In this episode, which was recorded in October of 2018, filmmaker Dalton Ibarra joins the show to discuss his recent move to Los Angeles. He gives great tips on how to prepare to move there and also gives good insight into the work/social culture of Hollywood. Most importantly, Dalton thoroughly explains how to network effectively in order to leverage connections into jobs!
Don't forget to rate and subscribe!
Dalton's website: https://daltonibarra.wixsite.com/daltonibarra
Follow Courtney on Twitter: Courtneyj_media
Email: thehollywoodguide@gmail.com
In this episode, which was recorded in October of 2018, filmmaker Dalton Ibarra joins the show to discuss his recent move to Los Angeles. He gives great tips on how to prepare to move there and also gives good insight into the work/social culture of Hollywood. Most importantly, Dalton thoroughly explains how to network effectively in order to leverage connections into jobs!
Don't forget to rate and subscribe!
Dalton's website: https://daltonibarra.wixsite.com/daltonibarra
Follow Courtney on Twitter: Courtneyj_media
Email: thehollywoodguide@gmail.com
[inaudible].
Courtney:Hey guys, welcome to the Hollywood guide, a podcast designed to provide insight about the inner workings of the TV and film industry in Los Angeles. Each episode we talk to someone currently working and living in LA and find out everything you need to know to navigate the entertainment capital of the world. If you're an amateur writer, actor, director, or producer, and this is definitely the show for you. My name is Courtney, Jonathas and I'm your host. I'm a grad student studying mass communication and actually spent this past summer working in LA. So most of my guests will be people I connected with while there, shout out to everyone listening via Apple podcasts, Spotify, Youtube and anywhere else. Thank you for tuning in. Today's special guest is my friend Dalton Ibarra who recently moved to LA. I actually met Dalton while working on the set of a film called Babysplitters. We were both production assistants on this film and I was kind of a floater filling in for another PA for one day. It was only my second time working as a PA on a professional set. So I was a little scared. So I'm actually really grateful to Dalton because he kinda took me under his wing and made sure I didn't get yelled at and stuff. So thanks for helping me out, Dalton. And uh, thanks for being on the show today.
Dalton:No problem. That was incredible. What an intro.
Courtney:Thanks. Appreciate that. Um, so how's your morning been so far, Dalton? I know it's kind of early there on the west coast.
Dalton:Last night the Sox played 18 innings and went till like two in the morning, so I'm a little---a little banged up, but I'm good to go.
Courtney:Oh my gosh. Yeah, I did see that the game was running really long but I went to bed because, you know, I don't have a horse in the race. I'm a Marlins fan. But why don't you start out by telling us a little bit about your background, like what kind of work you're doing now, what your career goal is, where you went to school, things like that.
Dalton:Yeah, so I at first I didn't think to pursue filmmaking. I didn't even consider that as a career. Like, it's not like I thought, oh, I could go make films and then I thought no it's impossible. Nevermind. And got discouraged about it. I just genuinely didn't even think it was a career. It didn't even cross my mind. So my mind was really on like on business and ultimately going to business school. And then my mom made me realize, what are you doing? You love making films, you love making little things. You used to do that when you were young. You wanted to be Chris rock when you were six, you want to be in entertainment. So what are you doing? And that hit me and I, and I started to really think about, wait a minute, like directing is, that's a thing like that. You can, if you want to do it, you can go after it. And so it shifted my whole perspective. That's why I started. I started going after it. Um, I tried to go, I try to attend the University of Texas. Um, but my GPA wasn't up to par at the time and I got my rejection letter and that, that really shifted my work ethic because that really pissed me off. But instead of, you know, blaming you, uh, UNT, for not giving me a shot, I took full responsibility and realized I need to get my shit together. And, uh, from that point on I didn't get anything but A's and top scores from there on. Um, and that's not to say like, you've got to make good grades to get anywhere in life. It's just, I always saw that as like, um, a lesson of discipline and focus to obtain a goal. I never did get to UT, but I ended up going to the University of North Texas. They have, they have a growing film program there. And, uh, that's where I kind of got my start.
