ERIC RAFAEL IBARRA
WHO AM I/WHAT DO I DO?
I am an LA based director. I currently have 3 feature films in post, consistently direct commercial and documentary work, and produce/AD on the side. I'm definitely interested in director-for-hire opportunities, and love developing projects that have passion attached. In general, my experience in directing lies in:
ULB action based, psychological thriller features, a variety of documentary series researching education and the role of technology in modern education, and destination location and small business commercial work .
MY LIFE
For fun, I love to travel, wandering around new areas of town, reading, playing with my camera, a solid dive bar and coming up with ridiculous DnD campaigns that I make my friends go on.
I grew up in Bozeman (Montana), Hong Kong, Manila and Boston and recently moved into my 17th house in 28 years. I spent my childhood reading fantasy, wandering both urban jungles and national parks, watching people and coming up with the stories of their lives, and running around on stage.
I now live in Los Angeles, and love the stories and artists that live here. Everyday, a new project with new challenges and excitement arises and I take joy out of embracing each one!
MY CAREER
I landed in Los Angeles in 2014 with a B.A. in theater studies from Emerson College and $2,000 in savings. As a cliche starving artist, I needed a survival job, and I couldn't have gotten luckier. While developing an acting career, I taught robotics, computer science and filmmaking to K-12 students across Los Angeles.
Teaching has without a doubt been one of the most influential experiences in my life, but fortunately, I discovered the magic of low budget independents.
I started out fight choreographing and working in Art Department, but quickly transitioned into AD'ing and Producing commercial work. After 4 years of developing a commercial slate of clients, and producing over 45 commercials, I finally transitioned into feature films!
In 2019, I directed my first feature Suicide by Cop. 2019 and 2020 have been a crazy time as multiple features have finally taken off, but I definitely know it's important to stay on set and take each day as it comes. Currently, I spend about 20% of my time in post, 10% in preproduction, 50% in production on my features and the other 20% working for friends as an AC/Gaffer. The time spent working for my friends is crucial to continuing my education as a filmmaker.
Thanks for reading through this. Hopefully we can work together and I can't wait to see what we can make!
- Eric