Rising Stars: Meet Q Burdette of Long Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Q Burdette.

Hi Q, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Born and raised in Long Beach, CA. I started dancing at 15 in church, learned my first choreography, and by 19 I was deep in breakdancing and contemporary. Watching You Got Served made me take it seriously. I found my way to Carnival and Clear Talent Agency in Hollywood and built a 10-year dance career that took me further than I expected.
TV and film work including Glee, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and the Fresh Beat Band, live performances with JLo, an HP/Fergie commercial, and touring China with Wang Lee Hom.

At some point I picked up a camera. Partly because I loved photography, partly because I didn’t want my income tied entirely to my body. I taught myself through YouTube and had a simple idea: film dance choreography like a rap video, multiple angles, cut together like a music video. That idea opened doors.

My dance connections led to shooting for Keke Palmer. An opportunity that came through choreographer Rosero which led to oppurtunities with Dawn Richard, Jordin Sparks and others.

From there I started collaborating with filmmaker Daniel Button for about 8 years working together on short films, a feature, and a 6-episode TV series where he DP’d and I operated camera. He really shaped my understanding of lighting and production.

Most recently I was part of the team that brought artist Jules Liesl’s music video to life — contributing to the producing, directing, and editing alongside the creative direction and choreography of Richy Jackson. I’m also currently creating vertical content for the Crenshaw High School track team.

Now I’m finding the intersection of my creative instincts and the business side. Getting into digital marketing opened something up for me. I realized I genuinely enjoy the analytical side just as much as the creative. The way data informs creative decisions, how the numbers can actually tell you what story to tell and how to tell it.
That feedback loop is what’s pulling me toward commercial and brand work.

Looking back, whether I was choreographing, performing, or directing, it’s always been about telling stories. It’s finally all coming full circle.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been smooth at all. Anyone who knows me personally will tell you I’ve been all over the place, and I mean that literally and figuratively.

At one point I packed up and moved to Kentucky for 7 months, around 2013, just to reset, help family, and get my head right when things weren’t going the way I thought they would. More recently I spent 5 weeks in Mexico trying to figure out my next move, both financially and creatively, before something clicked and I found my footing again.
The instability of creative work is real. You leave a steady job to take an opportunity, and then you’re left wondering how long until the next one comes. That cycle of sacrifice and uncertainty never fully goes away. You just get better at managing it.

On the creative side, I’ve wrestled with the idea that you’re supposed to have one defined style, one lane. But I’m genuinely multifaceted. One week I’m approached about a short film, the next it’s short form vertical content, then BTS for a long form production shooting in another city, then a friend needs a dance video. Learning to balance all of that while staying creatively present in each project is an ongoing challenge.

One of the bigger lessons came around knowing my worth. People who’ve worked with you for years don’t always grow their perception of you as your skills grow. Sometimes the people furthest from your immediate circle see your value more clearly than those closest to you. I had to learn to take the work I’d done, leverage it externally, and build relationships with people who could see what I was actually capable of.

The road isn’t supposed to be smooth. I’ve accepted that. The goal now is to build something sustainable enough that the instability stops being the loudest thing in the room.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a filmmaker and content creator based in Long Beach. I direct, shoot, and edit, and I do it through my company OnCue Digital, which is how I partner with brands, artists, and athletes who want their stories told the right way.
My background is a little different from most people behind a camera.

I spent 10 years as a professional dancer and choreographer before filmmaking became my focus. That shaped everything. I understand movement in a way that’s hard to explain and harder to fake. Whether it’s a dancer mid-performance, a relay team coming off the exchange zone, or an artist finding their moment on camera, I know how to read it before it happens, frame it right, and cut it in a way that actually feels like something.

I’ve had some moments along the way that still don’t feel real. Getting cast on The Office and sitting directly behind Steve Carell on set. Booking an HP and Fergie commercial out of over 200 dancers, some of my favorite freestyle performers in the game. And coproducing all five music videos for Keke Palmer’s Lauren EP, shooting across Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Mojave Desert. That one still hits different. A full project, start to finish, and it shows in the work.

These days I’m as interested in why content works as I am in how it looks. The analytics side of marketing pulled me in and I genuinely enjoy it. When the data and the creative instincts are talking to each other, that’s where the best work comes from. That’s what I try to bring to every project.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Instagram is probably the easiest place to find me. I have my personal page and the OnCue Digital account, both pretty active with recent work and whatever I’m currently shooting. YouTube is coming too, that’s where the full projects will start to live.
@QBurdette
@On.Cue.Digital.io

If you’re a brand or small business and you want to work together, just know I’m not really looking to just show up, shoot one video, and disappear. I want to build something. Content that has a real direction, tells a story over time, and actually means something to the people watching it.

If that sounds like what you’re looking for, you can book a call through the OnCue Digital website or just shoot an email to [email protected].
www.OnCueDigital.io

We’ll talk and see if it makes sense.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oncuedigital.io
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/QBurdette
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@QBurdette