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

Hi Carlos, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I think taking risk was essential, not knowing who I was working for, where the job would take me. I’m Carlos Ordoñez, a Born and Raised Angelo from Los Angeles, California. And growing up, the film industry always inspired me, and caught my eyes. And as I got older and headed into college, working on film sets since I was 16, it took a lot of risk getting to where I am. At 18, the most important year. I found myself working with many people, not knowing real set etiquette, taking any and every job to learn from scratch helped me learned and understand the film industry and what wanted to do exactly. The biggest risk I took was working for a good friend of mines. This was in May of 2025, where I had only done video editing, Grip jobs which required tons of labor and found myself assistant directing. It wasn’t until I decided to start producing, this is when I really took off. I had never done any producing nor did I knew exactly what it was. But Producing a spectacular film like “Paletas Calientes” which was directed by my
Friend “Aldair Gutierrez.” Really was worth the amount of work, dedication and risk of entering a new position. It taught me to always be consistent and learn in the film industry.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Making movies since I was 8, picking up a tablet, camera, phone, anything that could record. I always showed and described what was in my head. I tend to really look into showing the stories of my life that made no sense, I made a movie in highschool that was deemed the first every 30 minute film made, which took tons of work and support. The film itself being “DEER” which followed a deer hunter discovering a sinister truth within a school. I tend to take people outside of the world and place them into my head. I love creating messages of that. In my producing life, I try to produce films that make people feel very strong emotions. Paletas was such an amazing project, especially since it hit the heart of my immigrant grandparents, and many others. As an editor, I’m simply designing the script. I came from a photoshop background, and bled into video editing back when i did YouTube vlogs. The idea of creating something from scratch was so fascinating. A mentor of mines once said “it’s like solving a puzzle.” And this is what I represent, I find the puzzle, it’s an interesting process. But I find the puzzle, I find my beats, I mark my scenes with feel. All my edits are strongly music based and that comes from learning, Piano, Violin, Trumpet, Drums and hearing slipknot since I was literally in the womb. And I’ll tell you, in a time where the industry is very much built, it’s challenging. Even then, I wouldn’t say I’ve reached my desired success. We’re are aiming towards it. But not there yet. It’s. A lot of being more creative, more focused, more confident, more different. Because being different is already what the world is most at common. Finding certain genres to edit for, it’s hard. I’ve mainly done short films, feature films, music videos, and reels. But there’s many more in books, that I barely keep up. A major lesson I learned was consistency, always be consistent, be teachable as my music teacher would say in high school. Communication is the biggest tool in life, and understanding who yo are talking too, will go a long way. I want to world to know that, whether I’m producing or editing, and in the rare moon – Directing. Visions will come to life, and it’ll be so beautiful that we will want to create more and more. Till our minds literally lose itself.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Growing up in the “Los Angeles” – there’s ton to do. A good weekend long trip consist of hitting up the main points that are still considered local. I think visiting downtown is important, it’s a good mix of showing the real side of LA, with immense homelessness, and showing a good side with the arts district, grand central market, and catching a sick view on the 6th Street bridge. Then exploring LA’s coffee life, since I’m a huge coffee drinker. Shops like “Motoring coffee” or “Cafe Mak” such great ambiance’s and really good coffee. Catching pizza as my childhood pizzeria of “Village Pizza” on Larchmont. Visiting USC, and checking out the village. Understanding LA’s mix of cultures, and getting to taste everything, that’s the perfect LA weekend.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would really like to shoutout my parents, it seems very straight forward for many, however without them. I really couldn’t be in this industry. My father raised me on movies, showed me films from the 20’s up until the current day. His love for sitting down and watching movies helped me grow my imagination and inspiration to make my own stories. And my wonderful mother, she helped support me as an editor, funding my computers and helping me pay my now current PC, which is well worth the money we both spent. They both caught me to aim for my dreams, and they did their best to support me, even though I was always trying to do it purely on my own. They really did a lot for me.

Website: https://carlosordonezjr06.myportfolio.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cine.carlos?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-ordonez-825a2226b?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
Kody Casillas, Santino Mosley, NFMLA.

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.