Courtney:It's interesting that you say that your mom is the one who steered you toward, you know, being a director and being in the entertainment industry because lots of parents want their kids to, uh, pursue a career that's a little bit more solid. So, kudos to your mom for recognizing what your passion is and pushing you in that direction.
Dalton:Yeah, I'll always forever give her credit for that. She---she made me realize like that's really where my passion lies and I couldn't believe I was so blind beforehand.
Courtney:So once you were done with school, how long did it take you to move to LA and what did you do to prepare to go over there?
Dalton:Um, so actually I actually have a---my biological father works out here as a, as the first AD on a lot of big shows. He worked on House and couple of other things. Um, so I've been in contact with him. I never met him, but I, I, I decided to just swallow my pride and reach out to him and see what he advised. And he advised to save money. First off, I didn't have a car, so he said, you've got to get a car, you got to get a car, and save cause you need to be able to survive at least six months out here with no work. Try that, save up, be able to survive six months; that's your goal. You're going to be able to find something within that time. So I said, fuck, that means I'm not coming out there for awhile. Which was a hard reality because I was, I was ready to go. I was tired of school. School is a prison. School is like, I'm ready to get out. I'm ready to move on, ready for some new scenery. So I found, I found a job, um, as a videographer editor, which was a benefit to better hone my skills and continue to, you know, practice while being in Houston for another year. I was there for another year and it felt like five. I saved up. I remember when I met my milestone. 10k. I never had that much money in my bank account, but you know, you know, my friends are wanting to go out and eat and go do stuff. But I just kept putting my paychecks away. Finally got my new car, my first car, and not a new car. Finally got my first car. Saved up a safe 17k just to be safe, finished out the year. And then, I made my move out here. Now I want to say like, this isn't, this doesn't have to---everybody has their own journey. This is not a guide on how it works. That's kind of the beauty of this whole thing. It's like nobody knows really what to do. You just got to test the waters. So this was, this is, so this is my journey. I'm not saying, you know, this is what you gotta do. Some people come out here with no money, people have different connections. Yada, Yada. Um, speaking of connections---that connection that I had with my biological father, um, through contact, I realized, I started to realize he was, he's pretty manipulative and so I wanted to make it on my own. I had already saved up enough. Yada, Yada. I went to school on my own. So wanting to make it on my own, I fully burn that bridge. But that's another thing I want to tell you too---just because you have a connection, you might think that's your only way. It's not. If you have persistence and a dream and a goal, you don't have to, you don't have to bend to someone else's, you know, expectations or, or their requests. You know, you, you don't have to stick to that. So I burned the biggest bridge. I burned guarantee work. As soon as I got here, got out here, he could've gotten me on a show, like a full fledged show. As soon as I got here, I wouldn't have to wait for nothing. I said, fuck that. I'm not bending to this guy's rules. I don't respect him. He doesn't respect me. I'm not, I'm not sticking with that. I'm going to find my own way. If it weren't, if he hadn't existed, would I not pursue it? I would have still figured it out. So therefore I'm like, you know what, it's not up to him. You know? My destiny isn't in his hands. It's in my own. So, um, I burned my biggest bridge and I came out here and, and uh, we'll get to what happened later.
Courtney:Wow. That's pretty...
Dalton:I don't leave any room for questions. I'm sorry.
Courtney:No, you're fine. Um, that's pretty bold of you to do that. There are a lot of people that wouldn't go out of their way to burn, you know, their biggest connection, their biggest bridge. But, uh, kudos to you for, you know, taking a stand and doing that and doing what's best for you.
Dalton:I'm stubborn. I'm stubborn. I just wanted to find my own way and be able to credit myself with like I've made it, you know what I mean?
Courtney:Right, right.
Dalton:Figured it out on my own. I didn't need some some helping hand.
Courtney:Yeah. And so when you were preparing to make the move there, what, what did you do to find housing? Like how did you find a place to live?
