Adrian Per

00:00:00.160 - 00:00:24.720

That's also something that people need to practice. It's just the social skills and being confident in yourself while also allowing the other person to speak.

That's something I've learned along the way that's just become invaluable. Yo, what's up? It's Adrian Per, and you are listening to the future.

Chris Do

00:00:28.720 - 00:01:31.720

All right, guys, we're not in the regular studio. We're somewhere spacey and trippy, and I think it's maybe appropriate for the kind of conversation we have today.

I first met Adrian at Adobe Max in the green room. We were both doing different things, but I think it was Drigo who introduced me to you and said, you need to meet this guy. He's blown up on the.

On the Internet MO too. So they're both fans of yours, and that's how I find out about cool people. I'm not that cool myself, and I start looking at your content.

Okay, so let's. Let's set it up today. What are we going to talk about? What I want to explore with you, and then I want you to introduce yourself.

But I think Adrian's an incredible filmmaker, but also he's got mad style. Are you Filipino? Yeah, it's a Filipino thing, guys. If you don't know Filipinos, they got a lot of style.

I steal some of it from Filipino culture, so if there's something here, it's from these guys. But I'm interested in this kind of long creative arc that you're on and what you're doing currently.

And if you've ever wondered for yourself, like, what is the real trajectory or arc that a creative person goes on, I think this is the episode for you, so stick around for that. Okay.

So, Adrian, if people don't know who you are, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit of your backstory, because I want to dig into that.

Adrian Per

00:01:31.960 - 00:02:14.380

Yeah. What's up, everybody? My name is Adrian Per, also known as OMG Adrian, on my social media handles. And it's interesting.

Like, how can I describe myself in, like, one word? I guess the easiest way as a filmmaker, I make videos, but I just like doing all creative things. I just don't share them.

But most people would know me as a filmmaker, and just being creative is something that I've done my whole life.

It's something that, like, whether I was told it was something I should follow or not, that's something that my heart decided to follow and never dropped. And it ended up me up here, which is crazy. You know, I've never dropped it. And it's always just been my. My safe space for expression.

Chris Do

00:02:14.380 - 00:02:19.740

Okay. We were talking a little bit before. Before we started recording in this other career that you had.

Adrian Per

00:02:19.740 - 00:02:20.420

Oh, no.

Chris Do

00:02:20.900 - 00:02:30.580

I'm a little embarrassing, but I want to know. I want to know when is the first moment this creative spark revealed itself to you? Where were you, what you were doing? What was it about?

Adrian Per

00:02:30.900 - 00:03:56.790

There were so many little moments as a kid that I remember picking up on. For example, like, I remember being, like, 10 years old or so and sometimes even younger.

But one specific moment is I was in the car with my family, and we were driving, I don't know, stuck in traffic. We were listening to Dr. Dre's chronic 2001. And I don't know what it was about it, but the drums were hard.

And I remember just, like, not knowing what a kick drum was, not knowing what a snare drum was, and, like, just picking out, oh, this is a pattern. It does do, do, do. And I was like, the other sound is doing, like, every so amount of times. And that brought me so much joy.

I don't know why, but I would, like, pick apart music, and I would look out my window, as all kids do, and imagine you're in a music video. I would just be like, oh, this would be a great scene. And from there, it just became my escape.

It's not like there was anything I needed to escape from, but it just brought me into. I guess that would be my version of the daydreaming.

I wouldn't really think of myself doing things like most kids, like, they daydream about themselves, living a dream. But I would just think of, you know, just different scenes, as if it was a music video or a movie.

And, like, how this song scores this scene that I'm watching right now.

Chris Do

00:03:57.030 - 00:04:03.294

I have so much to pull apart here for that. The fact that you can listen. How old are you at this time, you think? 2000. You said 2002.

Adrian Per

00:04:03.486 - 00:04:04.254

2001.

Chris Do

00:04:04.446 - 00:04:05.310

2001.

Adrian Per

00:04:05.310 - 00:04:06.230

Okay, so how old are you?

Chris Do

00:04:06.920 - 00:04:07.360

Okay, 10.

Adrian Per

00:04:07.360 - 00:04:07.720

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:04:07.720 - 00:04:26.280

It's amazing because when we hear music or things that we don't study, we just hear all of it. We can't break apart the layers. Like, when I look at a design, a poster, I can break up every single little part.

But somebody's like, what are you looking at? The fact that you're listening to this and you're starting to break apart the pieces. Is there a musical background here?

Are your parents in music or did you study music?

Adrian Per

00:04:26.600 - 00:04:58.520

I didn't study music, but it's something that I'VE been drawn to my whole life. One of my uncles is really good at singing. Singing and playing the guitar.

And also I'm Filipino, so I grew up around karaoke since before I could even speak. So it runs in our Filipino blood to just be around music. I'm not blessed with a beautiful singing voice, but I was just around it.

And I don't know, I think inadvertently it kind of just molded my musicality. Yeah, no, I never studied any of it.

Chris Do

00:04:58.520 - 00:05:14.850

Okay, we're going to dive in a little to stereotypes a little bit here.

What is it with Filipino culture makes most of you, not all of you, really good at singing, carrying tunes and being able to dance, especially hip hop and the swag and the style. Like, what is it? I don't understand it, but I can appreciate it.

Adrian Per

00:05:15.090 - 00:05:22.530

I don't know at all, really. I don't know. I wish I did. I wish I had some of it. I wish I could dance.

Chris Do

00:05:22.530 - 00:05:23.250

Come on. You have.

Adrian Per

00:05:23.250 - 00:05:59.750

I could. Dressing up is easy, but, like, the talent and the skill to sing and dance.

Like, on any given moment, like, you could walk down, like, a karaoke bar in the Philippines and you would have sworn there's like five people being as good as Adele or Whitney or any of these folks. No disrespect to any of those incredible legends, but they're God level good.

I don't know what it is that's in the water, but these people, they're nuts. So shout out the Philippines. I was born with something. Not all of it, not all of the musical ability, but, like, it's in here.

I just can't execute it.

Chris Do

00:05:59.830 - 00:06:45.260

Okay. 10 years old, you're listening to the beat.

You can break it down, you're dissecting it, and then the first thing that you feel like you're having is you're visualizing what the music will look like. Now. I've grown up mostly in California for my life.

And until someone exposes you to something, you see things and you don't know that somebody did that. You just assume it just happened. I'll give you an example. Okay. I'm a bit older than you.

I'm introduced to music videos through Friday Night Videos because we didn't have cable, we didn't have MTV or anything. My cousin from LA comes up and he says, hey, it's Friday Night Videos. Let's stay up and watch this.

And Michael Jackson's Thriller is debuting on Friday Night Videos, I think, and my head explodes. I'm like, what is this art form? And I know nothing about it.

But here you are 10 years old, and you're like, I'm visualizing the images that go with this.

Adrian Per

00:06:45.660 - 00:06:48.460

Yeah, I'm in the generation that already had trl.

Chris Do

00:06:48.540 - 00:06:49.060

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:06:49.060 - 00:07:15.330

So, like, I had seen music videos, so. And I was, like, huge into music as a kid. Like, all my older cousins, like, putting. Put me on to pac, Jay Z, Biggie, all these folks.

So, yeah, I'd been exposed to it. But, like, when you ask, like, what is one of the first times you remember, like, my creative spark or my creative brain working?

It was then it was literally us driving across a bay bridge, and I'd never forgotten it.

Chris Do

00:07:15.730 - 00:07:22.530

Let's move forward in a timeline. When does this manifest itself into a thing that might feel like a professional career for you?

Adrian Per

00:07:22.970 - 00:07:26.090

I'd say the delusional version of me.

Chris Do

00:07:26.330 - 00:07:27.210

I like that version.

Adrian Per

00:07:27.210 - 00:07:31.610

Probably. I'd say 23.

