SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm seeing my daughter grow up. She's 12. Wow. It's a good age. Yeah. It's just so interesting to watch someone learn about the world for the first time, you know, and ask you questions. Like she asked me the other day what a sugar daddy was.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

What did you say?

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Uh I told her the truth. No, I said I just said it was like uh a secret boyfriend that buys you stuff. I forgot what I said. I kind of blinked. I was like, what the sugar daddy? What are you talking about? So it is interesting because she loves the scholastic aspect of going to school, aside from the social one. Um, this sounds dumb to say out loud, but it's true. It's like I'm someone that could be considered bright, but I just have zero interest in school. So I did the bare minimum and like still got better grades than all my friends, but you know, I was considered like the class clown. Literally in the yearbook, I was the class clown years in a row.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

What gave you that title? Like, were you like I got Falo in the back, always being like, eh, like to the teacher?

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Always, always.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

My guest today has a line in his own bio that just says Costa Rica, where I almost drowned, but got the shot. No further explanation. That's the whole sentence. I have so many questions, and he's giving me zero answers, which honestly tells you exactly who we're dealing with. Welcome back to Ilse Will Say, the place where the posters are prettier than the actual life choices. Welcome to my brain. I'm Ilse, you're your host, currently pretending I understand front pairing better than I actually do. This guy has designed key art for Netflix, HBO and A24 was the art director and photographer behind Narcos, Mexico, but he also built a sports media company that hit 300 million YouTube views and then just walked away from it to go back to making posters. Some people cannot commit to one impressive career. And my guest today, boy, does he know what it actually costs. Juan Luis Garcia.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Let's see. I survived Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

One of the best things about having a podcast is that I get to sleuth on my friends, and you have done so many incredible, amazing things. I mean, I didn't know that you took portraits of folks, and like if I were to list them off right now, it would be considered, you know, name-dropping to the max. To the max. It is amazing, dude. Congratulations. Sincerely.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

That's an interesting topic because um I grew up.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Amongst all the yeah, like amongst all of the other things that you have done, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

No, but yeah, I mean, that was really the start of my career, I guess. Um, because I grew up in the hood, you know, and like we weren't necessarily poor, but I grew up with um drive-by shootings, helicopters, drugs, violence, like literally right outside my window. Um, my window growing up looked in out into the parking lot of a bar. So just imagine the chaos at a bar in the hood at three in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Is this in LA or Guadalajara?

SPEAKER_02 3:45

No, this is in Long Beach.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah. So um I was born here in LA. We were we moved back to Guadalajara um until I was like 3-4. Um, I need to ask my mom exact dates because I'd be curious how long we were there. But you know, I took my first steps out there, you know, a lot of like those uh small childhood moments. But when we moved back, we moved back to a rough part of North Long Beach here in LA. And so um that was kind of my environment, but I was always I was never overly influenced by it. I always just found my own path, you know, and did my own thing. And I knew I was interested in creative stuff. But when I would tell when I would tell people like, hey, I'm gonna photograph, you know, ice cube or whatever one day, I would just say these crazy things. They're like, bro, first of all, no, no one's you're never gonna do that. No one's ever gonna pay you for that. You're fucking crazy. And I was just like, you know what? I'm gonna figure out how to make that happen. You know, I don't have a camera, I'm not a photographer, but you know, I just have these goals and these dreams. I'm just gonna figure out how to do it. And um one thing led to another, and you know, I was able to do all those things.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, so what is the one thing that led to another?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Uh just fucking naivete, um, courage, and just no plan B, you know? Just like I'm gonna do this. Um, and there's no there's no other choice. I'm just gonna figure out how to meet people, how to get a camera. The first camera I bought was using leftover money from like a college scholarship fund thing that I should have returned. I should have just gave that money back. You know, it was kind of like leftovers, but I was like, oh, here's a thousand bucks, and I went straight to Costco and bought like a digital camera. This was like 2003, so a very long time ago when digital cameras were becoming a thing, and so I just literally bought that camera and called myself a photographer and just started photographing anyone that would let me family, friends, and then just started putting um photos together and showing people, and so yeah, that is the thing that led to another just having the courage.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, I will push back on the word naive though. I don't think it's naive, I think it is courage. I think yeah, I think that there's like a sense, right? Like within you, deep inside. What do you think? Because I love that. I think I find it so fascinating, and I have a similar story where you know, like I grew up in like South Texas next to the border. Um, like the my two neighbors, one you know, was shot and the other one dried, uh died as as a of an overdose, and they were like my first childhood friends, you know, growing up. So I'm like in yeah, but like that's like the environment that I grew up in as well. And something like out of those, you know, 400 folks that graduated from high school, I mean, I was amongst maybe like five that left the city, five, maybe ten, maybe ten, maybe ten. Um, but I'm definitely one of the only ones that's still outside of Texas. Um and I can't quite put my finger on why. Like, I can't quite put my finger on why. Do you know how, why, what, what was it that you were like, I'm gonna do that.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