Dalton:All right. So, um, I did, I had two friends who had moved from Houston. Now that's the thing....if you're looking to move out here. I'm sure a lot of people move out here that are not from, you know, your hometown or whatever---your friends---reach out to them, rekindle that. It might be awkward, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And that's the thing that you'll learn quick out here is that it's, it's all hustle here. Wherever you gotta go, it's all hustle. So you got to figure it out. I don't mean use them. I mean, don't be afraid to just ask. It doesn't hurt to ask. So I reached out to, uh, to two friends out here that I know and I basically just asked if I could crash at their place for a little bit until I found an apartment. Luckily within my journey, my friend said, yeah, no problem. You can sleep on my floor for as long as you need to. I moved out the summer of June and he said, I'm moving out in September. So you have until that time to find a place, an apartment, blah, blah, blah. Um, so you can stay as long as you need to, which was great. So that's, that's sort of where I started.
Courtney:And um, where did you go like soon afterward? Like were you able to define your own apartment? Like how did that go?
Dalton:So from his apartment I didn't, I wasn't really looking for apartments at that time. I thought I would be, I needed, I wanted my own space, but I wanted to take advantage of what the gift he was providing me. You know, free living, no rent. I didn't have to dip into my savings at all. So what I would do is I would, I would, um, I would apply daily on indeed on anything really to, to come across any sort of videography editing gig the same way I had in Houston to kind of continue to hone my skills so that I wouldn't like, you know, be ringing up groceries and kind of losing that strength of, you know, my editing or videography, something like that. Right. Semi tography all that her back from one person out of like 80. And um, he didn't really go from there and I realized that if I wanted to get on set on any capacity, you really have to know somebody. It's really tough. You can't just apply online for the most part. From what? From my experience, you can't really just apply. You got to know somebody. And that's the tough part. Sorry, I thought, and I'm screwed here because a, I don't really know anybody here.
Courtney:How long did it take you to find a job? Uh, when you were, you know, finally out there and you were on your friend's couch, like did it take you like six months, eight months? Um, and when I say a job, I mean like a job on set, working your way toward, you know, where you want to go.
Dalton:Sure, sure. So like I said, every day I would look, I would look on Warner brothers, Sony paramount. I would look on any of their websites, looking for an internship, anything, anything just get me in. And I soon realized that most of the programs were for students. So something I would advise is, and something I did not do because I was lazy and I just didn't figure it out. I didn't, I didn't realize that how useful your career adviser advisers are at school is that they're very helpful. They're very resourceful. They know they have a lot of connections,
Courtney:right? So dip into them.
Dalton:They're basically a library of connections they can be. Um, and a lot of the programs go through colleges. So if you're in school right now, take advantage, take advantage, take advantage, try to figure that out because a lot of the programs or through school and you can literally only get in through your program. So take advantage, get started quick and, and things happen fast. Um, but back to your question about, um, how I got started, how long it took. So it's funny when you're out here and you have nothing to do and you wake up and you can see the sound, but the city people are rumbling around their days getting started, but you're still in your pajamas,
Courtney:right?
Dalton:Um, it feels like months. It took me two weeks. It took me only two weeks. In retrospect, it only took me two. I mean, two weeks felt like two, like two weeks felt like a year. But, um, obviously two weeks is not long at all. Most people take, it takes six months, eight months, a year, whatever, and it gets, you know, to get a real job, they got to start and a grocery store or whatnot, and then it takes them a while to get something. Well, I exhausted every, every resource. And this is something that I would advise exhaust every resource. I have a friend of mine who's, who's kind of like worried to nudge, uh, a, uh, a resource they might have in New York. Um, they just don't want to like seem needy, Yada, Yada. And I'm a, and I invite, I tell them to go after it. You have to go after it. In this industry for the most part, it's not, it's not just straight forward. It's not just, you know, you work here, you move your way up. In certain aspects it is, but for the most part, it's all about there's all these pieces and you really got to move them. And when I say move them is you just have to infiltrate. You have to ask a question, ask a simple