Chris Do

00:07:32.250 - 00:07:32.650

Really?

Adrian Per

00:07:32.730 - 00:07:33.210

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:07:33.610 - 00:07:35.210

Are we skipping over the music part.

Adrian Per

00:07:35.370 - 00:07:42.850

A little bit, but, like, 23, because that's when I finally started getting paid for creative things.

Chris Do

00:07:42.850 - 00:07:44.570

I see what you're saying, but because.

Adrian Per

00:07:45.850 - 00:08:58.890

I knew I wanted it to be a career, but having Asian parents, I went to a private school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Art was just an elective class, and I wanted to get into these great high schools. Wasn't smart enough or, well, on paper.

I was never that good at school. So they would tell me, like, stop drawing. Stop making beats on your desk. That's not as important as learning fractions and inequalities in algebra.

So it had been drilled into my head that it wasn't a real thing. And then I started getting paid for it, and I was like, oh, this might be able to be a thing.

So there's like, a huge gap from when I first entered me to when did I feel like I can make this a reality. And even in 2022, I still felt like, will I be doing this 20 years from now? It's tough. Like, it's. You know, it's not easy.

You know, it's like you're fighting. I mean, whether you're working in the corporate world or not, like, you're always fighting for the spot you feel like you deserve.

So for the first time ever this year, I was like, oh, I really do this.

Chris Do

00:08:59.370 - 00:09:04.570

Okay, that's heavy. It's hitting me right now, okay, yeah, I want to unpack all that stuff. I want to dive there, but it's.

Adrian Per

00:09:04.570 - 00:09:05.690

Become a therapy session.

Chris Do

00:09:05.690 - 00:09:27.080

Well, I love this, man.

I love how you're processing all this stuff, because this is the thing I want to a lot of Folks know, you see somebody admire that's got hundreds of thousands of followers, you think, oh, it was like ordained by some supreme being that this was your path and it was super clear. And to hear you say it is not like a year and a half ago, you're still thinking like, is this, am I supposed to be doing this? Is this the thing?

Adrian Per

00:09:27.160 - 00:10:27.840

Man, I was 32. I was 32 with like 13 in my bank account actually. I was like, I need to sell this watch, I need to sell this camera. I.

Yeah, I mean like life hit me in so many ways that I didn't expect. So even with having the accolades under my belt, like whether things were Grammy nominated or award winning, I still don't know.

As a creative, you don't know what your future holds. Like, and then I applied to jobs and then I didn't get a single interview. I applied to 60 creative jobs and then non creative jobs.

Like I applied to like 60 something of them and I landed zero interviews. And this is having had an extensive commercial career, music video career.

And it was like, you're either overqualified or underqualified or we also just don't know you. So, yeah, it was, it's rough. So I think when I was 23, I was like, I want to do this as a career.

Chris Do

00:10:27.840 - 00:10:28.280

Yeah.

‍

Adrian Per

00:10:28.550 - 00:10:41.270

And that's when I. I dropped out of my dental program. I was going to be a dentist. I mean, I was living with my parents, so I was 27.

I would have been deemed as a loser as like the struggling artist for a long time.

Chris Do

00:10:41.830 - 00:10:42.710

This is the bay, right?

Adrian Per

00:10:42.710 - 00:10:43.350

This was in the bay.

Chris Do

00:10:43.350 - 00:10:45.950

Okay, so 27. From 0 to 27, you're with your parents.

Adrian Per

00:10:45.950 - 00:10:46.470

Yep.

Chris Do

00:10:46.630 - 00:10:58.050

Some of the Asian stereotypes are true. The fact that you're still at home, not on your career path, didn't go to like whatever. That's got a way on you, right?

Do they make you feel this like, adrian, you gotta go do your thing?

Adrian Per

00:10:58.370 - 00:10:58.850

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:10:59.010 - 00:11:02.850

How did that manifest itself at the kitchen table, wherever you would have conversations?

Adrian Per

00:11:03.330 - 00:11:44.040

Well, my mom always believed that I was gonna go hard at whatever I chose. She was always like the push on my back. Like she is my spine and everything to this day, I still do for her. Because of her.

My dad at the time, I didn't understand it. I think a lot of us kids of immigrant parents, you need to understand this.

At some point we're going to have to forgive our parents for acting the way they did at us. Because I was very thankful the last handful of years before my dad passed, I was able to realize all of these things.

But at some point he didn't speak to me.

Chris Do

00:11:44.360 - 00:11:45.080

Oh my God.

Adrian Per

00:11:45.080 - 00:13:19.140

Like he. These people left their country. They could have had amazing lives, completely automated. They would have been comfortable.

They left their home country, gave everything up, struggled, worked night and day.

And to resent them for whether it's not being there or being upset or temperament, like, sometimes I come home and I'm tired and I'm like, oh, I gotta walk my dog. I love my dog, but I gotta walk him. Right? And if I do have a temperament, like, I can't blame any of that because these people are busting their ass.

And to have a kid who became a high school dropout, to have somebody who got Fs across a board on their report card, to getting caught drinking, smoking, you know, dabbling with different drugs. I was the quintessential Asian disappointment that had this talent to make art or to express himself.

They came here with this dream of, I want him to become the family's jewel. Like, he will make us money. All of these sacrifices will pay off. And you can't get there by not being in the medical field.

So, yeah, my dad didn't understand it and I don't blame him for that. That it's something that I feel like a lot of Asian kids or just kids of immigrant parents need to understand.

Like, you can't fault them because like, sometimes you come home from your job and you're just like, if things aren't going right, you won't know how to cope.

Chris Do

00:13:19.300 - 00:13:19.660

Right.

Adrian Per

00:13:19.660 - 00:13:36.510

And yeah, it's like I was that Asian disappointment and it was rough, it was tough, and somehow it worked. Somehow it all worked out. And sometimes it doesn't work out, you know, but I'm here. And he was able to see it.

Chris Do

00:13:36.590 - 00:13:37.070

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:13:37.070 - 00:14:02.270

And after leaving my parents house at 27, I gave myself three years in LA. I said I need to make it work because in three years I will be 30 if I am making 30 to $40,000 a year, which I wasn't even doing at the time.

2018 or 2019 on my invoicing program. My first year, I think I made $11,000.

Chris Do

00:14:02.430 - 00:14:03.070

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:14:03.390 - 00:14:15.870

Right it. With my silly little art. I was uber driving. I was delivering food in my Prius. The second year, I think I made like 39,000 or something.

Chris Do

00:14:16.030 - 00:14:16.870

Some progress there.

Adrian Per

00:14:16.870 - 00:14:28.050

Yeah, yeah. And I was like, okay, I'm about to be 30, I gotta really figure this out. And then boom, it clicked. So, yeah, I just stayed here longer and here I am.

Chris Do

00:14:28.530 - 00:14:38.770

Thanks for sharing that. If it's not too painful. I want to go back to some things.

You said that you were glad that you were able to kind of appreciate your upbringing before your dad passed.

Adrian Per

00:14:38.849 - 00:14:39.329

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:14:40.770 - 00:14:47.410

What was the feeling before? What was it that made you realize the thing that you know now? And how did it change your relationship?

Adrian Per

00:14:47.810 - 00:16:02.670

Well, I'm glad that things worked out. I'm glad that it started becoming a tangible career that he could see.

Whether it was my work on TV or on the Internet, to see that and not understand how, whether it's big Hollywood or the media world looks like, I think that did it. It wasn't me convincing him, like, look what I've done. This legitimizes it.

Because sometimes you can show, you know, your immigrant parents this and they still don't understand. So there was a bit of understanding there for him that he had to do as well.

I don't know, maybe him and my mom talked about it at some point, but yeah, like one day it just started to shift. And then I just got older and I just know I started to understand my own temperament, how tired I can be from work, like. And that man worked a lot.

You know, whether we had a lot or a little. Like anybody who works 40 something hours a week will be tired, 40 or more. Right. So I just matured enough to understand where it was coming from.

