Life & Work with Diego Ramirez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diego Ramirez.

Hi Diego, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Well, I was born in a small city called Upland, California. I was a very troubled kid with a voracious tenacity of wanting attention all the time. Like getting into trouble, running everywhere for no reason, dancing wildly across the recess playground, and so much more wild stuff. Yet I spent a lot of time daydreaming about other worlds than the test that was on my desk. I just loved daydreaming as a kid, I just became so infatuated with diving deep into my imagination in what it had to offer. But this also led to many teachers having to sit me down, with my parents about how much I didn’t pay attention enough in class; but that’s another story.

I think the best way to describe how I got started was when I was eight years old, I believe? You know when you’re a kid and you go through those phases of wanting to be a cowboy, astronaut, goth, whatever? I had all that, but I remember one that I wanted to do more than anything else which was to be an astronaut. But what discourage me from it was the math. The math I just could not tolerate it in the slightest. I remember specifically telling my parents that I didn’t want to be an astronaut anymore, and my father was telling me that I was going to be a failure even though I was like eight at the time.

Because of this, any dream of a future career was left empty for a while. A few years go by and I would spend a lot of time going onto various internet websites that my mom would allow me to access; one of those sites was called “Yahoo movies.” They would have like these graded scored for movies for both audiences and critics, and I would determine that if the movie was good or bad. But the real reason I loved being on the site was the trailers. I loved movie trailers when I was a kid, I would repeat them all the time, to movies that I know that I’ll likely never see, or may not even remember afterwards, but I really enjoyed it. This was kind of my real exposure to movies for me at the time. My extent of watching movies was just the VHS cassettes I had of all the Warner Bros cartoons and Disney movies.

In terms of the movie theater experience, it didn’t start out in awe for me believe it or not. I was actually very much afraid of the movie theaters for a while. The big booming sound, the darkness, the huge screen, it just…terrified me. It took some persuasion, snacks, and even a flashlight that my mom gave me that I could flicker on and off if I was afraid of the dark at any point; all in which just to get me to watch the remake of “Freaky Friday.” From there, it became a pass time and I saw myself watching it as like a hobby. But that was it, it was just a hobby.

Years go by and my father takes me up to Big Bear and shows me a film called “True Lies.” For some strange reason, in the opening credits, someone’s name stood out to me, and it was “A James Cameron Film.” I don’t know why but I liked the name. Few weeks later, I decided to watch the original Terminator film and Cameron’s name popped up again in the opening credits. Watched it and was absolutely blown away by it. From there, I did a retrospective of Cameron’s work at the time, and discovered he had another film coming out that was not too far away called “Avatar.”

I remember saving as much spare change I could find so me and my father could watch the film in IMAX 3D. I wanted to pay for it, despite knowing he could buy it with his own money obviously. Watching “Avatar” was probably the most euphoric experience I’ve ever had at a movie theater. The VFX work was just nothing like I had ever seen before. It made me realize that the possibilities were endless in terms of what filmmaking and visual effects could do. I must have saw Avatar like 25 times at this point (all in the theater too, crazy).

One day, I was doing my casually daydreaming again and was daydreaming a straight-on wide shot of our earth rotating. Suddenly, meteors just came shooting upwards into our earth. And I remember slamming my desk, getting out of my chair, pointing my finger up in the air and saying “that’s it!” I remember startling everyone in the class from this experience too. But what had happened was, I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I was 14 years old, and I wanted to be a writer and director for films. So yeah that’s how I got started.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh, it has not been smooth like at all. In my personal opinion, the film business is like life itself. It can give you unexpected turns at a moment’s notice; for better or for worse.

I can’t find this video for some reason but the most brutal video I had ever saw was some film professor discussing to others on a panel or something, and he was completely discouraging them. This professor was saying that they are not going to find jobs after film school. And as a teenager, I was mildly offended by this. But actually, it was not far off from the truth. When I first started out, one of the biggest struggles I’ve faced was trying to find work as a filmmaker. As it can be really hard to navigate if you don’t know how to do all that.

The only way I’ve managed to solve this problem was making my own opportunities; making my own projects. Picking up a camera and making something, or get a sheet a paper out and write a story. All in the motive to show it to others.

And if I can be transparent, another huge challenge I faced was learning to collaborate with others. I was very much an introvert growing up. Despite my excited nature, I didn’t really like talking with others. I didn’t like the idea of sharing myself and getting to know others. So when it came to filmmaking, I enjoyed doing it all on my own but I didn’t really enjoy having anyone else come into it and helping me. As I got to college and learning to come out of my own shell little by little, this obstacle was the biggest hurdle, and the one that I’m most proud of that I overcame.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Certainly. I’m a filmmaker specializing in writing, cinematography, and editing. I’m also a photographer that specializes in narrative photography. The most recent project that I’m most grateful and proud of is a documentary feature called “Still Strumming” that had a five-minute standing ovation from a 100-plus crowd at its premiere.

I personally think one should stay true to themselves as a filmmaker, find their own styles through their own intuitive nature, approach their career with as much focus, purpose, and knowledge, seeking out to tell stories that they are burning to tell, and just plan, plan, plan as much as you can on that single project that you’re doing. Because the more you plan out a film project or any artistic endeavor that you’re passionate about, the more conceivably it will materialize. This is what I believe in, in terms of setting myself apart from others.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Good luck for sure.

If you came to me with this question a few years back, I think I would say very little and actually say bad luck. Because a few years back, I couldn’t find work as an editor, I didn’t make any connections when I was in film school, I was burning bridges with many people that I knew personally. From my perspective, it wasn’t exactly a great place to be in. And yet, the biggest problem that I had was not allowing myself to think optimistically, as well as truly knowing myself.

To be honest again, and without getting too much into detail, I really didn’t enjoy my time in college and I take full responsibility for that. My professors and colleagues were all amazing, but I was so consumed with the fear of hitting the deadline on this, getting an A+ on this assignment, etc. And I managed to succeed in my assignments. I was in honor roll from high school, all the way up to my final senior year of college. But I was missing something very important which was learning to let go and enjoying my surroundings. Go to clubs, socialize with others that had the same interests as me, and I couldn’t do it. I had made myself miserable to the point where I became secluded from others; more than usual. When the pandemic hit, I was in my final quarter of college, and assignments became less apparent for me. So I had more time on my hands. This led for me to take a good look at myself and truly find out who I was underneath the whole “glass is half empty” person I had became.

Because I was debt-free, I had a family and a few friends that supports and believes in what I want to do, I have a co-writer friend that is a very talented writer and gives my constructive criticism on my work, I have a producer friend who I work with who believes in what I do…And I was too naive to see that. During the pandemic, I started reading more, finding ways to become better connected with who I was as a person. And through it all, it turns out, I’m an optimistic, loving, sentimental, excited, and tenacious man who works the dickens off of what excites him the most. He’s got issues but I like him; I love myself. And through this kind of thinking, things began to turn around for me. That bad luck turned into good luck for me. Or was it good luck all along and I was too naive to see it? I may never know. I don’t think you can become a successful artist if you don’t truly love your work or yourself. I truly think you should take the time to know who you are as a person to succeed in whatever you do in life.

Overall I have the resources and a support system that believes in what I do. But this came from changing the way I think, I believe. From stop trying to think so pessimistically and just be grateful for what I have.

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