John Merizalde

"The first two years of college were tough mentally. I ended up falling into the Atlanta “art scene” and just never really cared about school. About halfway through, I just stopped going completely. It was totally a reckless move, but I figured if I wanted to work in film, a degree wouldn’t matter anyway. So I eliminated any need for a plan B."

"The biggest key to breaking in, regardless of your connections or education, is to hustle. If there’s anything that I knew instinctively when I started out, it was that you have to be aggressive. Which is natural when you’re passionate about something, right?"

"Pretty much immediately after High School, I was actively looking for any way that I could get involved in local film scene. That meant scanning forums, sending out emails, attending events, and just creating content nonstop. There’s always an element of luck involved, but you can exponentially increase the chance of that luck striking when you insert yourself into things. It’s all a numbers game. I don’t know if I can point to any one moment as getting in, it was just a continuous hustle."

"My parents were totally supportive of anything that I wanted to do, which is a luxury that not everyone has. Their belief and support in me was vital, especially when a lot of my time starting out was working unpaid gigs and doing slave labor."

"When I was 19, I got an internship at a local production company, Whitestone Motion Pictures, which served as the focal point for where I grew and learned the most while I lived in Atlanta. I started working as a PA at first, which then evolved to being a 2nd AD, and then an AD, and then an editor. There was also some G&E and camera work sprinkled in there. While I wasn't especially good at a lot of those roles, it was an informative experience."

"When I was 21, I joined a "Protege" program within the company - which was basically an accelerated (and free) year-long “film school”. It led me to finally being able to direct projects with budgets. About a year after that, I packed my sedan with all my belongings and finally made the move out to LA. It was a classic scenario - no money, no apartment, no job. I basically had to start from the bottom again, working my way up from PA. For the first two months I slept in a stranger's closet and lived off ramen noodles. It's a long story to how I got here, but to basically sum it up: it's been one long grind."

"Technically, my first paid work was doing wedding videography. Which was followed by a lot more videography and corporate work in general. My first “directing” gigs were for local Megachurches in North Georgia. The exciting stuff didn’t come till later."

"When I was in 7th Grade, I developed a Kurosawa obsession. It was the first time I had become aware of auteur theory, and I remember binge watching all his films on Criterion collection with the commentary. When I was in college, I rediscovered Kubrick, and went through another binge phase. After that, Harmony Korine, Gaspar Noe, and PT Anderson. I have a lot of people I look but to, but I’ve tried to cut down on the fanboyism since then."

"For the first time in my life, I’m directing full-time. No more side-jobs, at least hopefully no more. As always, I’m trying to keep my hands dipped in a little of everything, be it music video, commercial, or feature. Just trying to stay as busy as possible. I figure I can enjoy life later down the road.Features are the endgame for everyone, right? Episodic series seem promising as well. Either way, I just hope I can keep this going as long as I can."