I knew that this is not a path that anybody could have foreseen for any kid of first immigrant children.

Chris Do

00:16:02.990 - 00:16:53.840

Right. I think the thing that a lot of people need to understand is we can all be better parents, because I am one.

But that all parents, whether good intention or not, are not perfect.

So we have to remove the standard of perfection as the bar in which they're all measured against, because that's not possible, that they're doing the best they can with what they know. They have an operating system that's really outdated by what we're seeing.

And you'll be outdated too when you have kids, because it's just the way the world works. Things are moving. Paradigm shift. And there's a whole generational gap that's. They put a term on that and they do that.

And if we could acknowledge that, you know what, they had limited resources and their own upbringing shaped how they thought they did the best they could, imperfect as it was, and we can come to peace with that.

At least we can move the energy away from one of resentment or anger or whatever other thing you're feeling and directed towards what we should be working on. I think there's a positive outlet for that. Right, for sure.

Adrian Per

00:16:53.920 - 00:17:37.350

You know, like, a lot of our parents worked with a lot less than what we have.

And for all of us to feel like we're barely getting by, imagine how they felt, you know, like, dude, like, if a lot of us in our 30s can feel like we're barely getting by, and a lot of our parents had us in their 20s. Like, dude, that's a tough one. So it's something that we all kind of just have to have the self awareness to understand.

And I was self aware enough to understand that and look past the anger of me being this high school dropout.

Yo, if my kid became this high school dropout and said, I want to do something that I probably didn't even know exists as a career, I would be like, dog, what are you doing?

‍

Chris Do

00:17:37.350 - 00:17:43.030

I want to catch Dad. I want to catch air. You're like, what? Yeah, I'm going to package air, and I want to sell air.

Adrian Per

00:17:43.030 - 00:17:43.869

Right, right, right.

Chris Do

00:17:43.869 - 00:18:05.170

Yeah. And you would have a. Probably a what? Wait, no, not what.

And I think at the end of the day, most parents want us not to suffer, to have a better life than they had. And so when they see you suffering, they don't know how to articulate that and just comes across as a lot of disappointment and judgment and.

But I'm just really happy for you that. Because you were able to come together at some point before it was too late.

Adrian Per

00:18:05.250 - 00:18:05.650

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:18:05.650 - 00:18:07.570

So I'm just really happy for you about that.

Adrian Per

00:18:07.570 - 00:18:08.090

Thank you.

Chris Do

00:18:08.090 - 00:18:08.730

I feel that.

Adrian Per

00:18:08.730 - 00:18:14.130

I'm, like, so happy that he got to be proud and to see the fruits of his labor before he went.

Chris Do

00:18:14.289 - 00:18:17.810

And that you got to show him like, there was an investment here. It's working out.

Adrian Per

00:18:19.090 - 00:18:24.130

To this day, my family is still able to reap the benefits of all his hard work.

Chris Do

00:18:24.720 - 00:18:45.360

Yeah, yeah, okay, I know. I want to talk to you about the crazy amount of work that, as far as I can see, because I used to produce commercials.

The what you put into your videos on Instagram. But we're going to get into that a little bit. But it did surface on the Internet somewhere. Rich found it this hip hop. Well, no, we don't.

We don't do that. It's available. Maybe Drago and the team will cut.

Adrian Per

00:18:45.360 - 00:18:47.080

To that video right now, dig deep for it.

Chris Do

00:18:47.080 - 00:18:59.870

A couple of bars there. I'm like, who is that guy? I think he looks just like the guy I know, but that is not the guy I know. And there you are, rapping, doing your moves.

Tell me about that and how that leads us to where we are today.

Adrian Per

00:19:00.590 - 00:19:27.320

So like I said earlier, like, it all stemmed from music. My first videos were music videos of my friends and myself. And that's because I've just been so enamored by music. It's just been so fascinating.

It's like my euphoric little me time escape time. So I just decided to try it out myself. We're all guilty of having freestyle circles. You know, growing up as kids, when.

Chris Do

00:19:27.320 - 00:19:28.960

You say we all, I mean a couple of us.

Adrian Per

00:19:28.960 - 00:19:30.160

Oh, you. You've never done this?

Chris Do

00:19:30.160 - 00:19:31.760

No. I didn't know.

Adrian Per

00:19:31.920 - 00:19:36.240

I'm pretty sure most dudes out there, most Filipinos.

Chris Do

00:19:38.000 - 00:19:39.520

Let's tighten that circle a little bit.

Adrian Per

00:19:39.760 - 00:19:41.360

Oh, man. Okay, I will.

Chris Do

00:19:41.760 - 00:19:43.840

Some of us in our freestyle circles.

Adrian Per

00:19:43.840 - 00:19:53.490

Some of them, I'd say It's more than 50% of people will just freestyle randomly. You know, growing up in high school, you know, you, like, I don't do it now.

Chris Do

00:19:53.650 - 00:19:54.970

You almost did it. Are you gonna.

Adrian Per

00:19:54.970 - 00:20:06.970

No, no, no, no. I was gonna actually. No, I would probably mess up, so. Hold on. This part gotta get cut out.

I was gonna say this part has to be edited out, but I was gonna say, like, at some point, like, the homies have smoked weed and, like, just started freestyling.

Chris Do

00:20:06.970 - 00:20:07.330

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:20:07.330 - 00:20:09.490

But, yeah, I definitely can't say that publicly.

Chris Do

00:20:09.490 - 00:20:09.970

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:20:10.210 - 00:20:13.040

But, yeah, at some point, you just get bored enough and start freestyling.

Chris Do

00:20:13.350 - 00:20:13.750

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:20:14.150 - 00:20:35.350

Well, at least me and my friends did. And I was like, you know what? My voice don't sound that bad.

And I mean, it probably did sound that bad, but, you know, we just tried it anyways, and that's through. Making my own music videos for myself and my friends actually led me to making my first music videos for actual musicians.

Chris Do

00:20:35.830 - 00:20:37.830

How old are you? Where are you doing this?

Adrian Per

00:20:37.990 - 00:20:38.710

I was 19.

Chris Do

00:20:39.180 - 00:20:39.460

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:20:39.460 - 00:20:40.700

We were living in Daly City.

Chris Do

00:20:40.700 - 00:20:41.180

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:20:41.180 - 00:21:25.660

Yeah. Right by San Francisco. And, yeah, I just would set up a microphone in my little bedroom studio and plug it into my.

I had an HP computer, like, just straight out the box that I bought from Best buy for, like, $359. And I bought, like, this audio sound card. I installed it in there myself. And I would just Download instrumentals from YouTube, rip them.

They would still have, like, the tags on it. And it was just, like, another way for me to express myself. The same way I would draw.

I'm not a painter or, like, I'm not Picasso or Van Gogh by any means, but, like, I'd love just different ways to express myself. But music came before any of this. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:21:25.820 - 00:21:36.970

Okay, so you do music videos because you're. You're kind of leaning into this directing and creation of visual storytelling. And the music was just a way for you to practice your art?

Adrian Per

00:21:37.450 - 00:21:38.690

Yeah, yeah, yeah, mainly.

Chris Do

00:21:38.690 - 00:21:52.970

Okay, Okay, I like that. So if I move us forward in the timeline you said, I'm going to move to la. I'm going to give myself three years to make it. Why LA of all places?

And what is making it sound like to you and that deal that you made with yourself?

Adrian Per

00:21:53.130 - 00:23:14.720

It's just Hollywood is here, you know, the best of the best in the creative field that I wanted to be in was here, you know, at any given moment, I'm like within 20 miles of the people that I look up to most. And the thought of that is insane. Whether it's in the music space, the movie space, the music video space, I'm like, y' all are.

We're all pretty much neighbors. And to be in that energy is a wild thought. It was motivating for me.

