Interview with Guernslye Honorés
Try everything, but realize that the specificity of skillet, and elite application of that skillet can never be underrated. I have paid my rent because I understand how to operate a camera. I know for a fact I could never claim to be a competent makeup artist, and if you paid me to be one on your set, I would tell you you were wasting your money. Knowing your skill sets is crucial.
As a part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Eric Rafael Ibarra.
Born and raised around the globe, director Eric Rafael Ibarra’s creative adventures began on the stage in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Manila. As many before him, after graduating from Emerson College, he made his way to Los Angeles to explore the artistic allure of Hollywood, working his way through independent features, network television shows, national commercials, and everything in between. With ten years in the industry and now an indie filmmaker, his portfolio includes five features directed and eight produced, with multiple festival awards along the way. An experienced cinematographer and producer, his music video and commercial work have garnered over 20 million views online and via broadcast, having been featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and in national spots on NBC, HGTV, and RokuTV. Ibarra is co-director of the film Of Things Past, starring Michael Moriarty, Louise Caire Clark and Tara Reid, which recently debuted on top VOD streaming platforms.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love yo get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?
Hi, thank you for having me! As a third culture kid, I grew up around the world, born in Germany and living in Montana, Hong Kong, Manila, and Massachusetts, before attending Emerson College in Boston. After graduation, I immediately moved to Los Angeles, where I worked as a STEAM teacher at private and public schools across the greater Los Angeles area. During that time, I fell in love with the behind-the-scenes filmmaking process, eventually directing five and producing nine micro-budget indie features.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have two stories that might help shed some light on my career’s evolution.
The first is my seed story; I think every artist has one, and this is the moment I knew I could tell stories for a living. Growing up abroad, I was a child stage actor who toured Asia in multiple productions. For three years, I was in a production of Peter Pan, an experience that shaped my approach to creativity, story-telling, and life. One year, aged thirteen, as we were on tour in Manila, our lead Peter had a wire accident and broke his jaw (he’s fine don’t worry, shout out Michael Lin in London!). Our director, walking down the hotel corridor that night, told me I was going on in the role the next day (I had NOT rehearsed as an understudy for this tour) — he even wrote my lines on props and set them all over the stage in case I forgot them! — then, at 5 pm, the curtains rose, and the show went on. I remember standing on the stage at the end, my vocal cords dead because I couldn’t hit the notes for the solo, my arms tired from swinging swords, and landing after sprinkling fairy dust over the kids and their parents in the audience, standing beside Tink and Wendy, and realizing that all that mattered was if we’d told them a good story — and I like to think that we did.
If the first story proved to me I could tell stories for a living, the second proved to me that I could make a living telling stories. Two years into my Los Angeles experience, at 23, I was contacted by an online travel company to shoot and produce a small commercial about arriving in Los Angeles. The caveat was that we had 36 hours to turn it around, and it was on spec (meaning they would only pay us if they liked it). I remember sitting late at night with two of my filmmaking buddies in an apartment in Inglewood, California, when we got the email, and at that point, none of us had made any money on our film work, commercial or otherwise. Suddenly, we all started writing script pitches. Within the hour, we had five different ideas. By the morning, we had our favorite one cast. By ten pm., we had it shot on an old 5Diii with a Zoom H4N. We’d carried a 10-foot jib to the top of The Wisdom Tree (gotta get that golden hour shot overlooking the Hollywood Sign!). We rented surfboards and filmed GoPro footage of us off the Venice Pier. We’d open up the sunroof and filmed us belting Taylor Swift (We had to take the music out later, I wasn’t 100% aware of copyright laws back then.). By 4 am., we’d cut, colored, sound mixed, and done our graphics. We were in the thirty-fifth hour when our ninety-second labor of love finally finished uploading to their servers. Six hours later, a producer on the other side of the world had put five grand into my bank account. Three young men in their early twenties can do a lot with five grand, and while that money disappeared faster than we might have liked, it made us realize that ‘hey, we can actually pay our rent with this.’ That alone might’ve changed it all for me.
I think every filmmaker has one hundred stories like these that are core memories in their career, and I’d also like to point out that the thing that at least I remember the most about them is the people that populate them. I remember Matthew (our director), Michael, and the other lost boys and girls. I remember Eddie and Andrew. I think as much as it’s about the stories, it is equally about them and the people like them in my life that brought me to this specific point in my career.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your filmmaking career?
I was the co-director and cinematographer for a low-budget, fun, and funny indie called Cholo Zombies 2: Monstro, and we were shooting at the incredibly beautiful, dilapidated (from Hurricane Katrina) old Six Flags just outside of New Orleans. We had the night off before our first day of production and ate near Bourbon Street. As we rounded a corner of the alleyway, a gust of wind hit my face, and my glasses flew off.
