Meet Joe Menendez | Television and Film Director/Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joe Menendez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
1.) I am a habitual learner. A sponge for my craft. I make it a point to learn something new every day — every single day — that will make me a better director, that will give me an edge. Even though I’ve been a director for over 30 years, I still feel I don’t know enough. So, I continue to seek out knowledge, which in turn fuels my growth and makes me a better director.

2.) I don’t make excuses for my failures, I deconstruct and dissect my mistakes so as to not repeat them ever again.

3.) I outwork my competition. I’ve been told that I’m lucky to have had some (most) of the opportunities that have come my way. But to me, I’m simply better prepared to know when there’s an opportunity in front of me. Most people wait for that game-changing, life altering, clear cut BIG BREAK. But in reality, it’s the little victories in your career that lead to the big successes. Its the sum of all parts. So, rather than waiting for the boisterous hard to miss benchmarks, listen out for small stepping stones that come to you in the form of a whisper.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always been a director. Ever since that moment I borrowed my grandmother’s Super 8 camera as a 9 year old boy, I’ve been a director. This career chose me, I often say, not the other way around. It wasn’t easy. I was raised in the projects by emigrant parents. Zero Hollywood connections. I had to make them all on my own when I moved to LA 30 years ago. I learned that Hollywood is a brutal unforgiving town and that you should only go there IF you can’t possibly see yourself doing anything else. Because the rejection and failure is constant. So, you have to truly love doing the work to be able to endure what is often years of pain and despair trying to “make it.” For me, I’ve always focused on craft — it’s the only aspect of my career that I could control. I could only work on getting better. When my moments, my opportunities would come, I did not know. I just knew I had to be ready when they did. So, I became (and I’m still working on it) the best story teller I could be in television and film. And eventually, that hard work paid off thankfully.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Cuban Food! A tour of Hollywood history. Griffith Park Observatory.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Professor Martin Guerin. He saw the potential way back when.

Website: joemenendez.com

Instagram: the_joe_menendez

Facebook: Joe Menendez