We were lucky to catch up with John Carlo Rosillo recently and have shared our conversation below.

John Carlo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.

I do enjoy talking about my progress as a creative. I immigrated from the Philippines to a small town in the Northwoods of Wisconsin so my resources were always limited. Because of that, I used every tool imaginable surrounding me to learn how to create films. I started making videos when I was 9, creating content from games I was playing at the time, where I learned how to edit. I carried that passion to high school where I started using cameras and learned a ton from YouTube. A combination of my teachers, online learning, and completing projects really elevated me to the creative I am today

I think I could’ve sped up my process by trying more whacky things without putting pressure on myself to see if it was good. I’ve gotten more comfortable just trying things and being okay if it fails. That’s how I learned so many different techniques with the amount of work I made. When you’re young you get so caught up with the idea that it needs to be good. One thing I wish I taught myself starting out is, it’s okay to make a subpar thing.

The biggest skill I wished I learned was to trust other creatives faster because I did everything from filming, directing, and editing, it was hard to let go of that trust to someone else but recently I’ve met some incredible collaborators that have only elevated mine and their work.

The only thing that really stood in my way of learning more was probably money and equipment, but even then there wasn’t much I needed to tell the stories I wanted. I think one thing I want to communicate to younger filmmakers is that most of the time the thing that’s stopping you from making a movie is yourself. It’s cheesy yes, but I was creating films in video games, with my phone, or even a cheap point-and-shoot. I just kept creating and building up to the crazier stuff I’m currently doing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi, I’m John Carlo Rosillo, a film/video Director and Producer from Milwaukee Wisconsin. I run a video production company called Story Is Everything which I created in 2021. I’ve been filming, editing, and directing things since I was a kid, everything from commercials to broadcasts, and narrative films.

I created Story Is Everything after working for various broadcast, marketing, and production companies. I always enjoyed filming and editing for those companies but felt as if we were just seen as videographers at the end of the day, that we hold cameras and that’s where our value ends. I wanted to lead a different type of mentality that we are storytellers first, and technically proficient alongside that. I believe that’s why I’ve been able to bring over a lot of my fellow crew members from various other productions. Having been a crew member myself, I wanted to have my co-workers be seen as equals in the creative process. This mindset has had a chain effect of elevating each other to create some of the most unique and creatively satisfying content to come out of our collective group.

What we solve for our clients is providing more of a humanistic or emotional perspective to video production. A lot of the clients we directly work with are related to the arts or want to tell stories in a non-traditional corporate way. Our group consumes a lot of content so we try to use our knowledge of filmmaking to stand out from what we see. We’ve created various things from short films, mini-documentaries, music videos, commercials, and social media content. A majority of these have had a storytelling mindset vs just pure videography.

I think what we’re most proud of is our personal projects that we pursue separately from our paid projects. We’ve recently just participated in the 48-hour film festival, we created a fun and unique short film that utilized every single one of our strengths. Alongside that, we have been hard at work at finishing a passion project called Spider-Gwen: Last Dance, a fan film revolving around a comic book character. From all crew and cast on that project, it is the most creative and fulfilling project we’ve created and everyone involved put all of their energy into it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Story Is Everything was actually born when I was let go from a media brand I helped create. After dedicating almost a year to creating and managing a brand, I set some needed boundaries and was given a quick exit. I was pretty devasted by this news and it ruined a variety of other opportunities that branched from this company. I thought the best hands were still my own and wanted to move forward by creating a new project that I felt best represented my values as a creative. When I sent pitch decks about said project to various companies, my previous media brand actually messaged all of them individually verbally defaming me. Having learned this, it was difficult not to fan the flames but after discussing with my colleagues they warned me to stay neutral. This was the ultimate test of moving forward, I went on and created Story Is Everything with that said project. Having said that, it’s been two years later and I think my decision to stay resilient and dedicated to my gut paid off as I’ve created a loyal team with some of the best films I’ve been a part of.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media I believe is a vital tool that artists should utilize. Having others be able to easily see your craft will only lead to intrigue and how you present yourself is now easily accessible. I make an effort to post on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and LinkedIn often. It might seem daunting at first but apps like Adobe Express and Canva have now made it easier than ever to create visually appealing content.

The biggest change I’ve seen from the video production perspective is that vertical content has made it easier than ever to be noticed. Because of how the Tik Tok and Instagram algorithms are created, it’s easier than ever to reach the niche of what you’re trying to reach. My advice is to create consistent and personal vertical content.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://storyiseverything.io/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storyis.everything/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Story1severything
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/story-is-everything/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/storyisevryting
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryisEverything

Image Credits
Taylor Wolter Sarah Rose Xavier Schaetzke