You don’t need film school to become a successful filmmaker.
Mike Wilds shares how he got started in the industry without going to film school. He recently launched his own production company and is working with brands like The LA Rams, Bose and K-Swiss.
Listen to Mike share how he’s been able to succeed on set without attending film school.
Show Links:
Email: basicfilmsbooking@gmail.com
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Become a Patron!Key Points:
1:14 – How He Got Started
4:17 – Transitioning from Basketball to Film Career
8:01 – Career Lowlight and Highlight
10:51 – Partnership with LA Rams
Skip to: 10:51 Partnership with LA Rams13:35 – Self Taught
16:07 – Working with Dyslexia
Skip to: 17:59 Starting Production Company Basic Films LA19:11 – Ideal Direction
24:00 – Trust Other People
26:00 – Where to Get Started
Full Transcript:
Mike Wilds: (00:00)
I would say recently, I felt like my 10,000 hours kicked in the beginning of this year. It’s funny because I’ve been doing it 10 years. So it was basically a 1,000 hours a year that I put in. And it’s funny that I said it, but it really felt like that because out of nowhere we started doing a short film budget. And then it just seemed after that things started trickling in. We did the bows with Alex and Felix and Target. We did the Rams and we’re also dropping a case switch documentary that I co-directed
Tanya Musgrave: (00:30)
Welcome to the Practical Filmmaker. An educational podcast brought to you by The Filmmaker Institute and Sunscreen Film Festival, where industry professionals talk nuts and bolts and the steps they took to find their success today. On today’s show Mike Wilds chats about his journey from pro basketball player to climbing the ranks of Hollywood as a self-made filmmaker. Find the full transcripts and more at thepracticalfilmmaker.com. I’m your host, Tonya Musgrave and today we have Mike Wilds. Self-made filmmaker of Basic Films LA most recently known for his black history month spot hosted by the LA Rams. Welcome to the show.
Mike Wilds: (01:02)
Hey, how you doing?
Tanya Musgrave: (01:04)
So where did you start out and how did you end up here? I hear it’s a very interesting story.
Mike Wilds: (01:09)
A lot of people don’t know that I’m actually six, eight, right. So my journey started through basketball and sports and things like that.
Tanya Musgrave: (01:18)
All right.
Mike Wilds: (01:19)
In high school, I ran around with a lot of cameras and I was always into cameras and cam corders. And I wanted those things for Christmas. Never really knew why, but it makes a whole lot of sense now.
Tanya Musgrave: (01:33)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (01:33)
Went and played seven years overseas. I had a whole basketball career and then I actually found film again when I came back. It was just right there in my face. I remember like it was yesterday. I was working out at the Santa Monica stairs with a friend and I seen all these white trucks. I seen all these guys and I seen the whole big deal. And I was just like, “That’s what I want to do.”
Mike Wilds: (01:59)
But it just looks cool. That’s the movies.
Tanya Musgrave: (02:02)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Wilds: (02:03)
So from there, it just basically… I just grew and grew and before you know it, I was shooting small videos and then hopped on a show at NBC. Was there for about five years.
Tanya Musgrave: (02:14)
Okay.
Mike Wilds: (02:15)
And just continue my journey. And now we are where we are now. I started Basic Films in 2019 and I just do things just to do it. By faith and by the grace of God, things just always work out. They always just pan out.
Tanya Musgrave: (02:31)
Dude, dude. So you came from a physical medium to a visual and creative medium, that’s quite the pivot.
Mike Wilds: (02:39)
It is.
Tanya Musgrave: (02:41)
Is there any particular passion there that might overlap? Was that a rough transition for you?
Mike Wilds: (02:48)
Actually, it wasn’t. And that’s the thing I tell people. For most people in life, they can’t find one thing they love in life. So I’ve physically found two things I fell in love with. I fell in love with basketball, then fell in love with film.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:05)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (03:06)
It wasn’t hard for me because it was just something that I feel was already inside of me.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:10)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (03:10)
It just had to come up.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:12)
I think you’re lucky that it happened sequentially and it wasn’t 10 years in between you figured it out, what you wanted to do?
