Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Cortes.
Carlos, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My mom started taking me to Saturday matinees since I was around three years old (I apologize to any audience member if I ever threw a tantrum or was just a loud kid in the theater) and that tradition kept getting stronger and stronger when we moved from Bogota, Colombia to sunny Anaheim, California, she just kept taking me to theaters and we’d do double features and would spend afternoons watching movies nonstop. I liked being a fan of movies but it wasn’t until the summer of 2008 when that double whammy of Iron Man and The Dark Knight came out and it was then when I realized that I just wanted to entertain people through the medium of film, The Dark Knight especially resonated with me because it blew my mind that a film about a guy dressed as a bat and a guy in clown make up was treated with such respect and authenticity and given such a huge scope (I saw it in 70mm IMAX and that BLEW MY MIND) .
That same summer, I invested in one of those old Flip HD cameras and started filming my friends and I doing uninteresting, suburban stuff but it felt exciting to document and create ideas and characters and stories that were about us, even if all we had were a handful of props and our imagination (Spongebob was obviously a huge influence on me). This trend kept going in high school when I made a 30 minute odyssey about a guy asking a girl to prom (groundbreaking at the time), and it almost broke the bank and my foot but that was truly the first time I made a short and since then, I became hooked and was ready to tackle the world. .
I got denied from film school straight out of high school but the beauty of community college was how much free time you had, so I spent most of my time writing scripts and shooting more stuff with my friends, until I got into Cal State Fullerton and there I took advantage of their resources and created a short film called “disconnected” that got into festivals and was shown on DIRECTV for Shorts.TV. That film then got me into Loyola Marymount University for their graduate program, where I continued to create short films (against my will, they made me do 4…and I’m grateful for it) that got into festivals such as Pasadena Film Festival and Golden State, but more importantly it taught me every facet of production, from cinematography to editing to assistant directing, which shaped me to become a stronger director with more room to grow.
With two degrees under my belt and an eagerness to enter the film industry, I entered the real world and…yeah I entered and things were slow to start. I did a couple of small gigs here and there but I was able to learn assistant editing and freelance at ad agencies and post houses around LA, while still having time to write and direct my own work. What I will say about film school is that it helps you connected with people that are immensely talented, and because of that I’ve been able to take part in some really cool projects. I just got done producing a visual album that will be released in the fall and am currently assistant editing on my first feature which features Nicolas Cage, which I must say is pretty crazy as I’m now immersing myself in the world that I dreamt of joining since I was that small, obnoxious kid watching Saturday morning matinees with my mom.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Yes.
Just kidding, like every profession and obsession it has its tiny ups and HUGE DOWNS, but it helps to surround yourself with people that are willing to help you during those moments, and I can’t thank enough of my group of friends and family for pushing me to keep going when I wanted to quit.
It’s just, the best thing about filmmaking is also its worst: the opportunity is always at your fingertips. You work like crazy, you make it all line up and ready to happen, and just as you think it’s all going to work out, BAM! It gets derailed, demolished, destroyed, and you’re left with the broken pieces and an even bigger mountain to climb. But that mountain starts getting smaller when you readjust your expectations and learn that failure is part of the process, that it really does help you become a stronger person and filmmaker and that when that big opportunity comes, you’ll use your prior knowledge and experience to execute what you believe in.
I know, that was all super vague and could barely fit inside a fortune cookie but at least for me, the hardest things to accept are the sacrifice that you have to make on your own personal life to move your professional life forward, and failure (which explains the stream of consciousness above)… Production is HARD, and that means working long hours and not seeing the people you care of the most, and most of the time those long hours rarely pay off in the grand scheme of things, but again, getting to meet people and make mistakes and learn from them help build such a strong foundation, that it makes all the sacrifices almost worth it.
I say almost because I’ve had to miss a couple of basketball games due to long hours and I still might be bitter about it.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m currently working as a freelance assistant editor while writing my own shorts in order to film them in the immediate future. I never really expected to be involved in post-production but I have learned so much from assistant editing as I get to see how the story and concept take shape in a process where it looks nearly unwatchable from the beginning. It’s taught me pacing, story and how to do so much with so little, while still managing to maintain the audience captivated and itching for more.
I’ve also delved into producing this past summer and let me tell ya, that stuff is HARD. From overseeing a team to managing a proper budget, I’ve never been more challenged in my life and pushed to the limit than producing this visual album this past summer but in the grand scheme of things it was an incredible opportunity to get a chance to work with a great director and a fantastic production team to ensure that the vision lands from page to screen.
In my spare, spare time I’m writing the feature to a short film that I directed a year ago while also flirting with another film idea that involves zombies getting wildly aggressive to the tune of Christmas songs, it would be such a ridiculous film to make but that’s what makes it so fun, how insane it would be to actually film it.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Gosh, where do I even begin…
My parents literally stopped their lives and said to themselves, “Geez, I’ve been hearing that this America place might be a swell place to raise our kid”, said goodbye to Colombia and started from SCRATCH here in California so I can have a shot at having a better future. They’ve been incredibly supportive of my passion for filmmaking and have been patient with my 100 year plan of having a moderately successful directing career, but more importantly they’ve been there for me through it all and I’ll always be working to return the favor. The same can be said for my amazing girlfriend, who has been with me through my graduate and post-college career, and she’s always been my voice of wisdom through it all as her kindness and positivity have gotten me past the lows of my career and into the highs.
Professionally, I have to thank Augie Arrendondo and Katrina Nahikian for proving to me that there are indeed great people in the world of production and post-production, and that kindness and hard work can help you further your career in ways you can’t even imagine. They have been my mentors since I graduated from LMU and have always been readily available to give great advice and offer insight to this crazy world of making movies, and they’re also just great friends and people to converse endlessly about cult films like Man Bites Dog or the current state of the box office due to superhero movies.
Alongside my mentors, I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with a group of great and talented up and coming filmmakers that I’ve met through LMU, they’ve always been able to help shape my vision into something I didn’t even know I wanted, and we always make sure to help each other out as we try to make it into the industry.
Lastly, without my friends I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of making movies as they’re the ones that made them with me. They’ve had my back since high school and I’ll always have theirs as they just know how to motivate me and tell me to just do it and get things done.
Contact Info:
- Website: carlosncortes.com
- Phone: 7143909537
- Email: carlosncortes19@gmail.com
- Instagram: @carlosc19
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carlos19
Image Credit:
James Wilson, Patricia Silva, Michael Price
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