Daily Inspiration: Meet Michael Contreras

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Contreras

Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hello!
My name is Michael Contreras, I am an award winning Chicano filmmaker and photographer from the Inland Empire, Ca. I am a founder of ProdWear LLC designs, co-founder of Root 66 Films, member of Phase 3 Films, and a freelance production worker in film & tv.
I have always had a passion for the arts, most especially photography and writing. In elementary school I excelled in language arts and that led me to my first unpaid gig, a student columnist for two local newspapers, The Colton Courier & El Chicano. In High School I stopped writing for the newspaper and started announcing and scorekeeping for little league baseball organizations in the area. My sophomore year I bought a mini-dv camera and thus started my filmmaking career with friends. At the end of my sophomore year I was given the opportunity to volunteer at the city of San Bernardino’s T.V. 3, KCSB. My grandmother worked at the PBS affiliated TV studio as a secretary, so I would stop by after school to visit her. While visiting I became friends with the crew, started helping on studio productions, promoted my way to intern, and eventually a paid freelance camera operator. It was here that I met the studio manager and my first mentor, Mr. Mansie Booker. I started freelancing as a camera operator for Mr. Booker’s production company which, between him and the TV station, gave me exposure to work on major events including the Long Beach Jazz Festival, Jazz Fest West in San Dimas, Dohemy Beach Blues & Jazz Festival, city parades, PBS sitcoms & live election nights. Work wasn’t exactly consistent with the studio, so I also worked as a busser for the Arrowhead country club at the time. I left the bussing a year later and started working as a state employee for a psychiatric mental hospital, and I began attending school to be a psychiatric technician in the medical field. My drive to work in fun environments pushed me to get an internship at the last non-corporate radio station in the inland empire, known as the “x” 103.9. In school, I had a change of heart for the medical field and enrolled myself in film, tv, and media courses at San Bernardino Valley College. I took every class offered by the FTVM program and thanks to my previous history with the TV station and the radio station, within 2 months I quickly was hired on as the department intern, which ultimately led to me leaving the radio station. Through my time as a department intern I worked under 2 very prominent program chairs, Dr. Diane Dusick & Professor Lucas Cuny, both of whom had a very strong impact on my career and the department as a whole. Dr. Dusick had a background as CNN news producer for over 20 years, whereas professor Lucas has a masters in film and brought a different experience than that of Dr. Dusick.

I was living on my own, had some debts, and needed to make more money. I left the hospital, worked my internship while picking up various jobs, and eventually was hired on for the next 7 years as job coach for adults with disabilities. That company was family owned and there was a point where I no longer had room to progress or better myself, so I left and began working for Hilton worldwide as an Audio Visual technician. Around the same time my internship at the FTVM department was coming to an end and COVID was starting to affect the USA.

The pandemic caused my work at Hilton to become unsteady, as I was stuck like many others without work or a way to make an income. I got a message from my old professor, Lucas, helped me get onboard as a production assistant (PA) with season 16 of MTV’s Nick Cannon presents Wild’n’Out (WNO) which was filming in the Inland Empire. This was the official start of my freelance work in the film and tv industry as I picked up more PA work afterwards. While with WNO I worked hard amongst almost 40 other interns and about half of us were brought back a year later to work on the season 17 in New Jersey, where they paid for our lodging. The season finished and I picked up more PA work for companies like Disney, Food network, Fox, A&E, Warner Bros., and many smaller studios. I then became a certified Covid Compliance Officer (CCO) for live events, film, & Tv where I was exposed to even more studio productions. Shortly after, I came back to Wild’n’out as a transportation coordinator and thus welcomed in to the WNO management family. It was here I formed a strong work bond with my other mentor and supervisor, Wesley Baynes. I worked seasons 18-21 as a coordinator for WNO and on other major productions for Wesley. These productions include the 3 season with the Country Music Television Awards (CMTA), 2 seasons with the MTV Music Video Awards (VMA), and the first season of Mr. Beasts, Beast Games on Amazon prime.

I now work as an on-call AV tech for Hilton and continue to freelance full-time in the film & Tv industries. In my spare time I like to be a make short films for competitions, write scripts, and co-manage my production company, Root 66 Films with my colleague Jimmy Hurt. I am in the process of opening my design company, ProdWear, which is an online store with apparel and accessories catering to freelancers, creatives, and production workers. ProdWear is set to open next year in 2025, along with the start of my online fine art photography business. I have always had a passion for photography, but never expanded on it until now. I find myself intrigued with abstract, black and white, candid, & landscape photography.

Moving forward, I am continuing my work in the entertainment industry and most recently applied for the Directors Guild of Americas, Assistant Director Training Program, which is a very prestigious program to be accepted to. My work on short films has steered me into the direction of Assistant Directing and Directing fiction and non-fiction narratives. In the end, I love what I do and do what I love. Working a 9-5 job isn’t for me, but working a 12,14, 25 hour job in production is something I love to do. It hasn’t been an easy path to freelance in an industry that can be unstable due to a list of setbacks, but I continue to work hard and strive to find a way.

Wow, that was a lot. Thank You for reading!!

P.s. I also worked in festivals from 2023-2024, most notably in the operations department for Coachella, Stagecoach, and EDC.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, it has it’s moments when it’s been a smooth road and when it’s been a rocky one. There were tons of struggles along the way, mainly in decisions I had to make that were going to affect the rest of my life. I came from a family who worked good, stable 9-5 jobs and looked at freelancing as unstable and not worth it. That mindset grew with me until I had exposure to that life. When Mr. Booker passed away, I had all these video skills, but no idea how to market myself or get more work without having a reputable source who could vouch for me. It left me at a dead end with valuable skills and no path to follow. That’s when I enrolled in FTVM classes at SBVC. I also had struggles while trying to get my associates degree. COVID hurt by forcing me to enroll in online courses, which was tough for me while traveling, working, and studying abroad. Two years into freelancing full-time and my car decides to break down on me. I became much less mobile, which caused me to lose work & became a detriment to my career progress. A final mention to the rocky road, is the fact that I had a very small support system in what I do and that most of my family and some friends saw my career path as a dream more than a reality, a fools journey. My parents were never fully involved or interested in my career choice as a creative. When I gave up sports to follow a path down the arts, my dad and stepmom started caring less about my interests. The same went for my mom when, what I was doing, didn’t exactly lead to a path that included a stable 9-5 job with retirement. Since then, my parents have started to lend me more support to my career.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Yes!! Please follow me on Instagram and subscribe to our Root 66 YouTube channel to keep up with all my current work and projects. As mentioned before, I am a fine art photographer by passion. I love photography and only recently have I decided to move forward with selling my photos. I am currently a production coordinator on known, un-scripted TV productions, an Assistant Director (AD) & Director on short films, & a Camera Operator & Director for multi-cam live event productions. I am most proud of my journey and all that I have done at such a young age, which has shaped my path. My personality, judgment, dedication, perseverance, enthusiasm, leadership, & love for the craft are the major qualities that I feel set me apart from others.

I’d like to finish with saying that I am thankful for the support and dedication from my girlfriend Valerie Vazquez who has gone through many of the ups, downs, and traveling associated with my work. I thoroughly enjoy the industries I work in and grateful of all those who have helped me along my journey, and all the like minded friends & colleagues I have had the opportunity to work with.

What matters most to you?
Family. Success. & Living Life. It’s not easy to succeed in an area you are passionate about, but it’s not impossible either. I love quality time with family, friends, and enjoying the natural world that surrounds us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://prodwear.org/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ie_photographer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Root66Films_IE

Image Credits
Root 66 Films, Michael Contreras Photography