I had been coming down to LA for work for probably three or four years prior to moving, and I just knew it's where I needed to be to grow my career and me making it, you know, I had big delusional dreams and I still do. I still do.

They, they keep me going, you know, whether it's winning awards or people knowing my work or leaving an imprint on any creative community that inspires people. But those are all things just to validate my ego.

But to me, making it at the bare minimum level was just to be comfortable, to be happy doing what I'm doing, to not burn myself out. And right when I was around 28, going to 29, I was making like 30 something grand. And would that be deemed as successful? No.

But I saw growth and I was happy with where I was at. So I decided to keep going.

Chris Do

00:23:15.720 - 00:23:21.000

Okay, what is the point when you have like $13 or I was gonna say cents. $13 in your bank account.

Adrian Per

00:23:21.560 - 00:23:24.680

That was October of 2022.

Chris Do

00:23:24.840 - 00:23:29.800

Oh my God. Yeah, okay, I'm trying to. This is not long ago here. Like 22.

Adrian Per

00:23:30.120 - 00:24:00.010

Yeah. So a fast forwarded version of that is. I made like my first six figures and then it started growing. I didn't understand taxes a lot of.

So let's say I'm just going to put an arbitrary number that it isn't exact. Doesn't exist. Yeah, I'm not rich by any means, my good people. If I made 150 grand, I thought I had 150 grand to spend.

I went and bought all the things I see my favorite rappers wearing.

Chris Do

00:24:00.010 - 00:24:00.410

Right.

Adrian Per

00:24:00.410 - 00:24:51.930

I bought an Iced out chain that had my initials. I bought a Rolex. Not one, but two. Why? I don't know. Looking for validation in the wrong places. I would wake up and buy a car.

If I didn't like it, I would let it go, like. And I did this for a couple years. And then I had saved up a decently healthy amount. And then life happened where I had to pay for a lot of things.

And what it was really is like, funerals are expensive, memorial service are expensive. So when all these things started happening, I was like, damn, I gotta liquidate my savings for taxes for funeral services.

And at the end of it, Yeah, I had $13 left in my checking account. And I was like, all right, I gotta really figure it out. Which actually led me to making content.

Chris Do

00:24:52.410 - 00:25:02.900

Just so people know. And what you're going through is pretty typical. This is not crazy stuff.

You make money and you see the check for whatever amount, let's say $10,000, you think you are now $10,000 richer.

Adrian Per

00:25:03.050 - 00:25:03.330

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:25:03.330 - 00:25:08.890

If you just think about the taxes you have to pay on that, that number is already much lower. At minimum, 35% is out.

Adrian Per

00:25:09.210 - 00:26:14.900

And I didn't know that. And that's. That's like a lot. Right. I'm sure there are programs and courses you can learn, but nobody tells you this.

There's not a single business bank account that I know of that you can automate putting a certain percentage of savings. If you're a content creator or a freelancer, I don't want to know that that money exists.

Because if I see that money exists, I'm going to think I could spend it.

And I mean, sure, it could have been like my own responsibility to know this, but, like, you don't really know when you're thrown into that much money. Like, all of a sudden you just think you have it to spend.

Like, if I had only known, or if there were like other ways it could have been solved or automated for me probably would have been a different story. But no, I was really, really dumb. Which ended me up being. Yeah, I was 32. $13, a couple of Rolexes, a nice sized style chain.

I was like, this is so dumb. Like, why do I have this here sitting in front of me and like three cars and I have $13 in liquid? That's crazy. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:26:15.380 - 00:26:20.580

What did you do to earn that money before you hit that point? And once you're like $13 in.

Adrian Per

00:26:20.900 - 00:26:53.820

So to get to that point, I was running my production company with my business partner. He did the editing, I did the directing. And we lived in two different places a lot of times, and we grew it.

I was putting my name on all the music videos that I was directing, and he would bring some different work in as well. Whether, you know, it was just post production for him or me directing or me producing something that he's directing. And over time, just saved it up.

Didn't save enough of it, but, you know, I saved it up and it was solely from creating.

Chris Do

00:26:53.980 - 00:26:58.140

Okay. This is like doing work for artists, Making videos for them.

Adrian Per

00:26:58.140 - 00:26:58.620

Yes.

Chris Do

00:26:58.620 - 00:26:58.980

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:26:58.980 - 00:27:00.020

For artists and brands.

‍

Chris Do

00:27:00.020 - 00:27:05.820

Okay. Was it your friend who got the work or was it you who went out and procured the work?

Adrian Per

00:27:05.900 - 00:27:17.180

A lot of it was me in the 2021-23. Yeah. A lot of it was me just going out and making these connections with these people in la.

Chris Do

00:27:17.260 - 00:27:17.740

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:27:17.740 - 00:28:02.410

And, you know, just a lot of convincing, hey, you should trust me. Like, I know you work with a lot of really talented production companies and directors, but let me do it.

And I would work with artists that I knew from around here. And then I started working with artists from, I guess, on a global scale, on an international scale. And it helped. Like, we would gross.

We would gross a lot, unimaginable amounts, but I just didn't save enough for myself.

And also, you know, just because you get, as a production company or a director, $100,000 budget does not mean you get a hundred $thousand dollars, a $500,000 budget. Like, you're gonna be lucky if you see like 10 grand, 20 grand out of 50,000 at the very, very end of it.

Chris Do

00:28:02.410 - 00:28:02.850

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:28:02.850 - 00:28:23.550

So, yeah, like, while I was doing all that, I was like, this, this is great. This is the life. And then, you know, I had seen what content creators were doing. I was like, oh, there's a whole nother world.

You're telling me the entirety of my budgets is what you're getting to make these brand deal videos? That's insane. I gotta try that. Yeah, yeah.

Chris Do

00:28:23.790 - 00:28:27.629

See, we live in good times right now, right where we can do something like this.

Adrian Per

00:28:27.710 - 00:29:17.240

Yeah. It's crazy to think that what a brand will spend on a more legacy style commercial, legacy media style commercial.

Some content creators getting paid the same amount just to make vertical selfie videos. Talking about a product. I was like, that can't be real. And then I saw it, I was like, oh, my God, it's real.

So what pushed me to do it was knowing that it was real, knowing that I had my back pushed up against the wall. My manager now, he was like, you have the skill, you should try it.

My Girlfriend would tell me a lot like, you've been talking about trying to make content for years, like, give it a shot. All of these led into, you know, and also one of my best friends, a lot of people were saying, you should give it a shot. You have nothing.

You literally have nothing much left to lose. And I went for it.

The Futur

00:29:17.720 - 00:29:20.040

It's time for a quick break, but we'll be right back.

Chris Do

00:29:28.680 - 00:29:49.330

Want to make the most of the opportunities to coming your way this year. I'd like to invite you to join me inside the Future Pro membership, your ace in the hole for 2024.

With expert guidance and a supportive community, the Future Pro membership was created as your ultimate business lifeline. And we have years testimonials from members to prove it. Check it out. TheFuture.comPro.

The Futur

00:29:53.490 - 00:29:55.970

And Rebecca, welcome back to our conversation.

Chris Do

00:29:57.340 - 00:30:11.180

I want to take you back to that point in which you said, I would go out, I would go to events or something, and I would convince folks there's a whole thing to unpack there. Can you share, like, an example, a moment or a story about how you did that? I'm an introvert. I don't know. Are you an introvert?

Adrian Per

00:30:11.500 - 00:30:12.780

I don't like being outside.

Chris Do

00:30:12.940 - 00:30:31.780

Okay.

So you have to get out of your own skin to go to an event, and then you have to do something that's even harder than going outside, which is you have to go talk to people, and then you have to convince them to work with you. Take me through, like, how you might do that, because there's gonna be a lot of filmmakers creatives in there.

It's like, Chris, why didn't you ask Adrian how he did it? So here I am asking how you did it.

