Meet Joshua Mejia

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua Mejia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua below.

Hi Joshua, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I would say that I have a very old fashioned work ethic, that the foundation of which I had developed from my parents and those closest to me while growing up. From a very early age it was always instilled in me the value of hard work, doing your part, focusing on building yourself while also contributing as much as possible to the positive growth of others, while lastly at the same time not being afraid of asking for help if you need it. When I was a kid, I was actually in the Boy Scouts and two very important lessons I learned in my time there is to 1. Always be prepared and 2. Help others when you can. Later on in life, another set of values that I took on and hold extremely high in my life is that of Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality – to stay focused on your goals to an obsessive level and always be learning and connecting with those who can continue to elevate you so that you may share that and help elevate others. I feel in really every job I have worked, I think most of my employers and co-workers would say the same thing on my work ethic and that is something I am proud of as it is something I hold very important to me and my craft.

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

I am a filmmaker/photographer based in Los Angeles, well at this point in my career I actually say that really anything with a camera I could pretty much do. I have been fortunately involved in this craft of media since my senior year of high school in 2016, after which I attended the Television, Film, and Media Studies department of Cal State L.A. where I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2021.

Most of my growth in this craft came of course during college in a couple of different ways, the first being my time with the school’s newspaper the University Times where I spent my entire college career working at. I started off as an intern photographer and eventually became the Multimedia Editor. It was my time there where I feel I really not only started developing the skills I have now, but crafted the best friendships I have today. Along with that, I also took part in a directed study class in which it was just me and a professor. During that course, I would say I developed one of my favorite and most important projects of my career which was a dance video called “Ashes”. That project came about when a high school friend of mine Alysa (one of the most incredible/talented dancers and people I know) came to me with the idea, taking a huge chance on me with it being my first time doing a project like that. It ended up becoming one of my best works that I have done and learned from in which most of the gig/employed roles I have had since have mentioned that project as the reason why they hired or brought me on.

Since then I have done most genres of media from working with small business vendors with a company called The Pop-Up Shoppes (an amazing company that hosts luxury markets for small businesses), a sports media agency, various on set opportunities in film, to being able to travel the country while working with a dance company called Groove Dance Competition (now OneBeat Dance Brands) where I also crafted some of the most amazing friendships with people from across the United States.

I feel with all the various types of work I have done what makes every job the most exciting or in general what I do special are the people I not only meet, but work with as they are what make each job the best and unique in its own right. Without those teams I have had the honor of working with, most of these jobs would not have been the same.

In terms of my art now, two main areas I try to incorporate the most is philosophy and psychology. I began developing an interest in those subjects in college and in my spare time I became heavily interested with foreign filmmaking where those subjects are very much involved in. I would say the first project I successfully achieved incorporating these ideas into my work was the dance project “Ashes” alongside the extremely talented dancer Alysa. Since then I have continually been able to achieve incorporating those aspects in my art.

I have since shifted my focus to be more of a narrative based work in which some notable projects that this has included are the “Ashes” dance video, a short film I made with an amazing skeleton cast/crew “What We Left Behind”, another short film I got brought on as a Director of Photographer for entitled “A Bridge Between Us” and one of my first commercial projects for L&E Uncommon Scents Candle Co. which actually featured the incredible lead actress Lauren McNair from “A Bridge Between Us.”

However, I do still keep up with non-narrative work as a more personal project I undertook with two of my great friends Joshua Letona and Brian Delgado is a podcast called Unemployed Film Snobs.

Most recently and this would be the first time I have really announced this, but back in February I wrote, directed, shot, and edited my first short film since 2021 called “Inside” starring the incredible Claire Wunschel. With this being my most personal project to date, I do have a slight nervousness in terms of releasing it however I have started submitting to film festivals so here’s hoping it does well in them! I will be sharing the promotional materials to my social media very soon, so depending on when this article comes out this may or may not be the first announcement and poster debut for “Inside”! I would still say to definitely keep an eye out for those posts to come!

Other than that, I am just hoping to continue creating art I love with friends and hope to make some sort of impact with it on this world.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I would say a quality most impactful in my journey is one that I have already mentioned earlier in this interview and that is having a great work ethic, loyalty, and compassion. I feel those are the three qualities that I not only hold highly in work, but in my personal life as well. If I am being quite honest, I do not believe I am in a position to give advice as I still am very early on in my own career with an entire lifetime of knowledge and experience to consume. I would say just to be eager to learn anything and everything you can, to always keep your word no matter what.

Personally, that is a big one for me as I do consider myself a man of my word and what I say I would do – I will. Show everyone no matter who they are respect and love as you would want to be treated. I feel these building blocks will lead not only to a life of success, but a life well lived in general and will also continue to aid in both professional and personal growth. Present yourself with respect and authority while also knowing that you are a part of a team and to treat others as equal, especially in filmmaking where the hours are often longer than a usual job – all you really have is each other.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am always looking for people to collaborate with, that is the greatest part of this craft that for the most part you cannot really create anything without collaboration with others. Even on my most recent short film it was a skeleton cast and crew of me, the actress, and the sound recordist. I did however bring on others in post which included a social media manager and a graphic designer for the film poster.

I would say the types of people I am looking to collaborate with are anyone with the passion and drive to create all sorts of art/media who are compassionate, kind, open minded, and eager to pitch in any ideas that help drive the project to be the absolute best it can be. What I have learned is a good idea can come from anywhere and anyone so never dismiss anyone and always be open to listening. Those are the types of people I am always on the look out for and would love to connect with them, I can be reached through any of my social media.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Joshua Mejia, Ryan Vanderhei, Cheyenne Dewolf, Joshua Mejia, Joshua Mejia, Brookelynn Elizabeth

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