I think the beauty for me is just not caring about the why. You know, I never questioned it, I never doubted it. It was just like, I need to take photos of people, I need to design movie posters, I need to, and I never questioned it. And that that's what led me to um owning a company with 24 employees, where I was just like, that was truly naivety. I had no idea, literally no idea what I was getting into. I just thought, I'll listen to some like founders' podcasts and read a book, and I'll know everything about growing a company. And uh boy, was I wrong. Um, so um now after that, that actually did shift my mentality quite a bit where I was more prudent. Um, I would communicated thoughts and ideas to my wife instead of just doing them and letting her know about it later. You know, like I just had this kind of like lone wolf, entrepreneurial adventure type of spirit. And it just I just followed it without ever questioning or caring about why I was doing it. But now, you know, I have a daughter, I have a wife, uh I I I need a more stable daily routine, you know, to be available and stuff, doctor's appointments, picking up, all the all the all the things of adulting and and parenthood. And so now I am way more uh reflective and prudent and considerate of my other responsibilities.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I love that. So if you can give yourself a piece of advice, like if you could give little Juan a piece of advice, what do you what do you think you would say to him?

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Damn. Um I guess the advice would just be do what you're gonna do and enjoy every second of it. The good, the bad, the tears, the blood, the joy, you know, all of it. Like that's truly what life is about. You know, just fully embracing every moment.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I love that. Yeah, I think that goes back to your philosophy of not questioning things. Yeah. Just like being dang!

SPEAKER_02 9:34

It's hard to make some I don't feel that way, but yeah, you know, I've just learned like you can control what you can control and you can't literally anything else, you know. Yeah, you can't control how the podcast software is gonna react. You know, it's just like you just have to like go with it, you know, and that's what I love about uh filmmaking and supporting filmmakers um you people are crazy. Like you know how hard it is to get something done, how to write a script, how to raise money, how to acquire talent, you know, like how to how crazy it is to distribute a movie or whatever. Like it's so incredibly arduous and challenging journey, and filmmakers still do it. And I'm like, I'm really good at designing single image posters, so like let me help them after they've done the thing, you know, because like marketing is the other half of it, and so if you package your movie correctly, more people will see it, and ultimately, like that's the goal for every filmmaker I speak to.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

So I know I keep trying to tell filmmakers because I I'm pretty I'm well aware of the marketing side of things, and I and there's some people that just send scripts, and I'm like, if you have a poster, if you have a trailer, if you have any visuals, that will elevate the pitch even more because it I mean it's a visual form, therefore you need a visual. Yeah, what got you from just taking the pictures to like designing the posters and the you know the the art for films?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Yeah, so photography was like a hobby, like a creative challenge for me. Oh, you say I can't photograph celebrities, I'm gonna figure out how to do it. But really, what my career is like is really design. I love design, I love colors, I love typefaces.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Um, I love you like tightfaces or typeface fonts. Got it. Okay, I was like tight faces, like an actor with a tight face.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

I love typefaces too, for sure. Um, but yeah, so I use my photography um as a part of my design. Um and so I always pursued design as the career, and so I started at like a magazine, and then I went to a small TV uh network, and then um once that ended, I just called my the same way I called myself a photographer after working in this TV network and doing a few like campaigns for TV shows there. I was like, I'm gonna be a movie poster designer, and so when that job ended, I that's literally what I labeled myself without having any experience, never working on a movie, and just like just saying and like making a little website or whatever, and just starting doing stuff and again just showing people, and then one person will show someone else, and then word of mouth, and you get paid 300 bucks to design a movie poster one day, and now you're officially a movie poster designer.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

I I love your it's not courage, I mean it is, but I like I love this spirit, I I sincerely admire it so much. Uh yeah, I that's it.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