Adrian Per

00:30:31.940 - 00:33:07.450

So talent is the base level, right? It sounds cliche, it sounds obvious, but we're all capable of doing great things. The thing that will separate us from everybody is our soft skills.

Like, the hard skills is making it. The soft skills is how easy of a person are you to work with? Are you moldable for the job?

It's just the grittiness that it takes to work in this field.

And all of those things they will vet you on, whether it's a conversation at the bar or a video conference call and showing up understanding that I need to remove my ego from this as just a creative to. I am just a cog in the entire machine has helped me navigate that whole convincing process. Because at the end of the day is a job.

If we want to go create art, we should go create art and express ourselves freely. By our own passion projects.

But if you're working for Nike and they have this big brand campaign they want you to direct, you can't just come in there making this commercial that doesn't feel like a Nike commercial. Like, it just doesn't work that way. I mean, there are bits of you that you should inject and can inject.

But overall, like, I know a lot of creatives get frustrated that they're told, bring your creative approach to this, and then we need to make revisions on revisions. It's just understanding that I need to deliver for the brand more than I need to deliver for myself.

And if I want to deliver for myself, I have my own passion projects for that, you know, and it's just not deliberately telling a commissioner or whoever handles the budget or ads for a brand or client that you're willing to do this. But, like, it's a way you approach jobs and being open to ideas. It's just an exchange that I feel like people should pay more attention to.

Just understanding that. I know artists are very guilty of, like, thinking that the creative for any project revolves around them and their ideas.

And when I started, I don't want to say letting people know that I was about the project more than I was about myself. I don't know, I feel like it was an energy that you can feel like I wasn't in this to just get my creative off.

I was like, let's make a great product. Something that this brand is proud of, something that this artist. Artist is proud of.

And I would assume that they felt that, so they hired me for these things.

Chris Do

00:33:07.850 - 00:33:23.770

I totally appreciate that perspective. And a lot of people need to understand this. When you want to create work for yourself, that's great. You should do that.

And that's something about your. Your own ego or some vision you have. You do that the minute you involve collaborators, it becomes much more than just what you want.

Adrian Per

00:33:23.930 - 00:33:24.410

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:33:24.410 - 00:33:53.890

And it's a maturing that creatives go through. So it can be go from an independent artist to being a successful commercial artist. And that's kind of really important.

You can write crazy songs for yourself, but if people don't want to play it, they don't buy your records. It's going to be a tough thing to sustain yourself. Right, right. So you realize that.

But I'm just curious, like, really, like, when you're in that room, like an event or party screening, I don't know where you are when you're doing this, how does that conversation begin? And how do you transition into. Yeah, give Me a shot. I won't let you down.

Adrian Per

00:33:54.750 - 00:34:56.050

I would read the room first and the vibe.

Like, I think there's an appropriate and inappropriate time to do things, but when it was appropriate, I would just let them know, yo, I'm a fan of your work and what you're doing. This is what I do.

If there's any place you feel like I could help your entire vision or your message, like, I would love to see if there's a way that we can work on something.

And we would exchange emails or phone numbers and, you know, it would just be a little conversation like, oh, yeah, tell me about the things you've done. Like, what do you think that we've done that you could put yourself into?

And I would just talk it out, be like, okay, well, I see this thing here that I like, and if I were to do it, I would do it this way, and we would just, you know, it would just go from there. It would just flow. And that's also something that people need to practice.

It's just the social skills and being confident in yourself while also allowing the other person to speak. That's something I've learned along the way. That's just become invaluable.

Chris Do

00:34:57.970 - 00:35:08.850

I love the way you explain that because it felt so natural, it felt so real. A lot of times people think that the way you get business is maybe you saw something on TV and you act like that. That's not the way it's done.

Adrian Per

00:35:08.930 - 00:35:09.330

Right.

Chris Do

00:35:09.410 - 00:35:20.100

It came from a place of genuine appreciation and saying, I know enough about what you're doing. If invited to that dialogue, you're like, here's a couple of things I've noticed. And letting that play out the way it plays out, just doing it in.

Adrian Per

00:35:20.100 - 00:35:36.220

A way where you're not attacking what this brand or artist is already doing. It's like just letting him know, like, hey, like, in this music video, I saw you did this, but how about, like, next time, let's try this idea?

You know, let me know what you think about it. And it just wouldn't be invasive.

Chris Do

00:35:36.220 - 00:35:54.750

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, somebody could look at you and it's like, this guy's going to come at me with his attitude, his style, and he's not going to care.

But what you're saying sounds completely different. Like, you can look a certain way and have an ethos, but then your heart shows because you're like, I would love to help you. Yeah, it makes sense.

That's all it is. Right?

Adrian Per

00:35:54.750 - 00:36:22.690

I think that's what a lot of Us freelancers should understand too. Like, we are to be hired as a professional.

Like, we have the talent and skill that we've done through our own art to get to this place, to make it a profession.

And when it becomes a profession, like our whole job is really to serve, whether it's an album cover, whether it's a music video or a commercial, to sell pasta. We're serving something through our skill.

Chris Do

00:36:22.690 - 00:36:23.170

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:36:23.410 - 00:36:28.770

And I let that be known. I let it be apparent, like, I want to help make a great product.

Chris Do

00:36:29.250 - 00:36:35.170

You're getting paid a lot of money to do content, branded content. You're also making money through production services.

‍

Adrian Per

00:36:35.970 - 00:36:39.680

Yeah, I would just like. Yeah, yeah, I guess I'd say it's a lot.

Chris Do

00:36:39.680 - 00:36:44.720

Yeah. I mean, relative. It's. Everything's relative. Everybody. Right. You're not.

Adrian Per

00:36:44.880 - 00:36:45.920

I'm comfortable. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:36:45.920 - 00:36:49.680

Michael Bay budget. But you're getting a budget that you're like, wow, this is cool. I get to do this right.

Adrian Per

00:36:49.680 - 00:36:50.080

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:36:50.320 - 00:37:01.840

What is the mix between doing your own work as a brand as an influencer versus commercial work as a production company? Breakdown.

Adrian Per

00:37:02.320 - 00:37:52.020

Before I started making content was 100% just work for hire. 0% my own personal brand. Everything that I would post as my own personal brand was the work that I was doing as a professional.

And then when I started doing my own content, I'd say Now it's about 10% production company work, working with other, you know, just like work for hire for my production company. And I'd say 80% of my own content that just lives out there, personal content, passion projects.

And the other 10% is brand partnerships where I, through my personal brand, I'll work with a brand to do some sort of integration.

Chris Do

00:37:52.020 - 00:38:06.340

Okay. Yeah, that's an interesting mix. I didn't think it would be like that.

So 10% you do commercial work for others in service of their projects and their brands, then 10% is you're getting paid to do your thing. But for brands.

Adrian Per

00:38:06.340 - 00:38:06.700

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:38:07.420 - 00:38:13.740

80% of your time is just spent doing you. Do you make money doing your stuff or that's just for you?

Adrian Per

00:38:13.980 - 00:38:14.820

That's just for me.

Chris Do

00:38:14.820 - 00:38:16.340

Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure I.

Adrian Per

00:38:16.340 - 00:38:17.580

Spend money doing my stuff.

Chris Do

00:38:17.900 - 00:38:19.980

That's a money losing endeavor.

Adrian Per

00:38:19.980 - 00:39:23.130

That's where I go, Red. But I believe in it. I believe in my art. And I mean, that's what it takes, you know, And I am lucky enough to have that Runway to do these things.

And hopefully a brand sees the things that I do for myself and say, hey, he represents our mission statement or our brand. Well, let's pay him to integrate ourselves within his own personal content as paid partnership. And I do all those things, and hopefully it happens.

And if it doesn't, that's okay as well. I will always have my production company, but it's happening now, and I'm grateful for it.

