Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dylan Guerra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dylan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I wrote and directed a short film called “Didn’t Think I’d See You Here” that we shot in 2022 and completed in 2023. It was my first time directing film– I come primarily from a theater background. But I was going through a really intense personal time; my heart was broken, I was between creative projects, I could feel depression beginning to sneak up on me. I didn’t know where to put these feelings so I created this short film that attempted to convey these feelings wrapped up in a haunting and funny ghost story. The story itself had tremendous meaning to me, but what surprised me most coming into film was how much I bonded with the crew of the film. How they helped me steer this creative little ship through uncharted waters. Film was this weird foreign thing to me, but what I found through telling this story was a new community of creatives who were risk-takers and consistently encouraged me that I could make this project something special. Now the short is premiering at Sundance in a few weeks. That short means so much to me because of the people I got to know while I was making it who made me feel understood, cared for and believed in.
Dylan, 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?
I’m a writer and director (and sometimes actor) originally from Miami now living in New York City. My family is all extremely artsy and so pursuing this career wasn’t something I thought twice about– I’m so beyond thankful for them. When I moved to the city in 2016 the world was really weird…for obvious reasons and also because I was twenty-two and stumbling constantly. A few years into working every job you can imagine (I was briefly a doorman at Saks 5th Avenue) I wrote this solo show about a man I was casually dating who went missing. The solo show got into a festival and had a brief stint off-broadway. Simultaneously I wrote this wild play as a challenge to myself to write something “unproduceable”– the play had thirty-something characters in it. And that play got some attention and I got into a series of playwriting fellowships, which then secured me an agent. I turned my solo-show into a pilot and the pilot got noticed by the showrunners of “The Other Two”. And suddenly I was on the path toward a real tangible career– I’ve since sold a movie and have a few television series in development and a short film in Sundance. It all feels like a dream…a dream that took work and risk but like a dream.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
As a queer Latine person I want to create diverse works rooted in folklore and some sense of magic that are celebratory, wild, and fun.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn making work I thought other people wanted to see. It wasn’t until I started making work that I wanted to see and stopped caring about what others thought that people started actually caring about my work. The backstory is that I wrote a series of really bad plays as a response to the world in 2016, and then I wrote a play selfishly for myself– it followed a demon hunting people and hopped time and had a giant cast. And that was the play that got me into a few playwriting fellowships and really started my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: dylanguerra.com
- Instagram: dylanguerra
- Twitter: DylanGGuerra
Image Credits
Ryan Avalos (headshot) Rob Bevis (Short film still)