Meet Travis Orozco | Film Director, Producer, and Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Travis Orozco and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Travis, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
I have two that are impossible to choose between. The first is from the Indian philosopher Osho, ““To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” The second is from the director Frank Capra. He said, “No saint, no pope, no general, no sultan has ever had the power that a filmmaker has: the power to talk to hundreds of millions of people for two hours in the dark.”

I return to both quotes every so often. They are both reminders of how important the role of a filmmaker and artist is to society/life. It makes me question what I create and whether it needs to be in this world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

There are some people who can confidently say that they knew they wanted to be a filmmaker from a very young age. I can say that I had no idea, but when I look back at my younger years, you can clearly see the seeds being planted. From my love for movies growing up, to always trying to use my mom’s large VHS camcorder, to the never ending need to be the center of attention, it was clear I needed to be a filmmaker. My mom was the only person in our family to graduate high school, so she always pushed me academically and wanted me to be the first to go to college. I went to college to study acting, much to the protest of my mom who wanted me to be a lawyer. After leaving college I returned to Los Angeles in order to pursue acting. I would land small roles here and there, but I was constantly running into the obstacle that so many actors of color in the industry run into: racial stereotyping. Being a Latino man, I was constantly getting auditions for “Cholo #4” or “Gang Member #7.” After several years of this acting grind, I finally hit my limit after an audition for a USC student film. They wanted all of the guys auditioning to come in “gang member attire.” So, there I was, 1 of 50 standing there in a wife beater and Dickie’s. When it was my turn to audition, I was stopped in the middle of the audition. The director, a white USC student, told me that he wanted me to “Trying saying it ‘LIKE ‘DISSS'” (in a horrible attempt at a “Cholo” accent). I remember being so angry after the audition that I cried in my car. The frustration I felt from feeling as though I would never be seen in the industry as anything other than a Latino or Mexican stereotype made me walk away from acting. Walking away made me realize that I needed to be on the other side of the camera. If I wanted to make any difference in this industry, it needed to be in a position of power. A few months later, I made my first short film, Reverie. It was a romantic drama following the life span of a relationship. . . starring all Latinos.

Since then, I have produced 11 short films and directed 7 of them. All of the films that I work on, I aim to have 50% of the cast and crew be women and people of color. Women are also a hugely underrepresented group in the film industry. That is why all of the films that I have produced that I have not directed, have all been directed by women. The last short film I directed, Loving Anna, premiered at LA’s Dances with Films Festival in 2021. It went on to appear in 4 other film festivals and won Best Sci-Fi/Horror at one of them. You can watch it on Youtube now. I am so proud of what our cast and crew did on that film and extremely humbled that some festivals wanted to see it on the big screen. With all of this work that I have done, I launched a production company that I operate under, Ex Nihilo Productions. Ex Nihilo is Latin for “Out of nothing.” For me it represents the art that we all make from nothing and also my upbringing in this industry. I am literally creating my career and art from nothing. I didn’t have any connections in the industry or any role models to help me along the way. Somehow, I am managing.

There are three things on the horizon that I am excited for. I currently have two short films in post-production, both of which will be finished in the next month or two. One of which I produced for the extremely talented filmmaker, Olivia Ramos Granja Reed, titled Vespa. It is a psychological horror and our second time collaborating. The other film I have in post-production right now is my next directorial effort, Paz, Mijo. We wrapped on that about a month ago and it is an extremely personal film about someone in my family that was killed. Lastly, I launched a podcast last year about movies and our new season is about to start in two weeks, on April 4th. It is called Good Bad Bad Good and can be found on any podcasting platform.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well first things first, we would be hitting up La Azteca in East LA for the best breakfast burritos. I’ll fight you if you think otherwise. We would then go to Tierra Mia’s beautiful new location in Lincoln Heights to get an Horchata Latte and Tres Leches Muffin. The middle of the day we would tour some of my favorite bookstores: Skylight Bookstore in Los Feliz, Last Bookstore in Downtown (along with just seeing Downtown), and Re/Arte Centro Literario in Boyle Heights. After lunch at Takami Sushi on Flower, we would top up on coffee at either Verve Coffee or Spring for Coffee (Both on Spring Street). After thoroughly caffeinated, we would hike Griffith in order to see one of the best sunsets in the world. After we come down from there we would get ready for the evening by getting them some Pro Club merch from Compton Indoor Swap Meet (AKA Del Amo Plaza) or Santa Fe Swap Meet so that they look right for the lowriding cruise we’ll be watching on Whittier Blvd. Some of my favorite car clubs are BLVD Riders and Lady Lowriders.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Without a doubt, I would not be where I am today without my mom. As a single mother, she sacrificed so much in order for me to live a different life than what was expected of me. I was the first person in my family to go to college and it is only because of her. Not only did she love and encourage me since I was little, but she also infused the love of music, films, and books into me. That love that I still carry with me into every creative project I do.

Website: www.travisorozco.com

Instagram: @travis_orozco

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisorozco/

Twitter: @travis_orozco

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@exnihiloproductions

Other: Good Bad Bad Good Podcast: @goodbad_badgood everywhere