Meet Chris LaMartina

We were lucky to catch up with Chris LaMartina recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Cross functional creativity is super important to keeping my passions fresh and motivated. Whenever I’m exhausted with editing, I can pivot to writing… or if the pressures of filmmaking for hire is too de-motivating… I pick up a guitar or sit behind a drum set and just let loose.

The ability to step back and understand why I fell in love with the process of creation in the first place is EVERYTHING.

You need to be able to breathe and re-assess your excitement and enthusiasm. That luxury of time isn’t always there, but when it is… that’s my best advice. Find a creative palate cleanser.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Raised by a pack of VCRs, filmmaker Chris LaMartina has channelled his analog upbringing into weird horror comedies. To date, he’s directed nine feature films including WNUF Halloween Special, its sequel, the Out There Halloween Mega Tape, and the gory splatter-sex romp, Call Girl of Cthulhu.

He previously ran the Baltimore oddities museum, Dr. Gloom’s Crypt of Curiosities, and alongside his wife, Melissa, he co-directed and co-produced the live action sequences for the analog horror video game, Amanda the Adventurer.

When not fiddling with VHS tapes, he plays drums in the surf punk band, Beach Creeper. You can find him on Instagram at @Chris.LaMartina and support his Halloween novelty record addiction by buying his stuff at WNUF.BigCartel.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Enthusiasm and passion are the most important factors in maintaining a creative life past your younger years. It got tougher as I got older, but I still find that “waking up on fire” with ideas and excitement for whatever project I’m engaged with is CRITICAL to keeping that flame alive.

For me personally… without the ability to get stoked, projects die or turn into mind-numbing slogs. I pride myself on finishing projects because I always take on work that keeps me enthralled by the vitality of their core ideas.

Find the story or project that feeds your imagination constantly… find the project that your brain can’t possibly turn off. It might sound intense, but those are the creative gifts that keep on giving. In my life, those were the WNUF movies and that ecosystem of analog story-scaping has proven to be an invaluable source of joy in my creative life.

Broad advice for younger folks would be similar. Find what gets you unbelievably stoked and keep working at it… but also, tell the story that only you can tell.

For me, working in local television and more broadly in commercial marketing… paired with my love of analog culture, VHS tape collecting, and all things Halloween… WNUF Halloween Special and its sequels/spin-offs.. have always felt like the projects that I was uniquely positioned to produce… and I think that uncontrollable passion shines through in the final products.

Skill wise? Keep working. It is about constant improvement…. maybe not faster/stronger… but the evolution of an IDEA is critical. Don’t get bent out of shape around the latest software or tech toy… It’s about your personal evolution of storytelling. If it excites you… it will excite someone else… It may take a minute to find that audience, but I can assure you… even the weirdest niche art has its audience… somewhere… they’re waiting and hungry.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

Don’t get it right. GET IT DONE.

Writing is re-writing. Filmmaking is inflated with thousands of compromises, but the folks who persist… are the folks who say “screw it. This isn’t ideal, but I’m going to make it happen to the best of my ability.”

There will never be the perfect opportunity to do something, but there will be better circumstances. Sometimes you can wait for them, but sometimes you’ll need to create them… as “perfectly” as possible.

Don’t wait for someone else to hand you an opportunity. Successful creatives make their own opportunities… or they create as damn near close to them as they can with their resources.

That’s the best advice I can offer…. Get it done to the best of your ability.

I’m not saying not to ask for guidance or help or the occasional permissions, but at the end of the day- you need to make it happen. You know who waits for the perfect opportunity? The people that never get it done.

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