question. Hey Blah, blah, blah. Do you know about this? Yadda Yadda. You never know. And that moves the pieces because you ask one person a question, are you inquire about something? Boom. They know your name. Boom. They know you exist. Boom. Somebody else ask them, Hey, I'm looking for a PA, blah, blah, blah. Oh, this random person just asked me. Uh, they're looking for work. You move the pieces and now you're in. And so that's what I did. I moved the pieces. I started asking every in any resource, like people that have no like aren't involved in this industry at all. I'd ask, I'd ask, you have a sibling out here, do you have any, do you know anybody out here that works in this industry? And I'd get knows, I'd get yeses. I'd get, there's an old friend of mine I hadn't talked to in years and he has a family member and editor out here. He's like, yeah, I can get you in touch. I was like, Whoa, Bam. See there you go. You never know. You got to ask around cause I can get you in touch with them. I had to keep pressing him for, I finally got the number. Um, yeah. And I reached out to the guy and that's not, that's not what I'm ended up getting me to the set though. Um, what got me to the set is I had been out of college for I think a year or so to, yeah, about a year and a half. And uh, I reached out to three old professors, three old professors I had decent relationships with. Uh, but I use their student emails. Now this is a shot in the dark because I don't know if there's one, if they're still working there too, if they're even checking their email in the summer. Okay. So after I reached out to these three professors, nobody got back to me and reached out to a lot of people and a lot of people got back to me. Uh, I felt like nothing was gonna happen. And then one night the guy was living with was like, Hey, do you mind saying that your other friends tonight? Um, I kinda would like to place to myself. And this was around eight o'clock at night and I wasn't about to ask my other friend, Hey, can I come crash at your place and wake them up possibly disrupted evening? So just said, yeah, no problem. I'll, I'll be out here. He's like, you sure I got a place to go? I was like, yeah, it's not a problem. I ended up sleeping in my car that night. Um, just out of respect to him in his place, I didn't want to, you know, I already felt like I was intruding. So Carl is that night and it was, it was a pretty low point because, uh, like I said, when you're out here by yourself and nothing's really moving even though you're trying to move the pieces, um, it's really, uh, uh, discouraging. So I got no sleep that night. I woke up, uh, right in early and started working on my website, started applying and by mid noon I was, I was exhausted. So I went back to the place and I just passed out and just passed out. And, uh, I was listening to a podcast at the time and the podcast woke me up, woke me up, and I looked at my phone. I was like, what is that? And it was the podcast that woke me up and I saw an email on my phone and thankfully I woke up because I saw that email that said, Hey Dalton, this was one of my professors. Hey Dalton, I got somebody working on a feature that's looking for a PA. If you're available, get ready for a phone call right there. I get the phone call. That's a good thing. I woke up because I might've missed that phone call, miss my opportunity and or I wouldn't have been able to hit the ground running because as soon as I answered that phone, how was straight yeses? I was straight. I'm in, she had said, uh, the lady was, was saying, you know, it's not for certain, but uh, if you're interested, we got, we got a spot for you. One of your professors, uh, is an old mutual friend of mine. I had posted on Facebook. He saw it, he reached out to me because you had emailed him and said, Hey, I've got a, I got a guy looking for work, give them a shot. And so that next morning at seven o'clock in the morning, I was there on set.
Courtney:That's awesome. And so since that time, have you just been sort of, uh, being a production assistant on various films up until now?
Dalton:Okay. So that, yeah, that started in, in June and then went to mid July. And, and from there I busted my ass so hard, not literally what I worked really hard there. And, uh, and, and I got the, I got the recognition from all of the crew members who were, were pushing for me to get paid because they was, so this was on paid okay. And I was happy to do it. And, um, they got in touch with the director and they were like, they were pushing for him and they were like, hey, you should hire him on the show that you work on. And so, um, because the director works on a show, um, and so he's like, you should hire him as your, as your office pa when this wraps and a, I sealed the deal by the end of the 21 day shoot. So it ultimately ended up being a 21 day internship.
Courtney:Do you feel like, um, right now you have like a good network, you have good connections that you can really utilize to move up to where you want to be? Like, do you feel like you're making great progress toward your career goal?
