Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Evan Snyder of El Segundo

Evan Snyder shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Evan, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
I think the most common misconception about the business of making movies is the idea that everyone just lucks into it and gets their movies made because of who they know or something like that. The truth is that it’s a lot of hard work every step of the way. Most people get their movies made by not giving up, and by fighting for their ideas when no one else believes in them.

Another big misconception is that people make movies because they want to be famous. Based on my own personal observations, that seems pretty rare these days.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an independent filmmaker, and I also own an arthouse streaming service called Amathus. Amathus is named after a Greek island that has been the site of many important archaeological discoveries. As a streaming service, Amathus is focused on showcasing obscure, hard-to-find titles that film nerds like me are interested in. We just launched a couple months ago and are still building up our catalog, but we’ll start promoting it a lot more next year once we have a more substantial product to show.

As a filmmaker, I’m currently focused on telling small, intimate stories with a heavy focus on character development and realism. Recently I’ve been experimenting with genre blending, combining elements of horror with social dramas. It’s a lot of fun! I write my own films and I have a lot of ideas, but I also have a short attention span, so I like to shoot my movies very quickly and get the ideas out as fast as they come in. So far it’s been working.

My first feature film, Empty Spaces, took over a year to shoot and edit, and I was totally over it months before it was complete, so I learned a valuable lesson from that. If someone else is happy to take years on their film, that’s great! I can’t work that way. Van Gogh painted a canvas a day, while the Sistine Chapel took several years. Everyone is different.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I used to love to draw when I was a kid. I remember my babysitter one day being totally awestruck by a drawing I made, but to me it was just an ordinary doodle. My family moved around a lot, and one day when I was the new kid at my school we all had to make Native American vests to wear in the annual parade. All the other kids painted a bear claw on the back of their vests, but I thought that was boring and painted mine like I thought it might look in real life. I was just making it up, but the teacher thought I was some kind of Native American vest expert, and the other kids started copying me.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely. Making movies is a lot of hard work, and I have given up several times. But I keep coming back to it because it’s the thing I’m most passionate about, and that drives me to return and finish what I started. Life might be easier in a lot of ways if I was content to just give it all up for good and work a regular job, but we all have things that drive us. Kafka said: “Follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Movies.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. When do you feel most at peace?
When I’m in nature.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amathus.vhx.tv/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@skinflintfilms
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4909417/