I knew it existed, but it's just like, I never thought I'd be in a place where these brands that I'm huge fans of and that I would buy on a daily basis would be like, hey, we like your stuff. Can we work with you or collaborate with you? I was like, you're going to pay me to do something I would have done anyways? What? Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:39:24.010 - 00:39:36.010

Okay. I'm just going to share a little story and some information. Feel free to share what you want. No pressure on your part.

My attorney, who I met because the very first years in business, I got sued for some kind of copyright problem.

Adrian Per

00:39:36.170 - 00:39:36.770

Oh, no.

Chris Do

00:39:36.770 - 00:40:02.500

Not my fault. But, you know, there we are. So I've known him now for almost 30 years.

So he's seen this art from being a commercial artist service provider to being think. I don't think he understands what we do, but he's like, wait, and how much did they pay you? Wait, I don't even understand this because he's.

He knows about our business. He's in the business himself.

So I got paid $140,000 to work with a tech company, and it was kind of not like a selfie video, but it was not on my iPhone.

Adrian Per

00:40:02.580 - 00:40:02.980

Wow.

Chris Do

00:40:02.980 - 00:40:07.340

I edited myself. And I'm thinking back in the day, they'd pay you 100 grand for a.

Adrian Per

00:40:07.340 - 00:40:09.460

Music video, an entire music video, and.

Chris Do

00:40:09.460 - 00:40:12.180

You spend most of the money, if not all of it, on producing it.

Adrian Per

00:40:12.180 - 00:40:17.060

As a director, you only get 10%. And you cut into that trying to make it a better product.

Chris Do

00:40:17.140 - 00:40:21.780

Yeah. Because you're like, I want to make sure it's a great thing for the artist because I love them so much.

Adrian Per

00:40:21.780 - 00:40:22.260

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:40:22.820 - 00:40:45.920

And he. When I first told him about this, he couldn't get his head even wrapped around it. Like, what? I'm like, me neither.

What kind of dream world are we living in? And I understand this because I've been in the business for a long time.

There's the budget to produce the video or commercial, and then there's the media buy.

So they're actually getting a huge bargain because what they're doing is they're buying not only your production services, but they're buying your distribution.

Adrian Per

00:40:46.000 - 00:40:46.480

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:40:46.560 - 00:41:04.000

So the larger your following, the larger the engagement the viewership. That's what they're buying. So they're getting actually a great deal.

So more brands should support artists, and they're going to have a much more effective delivery vehicle for someone that people trust and like. And the message is authentic.

Adrian Per

00:41:04.080 - 00:41:18.560

Yeah, I agree. I think it's just the beginning.

I was lucky enough to go to Cannes lion this year, and I heard all of these brands talk about it, and it's just the beginning. I think it's a. A really effective use of their ad dollars. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:41:18.720 - 00:41:32.720

Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna talk to you a little bit in the time remaining here about your process.

I look at the things you do, it doesn't look like you could shoot it by yourself. And you can tell me otherwise. Cause there's all these creative angles. Unless you're running around setting crazy things.

Adrian Per

00:41:32.800 - 00:41:33.880

That's exactly what I'm doing.

Chris Do

00:41:33.880 - 00:41:34.360

Is it?

Adrian Per

00:41:34.360 - 00:41:34.720

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:41:34.720 - 00:41:35.560

You're just doing it yourself.

Adrian Per

00:41:35.560 - 00:41:35.900

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:41:36.370 - 00:41:58.130

The car mount or what? Oh, my God. Okay, I have to rephrase the question then. There seems to be a high effort into making a very specific type of film, and I appreciate it.

I recognize that I do not have that kind of energy to do that. Tell me a little bit about your creative process and how you actually pull these things off. The things that I'm seeing that are just done for you.

Adrian Per

00:41:58.210 - 00:42:43.250

Yeah. So my creative process, A to Z starts with, you know, it's going to be. I'm going to break it down really simple, y' all. It's the ideation process.

A lot of that comes from whether it's driving or listening to music, I'm drawn to a feeling. And if this song invokes a feeling or a thought, I write it down. Then I'll usually pick a song to write to, like an instrumental that I like.

And I use for all the brand partnerships. Of course, I don't use any copywritten music. It's all royalty free.

But because I'm just uploading it on my own channels without, you know, it's not getting. I'm not getting paid for it. I'll pick like a Jay Z song or something. I'll write my concept to that beat. Like a. Like a rapper. Embarrassingly enough.

Chris Do

00:42:43.250 - 00:42:45.530

Hey, like the video, it's coming right together.

Adrian Per

00:42:45.690 - 00:44:44.980

Like I said in the beginning, it's. It all stems from. From music. I'll write my script to it and then I'll put the shots to it. So I'll break it down. Like here I can actually show you.

So for this, there's this concept I have Called creative paralysis. And I have my script here, right here. And it says, this is for every creative who comes up with a million great ideas but fails to do any of them.

That's one sentence, but I'll break it up into two shots.

One where it's a profile shot, a wide shot of me as a profile, and I'm looking down at something I'm writing, and then I'll go from this angle and then I'll look forward but fails to do any of them. I'll complete the sentence and I'll just break it up between wide shot, close up, medium shot. And I do all this before I go out and film.

Basically my edit is done before I go out and shoot anything, which is something I call the paper edit. And then I'll go out, I'll do my shoot day, come back, ingest the footage, and I just drag the song in, which I've already.

I know exactly what parts of the song I'm gonna use, and it's just plug and play from there. People think it takes a long time. It takes a long time to get to the point, to know your own taste and what you're looking for.

That's something you have to refine over years. But since I know that, it's like I'm just dragging and dropping things into place.

I look at my shot list, I look at my script, and because I filmed it like, you know, 45 minutes ago, I just put them all in the place that it needs to be and it's done. I spend a lot on pre production, which helps my post production and my filming be super effective and streamlined.

If it wasn't for me doing my planning, I wouldn't be able to output as much as I do.

Chris Do

00:44:44.980 - 00:44:45.460

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:44:45.940 - 00:44:57.860

Literally, if I took something that I filmed and sent anybody my shot list and script with the music, anybody would be able to edit it just as fast, I think. Yeah, yeah.

Chris Do

00:44:57.860 - 00:44:59.140

You're working like a director.

Adrian Per

00:44:59.620 - 00:45:00.100

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:45:00.100 - 00:45:15.030

If you had to submit this to a client to approve and you got it all worked out, we know a day is expensive and very short. So you got to get your shots, you want to get your coverage.

And so, you know, you're kind of editing and writing in your mind because you know what you're doing through your experience, Right?

‍

Adrian Per

00:45:15.110 - 00:45:15.590

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:45:15.590 - 00:45:20.789

Okay. I mean, I even think of the dumb things like he's got to go over there and hit the record, come back here and get in the car.

Adrian Per

00:45:21.030 - 00:45:23.510

I do go through those things and that's painful.

Chris Do

00:45:23.510 - 00:45:32.640

Like I just tried to do dump you'll laugh. But I thought, hey, I'll try a weird hook where I'll walk into the camera and then I'll say something.

But the walking into the camera makes me forget what the hell I want to say.

Adrian Per

00:45:32.640 - 00:45:34.840

Oh, I still go through that. Okay, yeah.

Chris Do

00:45:34.840 - 00:45:55.440

All right. So seven takes later, I'm like, screw the walk in the camera.

I'm just going to say it's a camera now because that's as much creativity as I got for them right now. So I really do admire whether you do with the team or by yourself, even more by yourself that you're going to go through that. Can we set this up?

I hope I'm in focus. Okay, focus. Check the lighting exposure, get back in the car, pretend like there's not another thing, and you do your thing. That's one shot.

Adrian Per

00:45:56.330 - 00:46:19.290

I think because I don't use that much gear. I actually have a love hate relationship with gear. I just want a camera that works and that's good for that specific job.

I am not married to a single type of camera if the focus is on point. And I don't like, I use all autofocus. I don't use any lighting. I just go out there and the.

