We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jose Peña. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jose below.

Hi Jose, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve been filmmaking many years prior but, i feel i truly learned what it was all about after moving to L.A. It was my first week out from New York and i was crashing on a friends couch searching hard for work on craigslist when i came across an obscure ad that read “Need assistant for art gallery, great networking opportunity”.

I submit, get an interview and somehow land in Val kilmers art gallery (HelMel Studios) as an intern. Me and another intern at the time decided to film random ads for his funko pop merch, and i also edited random clips from private screenings (this was before the gallery was open) Eventually he comes to me and asks me to edit his short film for the gallery/studio launch.

Mind you, these funko pop/private screening edits were things i just did for fun on i-movie, i would have hardly considered myself an editor at the time, but when Val kilmer asks you to edit his film, you edit his film, so i edited his film…on i-movie, and long story short he loved it, we screened it and i was offered a full time gig.

Knowing how to edit early on in my journey would have definitely sped things up for me since editing is an essential skill required to make a film, and not having access to the software or having to depend on editors to complete what i can now do in a day would have been a dream my younger self could only hope for.

Ultimately i’m glad things worked out the way they did, and i’m still learning, but the most important thing i’ve learned during that process is what works for me as a filmmaker today.

Jose, 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?

It all started with a trailer i made in college for my English 101 final, our professor said we could do anything we wanted, “he just wanted to see us finish something”. So they split us into groups and i made a zombie trailer in my old Bronx neighbourhood with a couple of friends, we finished and edited the video, the class loved it, and my team and me passed our final, scratching our heads wondering what our little film had to do with english 101, then I just kept doing it ever since .

Having been in L.A. for 5 years now i shoot and edit high quality cinematic videos depending on your needs. Ranging from Music videos, shorts, Documentaries, to social media promos, and full on TV episodes and film.

If you have footage you’re not sure you can use i can help you build a template around that and turn nothing into something, i can’t speak for others as there are a lot of amazing people dabbling in my field as well but, i’m proud of my ability to see people’s superpowers, and the responsibility that comes with being asked to film/edit it and present it back to them.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I really want my art to shape the landscape. I know that sounds grandiose but it’s less romantic in my eyes, a lot of the people i look up to got to where they are by making mistakes, and mistakes often come from trying new things. No matter what becomes of my work i want to be able to encourage through action, this is especially important for my family .

Being the only one in my family to venture out and really take a shot at this particular lifestyle means paving a whole new direction for our lineage, i look at people like my grandmother who made her way from Puerto Rico to America and find that my journey holds a similar meaning (to me at least) i’m pretty sure they think i’m crazy ha ha…but also they love me to death so they’ll get what i’m saying.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Being a creative means explaining a life to people that doesn’t quite exist, YOU exist, Your craft exists, but a lot of what takes that foundation to the next level requires a ton of inner faith and a personal vision that may or may not makes sense to someone on the outside until the results are tangible.

I feel that in the non creative world theres this road map that exists, and you can pick any route on that map and end up at any destination you want, Where as on the creative side, there are maps made by other creatives who specifically follow “Their own” route, and YOUR map (depending on your journey) is blank until you start to make moves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.me/Josepena
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pena_vision/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josepena1289/

Image Credits
Diana Keeler, Brian Antezana, Khoi Nguyen and Sofia sveshnikova