Cafeteria Films

I had my best year in 2019. I spent the prior decade building multiple businesses from scratch. I had to learn everything myself and build my own networks. Most people underestimate the difficulty of monetizing a creative service for a living. Not having a guaranteed paycheck month-to-month where every sale you make, or don’t make, is directly tied to your financial stability is a stressful way to live. For the longest, I was barely surviving. I chose to work in restaurants because I’d get free food out of it. I grinded it out for a decade, taking as many jobs as possible, hiring assistants, and scaling my businesses; by 2019, I was finally at a point in my life where I was turning down work.

In 2020, I was on my honeymoon, traveling the world with my wife. Our plan was to travel to London for a week and spend another in the Scottish Highlands. Unbeknownst to us, the America we left would never be the same again. By the time we returned from Europe, the pandemic reached American soil and the horrors of 2020 were soon to follow. I felt good about not rushing back to work. I thought I could ride it out until it blows over in a few months and get back to business. I didn’t take any PPP money because I felt it should go to the businesses that really need it. I had a good year. lol.

A few nationwide riots and an attempt to overthrow democracy later, by late 2021 my businesses were in shambles. The hospitality industry was on life support; all bars and restaurants were operating on skeleton crews. Real estate in Miami no longer needed marketing because wealthy buyers from out of state were feverishly buying properties without even seeing them. I continued to take what little clients I could, but it was clear I needed to pivot.

Carlos Dominicis, owner of Cafeteria Films, reached out to me with a freelance editing job. Norwegian Cruise Line took a big hit during the pandemic, but they needed to create content to build hype for when cruises inevitably returned. I enjoy editing long-form/episodic content, so I took the job. Cafeteria Films shot all the footage, and I edited it into five episodes. I’ve worked closely with Cafeteria in the past. We’ve traveled together for PwC shoots around the US.

After finishing the NCL edit, Carlos offered me a position at Cafeteria Films as a Creative Director. I’ve worked mostly by myself since I was 16, but I found working alongside friends during the pandemic was empowering; being surrounded by other artists helped push me creatively. I accepted the role and began working on various projects.

I taught myself how to build websites in middle school by reading tutorials on online forums. I’ve built hundreds of websites in my career; from patio furniture to political campaigns, web design is a relatively easy skill to monetize. My first order of business at Cafeteria Films was to update the website.

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My second order of business was to create a new company reel. I delved deep into Cafeteria’s archive of incredible footage and put together a reel celebrating the company’s ten-year anniversary. Since joining Cafeteria Films, I’ve produced commercial content for major brands, but honestly, my proudest achievement in my tenure is directing “A Shot-for-Shot Remake of Whiplash, But With Hambone.” It’s the best thing I’ve ever made and it’s because I collaborated with very talented people I’m lucky to call friends.