Meet Emil Gallardo | Writer, Director, Business Owner

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

Hi Emil, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Before anything else, I wanna say thank you to Kevin and the whole team at Shoutout LA for the opportunity to share my story, and a huge thank you to my good friend, Pam Matew for recommending me!

I started Banana Walkies, a walkie talkie and production rental business as a way to pay the bills while the money from writing and directing came in. I foolishly thought that once I was attached to direct my first feature or once I had a film on a big streaming platform like HBO, that money wouldn’t be such an issue. But yeah, as it turns out, I very much needed to find other ways to pay rent and I wanted something that still allowed me to write, direct, and take meetings while building connections in the industry.

I chose walkies because I’ve been a giant walkie nerd ever since I was a PA forever ago and I saw a need for a walkie rental business in LA that was production-friendly and run by a filmmaker. Banana Walkies has been in business for three years now and the best part has been connecting with so many incredible people along the way.

We built donations into our model and try to support at least one project a month, usually from a female filmmaker or a BIPOC filmmaker, and the love we get in return has been overwhelming.

What should our readers know about your business?
Let’s be real. Walkie talkies aren’t the sexiest thing and almost all walkies that productions use are the same model. So it’s everything else that separates us. When I worked in startups, I was a Product Manager and it was my job to identify features that would substantially improve our user’s experience and I took that same approach with Banana Walkies.

I did a full analysis of all of the existing rental houses around Los Angeles and identified everything they did and didn’t do well. For example – what’s it like to interact with them? Do they make it tedious and cumbersome? What about if you lose something? Do they charge you triple the actual cost to replace it? Are they open before our call time and after we wrap? Do they do anything to help people track the gear they’ve rented so they don’t lose things? And so on and so on.

Sadly, most rental houses aren’t the most filmmaker-friendly, especially when it comes to independent filmmakers who are often hustling and still trying to make a living doing this. So that’s where we come in. We’re open 7 days a week, offer delivery, have cases designed to make it easy to track everything, we answer questions and provide quotes through text, email, and over the phone. Whatever’s easiest for our customers.

In general – our whole goal is to create a really easy, joyful experience for all of our customers. We know production can be a grind. So we want to be the exact opposite. Renting walkies from us is dead simple and hopefully, enjoyable!

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.
Such a fun question! Alright, my itinerary’s based around food ‘cause we gotta be eatin’ good, first and foremost!

We’re hitting Clandestino in Azusa for brunch. The rib-eye chilaquiles. The shrimp aguachile. The margarita flight. All that.

We’re ordering a sushi platter from Yama Sushi Market in San Gabriel.

We’re getting Korean BBQ at King Chang on 6th Street.

We’re ordering Thai to go from Holy Basil in Atwater and going for a walk along the LA River.

We’re getting pho ga at Pho 87 in Chinatown.

Birria from Abuelitas.

We’re ballin’ out at Mírate for dinner and drinks.

And then, depending on the time of year, we’re hitting up a local film festival like LALIFF, HollyShorts, or Salute Your Shorts.

Definitely gummies and wine at the Hollywood Bowl.

Going to see standup at The Improv, The Laugh Factory, The Ice House, there’s so many spots!

We’re taking my pitties on a pack walk with Los Angeles Responsible Pitbull Owners (LARPO).

And finally, we’re taking the ferry and spending a day having fun at Catalina.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Easy. None of this happens without my partner, Gina! There’s truly no one like her and she has shown me what unconditional love feels like. Through COVID, through the loss of loved ones, through all of the rejections and ups and downs – she’s been there.

Gina encouraged me to go to film school, she held down everything while I was working full-time during the day and going to film school at night. She reads everything I write and gives really honest, insightful notes. She moved to LA, a city she’d never lived in before, for me and my career. She came up with the name, Banana Walkies, and helps guide our company’s branding and culture.

All of my love and gratitude goes to Gina!

Website: https://bananawalkies.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilg80/ & https://www.instagram.com/bananawalkies/

Image Credits
My-Hanh Lac
Jon Sun