We recently connected with Tyler Piña and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tyler thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

I think the best way for us to contribute to society is to utilize our talents and skills to help others, leaning into our strengths and passions. For me, I have the ability to tell stories through film. And, whenever I can, I try to amplify voices that might not otherwise have a platform.

My first short film 88 Cents was about a young man falling into homelessness after getting out of prison. The goal with the film was to shine a light on the flaws within our criminal justice system and give a voice to a community that has been vastly overlooked by society.

I later produced a series highlighting female entrepreneurs called Women in Business and another one called the Comeback Coach where we flipped struggling small businesses during the pandemic.

Currently, I’m working on a queer-focused feature film as well as a documentary on an incredible trans artist who’s fighting for LGBTQ+ rights and building a space for other artists in this community to create free from discrimination. My hope with these projects is to provide much needed representation on the big screen as well as educate audiences in an entertaining way.

Fear spawns in the absence of knowledge. It’s easy to judge those who we don’t know or understand. But when you learn about people of different races, origins, or socioeconomic backgrounds through film, you begin to realize that we all share similar qualities. We all have hopes, dreams, and a desire to be seen or accepted. We all have compassion, whether or not we choose to use it. And we all have the ability to help each other and accept help from others.

If a story is told properly, you should be able to see little pieces of yourself, friends, or family members in the characters. We’re all humans at the end of the day and realizing this builds empathy and understanding. If I’m able to create this bridge and connect people through the art of storytelling, then I’ve done my job.

If we start replacing fear and hatred with love and understanding, celebrating both our similarities and differences as individuals and communities, we can come together to build a world that’s much more beautiful and abundant than the one we live in today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tyler Piña. I’m an Emmy-award winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles and the founder of Neon Flamingo Films. Growing up, I was always passionate about storytelling, and I broke into the film industry after moving to California and working in house at a variety of media outlets including Vox Media and The Verge.

I started my own production company in 2018, and for the longest time I was primarily producing and directing branded content, documentaries, TV series and short form video for clients. However, after the pandemic, my production company has begun developing original feature content, and much of my time has been spent leading these projects.

With everything I create, I try to find the human element. I think that’s where the greatest and most impactful stories come from. I’m most proud of my ability to create a positive working environment while telling stories that I believe can make an impact. Filmmaking can be stressful. You never have enough money or time, but the best ideas come when you’re enjoying the project and having fun. We all got into the industry because we enjoy the creative process so I try my best to foster an environment that’s inventive, fun, and built on trust and respect.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The word pivot could sound like a scary word to many business owners, but I believe it’s something that should always be in the back of our heads. The world is rapidly changing, even faster now with so many technological advancements including AI.

We’ve learned from the pandemic that everything in our lives can change in an instant, and we need to be prepared as business owners to evolve our current working models or pivot into something new. There is always a window of opportunity even when it feels like all the doors are closed.

For me, I’ve had to pivot many times based on economic changes, trends, and even more recently with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. When I began my career, I was primarily producing commercials for startups in San Francisco. Eventually, I got a job offer to be a producer at Recode. This was a great opportunity so I pivoted and worked in house for a few years. That company was bought by Vox Media, and I directed content for them until I felt this job was no longer suiting me and moved on to pursue different ventures.

I took a big chance and made an independent short film that ended up doing really well. After traveling with it all over the world at different film festivals, I decided to take another leap. I quit my job, moved to LA, and started my own production company focused on short-form series and branded content. Things were moving along well until COVID hit, but I pivoted right away and focused from production to post-production. I built an editing team that worked primarily on studio features and video game trailers. Once the restrictions calmed down a bit, we moved back into production but now working primarily with studios.

Now with the strike, all of this work is on hold… So I’ve pivoted again. Taking advantage of this time away from my studio work, I have developed, raised capital, and begun shooting independent projects that I plan to distribute over the next couple years. My hope is to not only tell original stories but also provide paid work, sanctioned by the unions, for actors and crew members who desperately need it during this unique time in our industry’s history.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One thing that was very damaging for me as a child was growing up in a society that made me feel like something was wrong with me. As a gay person, even though I was raised by a very loving family, the negative attitudes surrounding the LGBTQ+ community in church, school, or in the media really affected my self-esteem. I hid a huge part of myself from the world out of fear of being unliked, bullied, or losing the people in my life that I cared most about.

I was lucky because I had a strong support system, even after coming out. Not everyone has this, but for me this was my saving grace. Regardless, there was a part of me that always felt like I had to prove my worth, and for the longest time I hated myself because the world taught me that who I was as a person was “wrong.” It took me 22 years to finally accept this and come out. Then it took another few years to unlearn all of this internalized hatred and redefine how I see myself.

I think this experience taught me the important role that our culture plays in fostering a healthy environment for children to grow. So much of culture is shaped by the media, and it’s always been important for me to try my best to help tell stories that encourage empathy and compassion. We don’t often think about how our actions or words affect others, but they can have a lasting impact either negatively or positively.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life. I have my regrets just like the rest of us, but I’m proud of who I am today and the person I’m working on becoming. It took a while to accept it, but I love being gay! I’ve had the most fun being part of a community that celebrates being authentically yourself, even if that means being different. If I would have grown up in an environment feeling free to embrace this side of me at a younger age, I think I would have gained so many beautiful memories.

It pains me that some children have to grow up in a world where they’re afraid to be who they are, where they’re hated for who they are, where they’re murdered for who they are, and where their government wants to take away their basic human rights just because of who they are. But, on the flip side, there are many people fighting to spread love and acceptance, not just for these kids but for the many other marginalized communities.

Creatively, I think this is my biggest driving factor: understanding that even just one person can make a difference. So I try my best every day to embody this in my work and produce content that I believe can make a positive impact for others.

Contact Info:

• Website: neonflamingofilms.com
• Instagram: @tylerpina1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerpina/
• Twitter: @tylerpina1