Mike Wilds: (03:23)
To be honest, it was a couple of years. So it really wasn’t a big gap like you said.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:26)
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Wilds: (03:27)
Me being 38, if you go back then and me being 26, 27 years and that means that right now I would have just started to do what I have to do versus me been doing this for 10 years.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:41)
Yeah, dude, that’s amazing. That show at NBC, you said you were there for five years?
Mike Wilds: (03:46)
Yes.
Tanya Musgrave: (03:46)
When you land something in the film industry and it’s an extended amount of time. How did that happen? That particular pivot point from, “I’m a basketball player to, I find myself on an NBC show.” Because if I were to think back on when I first tried to go into film and I went to film school.
Mike Wilds: (04:05)
Right.
Tanya Musgrave: (04:06)
I remember sitting on my bed, I’m going to cold call this random studio. And I cold called them and it was a disaster. It was an absolute disaster. How did that pivot point happen for you?
Mike Wilds: (04:20)
Mind you, I’m still in love with it. I have a camera. I’m still shooting little videos here and there.
Tanya Musgrave: (04:25)
Right.
Mike Wilds: (04:25)
I met a good friend of mine who passed away, but Dabo, I took him under my wing and he was just the person who was just out talking. And he met a driver.
Tanya Musgrave: (04:35)
All right.
Mike Wilds: (04:37)
So he started driving for this guy, but the guy was like, “Man, I like you and I want you to film some stuff for me.” And honest to God and literally he was telling me about it, but he’s like, “Man, I don’t, I don’t know how to do this stuff. I just know how to film. They’re not going to hire me.” So he was like, “Just send your resume.” So I sent him my resume, mind you, I had over 300 call sheets. I’m doing PA jobs for everybody.
Mike Wilds: (05:03)
So they just needed a PA.
Tanya Musgrave: (05:05)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (05:05)
So when they see my resume, they’re like, “Oh.” I remember the first thing I got to the lot was like, “Oh, he’s not green.” So literally they thought that I was my friend. So my friend, yeah. Rest in peace. He didn’t want to really do it. And they end up hiring me.
Tanya Musgrave: (05:19)
All right.
Mike Wilds: (05:20)
He picked up all the talent to come into the backlog. So that’s pretty much how I got in there once I got in, yeah, that was it. I’m one of those types of people, once I get in, I going to maneuver and I’m going to work my way and figure it out. And then I did PA. What’s interesting though, is that I was PAing there for two years and an incident happened and literally, you know what I say,
Mike Wilds: (05:45)
“You know what? I can’t take this.” And I literally walked off that set. I literally was just like, I put my walkie up, I ran into two or three people. I said, “You know what? I love you guys. It’s been real. But this-” As a PA people think they can treat you a certain way. I stood up and mind you let them see. I’m like, “You know what? I don’t need this.” I walked off. So mind you, I didn’t work there for six months and it goes by. So one of my good friends who randomly worked on a show that I went to junior high school with. So these things are like crazy. So [Alany 00:06:25] was the head utility.
Tanya Musgrave: (06:24)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (06:24)
But I randomly went to junior high school with, out of all the shows.
Tanya Musgrave: (06:26)
No, get out.
Mike Wilds: (06:27)
He calls me back and then they call me back. They’re like, “You know, could you come in?” And the thing was that they didn’t fire me. So I quit. So it was like, “Okay, well, can you come back?”
Tanya Musgrave: (06:36)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (06:37)
So I ended up coming back and doing another three years there, but then I would was a camera utility. So it was a little different, obviously making way more money.
Tanya Musgrave: (06:47)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (06:48)
And it was funny because it was just, I got to deal with the cameras. I felt like I was part of the real crew.
Tanya Musgrave: (06:53)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (06:54)
I did that and then we parted ways. That’s pretty much how that journey happened, but it was literally how you said it was like. These are things that happens to me, going somewhere and having a friend saying something, speaking up, they’re like, “Oh.” And I care.
Mike Wilds: (07:12)
I tell other people, this is who I am outside of film.
Tanya Musgrave: (07:16)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (07:16)
I carry myself a certain way. I treat people a certain way.
Tanya Musgrave: (07:19)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (07:20)
Outside of film. So what that does is it carries on to the set. It carries on to when it’s time to make stuff.
