Meet Xavier

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Xavier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Xavier, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

For me, it came down to saying yes to life’s opportunities and going for it. Not letting fear, outside opinions, or doubt steer me away from the things I’m either curious about or wanting to give a try. I started off in music as a kid and eventually transitioned to theatre when I was 17 up until the pandemic hit. In 2020, I blew through a fair amount of savings on film equipment that I’d originally saved up for a trip to study abroad for acting in Ireland that got cancelled due Covid. There weren’t acting opportunities so I wanted to create them and that’s when I started making short films.

It was an interesting transition from one creative field to another, as I didn’t have teachers or classes this time. Only trial, error, and YouTube.

A couple years in I got questions such as “you’re way more of a natural with music. Why not drop the film stuff and stick to that?” Well, because I didn’t want to. I stuck with it and failed and learned and eventually got to a point to where I’m now developing my first feature film. We can be naturally good at anything, but we can be just as good at anything else with enough hard work to overcome that “lack of natural talent”.

It’s been a crazy 5 years of growth as a film director/writer/producer. There’s always something new to learn from my mentor/manager, Abraham Lopez. I don’t mean “crazy” in a negative way by any means. It’s absolutely exciting and I’m very grateful to my past self to stick it out and be where I am today.

I didn’t actively seek purpose, I let my curiosity and wonder guide me and everything fell into place the more I stayed on the path. For me, purpose is just picking a path and sticking to it for as long as that is the thing you want to commit to for yourself and nothing outside of that.

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 who started out as an actor but over the years transitioned into writing, directing, and producing. I recently started my own company called Fragmented Mind Media. I’d had the name of it in mind for some years now and never knew how I felt about the name but to me it was an authentic, humorous play on myself as a kid when I got hit with a large rock in the back of my head. So my head probably had a loosened screw from the start. Not to mention that in general, my mind was always all over the place and struggled to focus in school growing up. That’s where the “Fragmented Mind” part of the name stems from. Something that’s all over the place but in time, when put to good use, has become this extremely joyous sense of controlled chaos when it comes to being in a mindset of creativity.

Fragmented Mind Media is debuting in the horror genre and has its first slasher-horror feature film currently in development as we recently finished finalizing the script and assembling some key cast and crew. The film titled “Wendigo” is centered around Native American mythology and folklore. I co-created it with Jude Solis, whom I met during a networking event hosted by Hollywood Horror Fest. His brilliant idea for this movie and my love for mythology and folklore in general magnetized me to want to help bring this idea to life which led to a harmonious collaboration. We took inspiration from the folklore and made a fictional story about a creature that feeds on the troubled minds of the main characters that encounter it. The longer they stay in their mental-prisons the stronger it materializes from the spiritual underworld to our reality.

We’re aiming to capture the inspired classic horror aesthetic from the 70s-80s while implementing a modern story that not only works suspensefully or horrifically, but also dramatically with intention and having something to say. The moral of this story is about transcendence and how our inner demons can take hold of our lives the more we feed into them whether it’s self-doubt, addiction, or living bound in the chains of what a negative environment labels us as.

While Fragmented Mind Media is starting out in the horror/thriller genre, it’s not married to it. Like I said my mind is all over the place with many ideas for different genres I want to experiment with, and on different media platforms as well. If our creative minds have the potential to know no bounds then why put any restrictions or limits on ourselves in the actual work of self-expression? As someone who loves movies, video games, and books, I didn’t want my company to just be stuck to one thing. Wherever the creativity flows is where I’ll go. That’s what keeps this lifestyle exciting for me.

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

Be yourself. Don’t be afraid of the common notion of “everything’s been said and done already. There’s no originality anymore,” sure there’s only a certain amount of plot-lines out there but there’s only one you. Your brain, style, aesthetic, and vision is all you. At the end of the day everyone’s an expert on everything with their own opinions on how things “should” be done. Especially and ironically in artistic industries where it should be about individuality and not about formulaic forms of storytelling or self-expression. It’s easy to lose sight of that in a technological age where social media platforms are over saturated with opinions of how a certain method is the best way of doing things. Do what makes your project fulfilling for you. Out of 8 billion people on earth there’s an audience somewhere that will be drawn to your style of doing things, but it starts with making it for you on your terms. Block out the noise that’s out of your control and lock in on the best version of your creative self and just focus on the work.

Just get started. You don’t have to step into any creative field having a degree in whatever subject from whatever school. I went to school for acting but taught myself music and screenwriting while being mentored by my manager as a director and producer. There’s other means than going about it by the conventionality book. Plus, if everyone goes about everything by the book, the world would be pretty black and white and boring.

Communication, and putting yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to attend networking events and talk to people. You never know, you may find your tribe if you take that step and open yourself up to new opportunities. With collaboration comes a need for understanding that even the creative business is a business. Learn the lingo, understand the conversations about numbers and have things in written agreements in emails and in contracts to keep yourself and your collaborators protected.

Last but not least, live your life. If you’re going to tell a story, characters need to feel relatable. Travel, admire other cultures and other artists’ work. Not only for your own inspiration but to remember how their expressions made you feel. Take a risk, get rejected, fall down and get back up whether it’s dating or ambition or facing fears like heights, accounting for faults and flaws of our own, or looking like a fool in your first audition (speaking from experience). Living experiences gives us something to draw from that will help tremendously in having a story to tell. We won’t have much to say if we don’t experience anything outside the safety net of our own bubble. Life is a leap of faith that with good intention, is work taking.

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?

If you’re a human being with an open mind with a great care and passion for communal/collaborative effort, team-building, and camaraderie with an idea and something to say then welcome. Whether you’re an actor, editor, camera operator, composer, graphic designer, merchandiser, doesn’t matter. My Instagram pages are @fragmentedmindprod and @_xavierserna. I believe we’re all artists just trying to express ourselves and navigate an industry where there’s always something new to learn and we learn by meeting and working with others. We have to look out for each other and keep fresh cinematic ideas and experiences alive.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: _xavierserna & fragmentedmindprod

Image Credits

Steve Escarcega