Dalton:Um, you know, it's, it's, it's tricky. It's like, you never know. You never know what's happening. Some days I'll feel like I'm progressing, some days I feel like I'm going nowhere. But then I got to snap out of it and realize that, um, you know, just, just a few months ago I was on a floor, um, go into this, this big cruise ship for Wifi, applying to jobs and now I'm, you know, watching people edit a show that's on network television. It's, it's insane. So like I am growing my connections and um, um, like I said, that's just from moving the pieces and, and really get and maintaining relationships and getting in touch and, and you'll hear that you hear this a lot, but you probably brush it off, apply yourself, apply yourself is like such a broad statement. Like, yeah, okay. By yourself. It's like, you know, ask a few questions, Yada Yada, but not like, no. You really, if you really give a shit, if you really, really want to do this, you're going to figure it out. This is, this is a self reflective part. And if you don't, if you don't get, if you're not getting stuff that you like really want after, he didn't really want it. You just, that's my, that's my take. I like, you really didn't want it in the first place if you, if you are hungry, literally and figuratively, which I was, I was gunning for any and everybody to give me a shot. And so you really have to apply yourself. You're connections are only what you make them. Just because you know somebody that don't, that isn't necessarily make them a connection, right? You have to reach out to them and kind of like, we initiate a relationship.
Courtney:Right. You know?
Dalton:So even with the people I meet here, just because like they know my name, that's not necessarily a, uh, a connection. They gotta you gotta build a relationship, Yada, Yada. You got to really apply yourself. You really have to dive into it and show them that you give a shit because people don't care that, you know, in this industry, everybody's out for themselves and that's okay. That's like, that's the part of the hustle. It's like you've got to really figure it out for yourself. And it's not like a selfish thing. It's like you just gotta make the best moves for yourself. So everybody's doing that. So you have to apply yourself and make people aware that you're available, that you care, that you're, you're ready to go to work and make something happen. You can't get complacent because you'll get stuck. You'll get stuck real quick just because sometimes I'll find myself getting stuck. I have a nice, I have a nice gig right now and I'm feeling myself getting complacent, but I got, I have to remind myself to continue to work.
Courtney:Yeah.
Dalton:Still figuring out how to move forward in the career that I want to go towards, which is directing because I'm in post production right now. I'm learning that. I'm learning a ton of stuff. It's great. This is a great start for me.
Courtney:That's awesome.
Dalton:But, um, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't necessarily have advice on how to, uh, you know, get in to, to your dream job. I'm still figuring that out myself.
Courtney:Okay. And what would you say has been the most surprising thing about La so far? Both socially in terms of how people interact as well as professionally?
Dalton:Sure. Um, professionally, this is the thing. Professionally, most people that everybody that I've run into are great. They're nice, they're helpful, they are helpful. If you apply yourself, you know, if you continue to come around and you know, show that you care so they will help you. That's the thing is if you do go after something and then you start asking questions, people are going to notice that they're gonna have, they're gonna, they're gonna help you out. So don't be afraid, don't be afraid. People are helping me, um, realize different, different paths. They told me if you want to get into directing, you gotta get on set. You can't stay in this post production place. It's great. Uh, if you want to move up as opposed to production supervisor, if you want to be an editor, Yada, Yada. But if you want to be a director, you have to be on set. So that's great advice. And that's only through asking questions and then you to push towards what I want. So in that sense, they're helpful. I don't feel like I, I'm credible enough or I have, I don't feel like I have enough credibility yet, uh, to speak on this city out of respect for the actual, you know, residents and people who have lived here their whole lives. I've only been here a few months, so I don't feel like I can really accurately speak on, on it from my experience so far. And what you might experience as well is just how inconvenient it is and I just a part of it. Yeah.
Courtney:Okay.
Dalton:Why people like die to live here if you're not going after a dream or you're not loaded. I don't know why you live here. I really don't because dude, like you hear about the traffic, but it's not even that. It's like I get turned on when I see a parking lot and that's wrong.
Courtney:Yes.
Dalton:There's nowhere. Like, I actually, if I'm passing a parking lot, I'll pull over and just, I'll park just to be able to say that I, I, I was able to park somewhere that day. If you, if you want to go to a restaurant, do, it's so hard to find parking. It's a real commodity. It's really inconvenient sometimes driving, sometimes, uh, looking at your Google maps, okay, you're wanting to go to the destination. One route is three miles, the other route is six. The six mile path takes shorter amount of time to get there. Tell me how that works.
