Today we’d like to introduce you to Manny Fresco.
Manny, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Born in the Philippines raised in South West Florida. I believe it all started when I was a little boy in elementary school. My teacher handed us disposable cameras and told us to go out and take pictures of whatever we wanted. At that point in life, I was fascinated with nature and took a lot of nature pictures. Lizards, flowers, Fields, etc. Then, In middle school, I took drama classes. I was never really that good though. I feel like I was way better behind the camera than in front of the camera. Then, in high school, I took TV production from freshman year to senior year.
I was always creating content for our morning news in school. After high school, I went off to the Marine Corps. Deployed once during those four years and got out. Almost went to full sail academy for film after the Marine Corps but ended up coming back into the service and joining the US Army because my wife at the time was pregnant and I needed health insurance. So then I went off and did the army thing for eight more years, deployed three more times, and got out with an honorable discharge (for the second time). After the US Army, I had an office job answering phone calls. I was going to work every day feeling miserable thinking “what am I doing here”.
All these years I was always making videos on the side as a hobby and passion, and people told me how good my work was. So it dawned on me, why don’t I start shooting videos for a living. So I saved up a bunch of money and bought a bunch of equipment that I needed to get going. My first 30 jobs I did were free, but I picked and choose wisely who I was doing free work for. It was mostly people that had big mouths or were popular. After that, someone asked me “how much do you charge for a video??”. I said about $2000. They replied with “sounds good! Let’s do it!!”. After that work started picking up but I was living in Austin at the time. As the years went by my son was getting older and I needed to be closer to him. Now that I wasn’t in the army anymore I could move to wherever I want and decided to move to Dallas to be closer to my son.
This was about three years ago. The first year being in Dallas a lot of my work was still in Austin but I was slowly building my name in Dallas. Now I hardly ever go to Austin for work and everything is coming in through Dallas. Hopefully, I can open up my own studio one of these days and have a huge full production and Dallas for film or commercials or whatever. I love doing what I do because I can create visuals for stories that have been created yet or just create whatever I want. I can also tell other people stories that inspire me and share it with the world. I also love what I do because I can help brands and businesses grow to be successful and that to me that’s pretty rewarding.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It wasn’t a smooth the road considering the 12 years I served in the military and for deployments. Not to mention my divorce. Then there came a point in my life to where I wasn’t sure if I was even going to make it financially and contemplated about moving back with my parents because I was so broke. I haven’t lived with my parents since I was 18 years old when I went off into the United States Marine Corps. But someone told me don’t move Back in with your parents because you’re just taking 100 steps backward. And all your friends that you grew up with are still doing the same thing since you left. So then my friend in Dallas, Crystal McCallum, helped me out and took me in so that I can get back on my feet and build my name and Brand in Dallas.
Please tell us about MF Productions.
My company does digital media marketing for brands and businesses. We fail videos take pictures whatever for campaign ads to help businesses earn more business or grow. I’m pretty known in the fitness world as far as videos go, along with the real estate. I’ve done short films and commercials. My long-term goal, or maybe short term goal, is to eventually have a major motion picture or movie on Netflix. I just love creating stories that people can enjoy visually. What I’m most proud of as a company is helping people build their brands and businesses. To where they want it to be and make a living for themselves. And I love telling other people stories through my visual art that I have. Hopefully, be able to do more documentaries on more interesting people.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was born in the Philippines. So when I came to America me and my brothers were like little monkey kids. So some of my most memorable childhood memories are just running around the neighborhood with my brothers, climbing trees, climbing our house and hanging out on the roof, and camping outside. A lot of outdoor stuff.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 3057660500
- Email: MFPcinema@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/MFProductionz
- Facebook: Facebook.com/MFProductionz
- Twitter: Twitter.com/MFProductionz
- Other: Instagram.com/TheMannyFresco
Image Credit:
Dominick Boiles
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