Meet David Ma of David Ma Films in LA & NYC

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Ma.

Thanks for sharing your story with us David. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My path to becoming a director in the food industry was a bit of a Cinderella story. I worked in advertising as a writer for 6 years. I moved out to LA and decided to leave my agency job to work freelance as a Director and Food Artist. At the time, all I had was a food Instagram and a bunch of ideas I wanted to shoot. My mentor had always told me “make the kind of work you want to one day get paid to do”, so I set out and found friends, small agencies, editorial outlets, anyone who would work with me to shoot and produce my food concepts. I knew that if I was ever going to build a reel and get noticed for my work, I’d have to create films that stood out from all the other recipe and food documentaries out there already.

One project in particular called “Food Films” took boring recipe videos and reimagined them in the styles of Wes Anderson, Michael Bay, Tarantino and Alfonso Cuaron. Today, it has over 10 million views on Facebook and YouTube and was the turning point that got my company and my team a lot of recognition. Since then, I’ve gone on to direct TV commercials for Panera, Ritz Crackers, Hidden Valley Ranch and Listerine. I also write and direct comedy and branded content in the food space for editorial outlets between commercial gigs.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been a wild ride with lots of ups and downs. I think one of the biggest struggles I experienced was trying to find a unique voice and style in the food space. There are so many people making food videos and even more food Instagram accounts these days, you really need to have a unique perspective and look to stand out. I saw an opportunity when I realized a lot of the camera setups, lighting and edit style of most food videos was pretty ubiquitous. And tonally, the food industry takes itself pretty seriously with dramatic documentaries and short films, so I set out to make my food projects playful, insightful and just fun. I aim to have a premium look to a lot of my films with a touch of irreverence because, at the end of the day, all we’re really shooting is a hamburger, haha!

Please tell us about David Ma Films.
David Ma Films is me, a food artist and director. We focus on creating food imagery and stories that are playful and quirky in tone, each with a cinematic polished look. It’s my food Instagram, my food art projects and the food videos I shoot, I also direct commercials and shorts with my production agency M ss n g P eces who I just signed with in January!

A lot of food videos look the same, and we’re setting out to make food fun.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I wouldn’t do much differently except having more confidence my first few times on set to trust my gut and instincts. As a director, it’s important to have a clear vision and articulate that in a manner that allows your crew to bring it to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: davidmafilms.com
• Phone: 781-248-5747
• Email: dma052@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/davidwma

Image Credit:
Ben Hon

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