Today we’d like to introduce you to Rene Garcia.
Hi Rene, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Rene who absolutely loved to play with his toys. Like most children, he poured all of this creativity into playing with these action figures, playing out storylines and random adventures he would see in his head. You could say this was his first medium of storytelling. As he grew up, he discovered comic books and novels, so he moved on to that medium. But because he preferred to have visual aids to tell his story, he decided that drawing might be the best route. So, he started to learn how to draw but quickly found out he didn’t have the patience for it. On a beautiful summer day in Mexico, this boy, now a teenager, discovered his mother had a camcorder. So, he rounded up a few cousins, and they decided to tape their own news “show.” Amazed that he had a whole group of people helping him tell a story, he fell in love with the idea of filmmaking. Upon returning back to the United States from vacation, this boy began to learn everything he could about the world of film. It was in these moments that he decided that this is what he wanted to do the rest of his life. Fast-forward through the rest of Middle School and High School, Rene enrolled at The Art Institute of Dallas in hopes of taking the right steps to make a career out of making videos. If it isn’t obvious by now, this dreamer of a boy is Me.
By 2012, I soon learned that College wasn’t going to be as easy and that everything I had known about filming had just been the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more to this world, and I would need to really step up in order to be successful. I struggled halfway, feeling that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this world. I came so close to quitting due to so much pressure from school and simultaneously trying to figure out who I was and wanted to be. Ultimately, I rediscovered my passion for film but knew I needed to tackle this the right way. By 2015, I took the summer off from school, knowing full well it would put me behind, but I needed to take care of my mental health first. I had made too many mistakes in the past and did not want those to repeat. So, after a blissful summer to myself, I went back to school with the goal of graduating and succeeding in my career as a filmmaker. By December of 2017, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in digital Filmmaking & Video Production.
For the next couple of years, I worked on a couple short films, started my first corporate job, and still held on to the idea of wanting to make movies for the rest of my life. In 2019, I premiered my first web series, called “Talia: Inhuman,” at a movie theater in front of all my friends and family. It was one of the best nights of my life, and I knew, once again, that making movies was still my absolute passion. By the end of 2019, I got my second corporate job and also produced and released a short action-comedy film called “Clean Up on Aisle 6,” which was well-received by my audience. It spawned an idea for a follow-up, which I titled “Clean Up on Aisle 7 – OVERKILL!” It was an action-comedy about a bunch of hitmen and assassins trying to kill the same target, a man named Don Davis. The short was released in March of 2020, right before COVID caused the lockdown.
Since the quarantine ended, I have been able to produce more short films, including another sequel to “Overkill!” which is called “Clean Up on Aisle 8: SUPERSTORE!” And this short film was my first short film to win an award. I submitted it to a film festival called Palm Springs Shorts, and it won for “Best Sci-Fi.” It should have been apparent from the start, but I needed to start submitting my work to more outlets where it could garner exposure, not just for the film and actors but for myself as well.
And it wasn’t until recently that I decided to start branching out more and helping others tell their stories. This past summer, I helped an actress and dear friend of mine, Siara Montoya-Obasuyi, tell her story by helping edit and finish her short film titled “The Heartbreak Diaries!” She premiered and screened it at a movie theater, and it instantly sent me back to 2019, during my premiere.
The last few months of 2023 have been life-changing and difficult to put it mildly. I also felt as if I had been neglecting my skills and not taking care of them as much as I had been in the past. Life does get in the way, but filmmaking has always been a bright beacon of light in the dark times of my life. Writing this now, I realize that anytime I had faced hardships in the past, diving into filmmaking and growing those skills has always helped me get back up and keep going. And with this realization in mind, where I am now, I want to keep going and keep growing.
My friends Don Plat, Kevin Ealy, and Luke Chiocca have had conversations with me about really stepping up in our careers as filmmakers & creators and branch out where we can! To help others tell their stories! So, we’re going to step up our game as a freelancers and help video productions, both big and small, with whatever skills we can offer them!
My passion for filmmaking has been consistent for the last 15 years of my life; every now and then, I wavered, fumbled, fell down, but every time I got back up, I managed to find success. Each time bigger than the last, and I have no doubt that this time will be the same because this is where I need to be!
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?
It definitely has not been a smooth road! Like I mentioned earlier, Life does tend to get in the way a lot, especially when you are being tested. I have faced a lot of personal hardships over my career, but at the end of the day, it is these experiences that make us who we are. We learn to accept what we cannot control and change what we can control. Life will never be easy regardless of where you come from, and that is the point! To be resilient, to get back up each and every time Life hurls you down to the ground.
In the early hours of June 3rd this year, a drunk driver on the highway caused my car to rollover, and by some miracle, I was not hurt. I literally walked out of the wreck with nothing but a few scratches on my hand and glass in my hair. I was terrified and angry, but I was alive. Life is too precious and too short to not pursue what makes you happy. Be smart be reasonable about it, but find what makes you happy. Because when the time comes for us to depart, I know I will want to look back and say I lived a happy life; I lived MY life.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I love producing short films and primarily tend to focus more on Cinematography and Directing. I have been making short films consecutively for the last 5 years, some of which have been nominated and won awards for! This has highly encouraged me to pursue more outlets where others can see the work we do and find recognition! But above all, it has helped me meet all sorts of people in the local industry and made me want to keep branching out and meet more people in the filmmaking world.
One of my most recognized projects is my Werewolf-themed web series called “TALIA.” I produced, shot, edited, and released a total of seven episodes so far. The last episode aired in 2019, but I do hope to get back to the series at some point in the future and finish Talia’s story.
In December of 2019, I produced a short titled “Clean Up on Aisle 6,” it was an over-the-top action-comedy about two hitmen and a woman assassin trying to kill their target, a man named Don Davis (yes like the dealership!). That film has since spawned a series with three sequels currently available to watch on YouTube. The most recent entry, “Clean Up on Aisle 8: SUPERSTORE!” won an award for “Best Sci-Fi!” last year at the Palm Springs Shorts Film Festival. It was the first project we had produced that won an award, and it inspired me to submit to more festivals! Right now, I’m working on a cyberpunk-themed short film called “Revenge, Synth, & Androids.” We filmed it back in 2020 and 2021, and has been slowly but surely being worked on. There is going to be a lot of VFX, and as we know, they are not cheap! This has been one of, if not the most ambitious short film project to date! I haven’t been highly encouraged to finish it, not because it isn’t what I wanted it to be but because I know it’s going to take all of my strength and skills to do so! I don’t come from money, so all of the post-production work has been from my wallet directly – but I know it is going to be worth all the effort. I do intend to utilize the rest of this year to finish it and, hopefully, screen it sometime next year in 2024!
I have always said that I think I standout from everyone because I’m so passionate and ambitious when it comes to my craft, but there is always more to learn, and I strive to be the best version of myself I can be!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
My friend Luke Chiocca is starting a podcast soon regarding Creatives and navigating Mental Health. I will wait for him to make it public before disclosing more about it, but he and I have had a few conversations about it and all that he wants to cover on it. Mental Health is something that isn’t really ever discussed, I think in general, too. Only recently do I feel that more and more companies, and the world in general, is taking it into consideration. After all, if you’re not okay, how are you going to give it your all? How can you be the best version of yourself if there are things that block you from being that. I think taking care of your mental health should be a huge priority in order to be successful!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.renefilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renefilmsvp/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/renefilmspro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RenefilmsProductions
Image Credits
Guadalupe Garza
JusKo Photography
Toni Judnitch
