We were lucky to catch up with Michael Riggins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The most significant risk I’ve taken was using my savings to buy production equipment (my living room was like a production studio: literally!) but because of that I was able to create some of the best work that I’ve ever made because not only did that inspire me to work but it inspired me to not give up. although some projects weren’t released I do believe the most impactful and the ones that needed to be seen were.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

OMG, many times on my journey I had to change, postpone or even stop completely with my projects because the money wasn’t right, the vision was blurred, writer’s block, and even just bad spirits around the project caused me to just scrap it in its entirety. Some I did eventually regroup and started up again to complete the mission while other are still on the shelf. It’s not easy living in LA paying full bills and trying to be creative it becomes a lot and some things have to give which in most cases will be you being creative.

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’ve learned to slow down, regroup, say no not right now, and try to learn whatever it is that I may need to hire someone for to help me save money and to obtain that new skill. I’ve learned it’s not always as easy as it may seem no matter how much planning you do and most importantly It’s okay to stop and come back to that project when the time is right.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Mike GRiggins
• Twitter: @MikeGRiggins
• Youtube: Michael G Riggins

Image Credits
Photos by Terrell ‘T Wat” Watson