Rising Stars: Meet Julian Vargas of Echo Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Vargas.

Hi Julian, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m a two-time Film School dropout(USC & LMU), former comedy writer, former struggling commercial actor, former 4.96 star Uber driver, currently a Filmmaker and Producer who’s spent the last 4 years making art and developing a circle of artists who’s main goal is the creation and expression process rather than “potential” superficial outcomes of the work.

I’m a Writer first, then a Director, and a Producer third. I make my films and help friends with there’s via my production company 3Ponds Films, named to honor my late my Mother and her 3 children.

I’ve been writing screenplays since I was 14 when I wrote my first spec feature script by hand, it was 130 pages long and I wrote it over one weekend on a dare by a teacher at my high school. After spending most of my time in high school watching any and all movies I could get my hands on, or rent off Netflix, I went off to Film School and was quickly dissuaded of any Hollywood aspirations and instead left film school, based on legitimately great advice from a guidance counselor, and went off into the world as a 19 year old comedy writer. After years of writing and performing nightly, I wanted to challenge myself as visual artist and set off to make my first short film, based on a script I had written in the fall of 2019. It was March of 2020 when I was gearing up to shoot and I think you can guess what happened in March of 2020 to my big plans.

So fast forward to 2022 where I wrote, produced, and directed my first short film and since then have been on a “1 film a year” track. All culminating in 2025 where I’ve already completed my first Feature Film, aptly titled, “The Last Short Film.” It’s an experimental docu/essay film that I shot that in May and it’s just finishing post production. Coming up in October I’ll be Producing and Directing my 2nd Feature Film of the year, “Translations,” which is a more traditional narrative film.

Along with being an artist I’ve started to actively try and create a bigger circle of likeminded art friends. Primarily other filmmakers who are more interested in the art rather than the idea of being rich & famous from making a movie. Every other month I host a short film series titled “Film & Fabric” where I curate a selection of 8-12 short films by local & international filmmakers, from Boyle Heights to Iran. The main intention of these nights was to make more friends with sincere ideas and artistry, to have conversations that would push our perspectives, and help evolve what we’re trying to do. There’s nothing worse than an echo chamber filled with boring people with nothing to say.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’d describe my journey as a relatively uneven freeway, along the way I got off on exits only to get back on after meandering about the city streets. I’ve spent the entirety of my adult life living in Los Angeles, I’ve lived in most parts of town by now, and the city presents it’s own unique challenges, cost of living & artistic imbalances. It’s not easy to find affordable housing and live any sort of life in LA without a lot of money, I’ve been an Uber Driver and an Advertising Creative, I’m more proud of the Uber Driving years. Another things is that a big part of the city revolves around fame, money, and how to get them quickly, as someone who spends almost no time considering those things when working on art, it can be very disheartening to frankly see people with no ideas get opportunities to make something mediocre for an uncritical audience. It takes a lot to sustain an artistic output and survive the twists and turns of the city, that being said it also takes immense mental gymnastics to think that you not only have something to say, but also that people want to hear it. All that along with a few successful bouts with addiction, but now I have 2 dogs so life’s moving a lot slower now.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a Filmmaker, more specifically a Writer/Director and Producer. I make everything from traditional narrative films to experimental documentaries. From 2022-2024 I made one short film a year, Writer/Producer/Director. I’ve also Produced a handful of short films by filmmaker friends via my production company, 3Ponds Films. In 2025 I Wrote/Produced/Directed my first feature film, an experimental docu/essay film titled “THE LAST SHORT FILM.” Later this year I’ll be making my 2nd feature film.

My films center around themes of perception and connection. I prefer working with non actors in my films, usually other artists or models. But I find there’s more humanity in a non actor and there’s a lot more room for surprises when it’s someone who’s not “technically trained.”

My biggest strength is my writing, I’ve been writing feature films since I was 14 years old and before that I would have my Mom submit my short stories to the New Yorker when I was 11. I take pride in my ability to recreate “naturalistic” dialogue and give each of my characters their own life and voice. That being said I also take pride in my abilities as a director to get performances out of my actors.

I’m also a pretty good Producer but I’m not proud of that, I’m ashamed.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Just start making stuff. Remove all stakes from creating your art. Separate your artistry and your process from the reception to your work. To me the creation of the piece is the actual thing I’m looking for, it’s what gets me off artistically. And frankly that will keep me going longer than the pipe dream of making a viral short or a blockbuster feature. It’s maybe pretentious to say but that stuff shouldn’t matter when you’re sitting down and writing, when you’re on set directing, and especially when you’re putting the film together in the edit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://3PondsFilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jjjjjuliann/?hl=en
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianmvargas/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/julianvargas

Image Credits
Royce Mays