Today we’d like to introduce you to Manny Peralta.
Hi Manny, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Queens, NY and moved to Florida when I was really young. I grew up in a very creative household. My dad taught me how to play bass and guitar; from there, I learned how to play drums too. I was in a band playing in local spots in Orlando. Drawing is a huge part of my childhood too. You could always find me sketching characters from cartoons in the back of our minivan or using sharpie to draw on the walls in my room (sorry mom lol).
Music and art are such a big part of my life; naturally, I disliked anything else. From what I remember, I wasn’t very good at school or college, and when it came to getting a job… I had a lot of them. When I got out of school, I really had no ambition. I wanted to be an artist or musician but didn’t understand that it would take hard work. I had about 22 years of being a really lazy kid working against me. I worked everywhere from vegan shops, mowing lawns, working at UPS overnight, the airport loading cargo planes, working overnight security on the weekends picking up drunk people off the floor and getting them to their elevator… I’ve done a lot of weird jobs, oh and I worked as a clerical assistant filing paperwork, or something like that. I really had no idea how I got any job that required a suit and tie. I was pretty miserable at these places.
I’ve never been fired, but one commonality with all these jobs is I always ended up quitting. When I worked as a clerical assistant, I remember hiding in the filing room, sitting on the floor and just asking myself why I was here. I was really unhappy. I had to just met my wife too, and realized I didn’t want to be a husband one day coming home from work and being miserable, it felt like a dead end. I really didn’t like having a boss either.
I remember a friend gave me his old camera, a Canon T3i. I liked using a camera, I picked it up here and there, shooting photos and videos for my band back in the day. My friends were getting engaged and I offered to photograph them for free. They ended up loving the photos and it started there. With each person I photographed, I would also send a mini film, nothing special, but people seemed to love that 15-30 seconds of video I would deliver. That was just enough motivation for me to dive deeper into seeing how I could make a living with video.
Free shoots became paid shoots, those paid shoots became wedding videos and when the weddings became more than I could handle, my wife stepped in to run it and I moved on to shooting commercial-style brand videos, narrative-style films, music videos and mini-documentaries. Filmmaking became the perfect blend between art and music and something I could make a living with. I took years of figuring out what I wanted to do, but I’ve fallen in love with filmmaking and cinematography. I have been doing this now full-time for three years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s definitely been a crazy road. I’ll say that as satisfied as I am with how I make a living, I’ve definitely cried a lot, been very stressed and I doubt myself often. I say all that because it’s real, ya know? When you work for yourself, sometimes you’re working 60 hours a week because who else is going to push you to make sure rent is covered? Some of the hardest times were transitioning from working full time during the week and coming home to work on the business till late at night, then having a shoot on the weekend. We often only see the success of someone, but we don’t see the late nights they put in to get there. I really thank my wife for having long conversations till late at night, talking me through and helping me to figure out if this is what I really wanted.
2020 is really when my cinematography/filmmaking business took off ironically. Having a kid on top of it, too, isn’t easy. Through all of the struggle, though, I have to remember my “WHY.” Why am I doing this? What is the real reason why I’m here editing a video/shooting this film?
I remember the reason why is because what I do gives me time with my wife and daughter. I’m super grateful to my wife and kid. When I doubt myself when I’m scared to edit something different, or film something I’m not sure that I can film, or when people don’t like my work, I remember that I do this for my family. That alone keeps me going.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in raw storytelling, making the viewer feel something. I love being untraditional with my filming style, using framing and composition that aren’t technically “correct,” or experimenting with color and music choice. I love implementing handheld footage in almost all of my work, giving the music video, brand commercial, or documentary energy and life.
I’m proud of all my work. Though I see the flaws in where I can improve, I don’t regret anything I’ve filmed, it’s all a learning experience. One thing I try my absolute best to do is tell a good story. When a client wants to make a film, there’s a very in-depth conversation about music, color etc. My goal is to make them happy and share something the audience can benefit from.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My wife Ashley deserves more credit than I could ever explain. She’s the one that has pushed me to pursue this path when I wanted to quit so many times. She has given up so much to help me do it. She’s quit her job to help me, lived in a garage with me to keep costs down, stayed up late writing contracts for me and all while raising our daughter.
I have a very supportive group of friends as well as my parents. Thank you all for being models, helping me on a film set, giving me advice and referring work to me.
Contact Info:
- Email: mannyperalta121@gmail.com
- Website: mannyperalta.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mannyperalta_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3QBKJbxUQH4ttVa85zJJuQ