I guess you just have to believe, you know? Yeah, you you might not have the portfolio, might not have experience, but you just have to believe that that desire to do the thing is genuine, and regardless of that first client, you're gonna go way above and beyond for them, and you'll prove yourself, you know. And I I had to do that many times. Like, um, I had to photograph some celebrity early on, and I had to rent lights. I had never turned a light on in my life, photography light, like literally, and they're like, We need you to shoot this with all these lights, and I was just like, Yeah, of course I can do that. And the night before I like figured out how to rent the lights, how to turn them on. This is before you could like go on Siri and say, Hey Siri, whatever, you know, and just like figure it out, and like that's a part of the fun, you know. It's like the roller coaster part because I don't think creativity is never a straight line, anyway, you know. So if you zig a little, if you zag a little, it's all a part of it, and ultimately those um those choices help shape some of my like visual style anyway, and so yeah, it it's all just been a part of it, and just just saying, like, yeah, I can do it, or or if I don't, saying yes anyway and figuring it out.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

That's awesome. I love that you couldn't even turn on a light.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Um literally, I didn't know what plug went into where, how the camera communicated with the light. You know, I didn't know anything, but I was just like, I'm gonna figure this out. And the photos turned out great, and the client loved it, and you know, that job led to the next thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

So amazing. Yeah, so my other question was you've worked on really high budget stuff, and you you talked about even just getting like paid $300 for the first gig. Is there a difference between how you work for like a franchise budget and an indie budget?

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, I mean, the different it the difference is it couldn't be more different because um filmmakers come to me and they want an artifact of their achievement, right? Like an indie filmmaker. Okay, so they're like, I made this movie, I almost died because of it. You know, I'm bankrupt, you know, whatever their story is, I'm barely surviving.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I laugh because it's so accurate.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Dude, it's true. I talk to filmmakers every day, you know, and it's like, and they come to me and they're like, I need a poster, you know, we got accepted to whatever film festival or whatever it is, and we need a poster. And so I tell them, okay, there's two approaches. One is I design something beautiful that you're gonna be so proud to hang up on your wall, or we go down the path of professional design where it feels it can feel generic, it can feel bland, it could feel like it's it doesn't feel like art, but it will work as a marketing tool. Sometimes there is harmony between those two, and there's like the Venn diagram, and I try to hit that, but there really are two separate things, and that's why the fan poster world is such a big thing. You know, people um illustrate posters for their favorite movies, and people like that on their walls, but those don't necessarily get, as we say in the industry, butts and seats, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

We need a poster to sell tickets or to get someone to watch the trailer or to go onto the Instagram, and ultimately that's an ad, you know, it's an advertisement. So uh when when we work on um, you know, like a blockbuster film, there's no like let's have fun with it. Yeah, you might be told that from the creative director or whoever the account executive is, but really it's make the poster that the client will buy that will generate the numbers that they need, you know, the ROI.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

So when you say the client, you mean um the film is done, it's going to a festival or a market, and then there is somebody that comes and buys it, correct? Um a distributor or something. I I just want to clarify for folks. So the distributor andor like somebody who a sales agent, right? Do you do a different poster for then the audience for the button seats? Or yeah, how does that work? And then you do the fan poster.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

So if a filmmaker comes to me, that's one approach where they're trying to attract a partner that will help distribute the film. So that's that's basically designing the poster for the audience of distributors. Oh now, if a distributor, if I work with a distributor, we're designing artwork for the audience of people to watch them, pay to watch the movie. And that could be through streaming, like a VOD, or it could be a theatrical release, or you know, pick your poison there. Um, so they are kind of two different approaches. Um, and I was just having a conversation with the client um yesterday about this, where they were like, I was just at the theater yesterday, and this new movie, I saw the poster and it looked so lazy. And I'm like, Yeah, you're right, but guess what? You were there standing looking at the poster and taking note of the release date. So, you know, it's like it's a billboard, yeah, it's doing the job, but we just have such a like allergic reaction because it doesn't feel like art. And so that's the balance of like, yeah, not all poster, not all effective posters need to be beautiful. Sometimes they just need to instantly communicate. Obviously, the best ones, the ones that win awards, the one that get all the praise, they are beautiful, and they also have the mechanism of you know a marketing asset, but yeah, it's just really hard to do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Um, yeah, like you said, the Venn diagram, like hitting it on both sides. That is fascinating. That is fascinating. Chicago's best kept secret. It's not deep dish. It's Joel MySonet Photography. He's legitimately the best, and it's about time everybody knew. Actors, execs, LinkedIn Lurkers, book at mycinetphotography.com and thank me later. Uh, we're gonna do some hot cakes. They're like hot takes, but they stack up.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Are you ready? Yeah, I should have brought some maple syrup, but I'll go try.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Sixty seconds on the clock. Here we go. Best movie poster of all time, no thinking, go. Taco spot, everyone should know about.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Oh shit. Uh Guisados.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Worst note you've ever gotten from a studio exec.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Uh just the classic, make the logo bigger.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Best vacation or work trip?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Um work trip, Australia photographing rage against the machine.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

