how desperately our whole world is looking to hit into other careers. We saw doctors explore being chefs, Lawyers explore being comedians, teachers empowering themselves to practice what they teach, and so much more. It was exciting and scary to see how many people are trudging along to fit into a system they are afraid to be without.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.whatupvega.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/whatupvega
Image Credits
JustinCase Media