I'm A Cinematographer Who's Worked With Tequila Mockingbird Productions

My relationship with Tequila Mockingbird started back in 2014, right after I had graduated from AFI.

I had shot a project at AFI with Michaela Qvale acting in it. She is also a producer and was producing a short movie for Cameron. After the project we did together, she recommended me for him when he said he needed a DP. We met at a Starbucks in mid Wilshire to talk about the script and ideas, and we hit off right away.

The first project we did together was Campground. Michaela was producing and starring it too. We shot in a total of 7 days, but had a 1 week break in between the shoot days because of location restrictions.

It was on that set that my fellow DP friend Valentina, who was kind enough to gaff for me, and I first saw an Oscar. We held it and posed for a picture with it without knowing the curse of never holding an Oscar that isn’t yours otherwise you’ll never get one. Which is funny because about a year later my team at AFI was receiving a student Oscar for our thesis, so I guess I’m the living proof that not only the curse is fake, it might be the other way around.

Cameron and I kept in touch for years about a feature script that is still in development, and in the meantime, we got to shoot another project together called Dinner In Room 307 as well. By now, our collaboration has already expanded to friendship and we are always rooting for each other in this industry, which is a great thing to have. It’s always nice to know that we have each other’s back.