A few years back, I had the opportunity to be a part of a project that taught me some very valuable lessons and gave an insight into my own strengths and fears as a film “field general.”

Part of my early youth was spent in New York, the Bronx and lower Westchester county, to be more exact. And although there could have been some very scary and precautions situations placed before me, I never really was aware of them. Perhaps I was immune to a point. Early on, I was drawn to situations and positions that required a significant amount of poise and self confidence, I do not know why. In high school I was not drawn to play insignificant sports such as table tennis or golf. I wanted to play football, and not just any position, I wanted to play quarterback. What drove this desire in me to be exposed to all the good and the “terrible” backlash that comes with this? I do not know…I was not even aware of it.
In college, I continued on the same objective. I spent my first summer at BYU working out and doing field practice with football great such as Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Steve Linsley, and Steve’s younger brother Mike, who in my estimation was much better than all of them. And yet I had no conception that, although an athletically inclined person, I was 5 foot nine and barely tipping the scales at 155 lb, and that was after a good meal. There was no way I could compete, but I did not know that. All I knew was that I could!

So, you may be wondering by now why this trip through Fernando’s memory lane? Directing is a lot like being a quarterback or a filed general. Directing a film takes guts, it takes a tremendous amount of self confidence and poise, it will ask of you to reach deep down and expose everything that you hold near and dear to your heart…or it should. You have to be organized, at least in your thoughts, you have to be stern and gentle at the same time, hot and cold, sensitive and yet unfeeling, you must have an exact vision what what the finished film has to be. You cannot be moved by the noise around you, you cannot be affected by the needs, wants, and cries of the people around you. You have to be a man/woman of action, moved by your vision, your desire to tell the story, your need to create something that is of value and worth, even if just for you. The desire to not stop until that ball crosses the goal line … and in the most amazing way possible.
Before undertaking my first film, I had no clue how I would do it all, how I would learn all that needed to be learned. I had never undertaken anything of this scope but I had something intangible that I could not have learned anywhere…I knew I could do it, I knew where the camera needed to be, the feel of the scene, the intense or relaxed feel fo the actors. I had absolutely no questions because in my mind I had already made the film. It was already done, I just needed to go through this extra exercise of actually doing it.

So, take that confidence that you possess and make something with it regardless of what part of the world you are. The world is looking for leaders, in fact the world get out of the way for leaders. The world is hungry to follow someone with vision, talent, or just guts to say “I can do that and I will!”

Don’t fear the unknown but welcome it because it just may bring with it the greatest pearl you can find…yourself!

Fernando