Today we’d like to introduce you to Toby Canto Jr
Hi Toby, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ever since I was a little kid, I have been captivated by the magic of film – its process, what it represents to us as a society, and the impact of a good story on our everyday life.
Growing up in Tucson, AZ as the first of five siblings in a Latino household (my mother is Mexican and my father is from Panama), there was a lot of time for reading, playing, and of course watching movies together. My parents’ encouragement to express ourselves creatively has always fostered my innate desire for storytelling. This foundation served as an important stepping stone into my artistry. My childhood was full of moments where I was creating eccentric and exciting stories with my siblings – performing random sketches and live shows, or drawing up new stories to show our parents and teachers.
It wasn’t until I was cast in a middle school Christmas play that I realized there were real outlets for this kind of energy. I was instantly hooked. Performance allowed me the opportunity to stretch my blossoming artistic muscles. I took this newfound passion into high school where I got involved with my theater department in numerous plays and musicals. With the friends I made there, we expanded on everything we learned by consuming as many movies as we could, writing our own material, and shooting short films and sketches. As high school came to an end, I decided to continue this education as a media arts major at the University of Arizona.
This was an incredibly positive and formative time for me. In my years at college, I was mentored by some really wonderful teachers who not only helped me understand film on an academic level, but gave me the opportunity to develop my voice as a storyteller.
My proudest college accomplishment would come my senior year as I co-wrote, co-directed, co-edited, and co-produced one of the most ambitious projects to ever occur in our media arts department: A feature-length zombie film, entitled ’Dorm of the Dead’. This was a feat that to this day, has never been accomplished or attempted again at my school. If it wasn’t for the guidance and support of our producing teacher Patrick Roddy, my class would have never achieved what many in our department thought was impossible.
After college, I moved to Austin, TX for a change of scenery and new opportunities. In that time, I collaborated with local production company Mana Mythos Productions. Soon after, I established my own production company called Pop Art Pictures, where I produced and directed several short projects around the city such as interviews with local businesses and artists, promotional concert videos for SXSW, and even a cooking show. This work culminated in the writing, directing, producing, and editing of my second feature film, ’Knock Knock’, an ode to the 80s VHS era and my favorite horror comedies growing up.
I have worked on several projects since moving to Los Angeles in 2019. I completed a live action/animation hybrid music video, called ‘Morisque Novi’ for Austin-based hip-hop artist APEK, collaborated on a dynamic entry for the ‘Enter The World of Hans Zimmer’ competition with my buddy Clayton Frey of Fishbait Productions, co-wrote on a fun found footage horror short called ‘Viral’ with my long-time compadre Nick Barragan for our mutual director pal – Michael Rich. Most recently, I was recently invited by my aforementioned former professor Patrick Roddy, as a Visiting Artist to collaborate and direct his Producing classes’ final project, a surreal anthology horror short film called ‘FantazZZm PM’ – which we’re planning to release this year.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think a lot of the issues I’ve run into are commonplace with everyone who chooses to be a filmmaker – the general start and stop nature of the work, the fact that it feels like there is never enough time in the day to just create, splitting your time between a day job you sometimes don’t care for and art that isn’t paying the bills, and the whole process just typically being insanely expensive…
But one of the biggest struggles I’ve faced stems from the deep sense of solitude you can experience while on this journey. There is a bit of a shock that happens the further you find yourself on this career path, and it’s that you and you alone will have to be your biggest fan, cheerleader, and motivator to keep the dream moving forward. After a while, shouldering that level of focus and responsibility can wear you down – especially if your expectations don’t match your current reality.
When I was in school, Robert Rodriguez WAS the creative to follow – a Mexican American filmmaker who forged his own unique path to cinematic glory, making his own destiny on a budget of $6,000.
It’s something I very much took to heart and it inspired me to commit to my projects 150% – oftentimes wearing multiple hats, throughout all stages of projection, out of utter necessity to get my films done. After many, many years of doing this – what I realized Mr. Rodriguez never talked about, is how exhausting that level of commitment can be. Additionally, how incredibly isolating it can feel too.
The beautiful thing about film is that it inherently relies on group collaboration. The more talent involved, the more perspectives and experience that can enrich your film. I have been lucky to work on a few projects with those kinds of teams, and you feel like you can take on the impossible when this happens. It’s something I hope to experience more often in the future.
One reason I chose to move from Austin to Los Angeles is because although Austin provided a great community, it lacked the opportunities needed to move to the next level. As more and more friends I knew began to leave, it also lacked the collaborators. So one of the biggest reasons I finally made the move to LA was to foster a new filmmaking community. This has been an incredible challenge of its own, especially with the barrage of unprecedented events such as covid, strikes, wildfires, and the infiltration of AI within the industry. It has proven difficult to lay a strong foundation here with the constant changing landscape.
Despite all of these obstacles, I’m doing my best every day to navigate this craziness and hopefully grow stronger in the process. That need to create is still within me and I hope it can guide me in the right direction.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I do a little bit of everything haha! Mainly, as the creative head of Pop Art Pictures, I am a writer/director/editor/producer, but my passions lie with writing and directing feature films. Typically, I work in genre films – with my focus being horror comedies. I would also love to make a straight up comedy, action, or adventure film – but man there is something so fun about the horror world, it can be tough to leave haha.
I think the two things I’m most proud of are motivating my college Producing Class to make our feature, ‘Dorm of the Dead’ during our Capstone year. As I mentioned, It was unprecedented for a non-Production class to do this and the chips were completely against us, but the support and belief from our amazing professor really inspired us to take the leap. It brought the class together in an incredible way. We made a really fun final project and even managed to get distribution. It’s a memory I will cherish forever.
Secondly, I’m really proud of creating Pop Art Pictures as a vehicle for my storytelling. After spending a good number of my post-college years helping other friends get their projects off the ground, there came a time that I decided that I needed to commit to myself. After starting the company and putting together various small projects to build us up, the stars aligned and I was able to make my second feature, ‘Knock Knock’. The cast and crew was made up of so many great people I met during my time in Austin. ‘Knock Knock’ is a film that is quintessentially me while also serving as a love-letter to the 80s/90s horror movies I loved watching with family and friends. It’s an homage to the amazing directors that inspired me: John Carpenter, John Landis, Tobe Hooper, Sam Raimi, Edgar Wright, and so many more. Not only am I proud of the work I did on this film, but I’m also proud of the fact that I again got distribution for it.
The thing that sets me apart from others is that, for better or worse, I’m constantly fighting to stay true to myself. That can be a real challenge in an industry where people feel so much pressure to constantly fit into certain molds in order to succeed. While my stubbornness to remain authentically me has brought challenges to my journey, I can be proud of the fact that I always make work that I believe in.
What were you like growing up?
I was a goofy, enthusiastic kid who loved making people laugh. I loved playing with action figures or Legos with my siblings and creating adventures for us to get into. I loved reading, especially comics. I was always digging into this crate of books my Tio Tony gave me when I was like 5 or 6, and devouring all these amazing storylines and art. The impact that has had on my style and storytelling has been immense. And of course, I was just captivated by movies. I’d always checkout the TV guide or latest film review in the newspaper to learn about what new films I could learn about, who starred in them, directed them, etc. Like with reading, the chance to experience a new world was always a thrilling experience, and nothing ever compared to seeing a great movie projected on the big screen with an enthusiastic audience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.popartpictures.co/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/popartpictures
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PopArtPicturesProductionCo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/popartpictures
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3552915/
Image Credits
Photos by Rachel Collins, Patrick Mankins, Parker Waken, and Phillip Patterson
