Meet Blake Vaz: Producer & Director – Owner, VALAGARDO PRODUCTIONS

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

Hi Blake, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I think the most important factor behind the success of my production company Valagardo Productions, is that we make sure our efforts and decisions are always made with the project interest in mind. At the end of the day, the most important thing is the final product and being faithful to the vision our clients, filmmakers or partners had when they originally conceived the idea. We have a diverse and talented group of people that are passionate about what they do and are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure we are ultimately servicing the project. Most of us are willing to wear different hats, get our hands dirty and do what we must to get the desired results. Whatever it takes. I also believe we are different in the sense that we make sure that our crew and our people are being taken care of at all times. It is important to make sure we service the needs of our clients but just as important to me is making sure that my crew is always taken care of. I like to make sure that everyone on set feels that they are just as important to the final product as the client, talent and investors. We are not a crew, we are family and that is reflected in the energy on set. Our clients notice how passionate we are about our work but also how close and unified we are as a team. I like to think that is just as important to the success of our company and why the clients keep coming back, as the quality of the final product. 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always been a creative person. Starting in my teenage years as a musician and front man for my rock band now called The Mulberry Purple. To developing my skills as a writer, producer, director and editor in the last 15 years. I moved to Los Angeles 16 years ago with my band to pursue a music career that never really took off, but I have been fortunate to play in amazing legendary venues in Southern California with my bandmates who are basically family. Through some luck and the help of mentors and friends, I was able to transition into the world of filmmaking, TV and commercial production. I am also able to continue to make music with my band, trading the stage for a career making music for films and commercials. It was not easy, as most people in this industry will tell you. Financially unstable, barely making it, at times not knowing where the money for rent would come, but I never stopped moving forward. Rejection and defeat was hard to take but ultimately is what made me who I am today. I wouldn’t be here without the lessons I learned from all those disappointments. I feel extremely lucky and blessed that I am able to do what I love with the people I love and get paid. I love what I do, and as long as I have that passion and fire inside me, I think I’ll continue moving forward, I will continue trying to grow my brand and production company and always trying to make the best content, films, music I can and doing so by empowering everyone in our crew to also get their projects of the ground.

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?
Everyone is aware of the traffic in LA, I am a little neurotic so traffic can turn me into a mad man. This is why I usually stay within my “radius”. Unless something big is happening I eat, drink, have fun close to my place. That means hitting up my favorite dive bar THE DARKROOM on Melrose, stopping at WIRTSHAUS on La Brea for a couple of mugs of beer and some amazing sausage or having the best Bolognese in the city at OSTERIA LA BUCA.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe a huge part of my success to my crew and creative partners. The Valagardo Productions family is why I am where I am. From my close friend and Director of Photography, Daniel Gomez and his amazing crew, to our friends at Six Digits Productions and Lightstone Rentals who always help us out with any gear needs, to my kids Renee and Saul who have worked as PA’s, to my wife Argel Gonzalez who dove right into the production world and is now my production partner, to all those who gave me a chance to show what our little production company can do.

Website: http://www.blakevaz.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/blakevaz
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakevaz/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/blakevaz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blakevazfilm
Other: http://www.valagardo.com http://www.valagardoproductions.com http://www.themulberrypurple.com

Image Credits
Andrea Feliu, Daniel Gomez