Meet Miguel Pinedo | Writer & Producer

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

Hi Miguel, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
This is probably what everyone says but when I was a kid I remember watching Jurassic Park and loving it to the point that I wanted to be a paleontologist. As I grew up and saw more movies and shows I fell in love with coming up with ideas and making stories on my mind of things I thought would look good on the big screen. The older I got the more serious I considered the idea of making that my job because it checked the most important requirement for me. It’s something I love doing.

It helped a lot that during my childhood I was surrounded by the arts. One of my uncles is a music professor in Panama, my other uncle is a multi-instrumentalist, he knows how to draw and paint, basically anything when it comes to something artistic and my mom was also a musician when I was growing up, they all played Clarinet as their main instrument so it’s fair to say that music and arts in general were really a day by day at my house. They’re also huge movie fans and would let me watch with them movies and go to the theater regularly.

I would say this is what made me really take up the arts seriously. Now that I’m older and I’m here doing what I love I can’t see any other path for my life besides writing stories and making films.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to write mainly stories that I consider interesting, I come up with an idea of a character and think of different situations that character would be and what would he do. I find interesting exploring our decision making as persons and I would like my future films to be able to show that to audiences. I’m more excited honestly of writing stories following this idea but set in my home country Panama, I want to show a bit more of my country and explore these stories there. As of now I’m focusing on exploring horror, which I think is a genre that goes hand in hand with the topics I’m more passionate about right now.

I would say I’m proud of just being here and having finished my career. A few years ago this would be a huge step that I wasn’t sure I was able to take, but seeing myself today I can confidently said that I made the first step successfully. Now is time to work hard and get my art out there for audiences to enjoy.

Coming here and achieving the little or much I have it wasn’t easy at all. There’s a lot of self-doubt when it comes to leaving behind the world you know, your family, friends to come to a foreign country where you don’t know anyone. It took time to get used to being alone to a certain extent and to live by myself. It definitely helped me with being more responsible, organized and disciplined, all things necessary to be successful at anything in life.

I think I overcome the challenges by being lucky enough to surround myself with great people that are also my peers. That really helped with the loneliness and it became sort of my family here in LA. It helps that we all follow more or less the same career path so talking about our art and reviewing what we do makes you grow a lot and improve, which is something I needed. I also, never stop being in contact with my family and friends back in Panama, that keeps me grounded and focused in my goal, knowing that there’s a lot of people that support me back there.

What I want the world to know about me is that I like challenges, I like creating stories and I love the idea of sharing them in the future with audiences to entertain them.

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?
Well, I would start the first days with seeing the sunrise at the Griffith observatory, going to Porto’s for breakfast and going to Santa Monica and Malibu Beach. I definitely would take them to the Hollywood Bowl, the Academy Museum, a Dodgers game, to Hollywood to walk around the Chinese theater and the Hollywood Sign.
I’ll maybe take them to some bars or just drink at home with some friends.
I think we would go on a roadtrip of maybe 1 or 2 days. Maybe get to know Big Bear Lake or Santa Barbara.
We’ll go to Universal Studios, Disney and do the Warner Bros tour and visit the Lacma.

This is a beautiful city with a lot to explore, I know I’m missing a lot of places, but that’s where I would take my friends.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The shoutout would be to my family, starting with my mom and dad, their support and sacrifices that allow me to be here in LA following my dreams really mean the world to me. I would also like to thank my uncles back in Panama. I never said it to them, but they’re a great source of inspiration for me in following my career. Since a kid I saw them working hard, practicing, making arrangements for music compositions and performing weekly throughout my childhood. It may come a bit later but without them I probably wouldn’t be chasing my dreams of being an artist.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikelalphonse/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguel-pinedo-5aab3a195/

Image Credits
TAKE 2, EAST L.A. AND PANAMANIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 2021. @heyitsagio (instagram)