We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David A. Flores. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.
David, 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?
For me, being creative is a compulsion. When I’m NOT not creative, it impacts my mental health. This pretty much guarantees that I will always be creative in some way/shape/form. Keeping that alive is not hard for me.
Pushing creativity from a hobby to a career? That’s where the real struggle begins.
It’s no longer a low-stakes activity of personal fulfillment. It’s a pressure cooker, filled with existential crises and a constant tenacity to create and KEEP creating to a largely indifferent world. It’s the realization of “my creativity is now content.” That MONEY is the driving factor, versus art.
Also, it’s just not a fair system. Professional creativity widely benefits people with means. A micro budget short film that costs $40k is a lot of money for someone who doesn’t come from money.
I’m a working class creative. I work a day job. That day job provides me stability. It allows me the privilege to pursue my creative career and I DO believe being a professional creative is a privilege.
A benefit of having a day job and being creative on my own terms is I can be creative on my own terms.
I’m not beholden to money people, because the buck stops with me. I’m not dependent on my creative paying my bills, because my day job does that.
I can focus solely on making the next cool thing.
That definitely injects life into the whole thing.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m an LA-based writer/director/producer with Tucson roots.
I’m a trans media creator, meaning I tell stories in whatever medium is best for the story, yes AND whatever is most FEASIBLE for me to actually MAKE. That $200 million dollar epic? I don’t have that money, so a film might not be it. But, perhaps that story could be a comic book or a podcast. Whatever we can do to NOT have it be a PDF script on a Documents folder.
My production company, Pacific Saguaro, is a literal blend of Southern California meets Arizona. It’s me. It’s honoring the past, while looking to the future.
We tell character-based stories with a genre twist.
Our award-winning first film, LIKENESS, is wrapping up the film festival circuit, with its online premiere set for YouTube channel, Omeleto, February 26th. LIKENESS is a scifi thriller, about a young woman who works with an AI version of her mom to find her missing real mom. We played at 12 festivals, including Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts and LA Shorts as well as indie/genre gems like Chattanooga, Nevermore, Tacoma and Sidewalk Film Festivals.
Our next project is the horror film, PIT STOP, which finds two women – a prisoner and a guard – stuck off the side of the road, out of gas and waiting for backup, but they’re not alone. PIT STOP will enter the film festival circuit later this year and we have high hopes that we’ll get into some fantastic festivals.
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?
From the filmmaking/creative creator side of things, I’d say:
1. Don’t take no for an answer. Rejection IS going to be part of your everyday life. Feel the sting of the no, but don’t let the project die with the no. Find a way to keep the project going. Maybe it’s not going to be a feature film produced by Hollywood. Okay, but can YOU make it a short film? A podcast? A novel? A comic book?
2. It’s all about money. Which, yes, sucks when you don’t have it. But, once you realize that “the ONLY thing stopping this thing from being made IS money” there is a power in that. And if you can somehow get money? The world IS your oyster.
3. Be a good person. Don’t be a dick. Don’t be a shyster. Be honest and transparent with your collaborators. Every project I’ve done, I’ve been open about the money or lack of money, “I CAN pay you, but not what you’re worth.” I’ve been so lucky to work with some of the best talents in the industry and I think the bare minimum of ‘don’t be a dick, treat people with respect’ has gone a long way.
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?
Absolutely! Especially if you’re a lover of the arts and want to support a non-studio indie joint, we’re here and want to talk! We’re ready to graduate to making our first indie feature. We have the team, we have the experience, we have the critical clout with the festivals we’ve done.
We just need that pesky little thing called funding.
Join the club, right?
In the meantime, we’re gonna keep doing what we do – making cool things in whatever medium we can.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://davidfloreswrites.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidfloreswrites/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dfloreswrites
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEy4y4fiznEGP_1-qVE6TYg
Image Credits
Deryk Wehrley Toby Canto
