David's come-up has been fun and exciting to watch. After working with him for one of his films, I knew that something big was bound to happen. His talented camera work, script writing, and editing make for a great success story, and I wanted to find out how his production company, "Made You Look Studios", started.
What is the inspiration and backstory behind “Made You Look”?
It happened out of the blue. Ashley Murphy and I were working on a film of hers, and I wanted to make our films seem more official, so we brainstormed and it just came to me: “Made You Look.” I enjoy working with puns. When I'm making titles for films and other things, I usually use a lot of alliteration, but I like having clever aspects to the names I create. So, when thinking about “Made You Look”, I remembered that game that we would all play when we were little and I thought that it would be a really good name for a production company because it also fits with the aspect of film, watching film, and looking at film. That's how we came across “Made You Look” and we just built upon it from there.
How did you form your team?
It didn't happen all at once. We discovered people that we worked really well with, they meshed well with our team and they brought great ideas to the table. For example, in the beginning, it was just me and Ashley Murphy. Once we worked with Ka'enaaloha Watson on our first film, she began to bring great things to the table such as costuming and even as an idea creator. It's so nice having other people to bounce ideas back off of and having a little community to create with. Then, Dezmond Chavous joined our team with our most recent film and he's co-editor with me on our newest film, Cleanse, as well as acting in the film. Finally, we have Alannah Ciera and she has been with us from the start, but now Alannah has come out of her shell, and begun to direct more and write with us! We have a lot of exciting projects coming up in the future working with everyone at “Made You Look”. We are so excited to create more projects with our little family.
What is your favorite movie you created?
My favorite movie I've made is Portraying Perfect. It is my first project that I've been genuinely proud of and excited to show people. Portraying Perfect has been accepted into two film festivals, and we've received so much positive feedback. I will only ever be proud of Portraying Perfect and so it's definitely my favorite. The whole experience of making it was just so fun. But our projects for our future could take that spot eventually because it is so fun working with young creatives and Cleanse, our newest film, is such a fun project. We had so many funny set stories. Honestly, any film we've made could take the cake as my favorite movie we've made.
What are the biggest accomplishments for the company?
The biggest accompaniment for the company is definitely the film festivals. Being accepted into the New York International Film Festival was a huge, huge, huge moment for us. Being able to go there and attend our first big industry event in person and meet other young filmmakers was insane. Being there as “Made You Look” was so surreal, and we can’t help but look forward and grow as a company as we continue to accomplish more!
What's in store for the future ?!
We have a lot in store for the future, especially for the 2023 period. We have a conference-type presentation thing coming out in mid-February announcing our upcoming projects, showing off new trailers and merch, and announcing casting! It's so exciting. We have so many cool projects in store, and I'll give “MBPMAG” an exclusive because we have a film written which will be directed by the wonderful Gillian Johnson - it's called Gambit. Y'all getting the exclusive! Gambit is a very exciting and creative film and you'll have to tune in to the “Made You Look: Forward Conference” in mid-February to get an exclusive look at Gambit and other upcoming films for “Made You Look!”.
Thank you to David for taking the time to answer these questions for the magazine, and encourage you to check out the work with the buttons below! I’m super excited to watch these new films coming out, and already know that they are going to be spectacular.
Interviewed and Photographed by Mark Bluemle