First movie you remember the poster for as a kid.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Cantinflas. Actually, have it hanging right there.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Overrated horror poster trend right now.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Uh red.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Goosebumps or I love Lucy. Which one actually taught you better English?

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Both equally.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

One celebrity you've worked with who was cooler than expected.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Weird Al Yankovic.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

The Hollywood sign is haunted or just really well lit.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Let's just say it's haunted.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

You're being chased in a dream. Who or what is chasing you?

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Uh my financial stresses.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Thank you so much for playing.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Damn, I I should have used some maple syrup. No, that was the end of the game.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Um, I love that you have the goosebumps and I love Lucy is how you learned English. I learned I learned link English uh with Dora the Exploradora. So like kids are learning Spanish with it, and I'm learning English.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Um what I love about Dora is that her name is also her title.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Dora the Explorer, exploradora. Dora, yeah. Yeah. Like I just love those little those little synchronicities. I mean, obviously somebody wrote that, but it's just so good.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, it's awesome. Um, so Cantinflas was the first poster you saw?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Yeah. Um it was probably not even a poster, it might have been like a VHS, but to me, everything. Was a poster anyway, so um, but yeah, I love Cantinflas. He his spirit, his energy, and his movies, uh kind of similar to La India Maria, you know, they they just both had this like, I don't care what my circumstances are. Yes, we're gonna enjoy life, and you know, we're gonna be irreverent, and we're gonna make fun of people that you shouldn't make fun of, and we're gonna befriend people that are supposedly outside your social circle, and you know, we're just gonna conquer life. And I just love that about his movies.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

So and Cantinfas is like the uh Charlie Chaplin, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yeah, it's a bit simplistic, but you know, it that that's the easiest uh like entry point to define him, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah, of course, for for our gringo listeners, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

I mean he's he was a global superstar, you know. He appeared in in films outside of Mexico, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

I I grew up with him. I grew up with is it Chespirito?

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah, Chaspi.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah, yeah. Um, I can do a Great Kiko impression. I haven't done it in a long time. You gotta get like the cheeks, you gotta get the cheeks right. I can't do the like I used to cry like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah, it's so good. Those are see, that's what I love about movies, TVs, and books. It's like that stuff just sticks with you, and the stuff that you relate to, you you try to mimic, you know, and that's why like people quote movies all the time and conversation, it just like becomes a part of you and and embeds itself into your identity, and that's why I wanted to work in movies. Um, because it's like, dude, I'm gonna design a poster for someone's favorite movie or whatever. And I was just like, I want to do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah, um, so speaking of things that stick to you, uh, we get weird on the podcast. Has a ghost ever stuck to you? Do you believe in any paranormal stuff?

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Um I really, really want to. I I swear, I like I want to be frightened. I want to need an exorcism. Okay, that's you said you want to get weird. Let's get weird. Yeah, my goal in life is to need an exorcism. Um, because like, you know, I'll hear stories of like um, you know, a light flickered and or the cupboard open or this thing shattered or you know, whatever, and I'm just like, I want to believe that it is a ghost in the way that we perceive it. Um, because I do believe in energy and kind of like spirits, but not in the goosebumpy movie way, you know, like and I want to believe that that exists, but so in what way do you believe if it's not in the goosebumpy way? I I mostly believe that we filter and translate certain coincidences like that to meet whatever need we have, you know. So if you see a bird and you know, someone that passed away loved that kind of bird, and you happen to see it two days in a row, then you're like, that was that person reaching out to me, you know, and like I'm not making fun of that, it's just like you're just assigning the role of that person to that bird in that day, and like that's what you need, uh you know, to feel better that day or just to enjoy that part of your life more, but it's just the bird, you know, showing up a couple days, so that's where I want to believe. Like, maybe there is an energy that sent that bird.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

So, are you like immune to horror films or anything super scary? Like, can you watch it and not even flinch?