Tanya Musgrave: (07:27)
Absolutely.
Mike Wilds: (07:27)
And then people are willing to appreciate that because that can take you a long way. As we know, we’ve all worked with a-holes and you’ll be like, “I don’t never want to work with that person again.”
Tanya Musgrave: (07:38)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (07:39)
And then there’s people who you work with, you’re like, “You know what, I really enjoy working with that person. I definitely want to work with that person again.” So that was pretty much how I landed and the whole NBC thing came about.
Tanya Musgrave: (07:51)
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So from PA to utility, to directing and DPing your own stuff, what’s a highlight and a low light of your experience as a self-starter?
Mike Wilds: (08:05)
Okay. Well, I’m going to start with the low light first. I’m going to just say it was being that we’re in the era of social media, you follow other filmmakers and you follow other peers. And then soon as you see, someone not as good as you just keep it real and they’re doing things and they’re moving and you’re like, “Wow, it’s just like, is this really for me?” But if you start to think to yourself and mind you, once every two years, I’ll go through a block, like, “Well, I can’t create.” I wouldn’t touch my computer. I would just back away. And maybe I didn’t get a job for two, three months. You know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (08:39)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Wilds: (08:40)
And I would just still go and just feel, it would be like those little jobs here and there, $150, you know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (08:44)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (08:46)
So that was the moment. Also getting my camera stolen. Coming out on mother’s day, I had took my brother out. He was in town and I go to my truck and went to a bar when I come home, everything is gone. So all this stuff is happening. It was a lot of stuff, you know what I mean? And I had another car. It was a BMW. That car stolen. House going on fire. So it was a lot of [crosstalk 00:09:09] that was just like, “Is this what you really want to do?”
Tanya Musgrave: (09:12)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (09:13)
I feel like God was just like, “Yo, I’m going to put you through this obstacle, because if this is what you really do, then you’ll get through it.”
Tanya Musgrave: (09:20)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (09:20)
Most people will say, “I’m okay. I don’t want to do anything more.” But you know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (09:24)
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Wilds: (09:26)
But I feel like those are the moments where you, like I said, you just feel, why can’t I get that artist? Or why can’t I get this big break? Or why can’t I get these budgets?
Tanya Musgrave: (09:37)
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Wilds: (09:39)
You know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (09:40)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (09:40)
Those are the low moments. And then the high moments is, I would say recently, I felt like my 10,000 hours kicked in the beginning of this year. It’s funny because I’ve been doing it 10 years. So especially like a thousand hours a year that I put in. And it’s funny that I said it, but it really felt like that because out of nowhere, we started doing a short film budget. Me and Tim and Sam worked on and it wasn’t, it wasn’t big. It was seven, 8,000. But coming from somebody who was getting 1500, you’re like, “Okay, well it’s starting to work.”
Tanya Musgrave: (10:12)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (10:14)
And then it just seemed like after that things started trickling in. We did the bows with Alex and Felix.
Tanya Musgrave: (10:21)
Yeah, I saw that.
Mike Wilds: (10:22)
We did that. We did the Rams.
Tanya Musgrave: (10:23)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (10:24)
But we do have multiple videos. And we’re also dropping a case switch documentary that I co-directed, Tim [inaudible 00:10:31].
Tanya Musgrave: (10:31)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (10:34)
Baron Davis was a director.
Tanya Musgrave: (10:38)
Okay.
Mike Wilds: (10:38)
And it started, why G? And it gives the whole culture of case switch.
Tanya Musgrave: (10:40)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (10:40)
So these are the moments that are highlights for me. Just these moments that are maybe two months ago or a month ago. You know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (10:50)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (10:50)
Just to know that.
Tanya Musgrave: (10:50)
All right. So LA Rams hosted a partnership with black filmmakers in LA to tell black stories, tell me the story, how you landed that spot?
Mike Wilds: (10:57)
Well, once again, it was one of those jobs I have to take. That’s a good friend of mine, his names Watt Sticks.
Tanya Musgrave: (11:03)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (11:03)
He runs a program where he gives out food. He’s a good advocate. Watts, Los Angeles giving back to his community.
