Meet T.C. Barrera | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with T.C. Barrera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi T.C., we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
This is a funny question to me. At the risk of sounding too pretentious, risk taking and the pursuit of art go hand-in-hand by default. I’ve essentially built my entire life/career on unbelievable risk and the hope and the prayer that it would pay off. Most days, it feels like I’m still waiting for all these risks to pay off. I think so many artists feel the same way. When I started in film and television, I was a teenager in Los Angeles working on small time jobs and shooting videos for friends. When I turned eighteen, I was looking down the barrel of choosing between film school, an internship at a studio, or traveling across the country to work on an independent film in a place where I’d never been and had no friends. I chose the latter because the risk seemed exciting and I was dumb and eighteen. Flash forward to the end of that film and I’m back in Los Angeles. Within a week of my being home, I got seven phone calls from people in Atlanta that wanted me to come work on their movies. So, knowing the risk, I packed my car up, shipped it to Atlanta, hopped on a plane and have been living here ever since. There were weeks at a time early on that I was homeless. I’d sleep on set, make friends with set-security so they’d watch my car, and wake up early to make the department heads on these film sets their breakfasts. It was a wild ride. More than anything though, it was a risk. Years later, I’ve worked on several dozens of films, made my days to join the Director’s Guild of America, and have since directed films of my own that I would have never had the opportunity to direct had I not taken those initial, insane risks. In short; for me, risk was, is, and always will be, essential.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
This is such a meaty question. I’ll tackle first the question of “was it easy.” No. Absolutely not. It was not easy, it’s never easy. Sustaining a career in film and television is a painful, excruciating, intensely difficult thing. I’d like to say it’s sunshine and rainbows and the artistic pursuit of film is a road of happiness, glitz, glam, and wonder; but it’s not. It’s really not. At the same time, however, it is beautiful. The process of creation is beautiful. I think what sets me apart from others is that I’m acutely aware of both sides of it. I’ve had some really, really difficult challenges fall in my lap then proceed to beat me over the head; but, through it all, I’ve never lost this love of process. Creating films and helping others create their films is something I’ll love so much more than I hate the struggle, if that makes sense. Professionally, I started as a kid in this business. I was so young working on projects I had no business being on; through sheer force and support of those around me, though, I was able to push through. I’m in a place now where I have so much of what I value above nearly anything else: freedom. I think the lesson I’m most thinking about these days is a lesson focused on finding the thing that makes you feel the most free. It’s so easy to get lost in this business. I see people every day that step into film with dreams of creative control; that lose it so quickly for a myriad of different reasons. In the past few years, I found myself nearly lost. After a lot of time floating in uncertainty, I’m comfortable enough in my personal life to choose my own creative freedom over traditional definitions of “personal success.” Not everyone has the luxury to do that, I’m extremely aware. I’m in the process of directing one of three projects that’ll be the biggest of my life: one is a jazz musical set in a prop house, the other is a based-on-a-true-story immigration story set half in the Philippines and half in America, and the other is my feature directorial debut, titled We’ll Be Okay, about the strenuous relationship of a newly-wed couple that devolves into an end-of-the-world story, both literally, and… cosmically. All the while, my creative and business partner, Ben Wallace and I, are figuring out ways to turn our business into a more sustainable one; focusing on client work in both the music video and corporate level.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The longer I’ve lived here, the more I’ve grown to love this crazy city. I think we’d open the day going to get brunch or coffee at a local spot: Home Grown or maybe Octane. We’d move through the city traveling through all the historical parts of the city along with some of the newer parts of the city. I’m a big Beltline nerd, unashamedly. You’ll often find me with a film camera walking around there asking random folks to pose for portraits; so, there would probably be a lot of that. Maybe we’d take a walk down Doll’s Head Trail to get some of the city’s weird side. Then, you can’t come visit me in Atlanta without going with me and some other filmmaking misfits to either EAV or Little Five for a drink or two, or five. Finally, let’s cap the evening off with pho or Korean BBQ in Buford and a trip to Jeju Spa for a taste of Atlanta’s version of culture.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m racking my brain here. There are so many people; mentors, colleagues, creative partners that I have to mention; but, most of all, my endlessly supportive parents, who have watched me struggle and fight through the endless mire of this wild business, are to thank for where I stand today. Second to them, those closest to me are to thank: my girlfriend, Saige Grazia; who, for some reason still puts up with my endless risk taking and off-the-wall career choices among everything else; my creative and business partner, Ben Wallace, who indulges my scheming and madness and who has been with me from the beginning of my career; John Roberts, who I call every day for advice; and the rest of the Atlanta Film Community I work with and grow with, who have raised me in more ways than one.

Website: https://bigpondpictures.com/

Instagram: @tcbarrera // @bigpondpictures

Image Credits
Big Pond Pictures Frames from: An Actor and A Monster, Infinite Finites Casey Winn // By Night’s End Tash Ann Polczinski // Bliss is Orange