Meet Edd Benda | Filmmaker & Co-Founder

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

Hi Edd, how does your business help the community?
Beyond the Porch partners with non-profits to bring captivating visibility to their cause. We craft cinematic short documentaries that bring rapt attention to issues facing our community. This includes veteran stories told with our national partners at U.S.VETS who are working to end veteran homelessness, and family stories told with our local partners at Foothill Family Foundation who provide social services addressing a litany of needs for families in the San Gabriel Valley.

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.
We started Beyond the Porch to make feature films, the first of which was a movie I wrote and directed called SUPERIOR. In the decade since we have produced and directed thousands of pieces of content and not a single one of them a second narrative feature film. And yet in that sea of video deliverables we have been afforded a tremendous opportunity to explore and try new things, always learning and refining our technique. We discovered the tremendous power of short documentary storytelling, and it has been particularly thrilling to cultivate and expand that aspect of our business in partnership with corporations and non-profits that trust the filmmkaing process.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I live in Eagle Rock and our studio is in Glassell Park, so I keep life pretty simple tucked away in Northeast LA. I enjoy sharing the neighborhood with friends visiting from faraway places like Santa Monica.

The absolute best taco in Los Angeles (and by extension The World) is served at “Villa’s Tacos”, and I have enjoyed following their meteoric rise from a pop-up tent to their Michelin-award winning restaurant on Figueroa. An indulgence worth however long the line wraps around the corner. For dessert, make sure to swing by “Magpie’s” for a slice of soft serve pie, an old favorite from my time in Silver Lake that has since opened an additional location on York Blvd in Highland Park.

Staying in the area, on Eagle Rock Blvd is “Walt’s” – a fun bar featuring pinball, beer, and hot dogs, and if the dive bar aesthetic fits your vibe a short little jaunt down to “Permanent Record’s Roadhouse” in Cypress Park serves up a fun room of records to thumb through and an eclectic mix of live music and comedy shows.

Beyond the places tucked away in my neighborhood, it’s fun to share LA institutions like a picnic in box seats at the Hollywood Bowl, a night hearing Dudamel conduct the LA Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall, or my most favorite experience in Los Angeles: a night at Dodger Stadium, capped by singing of “I Love LA” with Randy Newman because we do, we love it.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am one of three founding partners at Beyond the Porch, so my co-founders Alex Bell and Stephen Helstad deserve plenty of credit for their role in my life and the life of our business. Alex and Stephen approach problems differently than me, and it has been a privilege to learn from them over our ten years of entrepreneurship. And when the work day wraps up, I am blessed to head home to my wonderful wife Molly and adoring dog Iggy, who bring joy into my life every single day.

Website: www.beyondtheporch.com

Instagram: @beyondtheporch

Other: https://vimeo.com/beyondtheporch

Image Credits
Beyond the Porch