Chris Do

00:46:19.290 - 00:46:20.570

Light'S good in frame.

Adrian Per

00:46:21.370 - 00:47:04.000

And. And I also think it's easier to do it by yourself. I think it's less embarrassing to do it by yourself because you mess up.

Nobody's there to laugh at you. Nobody's there to judge you.

If somebody decided to shadow me for an entire day of filming, they'd probably be like, wow, okay, he actually really sucks at this. And then they see it put together, they're like, there's no way he got that out of what he was filming.

Yeah, it's actually, it's a painfully messy process because I'm not trained to be an actor. So I'm just looking at my script and usually it takes me five seconds to forget exactly what I looked at.

Chris Do

00:47:04.000 - 00:47:04.440

Yes.

Adrian Per

00:47:04.520 - 00:47:14.760

And then halfway through saying it, I got to look at it again. And it happens. To this day, it just gets easier because I've done it so much, but it hasn't helped my memory recall.

Chris Do

00:47:14.760 - 00:47:15.080

Sure.

Adrian Per

00:47:15.160 - 00:47:17.160

It's just something that I'm going to have to deal with forever.

Chris Do

00:47:18.000 - 00:47:23.040

Okay, so you're recording the audio live to the camera. You're not doing posts?

Adrian Per

00:47:23.040 - 00:47:32.080

No, I, I recorded. I wear a little lav microphone right here sometimes you could see it. Yeah, but yeah, no, I, I like recording active camera. Okay.

Chris Do

00:47:32.320 - 00:48:05.640

It's kind of like, are you familiar? Is it Dogma rules for filming do you know what I'm talking about?

There's a, there's a rule that a certain group of filmmakers signed on back in the day. Only available lighting, you can't manipulate the scene.

And we're going to make films like this to get into the spirit of making films and not getting caught in production. So available light, you can't manipulate the scene. So if that's there, you can't move that around. You have to frame around it. No superficial action.

Handheld camera. This in case you can't because you got a. It's just a one man deal. But you're very close to Dogma rules there.

Adrian Per

00:48:05.640 - 00:48:31.560

But even as a director, working with a lot of big artists and brands, like, I, I'm very much like that as well. I don't like overshooting. I like shooting for the edit. I don't need to do a bunch of different takes for safety. If I feel like we got it, we got it.

Let's move on. I like getting coverage and I like being efficient.

There's a lot of reason why a lot of directors do get a bunch of safety shots, but I've never been that type. Yeah, Like, I don't like beating something to death.

Chris Do

00:48:31.640 - 00:48:35.880

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know what you want. You've already worked it out in your mind, it's going to work.

Adrian Per

00:48:36.090 - 00:48:36.410

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:48:36.490 - 00:48:44.370

That's a sign of maturity and experience and I appreciate the economy of filmmaking. It's like very much Clint Eastwood style. Right. He doesn't do extra takes.

Adrian Per

00:48:44.370 - 00:48:45.290

Oh, I didn't know that.

Chris Do

00:48:45.290 - 00:48:47.450

Oh, yeah. They're like, can we do another? He's like, nope, we're moving on.

Adrian Per

00:48:47.610 - 00:49:00.090

That's crazy. I, I know Christopher Nolan does that a lot. He's one of my favorite directors.

And I know, like, when they were filming Oppenheimer, like, he wouldn't even look back at the footage at his DP shot. He'd be like, oh, if you think we got it, we're good, let's go.

Chris Do

00:49:00.090 - 00:49:00.530

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:49:00.530 - 00:49:03.840

And I'd be the same way. I'm like, all right, I trust you.

Chris Do

00:49:04.160 - 00:49:06.240

When you say I trust you, you're saying, I trust me.

Adrian Per

00:49:06.240 - 00:49:08.560

Oh, I'm talking to like a cinematographer.

Chris Do

00:49:08.560 - 00:49:09.480

Oh, okay. I see what you're saying.

Adrian Per

00:49:09.480 - 00:49:23.040

Yeah, yeah. Like, I'm hiring you because you're way better at this than I am.

And if you think we got the take and I feel like the, you know, our talent gave it what it needed. Like, let's go. Like, we don't need to do it two other times. Or extra angles. Like, yeah, keep Going.

Chris Do

00:49:23.200 - 00:49:28.400

I think it'd be funny if you did a video. I don't know if you've done it already, where you turn around like, we got it, and you're talking yourself. We got it.

Adrian Per

00:49:28.890 - 00:49:31.010

Yeah. I actually have. I've done some bloopers.

Chris Do

00:49:31.010 - 00:49:34.410

Yeah, it's just us. Yeah, we got it, right? The royal we.

Adrian Per

00:49:34.570 - 00:49:39.290

Yeah, it's. Yeah. I just talk to myself a lot. Like, I think this is good.

Chris Do

00:49:39.290 - 00:49:39.730

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:49:39.730 - 00:49:41.530

I hope it's good. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:49:41.610 - 00:50:00.500

I think it's really neat that we started a story with you talking about when you're 10 years old, listening to something from Dre and understanding the beats and imagining the visuals that leading you into maybe rapping and creating videos. And now you're not rapping, but it's. You're writing words in your mind and telling a story that way.

Adrian Per

00:50:00.500 - 00:50:34.030

Because all of my content, I talk locked into a tempo, actually. So the song dictates the speed of which I talk. I am not going out there not knowing the speed I'm talking, Dude, that's crazy. Yeah.

So, like, I'll listen to the song, right? And if I pull it out on my phone, I'll be like, okay, this is the BPM that we're talking at. I need to make sure I'm talking in this pocket.

And even if I need to switch songs, you know, I need to find songs that fit this tempo, which is probably, like, I don't know, 92 bpm or something.

Chris Do

00:50:34.590 - 00:50:36.190

That's what I was thinking. 92 bpm.

Adrian Per

00:50:36.190 - 00:50:42.830

Yeah. Feels. It feels a little faster than 90. Slower than 100. Yeah, yeah. And it sits in the pocket. I could get.

Chris Do

00:50:42.830 - 00:50:43.950

That is insane, bro.

Adrian Per

00:50:44.110 - 00:51:31.620

So there's a lot of. There's a lot of form, formulaic signs that I've done, whether it's framing. There's a method that I use also in portrait framing.

Horizontal, you have the rule of thirds, but when you're filming vertical, you don't really get the same rule of thirds framing. So it's a line straight down the middle.

And I thought a lot of people think that you need to look straight into the camera, and your eyes need to be equidistant from the center line.

When really, some of the most captivating paintings and photos, the lead eye is in the center of the frame, right down the middle, which draws your eyes to whoever's speaking or posing more than if they were to be completely symmetrical. Those are things that I think about.

Chris Do

00:51:32.340 - 00:51:33.780

I'm rewatching your reels later.

‍

Adrian Per

00:51:34.500 - 00:52:02.760

Yeah, no, there's. There's a Lot of little bits in that that I do do. Which if we were to talk about this, would be like a 10 hour conversation.

But yeah, there's a lot of dynamics in a song. Like when I let things hit, like after every four bars, like there will be like a switch, like a fast cuts before a long cut.

I let things ride out with the beat. I let things get fast with the beat. So many of it is music driven.

Chris Do

00:52:03.720 - 00:52:12.070

Okay, I know what our next video is going to be. Adrian breaks down his most popular videos and we. We just stare at them and you talk and you draw over it.

Adrian Per

00:52:12.070 - 00:52:13.030

That would be so fun.

Chris Do

00:52:13.030 - 00:52:14.550

I think that we gotta always wanted.

Adrian Per

00:52:14.550 - 00:52:16.470

To do that, but I would never knew how to do it.

Chris Do

00:52:16.790 - 00:52:17.750

We'll figure it out.

Adrian Per

00:52:17.750 - 00:52:18.430

That'd be sick.

