We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mando Franco. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mando below.
Hi Mando, appreciate you sitting with us today. Maybe we can start with a topic that we care deeply about because it’s something we’ve found really sets folks apart and can make all the difference in whether someone reaches their goals. Self discipline seems to have an outsized impact on how someone’s life plays out and so we’d love to hear about how you developed yours?
I think it is just drive. A drive and passion for what I love. I’ve tried to quit many times. I live my life with a full plate and yet I manage to find time to dedicate to my craft.
It’s very much a part of who I am and it is something I can’t let go.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I making scary moving pictures for a living.
As a child and even into adulthood, I’m a naturally nervous person with a lot of fears and anxieties.
I somehow find a way to live and function, but I am very timid. I find that being a tormented and traumatized child by family and peers with scary stories or movies pushed me into mastering my own fears. Now, while I’m still afraid of so many things, I use my fears as a device to share stories and entertain.
It’s always been said, write what you know. Well, I know fear. I know it well. I know what scares me, and a lot of it taps into the fear of others. I’ve always been a fan of movies. I’ve been raised by a family of movie people. Not cinephiles, but just people that liked going to the movies. Because I was around so many different interests, I got to watch a variety of cinema with different members. Action films and kung fu with my dad, westerns with my uncle. Comedy with my mom and Classics with grandma. These films continue to inspire me today and before I’m an artist, I’m a fan. Film was my first love and I never wanted to do anything else with my life.
After several years of making shorts and features, I’ve returned to the arena of feature films and have recently completed photography of a new horror film, Reaper Road. It’s very much a character driven, isolated horror story.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The Love of Cinema. I love movies. I know them well. I continue to re-watch my favorites but also dig into the past and watch all kinds of classics and foreign films. I broaden my horizons and consider myself well versed in cinema and am a life long student of film. As an artist, I will never stop growing and learning.
Imagination.
The only thing every creative needs. Not only a vision, but what drives vision. Imagination is something we often lose as a child, but I’m a big kid. I enjoy things, but am scared of a lot of other things. My favorite movies are a guide to what drives my nightmares, fears and imagination. All these things together allow me to create movie magic. So to speak.
Making Mistakes.
The best way to learn is by making mistakes. I’ve made a ton, and I still do sometimes. And that’s okay.
There is a world of difference between failure and something not working out. Failure, is it not working, and then you give up. You tried, it didn’t work out, hopefully you learn from it. Now try again.
Then again and again and 100 more times. It’s easy to blame others for things not working out. Ego will hurt you.
review and try again.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
There are 2 books that blew my mind. one is very much a cliché and should be mandatory reading for every aspiring filmmaker.
REBEL WITHOUT A CREW by Robert Rodriguez.
It puts you in his shoes as he creates and writes his first film. He did everything on that film and had some help from other actors on set, but he truly was a driving force. Skill very much plays into this, but his passion truly is what made this feat so spectacular. Literally anyone can write a script and pick up a camera. But what will set it apart?
Will it be good? That last part is subjective, but regardless… Does it work?
You don’t know until you try. Even then, it won’t be perfect. then you try again.
The Other was called: Splatter Flicks: How to make a low budget horror movie.
This book can truly be used as a guide to make any kind of film, it just focuses on horror. It starts you with coming up with an idea and motivates you to use what you have, what you know and what you can get to make a movie.
This also leads to production and post production.. It’s advice and a guide to making a movie.
It feels so possible. But it never once panders and makes it seem easy. Because it’ s not.
There are people who dream of being a filmmaker and people that are filmmakers.
No one knows which they are until you’re actually doing it.
These books made me realize, I am a filmmaker.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @el_mandolorian
- Facebook: Mando Franco
Image Credits
Rebecca Murphey
