I was born in Mexico and moved to Dallas at the age of 6 when my dad was transferred for work. We were only supposed to stay long enough for my sister and I learned English and then we’d to move back, yet here I am 22 years later, a naturalized citizen and a business owner. I guess my English isn’t good enough yet!

I have a very fortunate immigrant story. Unlike many people, my family was sponsored through my dad’s company, and though the process was long and expensive, we were able to build a life here and I’ve been able to pursue my passion with a lot of family support along the way. I don’t know that I’d be where I am today without the pragmatism and work ethic my parents passed on to me all throughout my childhood, which has helped me avoid a lot of pitfalls along the way.

Icarus Independent Productions has been a work in progress since 2007, when a friend and I got the ridiculous idea that we wanted to make a feature film with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. At the time, I was a freshman studying film at SMU with a standard definition camcorder I bought on Craigslist and some garage lights from a hardware store. We called in every favor we could, sweet talked business owners for locations, made our friends be actors, built sets out of PVC piping, and ultimately got enough footage for a trailer and not much else. Nonetheless, the experience was invaluable for learning how to stitch together something from nothing, utilizing every resource to its fullest potential so we could create on our own terms. Back then we didn’t know we’d call the company Icarus, but that production is where the ‘Independent’ came from.

Overall, Has It Been Relatively Smooth? If Not, What Were Some Of The Struggles Along The Way?

I was born in Mexico and moved to Dallas at the age of 6 when my dad was transferred for work. We were only supposed to stay long enough for my sister and I learned English and then we’d to move back, yet here I am 22 years later, a naturalized citizen and a business owner. I guess my English isn’t good enough yet!

I have a very fortunate immigrant story. Unlike many people, my family was sponsored through my dad’s company, and though the process was long and expensive, we were able to build a life here and I’ve been able to pursue my passion with a lot of family support along the way. I don’t know that I’d be where I am today without the pragmatism and work ethic my parents passed on to me all throughout my childhood, which has helped me avoid a lot of pitfalls along the way.

Icarus Independent Productions has been a work in progress since 2007, when a friend and I got the ridiculous idea that we wanted to make a feature film with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. At the time, I was a freshman studying film at SMU with a standard definition camcorder I bought on Craigslist and some garage lights from a hardware store. We called in every favor we could, sweet talked business owners for locations, made our friends be actors, built sets out of PVC piping, and ultimately got enough footage for a trailer and not much else. Nonetheless, the experience was invaluable for learning how to stitch together something from nothing, utilizing every resource to its fullest potential so we could create on our own terms. Back then we didn’t know we’d call the company Icarus, but that production is where the ‘Independent’ came from.