Seconds later, a moving truck sped down the alleyway and crushed them! To make matters worse, it was a Sunday, and none of the eyeglass stores in New Orleans could do an overnight rush on new glasses, and I hadn’t brought contacts! Fortunately, I had an incredibly handy producer who, with some super glue and a lot of hope, managed to get the mangle of glass and plastic back together into something that would last the run of production. At the time, this definitely wasn’t funny, but in retrospect, I do have to admit that it is somewhat hilarious. Morale of the story: if you’re a cinematographer who uses glasses to operate, always bring your backup pair to set, especially on travel projects! (And having a Joe Castro, the handyman producer, on a project is never a mistake.)
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
While there have been so many, the actors who have stuck around and consistently worked through multiple periods of their lives are who I find the most interesting and inspirational. As a DP/Camera Operator, I’ve had the opportunity to film Eric Roberts a number of times, and his joy, compassion, and willingness to stay open and truthful on set is infectious. As a director, I worked on my first feature with Vernon Wells, a true Hollywood veteran actor. I have never seen an actor with as detailed a script breakdown.
Just pages and pages of reference and notes for every script page he was given. I was fortunate enough to work with Tara Reid on my latest feature, Of Things Past (released nationally on Oct. 3rd, 2023), and her commitment to her work and commitment to the work of her collaborators is inspirational. I remember we were on the final hours of the last day of production with her, and her scene partner was an amazing actress, Louise Caire Clarke, who is in her early seventies, and who had worked long hours for multiple days in a row. On the schedule, we had Tara’s last scene scheduled and then a solo scene with Louise where we could have released Tara early. As my assistant director and I set up the next scene, Tara walked up to me and told me we were shooting Louise’s scene first.
And this is just one example of her awareness of being giving towards her scene partners. (By the way, excellent instincts by Tara, of course.)
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The answer to this question is my crew and I do have a story to share.
Let me set the scene. Twenty-seven-year-old Eric was offered to direct his first feature film, although the caveats included: locations and lead talent had already been booked to shoot in three weeks (not a lot of time for a feature film!), there was a 20-page outline but no actual script, and nothing else had been prepped or designed. Over the next three weeks, I wrote, work-shopped, table read, re-wrote, and polished a script all while crewing, casting, budgeting, designing, and scheduling a full-length feature.
Three weeks after shaking my executive producer’s hand and saying, “Okay, we can do this,” the evening before day one of production on my first day as a feature film director, my lead antagonist dropped out due to scheduling commitments. That night my producer (shout out Pete Bollinger!) and I spent until 2 am. finding a replacement; fortunately, we ended up casting an incredible actor (Brian Eric Johnson) who was available on such late notice for the run of the show. Stay with me; the crazy part of this story is still coming.
Call time for day one of production was 8 am. at a sound stage in Anaheim, about an hour and a half from my home in North Hollywood, on a good day without traffic. Excuses never make a movie better, but I had stayed up until about five am. rescheduling the entire shooting order to accommodate the casting change. I thought I’d get an hour of a power nap in, and excitement and energy would get me through the day.
At 8:15, I woke up to realize I’d slept through my alarms. My goal had been to be the first person on set, thirty minutes before the first call, with coffee and hot Starbucks sandwiches in hand for my cast and crew. That clearly hadn’t happened. The next hour and forty-five minutes of driving through the morning rush hour in Los Angeles were the most anxious of my life. I’m taking calls with my AD, my costumers, my hair and makeup team, and my cinematographer, trying my best to lead through the crackling connection of my semi-faulty car Bluetooth.
At 10 am, I screech into crew parking, sprint to set….and everything is perfectly where we want it to be. My actors are blocked (fortunately, we’d done pre-blocking with my ADs on a tech scout), the scene is beautifully lit, beside me final adjustments on costumes and makeup are finishing up. My producer handed me a black coffee, sat me down in front of the monitor, and I called action.
To Stephen Vanderpool (my first AD), Trevor Wilson (my cinematographer), Chris Bollinger (my on-set producer), and the incredible crew that carried me through day one of I hope so many, and to the amazing crew members that I’m honored enough to continue sharing sets with, any success I’ve been fortunate enough to receive is yours as well.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“To Fly Would Be An Awfully Big Adventure.” It was a marketing quote my director had come up with for Peter Pan, but it always stuck with me. This life and world are large, scary at times, and can be frustrating, but why not try? Thanks for the inspiration, Matthew.
I am very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?
Diversity is essential because storytelling is a universal art form, and any universal reflection of humanity is diverse. I think any industry will be driven by financing, but the heart and soul of the entertainment industry are connecting human experiences with our audiences, and if we want the world to be a better place, we need people who are different to see each other for who they are: in their moments of triumph, at their ugliest, and perhaps most importantly at their most uniquely diverse. An acting teacher once told me, ‘specificity is key,’ and I’ve tried to hold that true in all minutiae of my filmmaking.
So my three reasons are:
- Because it makes people understand other people better.
- Because it allows the world’s connectivity to grow, which is only good.
