Meet John Bombay Gutierrez

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

John, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?

Self-discipline is one of the most important qualities for any of us to pursue or master. I’m not perfect, but I have good consistent habits, and I work hard every day. Some people are fortunate to have good mentors that push them and hold them accountable, molding them into productive people and good neighbors. But not having mentors is not an excuse to be unproductive or a bad neighbor. You just have to work a little harder and teach yourself.

My self-discipline comes from different motivating factors, but all equally contribute to my consistency. As we get older, and if you reflect as much as I do, you will notice your motivating factors expand and encompass more and more. But despite the ever-expanding reasons for getting up each day, most often our lives can be propelled by a single solitary goal. My goal is to win an Oscar for directing a feature film. I think about it every day. I can picture it as clearly as I can picture my mom’s face. Having this clear vision helps wake me up before the Sun, when I need more than coffee, and helps me power through tasks I don’t find particularly enjoyable, even if necessary. Find your ‘why’ and you will discover the superpower of self-discipline. And allow your ‘why’ to evolve. When I first arrived in LA, my initial goal was to learn how to make feature films, before it was too late for my parents to see them. My mom was fighting a very difficult battle with cancer and Parkinson’s disease, and my dad was quickly approaching 80, which he celebrated last year in New York during the solar eclipse on April 8th. Thankfully, they have lived to see me accomplish my first goal. Now, the goal is to grace that stage at the Dolby theater. No days off until we get there.

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

I have spent the last six years taking what I learned from my one-year program at The Los Angeles Film School in 2019, and teaching myself how to make feature films. It’s been six years since I stepped off the plane at LAX, and I have produced five independent feature films in that time span. Two of which, I have written and directed, with a third going into production this June. I am a writer-director with an expertise in micro budget feature films. Now, I am fully prepared to apply this experience to bigger budgets. I never go over my budgets, and I always deliver on time. These past five years, I have completed what I describe as my film school master’s degree. I couldn’t afford to enroll in the programs I desired, so I picked up a camera and made movies. I’ve repeated the process from concept to screen five times already. Now, my education is ending, and the application of my skills and experience is just beginning.

My production company, West America Film Company, is proud to announce our most recent feature film, Red Flamingos, has just started hitting festivals, and has already received awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Chinnaly Norasing), and Best International Feature Film. We are currently seeking distribution in Asian markets, as the story features many Laotian cultural elements and language. Red Flamingos also features Landon Moss, a familiar face from television, as well as being a social media personality quickly gaining popularity. We are also weeks away from seeing a mystery horror film we produced, A Sense of Dread, hit festival screens this year as well. Starring and directed by Michael Peter Bolus (My Name is Dolemite), audiences will find out why research teams keep disappearing at a mysterious military base hidden deep in the American Southwest.

In June, we will be shooting the final film in our coming-of-age trilogy that we began during the pandemic with the award-winning feature film, To Matter, continued with Red Flamingos, and ending with Star Questra. Star Questra is a heartfelt story rooted in themes of family, forgiveness and emotional rebirth. We look forward to shooting another great film in our home state of California.

After our June production ends this Summer, our team is headed to Southeast Asia. Over the pandemic, I made a connection with a motivated collaborator with aspirations to shoot a feature film in his native Laos. And although we got close to realizing our shared goal of doing so during the pandemic, things didn’t work out, and we ended up making a film together in Northern California instead. Fast forward to 2025, and West America Film Company will partner with executive producer Noy Ounkham again to finally take our talents overseas. We will be shooting a horror film in rural Laos titled, “Phi,” this October, which I am writing and directing. We are also developing a documentary to film in Laos, exploring new perspectives surrounding the Ho Chi Minh Trail, as they relate to the Vietnam War. It marks a new era for West America Film Company as we transition into for-hire productions, and beyond our in-house projects.

We look forward to hearing from all motivated storytellers, to begin developing their projects as well. Whether you have a concept or a finished script, we look forward to hearing from you. We are also currently in production on a documentary in partnership with HempCement LLC. They have created a hemp cement block known for its fire resistant, mold resistant, and thermal properties. The HempCement block is a revolutionary building and hardscape material that is non-toxic, sustainable, and good for the planet. Our documentary is capturing the first home being built with this new technology here in California. Ask me about this for more information! We truly believe their story will change the world! Everybody has a story, and we want to help you tell it.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Good casting will make you a good director. Let your locations do the heavy lifting. Learn how to edit your own footage. For all of the independent film directors out there, these three pieces of advice will help your next production, if you haven’t figured them out already.