SPEAKER_02 25:56

It has to be the right circumstances, like I have to be alone in an empty house after midnight. Otherwise, like if I'm in a movie theater, a jump scare, you know, just like naturally will get you, but I don't feel frightened. It's just like that the jump scare of really good editing or a really good performance. Um, but yeah, I don't really get scared uh at movies.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Dang, dang.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

But I still enjoy them.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

I still enjoy them. Yeah. What really scares me is financial stress, aging, health-related stuff. Am I gonna have enough money when I retire? Because I'm a starving artist again. You know, that shit is fucking frightening. But I have this book, it's called You Are What You Watch or We Are What We Watch, something like that. I highly recommend it. But he he did studies in film auditoriums where he measured chemical levels during certain scenes in scary movies, and certain chemicals rise and they show that you know you your body is physically reacting to what's on screen through stress, you know, there's more carbon monoxide in there or carbon dioxide. And so our bodies are still perceiving threats on a screen, even though we know it's on a screen. You know, we still there's like a chemical that releases in our bodies that helps to coagulate blood if you if your body senses it's in danger and gonna be cut open. And so they measured blood tests before and after scary movies, and that chemical rise, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Um, yeah, our our bodies are still kind of dumb in that way. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

No, that's what they tell actors. Like, you will be doing a really heavy scene, and you know, your body is still reacting as if it were real, as if that threat is real. Yeah. Um, I had to give birth on stage so many times when like earlier on in my career. Yeah, I had to like I was always pregnant and dying. Like that was just my my typecast for like five years.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

I didn't even know that was a typecast, but that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

It's not technically, but I can like you were just that good. I was just that well, I was just that, I guess, pregnant dying looking. Um and I just remember every time I would get an audition, I was like, Oh, she's pregnant, she's gonna die. I got it. Like, I'm gonna I'm gonna book it. Um but that's when I started like loving reggaeton, and I like after all the like the really heavy scenes, because like what you're saying, it's like the body reacts, the the the blood, everything. After that, I would just dance it out. Like I would just dance it out with the big belly, and I would do the worm. Oh wow, just to be like, hey body, you're not pregnant and you're not dying.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

You're good, you're good. Yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

I mean, that's that sounds so much fun as an actor, you know, to like take on that role for that moment, and then the the process of like shaking it off after that's well, I think it's it's a practice that I've I've come to love just as like a regular human being, because um you can do that at any point, you know, like if you're having a really bad day, you can just shake it off. Like it's it's not that it's not that deep.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

My therapist calls it um grounding, you know, you have to ground yourself and yeah, what in in in the craziest moments of my life where like my my life was in danger for health reasons and stuff, um literally touching the sofa and just feeling the fibers like releases some of that like spiraling that you're going through and breathing and being intentional about your breathing. Something so simple that you take for granted can really bring you back.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Yeah, my favorite like ease grounding is taking off my shoes and just putting my feet on grass or like dirt or the ground. That that alone is so like uh it's just a little hug. Just a little like tight hug, and like it really releases everything. Well, you're a tight hug. Talking to you is just like a tight hug. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. You have been absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Well, thank you. No, this was great.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Isn't he the best? That was incredible. We talked about so much. Um, but the thing that resonates the most is he doesn't ask why, he just is, and that's so powerful. My goodness, I don't think I've ever thought about that. I'm always like, well, it makes me mean. Um, like an actor. Um, and that was just so incredible, and I feel lighter and brighter. That was so much fun. If you enjoyed this podcast, please like, subscribe, go follow Juan at IM Juan Luis Garcia on Instagram. He really is like it. Like, I don't know what it is, but he is it. Go look at his website. I'm just saying, if you want to be shocked and like in awe of his work, just just go to look at his website. Um I can't even talk anymore. Okay, thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate it. Bye-bye. Ilse Will Say is an Intrepid entertainment podcast produced and edited by Jacob Cagle, music by Eric Facus, and photography by Joel Masonet, and I am your host, Ilse Sacharyo Rivera. The views and opinions expressed on Ilse Will Say are entirely those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any employers, sponsors, or innocent bystanders. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said here should be taken as professional advice, expert opinion, legal guidance, or a reason to DMSU conspiracy theories. We're here for the laps, y'all. Carry on