Courtney:No kidding. Yeah, I definitely know what you mean. Um, one of the things that I didn't like there was the public transportation system. I just found it really confusing and I found myself eventually having to Uber and Lyft everywhere. So that was definitely pretty inconvenient for me. So, um, you know, going back to what you said earlier about having a car, uh, you know, I would definitely encourage anyone who's thinking about going out there, do your best to definitely try to get a car before you get out there because it'll definitely make your life a little bit easier instead of having to rely on public transportation. Absolutely.
Dalton:You have to have a car, you have to have a car if you want, and you're going to be a PA mandatory because a, they're going to send you on runs and, um, you know, to get ticket lunch to get dinner, Yada, Yada. So you got to have a car to be able to get around.
Courtney:Good point. So if you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you didn't know before moving to La, like something that you think would help you, what would you tell yourself? Like if you could go back to, to sure. Dalton still in Houston?
Dalton:Uh, I don't know. So far I'm on journey. This is nothing really that like, it sounded like I've been, I, I directed my first film and it's like, oh, um, when you're directing don't do this. Um, I think man, I'm enjoying the journey as it's coming along. I, I like the mystery of it and figuring it out. It's like this huge puzzle piece and I just enjoy figuring it out and earning it. I don't think I'd go back and tell myself anything. You know, what I'd do, I'd go back and my, my younger self would be wide eyed and excited with a huge grin, thinking I was getting my future self is going to tell me a little secret and I'd just say figure it out
Courtney:and then I'd just go back to,
Dalton:and then they'd, they'd be really disappointed. But that's the fun of it all is just figuring it out so I wouldn't, I would say shit, just figure it out.
Courtney:Go apply yourself, figure it out. Okay, cool. That's, that's a new one. People usually have some sort of like sage advice that they want to tell their younger self, but that works. No one, I think,
Dalton:yeah, I think Colby, I think Colby had this question too, and he said, I'm like, I wouldn't change anything because you know, the journey, you know, um, the journey going through the stages of his career, you know, led to what he is today. That's the same mentality I have. It's just like, you know, whatever happens kind of in your own hands and you just don't need any shortcuts, just figure it out.
Courtney:Definitely. And what other advice that maybe we haven't talked touched on yet or talked about yet? Do you have, for anyone who doesn't live in La right now, but um, you know, they, they want to be a producer or director or what have you and you know, they're trying to like figure out how they should gear up and prepare over the course of the next few months or the next few years. Like what would you say to someone like that?
Dalton:If you want to be a producer, if you, it depends on what side you want to be on. If you want to be in post or you know, try to get the office trying to get in the office, tried to get in the office PA, um, people probably look down on it, but I'm telling you right now, it's a great place to start again. Everybody has their own path. If you can jump start yourself and you know, apply it. Like I said, apply yourself, figuring out how to jump all this shit and just make stuff. Dude, by all means, this is within my own experience and journey. Uh, PA I being able to pee on a set and in the office, so I'm being able to see how much you can learn within each thing on set. You can learn all the technicalities, all of the things within each department. It's a great way to ask questions throughout the day and they know everybody in each department knows the PA's are going to ask questions cause they're newbies for the most part and they're going to act and, and so you just got to ask questions within each department and if you don't know what you want to do, that's also another way. It's just you, you PA, you start asking questions. Um, and within each department out, Oh wow, I didn't know about that, about lighting. This is sick or cinematography directing and Yada Yada. And then in post there's, there's different coordinators. There's so many moving pieces within, within each project that you might not even know about that you might be keen to and ended up, uh, growing in interest for. So, um, did you come out here and your PA, um, it's a great way to learn about each department. And um, another thing I learned on set was a director can be well respected, not only through their vision or you know, their leadership, but like if they understand they need to know each department because a director can say, Hey, I need this done now. I want this shot. Well, it's going to take 30 minutes. What do you mean it's going to take 30 minutes? And now the lighting department is not on your side anymore because you are unaware of how long it takes to, you know, set up a shot, right. Set up lighting, set up a set. And so if you're aware, you can not only respect, um, each department and how long it takes, but you can also better, I have better time management and preparation for things you need to do throughout the day. Cause if you don't know about the department, um, you're just going to start demand and shit and then you're going to realize you're going to run at a time and money quick on your project. Again, I'm figuring it out myself right now. So in terms of advice on how to get there, I'm figuring that out right now.