Chris Do

00:52:18.430 - 00:52:43.760

We'll totally figure it out. Okay, before we get outta here, I wanna talk a little bit about your personal style. What informed this aesthetic? Can you let us know a little bit?

Because there's a lot of folks out there, friends of mine mostly, who say, chris, I don't know what to do with this, this being what they wear. So they wind up looking like J. Crew.

So as a man who's got a lot of personal style there, tell me about what you're putting together, what inspires it, and any kind of takeaways and.

Adrian Per

00:52:43.840 - 00:53:39.280

Thank you. But you as well.

Like, I know when I'm looking at you and how you dress, like, I think it's important, you know, it's just another way to express ourselves.

I don't think it's a make or break thing, but I think it helps for recognizing how somebody expresses themselves and like, you know, that this is just part of their brand, you know? Like, I am such a fan of hip hop. I would watch Pharrell through the years. Really, really big influence on me.

Kanye in the college dropout days, huge influence on me. And also just living in the Bay Area, we wear our beanies a certain way. We do things a little different.

We don't wear the same things that folks in New York are, which both are incredible. But it just comes from being a product of my environment and the things that I consumed. And it's just.

Yeah, it's just another way to show who I am, really. I don't put that much thought into it. I just wear things that I like.

Chris Do

00:53:39.440 - 00:53:45.040

And it's gonna frustrate guys like him. Like, you just come out and it just works. Right? But keep going, keep on.

Adrian Per

00:53:45.040 - 00:54:07.660

Yeah, it's just. It's changed over the years. Like, I liked showing which Brands I'm wearing to now, I just like showing.

I don't want to say not showing brands, but, like, I've matured out of being very loud and kind of just. Yeah. Just buying the things that I like versus what I think other people would like on me. Yeah.

Chris Do

00:54:08.060 - 00:54:19.380

I like that. What is your next guilty indulgence purchase? Because you mentioned getting iced out things and do you have something in mind? I'm just curious.

Just personal curiosity, actually.

Adrian Per

00:54:19.380 - 00:54:26.360

About to go do that right after this, but I'm not. What are you doing? I'm buying a new little camera. Like the little dji.

Chris Do

00:54:26.440 - 00:54:26.840

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:54:26.840 - 00:54:27.400

Osmo.

Chris Do

00:54:27.400 - 00:54:27.800

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:54:27.960 - 00:54:29.960

Should I feel guilty about it and.

Chris Do

00:54:29.960 - 00:54:31.400

No, no, it's.

Adrian Per

00:54:31.400 - 00:54:33.080

I feel guilty spending a dollar.

Chris Do

00:54:33.320 - 00:54:33.840

Do you?

Adrian Per

00:54:33.840 - 00:54:34.360

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:54:34.360 - 00:54:35.840

There's a reform Adrian here.

Adrian Per

00:54:35.840 - 00:54:41.760

This is like, because I'm still not far enough removed from having almost no money.

Chris Do

00:54:41.760 - 00:54:42.280

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:54:42.280 - 00:54:52.280

So that everything that I have right now, like, I tell my manager this all the time. Like, when he says, oh, we're doing this brand deal for this amount of money, I'm like, that's insane.

Chris Do

00:54:52.280 - 00:54:52.720

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:54:52.720 - 00:54:59.400

Like, but it also feels, like, so arbitrary. Back in the day, I would. While out, I would buy dumb things.

Chris Do

00:54:59.400 - 00:54:59.800

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:54:59.800 - 00:55:10.480

But now, now I just spend a lot of money on food. But no, I don't think I'm. I'm. I don't plan on buying anything irresponsible.

Chris Do

00:55:10.560 - 00:55:11.200

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:55:11.280 - 00:55:19.300

I bought a motorcycle actually, a couple of months ago. It just like, in falls, like, here it is. Boom. That's the most recent one that I did.

Chris Do

00:55:19.300 - 00:55:19.740

Okay.

Adrian Per

00:55:19.740 - 00:55:27.100

But in the future, no, I'm trying to save up to. To buy a home, which is going to take a lot out of me and a couple years. A few years.

Chris Do

00:55:27.100 - 00:55:27.660

You live in la?

Adrian Per

00:55:27.740 - 00:55:35.180

Maybe a handful of years. But no, I have to really limit the frivolous spending in order to get there.

Chris Do

00:55:36.380 - 00:55:44.690

Okay. Last. Before we get outta here, what's it like to be highlighted or featured from Instagram CEO? I mean, that's incredible.

Adrian Per

00:55:44.930 - 00:55:58.050

Yo. One morning I woke up and I seen a bunch of folks tag me and they're like, look at this. I got texts. They're like, dude, the CEO of.

Is it CEO or is it the head of Instagram?

Chris Do

00:55:58.130 - 00:55:58.810

The CEO.

Adrian Per

00:55:58.810 - 00:55:59.130

Okay.

Chris Do

00:55:59.130 - 00:55:59.490

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:55:59.650 - 00:56:11.730

They're like, I seen the CEO of Instagram highlight my profile. Wild. That was like. Even to this day, I don't think I've fully processed how crazy that is. I am incredibly honored.

Chris Do

00:56:12.020 - 00:56:12.300

Mm.

Adrian Per

00:56:12.300 - 00:56:22.860

I'm flattered. And it's just like, for the person who runs the platform, on the platform that changed my life, for them to Notice is crazy.

Chris Do

00:56:22.860 - 00:56:23.380

Yeah.

Adrian Per

00:56:23.380 - 00:56:28.340

It's like if Colonel Sanders. Oh, fuck it. The. The guy who runs kfc.

Chris Do

00:56:28.340 - 00:56:28.940

Yeah. The father.

Adrian Per

00:56:28.940 - 00:56:33.780

Like, if he found out that I love kfc, I'd be flattered. Or any of these things. Right.

Chris Do

00:56:33.780 - 00:56:34.180

If.

Adrian Per

00:56:34.660 - 00:57:27.300

It's just an insane feeling and I still don't think I've processed it enough, I responded, I was like, I'm insanely honored. Like, you're a real person. This is nuts. I also take it the way I take my losses. I think that's why I haven't processed it.

I try not to get too hyped on any award or accolade, which. It's a double edged sword. But with that specific moment as a creator on that platform, to have somebody like that know that I exist is just.

I would have never thought. When I first started this journey, I was like, there's no way, you know? And I woke up and it was just like, shocked. Yeah, I still am shocked.

But it all goes back to like, if a video doesn't do well, I kind of feel the same way. I'm just like, I don't really process it. I just keep going.

Chris Do

00:57:27.300 - 00:57:30.740

Yeah. I think that's the healthiest way to do this. It's a long, long journey.

Adrian Per

00:57:31.040 - 00:57:31.360

Yeah.

Chris Do

00:57:31.360 - 00:57:41.920

Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for doing this, for keeping it real, for sharing some personal stories and allowing us in on your journey.

For people who want to look you up or follow you, where should they go?

Adrian Per

00:57:42.320 - 00:57:50.040

Yeah, you can just follow me on any of the platforms at. OMG Adrian. Omg A D R I A N. Beautiful.

Chris Do

00:57:50.040 - 00:57:51.440

Beautiful. Thanks so much, man.

Adrian Per

00:57:51.440 - 00:57:51.880

Of course, man.

Chris Do

00:57:51.880 - 00:57:52.880

It was awesome, dude.

Adrian Per

00:57:54.240 - 00:57:57.560

Yo, what's up? It's Adrian Per and you are listening to the Future Future.

The Futur

00:58:05.320 - 00:58:49.570

Thanks for joining us. If you haven't already, subscribe to our show on your favorite podcasting app and get new insightful episodes from us every week.

The Future podcast is hosted by Chris do and produced and edited by Rich Cardona Media. Thank you to Adam Sanborn for her intro music. If you enjoyed this episode, then do us a favor by reviewing and rating our show on Apple Podcasts.

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