First, with narrative storytelling, your actors will play a huge part in telling your story. No matter how good the writing is, the actor is who will breathe life into the characters. Find the actors that ARE your characters and guide them through the story. Don’t cast actors that may have the look of your character but require lots of discussions and adjustments to get the performances you want. You will find that having to direct too much, can cost you valuable time and momentum. Find the right actors and let them do what they do best. It may seem like an odd thing to say, but the less directing you have to do, the better the performances will be, and the more you will enjoy directing. You also should make sure your personality meshes well with your actors before you go into production. You don’t want to end up in a situation where you are arguing with your cast or managing arguments between the cast. Identify the personalities you can connect with, and can work with your other actors, or prepare to waste time, energy, and possibly burn bridges. I’ve worked on sets for other productions, and nothing is more frustrating than watching people get ugly with each other, while the rest of us wait around to work.

Second, with limited budgets for your art department and your production designer, you don’t want to task them with building a rocket ship in a magical fantasy world, on a shoestring budget. I’m not saying that you can’t write an amazing space opera and become the next George Lucas. I believe that you absolutely can. Having said that, while you’re working with very modest budgets, always try to write to your resources. If you live in a small town, write a story that takes place in a small town, not in the middle of the Amazon jungle. If you know you have access to film at a grocery store, include scenes that will take your characters to a grocery store. If you don’t have access to a grocery store, don’t write a scene in a grocery store, then rent out a soundstage and dress it as a grocery store. See where I’m going? With small sized crews and limited windows of time to shoot, find locations that are already dressed the way you need them to be for your story. Don’t invest too much time building rocket ships. One day, a studio will pay for your rocket ship to be built, but for now, write something that takes place in your everyday world.

Third, always edit your own work. It is harder to explain the image in your head than to create the image yourself. When you’re starting out, always be the person that assembles your stories and always volunteer to edit other people’s projects as well. You may find that you don’t like editing, but the experience will be priceless. Best case scenario, you realize that the final version of any story is created in the edit, and you will always want to work intimately on the final cut of your projects. Worst case scenario, you won’t enjoy editing, but you will learn the process, speak an editor’s language, and know exactly what you are asking for and expecting when it comes to deadlines. Personally, I find editing to be one of my favorite parts of the process. Sometimes, the story isn’t as obvious in the footage as it was on the page, and the story has to reveal itself in the editing room. Nothing is better than finding the story! To all of my directors and DPs out there that already edit their own work, you know what I mean.

One last bonus tip. Choose a great producer to manage your productions. Even if you are a producer on your film, which you likely are, a strong and reliable producer can be the difference between making your days or losing your mind. I am lucky to have an amazing producer in Michelle Vogel, who I could not make my films without. Her fingerprint is on my work, and I can’t recommend enough, how important it is to find someone you can trust to deliver week in and week out. You will see her name in the credits of all my films. Neither of us can do it alone, so we keep telling good stories together.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

My team and I are currently looking for new Cinematographers to work with. We have had great experiences with everyone we have worked with but are interested in expanding our network of like-minded creatives. We are looking for individuals with experience shooting on cinema cameras, that have good instincts for hand-held and tracking shots, as my style is very dynamic! If you have experience shooting in the rain, we are looking for someone with that experience as well. If you are highly motivated to get your first feature film credit, or your twentieth, I want to meet you and figure out if we have a shared vision for movies.

A little over a year ago, I was fortunate enough to attend an early screening of The Creator. I enjoy a good sci-fi flick, but one of the main reasons I wanted to see the film was because I heard it was shot on a Sony FX3. I needed to see for myself, just how well that small camera would work at that scale. Needless to say, I was blown away. It was a beautifully shot film and a lesson of how to get the most out of your equipment. Shortly after the screening, a client of mine, who I had shared my enjoyment of the film with, sent me to a workshop where I was able to listen to Gareth Edwards, the film’s director, break down how they accomplished so much with such a small, but capable camera. If you were inspired by the cinematography of The Creator as well, we are alike and appreciate filmmakers that are pushing creative boundaries by thinking outside of the box. I look forward to hearing from you and shooting a film together!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://westamericafilmcompany.com
• Instagram: @westamericafilm

Image Credits

Michelle Vogel, Hung Doan