Courtney:Okay. And as far as, uh, projects that you are working on or have completed, like is there anything that you want people to check out?
Dalton:It's always weird asking people to watch my stuff. No, don't worry about it. Alright. Actually, all right. Come on Dalton. You want, if you want to, you don't gotta do it. I'm not, I don't, I hate the subscribed by pay. Don't, if you don't care, don't worry about it. Um, but if you do my website I worked on, it's pretty sick. Look at it on, on the, on a, on a computer, not on mobile. It's better on, it's made for the computer.
Courtney:Just Google, Dalton Ibarra, everyone and you'll, you'll see what he's about. Reach out to you.
Dalton:Cool. If you googled[inaudible] nobody's listening at this. Have you googled Dalby Barra? You'll find my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Within that, within the Instagram and the Twitter in my bio is the website. It's pretty sick. I have photos in films in there, so, uh, don't check it out if you don't give a shit. No worries. Can I add one thing though? Yeah, go ahead. Moving the pieces. Another example that I'm not just talking out of my ass here and post. Um, you have, you have the editor, uh, on working on a show. You have editors cut. Do you have a director's cut? You have a producer's cut and then you have studio network cut. Okay. During the director's cut, a director will come in and view their episode while this director came in. At one point I started asking, like I said, started asking questions, started, um, you know, moving the pieces. I didn't tell him the guy you got up, you know, you kinda Vanessa a little bit, but I got to, he gave me his phone number. All right. I mean, reaching out to him, this man has been, was an act on er and now he's direct. He directed a bunch of Grey's anatomy, these episodes. Uh, now our show, so I have his number now I'm reaching out to him and hopefully I can get me on set or you know, he said, call me anytime, we'll talk anytime you want, blah, blah, blah. You think he's just going to come out and give me his number? You think he's going to just know that I'm, I want to be a director and he's going to talk to me. Even if he knew I wanted to be a director, you think he's still going to like, just come up to me like, hey bud. So I heard you want to be in the industry, here's what she had to do. He's not going to do that. They're not going to do that. You have to push buttons. You have to ask. You have to show that you give a shit. And then, I mean, we're humans. You knew who it's not, you know, we're not robotic here. There's no strategic, there's no specific way about it. If you ask a human a question, they may or may not answer. Like I don't really know how to explain that other than like move the pieces, like humans interact differently. You know, you never know what's going to happen. So I'm so sorry for rambling.
Courtney:No, you're totally fine. No, no. This is great information. That's definitely going to be useful for someone out there listening. So, um, thanks a lot. And by the way, do you know when babies splitters is coming out? Has It already been released?
Speaker 4:Baby splitters is, um,
Dalton:was submitted for Sundance, so hopefully they get paid here back in November, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure when the release is going to be. No, I'm not sure about that.
Courtney:Okay. All right. I'll, I'll try to see if I can find some info about that. But thanks again for coming on the show. Dalton, be sure to keep me up. Did it updated with what you're doing and what projects you're working on, and if you ever want to come back and do another episode, just you know, hit me up.
Dalton:Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me all up
Speaker 4:touch. Yeah, yeah. Have a good day. Thank you.
Courtney:Once again, that was Dalton Ebarra and aspiring director currently making his way through Hollywood, as he said before, you can find him on Instagram as well as Facebook. Once I go ahead and upload this podcast, I will also attach the links that you need to find him and his work, and I want to make a quick correction. Earlier in the episode I called baby splitters a short film, but it's actually a feature film. I really hope you guys learned a lot from everything that Dalton said, and if you have a question for me or for him, feel free to leave a comment or review and I'll get to it as soon as possible. Also, feel free to tweet me on Twitter at Courtney j underscore media. Thanks for listening.