Meet Luis Avilez of Zeliva Pictures in La Puente

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Avilez.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
So the whole production stuff started in 2017. I had been acting for about four years and I wasn’t having any luck because I didn’t have any quality footage to showcase myself. At the time most of the footage I had was from student films and there was always something off from it when I received. I don’t blame them though, they were still learning, but sometime in 2016 I got a call from a woman who was casting a music video. She offered me the role of the love interest of the lead actress and told me that I was their main choice and that they couldn’t shoot without me.

So I was super excited because I was going to get some exposure. Then when I showed up, I started talking to other guys there and they ALL said they were booked with the same details. So it turns out we were all lied to just to be used as background with no pay and that was the last straw for me. After that, I decided to produce my own content. I had taken a production class in college so I had a basic understanding of how to make a film but not enough to produce one worth watching. So I started teaching myself how to write scripts, the technical aspects of filming, editing clips together, how to color the footage, how to record audio and how to light a scene. It was super difficult trying to learn everything at once but I was determined. So I started doing test shots on my DSLR camera to test out the things I was learning.

Then sometime in 2017, I got to a point where I felt comfortable enough with the stuff I had learned to be able to produce a short film, so I started buying production equipment which included a cinema camera, sound equipment, and lights. I wrote the script for my first short film Addicted, got some of my college buddies who were also into filming to be part of the production and started filming. I finished that film on May 25th of 2017 and my representatives started using clips of it to try to get me more auditions. After that, I started auditioning more frequently and meeting different casting directors. Then on July 2, 2017 I decided to submit Addicted to Danny Hastings Official Latino Short Film Festival in New York, and received an email on July 28, 2017 that it was accepted and nominated as an Official Selection of the festival and we set to be screened on September 17, 2017 in front of a live audience. It felt great knowing that this film that I spent so much time learning to make would be screening somewhere. After that, I produced Leaving (2017), Trickle (2017), Morning Routine (2017), the TV pilot Carter (2017), You and Me (2018), Coffee Before Breakdown (2018) and Captured (2018).

In 2018, I did a short film with Producer and Director Jobob Taeleifi that I really enjoyed being a part of. I wanted people to see this short, so I offered to look into getting it on Amazon Prime. After months of looking, I managed to get it hosted on Prime Video on July 26, 2018. I really enjoyed every aspect of producing films those years so in the beginning of 2019, I decided to start my own production company, Zeliva Pictures, (which is my last name backward) to brand myself and really have control of the stuff I work on. So I went back and revisit some of my previous productions to improve them and brand them with the current Zeliva Pictures logo. On March 2, 2019 we were able to get Captured to stream on Prime Video, and Addicted was re-edit and made longer with a couple of other scenes that improved the story. The new edit is currently in submission to multiple film festivals and scheduled to be available on Prime video in early 2020.

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the things I struggled with the most was creating scripts. I could learn all the technical aspects. But writing a script is so difficult for me. Mainly because It wasn’t something I spent that much time learning. So I’ll continue partnering up with writers until I fully learn how to write a script.

Another thing I had issues with was sound. I knew how to record it I just didn’t really know how improve it in post or how to score films. I’m still not fully where I want to be in those departments but I’ve definitely not where I was when I first started.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Zeliva Pictures story. Tell us more about the business.
I started Zeliva Pictures in early 2019. It’s a production company which currently specializes in short films. We also do web/social media commercials and music videos and plan on adding feature film production to our list in the near future. This company is pretty new, but our biggest shorts are Addicted, Captured and Amateur Hitman. The thing that sets us apart from others is that our focus is currently on short films, primarily because we could produce multiple productions with very little capital.

Currently Zeliva Pictures only produces films in which I am in, but eventually I intend to expand and target up and coming directors, writers, and actors who want to create short films for festival runs and/or online platforms but also want to maintain their expenses as low as possible. We try to keep production prices low for each production but also maintaining the highest production quality.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the entertainment industry leaning more towards online streaming. Every year more films are premiering on streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video and I feel like a big reason for that is because it’s cheaper than having a theatrical release. I also see a potential for cinematic short film type content to pick up, mainly due to peoples attention span decreasing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luisavilez.com/zeliva-pictures
• Email: zelivapictures@luisavilez.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/zelivapictures
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/zelivapictures

Image Credit:
Arnulfo Mendoza, Megan Casey

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