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

Josh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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?

When I was first starting out I would spend lots of time watching YouTube videos and visiting websites where creators would post tutorials for different special effects/editing techniques. In high school I met a classmate named Ted and he and I had a great 10+ years where we would make movies separately and sometimes together and I learned a lot about cinematography and editing over countless projects. It was probably lucky that I discovered filmmaking right before going to college. While I was there I took advantage of several creative writing and screenwriting classes that were available. I was able to learn directly from men and women who had written professional screenplays and had experience in the industry. I treasure all of the film experiences and writing processes that I learned during my college years and consider those among the most essential skills that I have been taught. I truly believe a good 90% of the issues that indie filmmakers have to deal with today can be solved early on in the writing process. When it comes to filmmaking I don’t think there’s value in speeding up the learning process. I think all the years I spent making amateur short films coupled with the years of learning the process of writing a story and developing characters have truly helped me to get to the level of confidence in my abilities that I am at today. With all of the free YouTube courses and books available on the subject of filmmaking I don’t think there are many obstacles that stand in the way of anyone learning how to do it.

Josh, 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?

In high school my class was given multiple options for an extra credit project. One of those options was to make a short film. Ted, the classmate mentioned above, had been making movies for a few years at that point but I had never spoken to him. I approached him with some ideas and questions and we became fast friends. He recommended cameras with certain features and specific editing programs to help me learn and develop my skills. He also suggested some of the aforementioned tutorial videos/sites to help me grow my skillset. I believe those skills have helped my films to express a specific voice. I am most proud of my portfolio of work that I have uploaded to YouTube over the last 10+ years and the incredible network of creatives that I get to be a part of and who have willingly given of their time and talent to help me in my artistic endeavors. Turbulence Studios, my production company, from the beginning has just tried to entertain and hopefully make people laugh and escape their lives for a few moments.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For the longest time my ultimate goal was writing and directing movies on a professional level funded by major Hollywood studios. That is still something that I would like to do but I came to realize that with my sights firmly set on that one goal, I was ignoring the the incredible thing that I was already accomplishing with my current projects. In 2020 when the world shut down I made a couple of short films and I took the time to really think about what it was that I was doing during those film shoots. I realized that I get to circumvent what most indie filmmakers don’t like about the industry. Very few professional filmmakers get complete creative control of their stories, hire exactly the creatives that they want to hire, and are given the exact amount of time that they want in order to complete their film. It was like a bolt of lightning hit me that made me say to myself “hey dude, look around you. You’re doing exactly what you want to do with nobody questioning your every move.” Now, granted, I’m not getting paid to do this (which would be nice) but if I could set that one thing aside, I was basically living what most filmmakers would kill for. I’m genuinely blessed to get to make movies with people that I care about and who believe in the vision and stories that we make together. Since 2020 my approach to filmmaking has completely changed because of that one thought. I pour my heart and soul into the script and take all the time possible in editing so that I can make sure the final product looks as professional as possible. Would I still love to get paid by a major Hollywood studio to make movies? Absolutely, but the reality of the situation is that most people don’t get to do that. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Its just that now, while I’m trying, I’m also enjoying every second of the freedom that most professional filmmakers go their entire careers yearning for.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

1. Don’t be an asshole. 2. Spend a lot of time writing a good story.

No really, that’s it. I remember my first few forays into filmmaking and cringe when I think about my directing style. It was very dictatorial. I would get in arguments with my friends on set or get stressed out when things weren’t turning out exactly how I wanted them to. I had to really work hard at becoming a better person to realize that this wasn’t the way to build a solid team. Over the years I learned how to talk to people and developed much better social skills and I started to see how quickly my friends would say “yes” to coming back to do another project with me. That turned into me meeting new fellow creatives and getting them involved in my films as well as them asking me to take part in theirs. This has now culminated in having had the honor to work with SAG actors who have had roles on legitimate Hollywood TV shows/films and direct them in scenes that I wrote. That kind of thing doesn’t just happen overnight. And it definitely doesn’t happen if you’re not genuine with people. Its unfortunate that kindness is something that is so often overlooked when building a team but I really think its that simple. Nobody wants to come back to work for an asshole for free. And even if you’re paying people you can’t have long term growth unless the people you are leading genuinely believe that you care about them. As far as my second point goes, I think another major reason why I have attracted a talented group of people over the years is because of the time that I spend on figuring out the story and writing roles that actors will genuinely want to play. And please trust me when I say that I’m not setting up a pedestal and climbing to the top of it to say how great of a writer I am. Far from it. I think there’s still much that I need to learn when it comes to writing. But what I do know is that I have an insane amount respect for the screenwriting process and I will rewrite draft after draft over days, weeks, months, and years to get it right. And I think that shows when someone reads one of my scripts. So in my experience, when you bring together a group of people that get inspired by a good story, and you treat them with respect, you definitely get the best out of them and then you watch the magic unfold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/joshmakesmoviesonyoutube
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshmakesmovies/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBz6hfnM3Pzn1E2dIid2WA