We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amanda Gomez-Rivera. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amanda below.

Amanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I think each project I’ve worked on has represented a phase of myself, even if that project has nothing to do with what I might be going through/doing/learning at the time it’s made. So, I think the most meaningful is whatever I’m currently working on because with each new project, I feel growth. So, that would be my first feature film, “Immaculate Deception.” It’s currently in pre-production. Still working on edits of the script, we put the proof of concept in festivals, and are looking into pitch competitions. It’s the first long-form project I’ve ever done and it’s taken years just to get to this point. It’s about a girl named Nora who comes from an uber-religious family. Nora’s parents catch her at a party and send her to a convent. Nora learns she is pregnant from a one-night stand and decides to claim the child was immaculately conceived and is the Second Coming of Christ. The project has made me learn how to pitch materials, and how to get people interested in what you’re making. I’ve learned the idea of presenting your project and in that, I now view how I create my projects in a whole new light.

Amanda, 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?

My name is Amanda Gomez-Rivera and I went to NYU Tisch School of the Arts where I studied Film and Television with a focus on writing. I got into this industry simply because I love film and tv and there wasn’t much else I felt that I wanted to do. Going to a school like Tisch, there are a lot of very sophisticated artists and that is amazing, but that’s not how I see myself. Not that I don’t think comedy can’t be sophisticated, I guess I mean they may have focused on more serious-ness or dramatic work. I had one class where we could make music videos. And a lot of people made beautiful work and I wanted to make an original, comedy music video, a la The Lonely Island. I could tell there was a lot of hesitation from my class, but once the final product came through I loved what I made and my class did too. But, I was proud because I didn’t stray from what I wanted to make simply because it wasn’t the popular choice. And that’s what I try to carry with me in each of my endeavors.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For a while, I thought the completion of a script or the final edit of a project was the best part. But, over the Summer of 2021, I acted in and was a script supervisor on my friend’s indie film, “The Universe Where.” And it was there it was solidified for me, getting to collaborate with other creatives is by far the best part. And sadly, due to COVID, we were unable to do that for a while. But getting to work out problems together and work together is unbeatable. Even becoming delirious together because the day has been so long is the best.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I thought if I didn’t write every day I would fall behind as a creative. It became increasingly hard for me to keep up with this goal when I got a full-time job as an assistant at a talent agency. I was really hard on myself and it didn’t help me creatively or personally. I became burnt out and resentful of my writing time that I ended up not writing for weeks anyways. What I learned to do, after realizing I need to take it easy on myself, is that consistency is much more important than quantity. Every Sunday, I set aside 2-3 hours to write. Even if what I write is bad, it’s getting it on the page and I know that next Sunday, I’ll do the same. It’s been extremely effective for me, I don’t fall off the wagon and stop writing completely because I’ve given myself a realistic goal within my means. I’d say to nurture your writing time, it’ll still be hard sometimes, this doesn’t fix that at all. But if you are a creative that works full-time, it at least keeps you consistent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.manduh.work/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/man.duhhhhh/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdHQmPmyAf2RVyuVzF5LO9g