Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenn Pinto.
Jenn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Queens, NY and raised in East New York Brooklyn. I starting taking dance classes by age seven and acting classes by age ten. Back then there was not the luxury of the internet so I got my auditions by taking the train to Manhattan every Thursday and picking up the Backstage newspaper that had breakdowns of castings and open calls. I would print my headshot and resume and submit myself to castings and agencies.
I focused mainly on acting for many years and then at 17 years old I wrote my first screenplay. It was a corny horror movie. I always loved writing. I have journals I wrote in since I was in 4th grade all the way till I graduated high school. In my early twenties, I decided to write, direct and produce my own short film called My 21st Birthday which was a true story dramedy of what happened to me on my 21st birthday party (my brother and 2 cousins got stabbed over a stupid altercation outside with some strangers, they all survived thank God) I will never forget I tried to film a scene in the Bronx and I had stale bread being thrown at me from the terrace of the buildings. LOL. I always said one day I will be back on that block and shut it down with my big production company…we’ll see who tries to throw stale bread again. LOL. Unfortunately, due to bad business decisions I made the project was never completed. However, I learned a-lot from that experience and I continued writing and acting.
Aside from the indie films here and there that I would book, I joined a comedy troupe called “Llegamos” founded by George Diaz. We would perform sketch comedy monthly at the Laugh Factory Comedy Club in Times Square. I was working with the funniest comedians in NY, Victor Cruz, Kenny Ortega, Mark Viera, and Imagine just to name a few. Then in 2007 I was cast in a VH1 Reality-Competition called “Viva Hollywood The Search for the next Telenovela Star” I made it to the runner up position in the competition. Although the experience on reality TV was a nightmare I did gain some recognition and it allowed me to build my brand more. In 2011 I moved to Los Angeles, CA. I promised myself I would not work a 9-5 job and would solely focus on my acting and writing career. I was able to get an agent from my friend Nafessa Williams who referred me to her agency she was with at the time. It so happens the agent knew my work from the VH1 show I did and signed me right away.
In 2012 I booked a role in a feature film and I met Veronica Garcia. At the time she was looking for writers to produce movies on specific genres for a distribution company she worked with. We bonded instantly and she ended up producing three feature films I wrote for her. A romantic comedy, a thriller and a coming of age movie. All which got nationwide DVD distribution on Amazon, Best Buy, etc. After that, she would hire me as an Actress, Writer or Assistant director to any project she worked on. This allowed me to build my resume and grow as an Actress, Writer and Director. After working on 10 + feature films together in 2016 we decided to open up our own production company “New Frequency Pictures” and focus on writing and producing empowering Movies, TV Shows and Documentaries.
I took time off my acting and focused on polishing up my writing projects I had been working on for years. By 2018 I finished writing 2 feature films, 2 TV shows and a documentary. We decided the documentary would be the first project we would produce and fund ourselves since the other ones require a bigger budget. We started production on the documentary “Birth Control” in February 2019 and are currently still in production set to wrap filming mid 2020 for a late 2020 release. Birth Control is a documentary to empower families to take back control of their births by educating them on the history of Midwifery, Hospital Births, Racial Disparities in birth and much more. It features the most powerful black midwives in LA, black scholars and incredible families sharing their stories. I was inspired to produce this documentary after having the most empowering experience of my life with the home births I had with both my children.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The journey has not been easy. From bad management deals to people attempting to steal my work as a writer behind my back, to casting directors telling me I wasn’t “Spanish enough” or I look “too Spanish” I went through a lot. Aside from that while living in NY I was working a full-time job, a part-time job and pursuing my career in between it all. When I moved to LA I didn’t have a job or a car. Within three months my savings was done. I decided to open up my own medical billing business from home which was experience I had while working in NY for years. Between the medical billing business and booking auditions, that’s how I made ends meet. I lived in the center of Hollywood at first so I was able to walk to a lot of my auditions, and If not I would hop on that bus to my auditions or I would rent a car if it was really far. There was no excuse. Failure was not an option nor moving back to NY.
New Frequency Pictures – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
New Frequency Pictures is my film production company with my business partner Veronica Garcia. I’ve always wanted to have my own and be able to give other people opportunities in this industry. Our goal is not only to entertain but to educate, enlighten and take people to a new frequency every time they watch a project of ours. What sets us apart from other production companies is we are not afraid to push the envelope. We are fearless and confident in every project we are producing under our company. We intend to start a revolution with every project we produce.
What were you like growing up?
I loved performing as a child. I have always been very outspoken, fearless and persistent in anything I wanted to do. My Dad always taught me to believe in myself and not let any rejection in this industry break me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jennpintomovement.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @jennpinto @newfrequencypictures
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