I recently went down to my hometown of Tijuana, Mexico to visit my parents and I came across a VHS tape that had one of my first home movies that I made as a kid on it. I made “Tejana Flakes” with some neighbors when I was around 13 years old. I’m assuming I used my dad’s Hi8 camcorder and edited everything in-camera. Even the sound effects were recorded by playing them off a boom box while the action happened. We did what we could with what we had.

Watching this now made me think of how much I have always loved films and telling stories…and how fortunate I am to be able to edit films and scripted TV shows in Hollywood now. It had always been my dream. I just didn’t think it was possible. I studied film in college and ended working for almost 15 years in many types of media, from local news to talk shows. I was never creatively satisfied and that itch of working in Hollywood never went away. I didn’t pursue my dream because I didn’t know how. It wasn’t until I moved to LA that I decided to take a risk and figure out how to do it. With a lot of sacrifice, hard work, and guidance and support from people I consider my mentors…I was able to achieve my goal of being a film and scripted TV editor in Hollywood.

I wanted to show this movie I made many years ago to hopefully inspire and motivate people to follow their dreams. I want everyone to know that it is possible. I was just a kid from Tijuana with a camera. And sure it took me 15 years to get here and it was way later in my career…but I did it. I want you know that you can too. Just gotta put in that work and find a supportive community, like the one here at Hollywood Editing Mentor. It is the reason that I created this progam. I know there are people out there with the same dreams as me and I want to help them out any way I can because a lot of great people helped me out along the way. We can’t do this alone.

So the time is now. Get out there and follow your dreams. But make sure you have a bowl of Tejana Flakes first!