- Because it makes your (and my) art better, and at the end of the day, I want to make the best art that I can.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
Of Things Past was an amazingly interesting project because of its thirty-five-year window between eras of principal photography. Working to meld both story, style, and literal technology was a fascinating experience and one I hope people enjoy. I am also in post on a horror romance that is to be released in 2024 titled The Faces We See, starring the incredible Tessa Mossey, Scott Alda Coffey and Andrew Ferguson, and I am in development producing a classic horror feature in the vein of The Shining that explores isolation, regret, and families being torn apart. A beautiful family friendly baseball time travel movie I produced that I am incredibly proud of has also just been nationally released, titled Tomorrow’s Game.
Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?
I love this question because one of my mottos for 2023 has been “Make Something We’re Proud Of.” I think what I am most proud of in my last two feature films, Of Things Past and The Faces We See, is that I gave the actors space to do their work, and it comes across on the screen. Tara is a pop culture icon, but her approach to genuinely fleshing out a role in a drama was amazing, and I’m really proud that we were able to do her work justice.
Tessa and Scott are immensely talented actors that I’ve been fortunate to have known since high school and even more fortunate to have been able to cast across from one another. I knew when casting it that this movie would thrive if I could get myself out of their way.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started,” and why?
1) Sound is as important as camera. The number of short films I’ve seen at festivals with beautiful visuals but can’t hold an audience because their sound isn’t up to par is in the hundreds.
2) People remember the final product, the experience they had working with you, and the food. When we discuss projects, as crew or as audiences, we talk about these around our proverbial campfires.
3) Try everything, but realize that the specificity of skillet, and elite application of that skillet can never be underrated. I have paid my rent because I understand how to operate a camera. I know for a fact I could never claim to be a competent makeup artist, and if you paid me to be one on your set, I would tell you you were wasting your money. Knowing your skill sets is crucial.
4) It always begins with the story. There are so many projects that I’ve written and tried to finance before I realized wouldn’t go anywhere because the story wasn’t honest and true. Fix it in pre, or even better in development.
5) You only get one career and one life; the things you choose to attach your name to define your career and build a career you can be proud of.
When you create a film, which stakeholders have the greatest impact on the artistic and cinematic choices you make? Is it the viewers, the critics, the financiers, or your own personal artistic vision? Can you share a story with us or give an example about what you mean?
As a director, I try to remember that the story has to have the greatest impact. Every project is different, and every script requires different things from different departments.
I think a good director (which I know I strive to be) looks at the story they’re telling and has to make educated decisions on where their project is being built from. Perhaps the answer to this question is then the cast and crew. Financing realities will always affect the artistic choices available, it would be foolish to assume they don’t, but a good financing and producing team understands that their role is to support the artists. They’ve chosen to work with, finance, and support these specific artists, and attempting to supersede those artists’ creative impact is ultimately detrimental to both the project and their own investment.
On Of Things Past, I was brought on as a director to finish the project. It had literally had a life older than me at this point, but we wanted it to be something we could be proud of, not just ‘get it out into the world.’ On set for the modern-era footage, my co-director, D. Paul Thomas, despite being present and having written the modern-era pages, gave me the space to work. As the project’s lead producer, he’d understood that he’d chosen to work with me and trusted me to make something good. For that, I am very thankful. In post, as I edited it and worked to integrate two styles and a wide range of technical formats and requirements (we had to find reels that had been stored in the basement of FotoKem for 35 years!), he always came back to “the play’s the thing.” We’re both thespians at our core, so perhaps our love for Shakespeare isn’t universal, but remembering that at the end of the day, the story that we’re giving the audience is what actually matters was crucial in getting this project to where it is now.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m not sure what the exact ‘trigger’ or the specifics are, but I think if we could somehow ensure everyone in the world is fed, literate, and treated with love and respect, the world would do well. Perhaps it’s a reflection of set life, but I’ve always found that if my crew has good food in their stomachs, understands what’s going on, and is treated with respect, it’s a place I want to be, and the work is immensely better.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂
Neil Gaiman, your work, your stories, your ability to flow through genres and mediums, and (from everything I’ve read online) your love for your collaborators and audiences is inspirational. We’re told never to meet our heroes, but, sir, it would be an honor to have tea in a New England fall one day.
How can our readers further follow you online?
My website is ericrafaelibarra.com, my Instagram is @ericrafaelibarra, and you can watch Of Things Past out now on Amazon, Vudu, Verizon, and Spectrum!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
About the interviewer: Guernslye Honoré, affectionately known as “Gee-Gee”, is an amalgamation of creativity, vision, and endless enthusiasm. She has elegantly twined the worlds of writing, acting, and digital marketing into an inspiring tapestry of achievement. As the creative genius at the heart of Esma Marketing & Publishing, she leads her team to unprecedented heights with her comprehensive understanding of the industry and her innate flair for innovation. Her boundless passion and sense of purpose radiate from every endeavor she undertakes, turning ideas into reality and creating a realm of infinite possibilities. A true dynamo, Gee-Gee’s name has become synonymous with inspirational leadership and the art of creating success.
Filmmaker Eric Rafael Ibarra: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.