Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Skato. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project that I’ve had the pleasure to work on was a feature film titled “Once Upon A Lifetime”. This project meant so much because it came at a time when it seemed everything was going wrong for me in life as well as in my career. I had recently lost funding to a major film because of a bad experience with another producer and I didn’t know what my next move would be. I meditated and prayed about it and that’s when the film came to me in a dream. I wanted to tell a story about a family but in a way that ties them all together yet, keep the experiences relevant to the age of the characters. A few parts of the story stemmed from my life while others were born from lives of people that I’ve passed along the way. One particular part of the film talks about aging and mortality. That was specials to me because of my grandmother’s last moments. I wanted to honor her in a way by saying the things in the film that I didn’t get to say to her before she passed.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Starkville Mississippi. I moved to California in 2016 to pursue my film career. I got into the industry by mistake. Around 2006, I was working on building my I.T. company and needed a commercial. Long story short, I didn’t want to pay what the local film companies were asking so I taught myself how to do it. From there, I started making commercials for other companies, then music videos, then movies. Currently I only write, produce, and distribute feature films. What sets me apart from others is the fact that I fund, direct, produce, write, and edit my own work. This way I maintain 100% ownership. The downside of this is having to creating lower budget films. I don’t mind this too much because I think the stories attract the viewers on this level of filmmaking and I pride myself on being a good storyteller. I’m most proud of telling engaging stories. I want the viewers to leave with a sense of “something”. A feeling. That feeling is different for everyone because we all see ourselves in different characters.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think that non-creatives will always struggle with understanding the “why” of what we do as creatives. The question that is often asked is: “Why would you risk everything on a dream that’s almost impossible?” Creatives know the answer. Because we feel it. It’s in our soul. It’s unexplainable. These are all answers that can’t be quantified by numbers or logic. And that’s why non-creatives will never understand this.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The mission that drives my creative journey is change. I want to change the world with storytelling. I strive to give people things to consider and use in everyday life. Little lessons that are not “in your face” but more subliminal. For example, one of the many lessons in “Once Upon A Lifetime” is “Live for today and be happy in it”. We all focus so much on what we have to do and not enough on what we are doing. “Joy”, who’s a character in the film, takes the time to admire the smallest things in life. We don’t do enough of that. The subliminal message here is, she knows her time is short so she lives every minute. We don’t seem to know that we only have about 75 summers in this short life. So live them to the fullest.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.davidskatoproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidskato/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.skato.1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-skato-09b1a1275/
• Twitter: @david
• Youtube: @ybdavidskato