Tanya Musgrave: (11:10)
Nice.
Mike Wilds: (11:11)
So he randomly called me one day. He was like, “Yo, I need a piece done for a school.” He was like, “I got 1200. That’s what I got.” And me being the person that I am, I was like, “Fine. Me, a sound guy and one of my producer friends, Champ went over and we also let, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Ricky, he’s the editor-
Tanya Musgrave: (11:32)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (11:32)
We let Ricky edit it. So that happened. And we didn’t think nothing of it. We just did it. And it’s just things you do. You just do it.
Tanya Musgrave: (11:40)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (11:42)
So he hit me out the blue was like, “Yo, the Rams, I gave them the information. They’re looking for a black director and I gave them your information.”
Tanya Musgrave: (11:51)
Oh yeah!
Mike Wilds: (11:53)
So I’m just like, “It’s happening.” But then couple of weeks go by. So you know when you don’t realize it, but you’re realizing maybe they just pick somebody else, right.
Tanya Musgrave: (12:04)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (12:05)
So the day after my birthday, I get a text which is December 29th. And it’s just saying, “Hey, this is Kim from the Los Angeles Rams. I got your number from Stitch… They got your number from [inaudible 00:12:18] Lisa and he went down and we’re just interested in your story. We want to be able to tell these stories. We want to use you, can you send me some, this, this, that.”
Mike Wilds: (12:27)
And then it was just on from there.
Tanya Musgrave: (12:29)
Bro…
Mike Wilds: (12:29)
And then we just kept going. So it was really… It wasn’t nothing that it just happened. I felt like it was fake.
Tanya Musgrave: (12:38)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (12:38)
Like I said, those hours. And we nailed it as a unit. A lot of gifts, everybody and my team credit because not one man can ever do anything great. You know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (12:51)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (12:51)
You can [inaudible 00:12:51] in this world, it takes a team and I’ve played basketball.
Tanya Musgrave: (12:56)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (12:56)
So I understand the whole format of teamwork for clapping for others when you’re on the bench.
Tanya Musgrave: (13:02)
Absolutely.
Mike Wilds: (13:02)
Taking charges, just root your team on. So I put together the right team and we really executed it. From shooting it from questions from editing, just from coloring. It was amazing.
Tanya Musgrave: (13:17)
I think you need to give yourself a little bit of credit too though. Because hard work begets hard work. You’re not going to get where you’re at right now by not hustling. You know what I mean?
Mike Wilds: (13:30)
Right.
Tanya Musgrave: (13:31)
I heard through the grapevine that you bought your own steady cam and taught yourself how to use it. Is that true?
Mike Wilds: (13:38)
I did. Yeah. It’s a lot of stuff that we have equipment. It was just a lot of stuff that I just want to try.
Tanya Musgrave: (13:44)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (13:44)
That’s the whole purpose of Basic Films. Because I’ve thought about it. It was just, I would go out for beds and people be like, “Oh yeah, you know, we chose this BPR. We have somebody directing.” So I just thought to myself, I said, “What if I just create the company and then you have to come to me for the company and then I hire out? So that, which means either I’m picking the people who get it done so I can choose who directs it but it still comes through the company, which means it’s almost like cutting out the middleman. So it’s just, come straight to the source.
Mike Wilds: (14:14)
And me, like you said, I have a hustle but I have a natural hustle where it’s organic. It’s not like how some people would then beg you or always eat it. It’s that’s not me being.
Tanya Musgrave: (14:25)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (14:25)
My thing is timing, space and energy and that’s how it works. But yeah, a lot of stuff I’ve taught myself and the thing about it, to be honest, I do give myself credit. But like I said, it’s just… I’m a humble being.
Tanya Musgrave: (14:42)
People love working with that too.
Mike Wilds: (14:45)
And the thing about this world is, people don’t give people credit.
Tanya Musgrave: (14:47)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (14:48)
They don’t. In this world, they’ll suck the blood out of you and then be like, “Yeah.” Well the person will be like, “Who did this? Well, I did this by myself.” Knowing that you have somebody shoot it, knowing that you have somebody edit it, knowing you have somebody light it. And I just feel like that’s what we’re missing is just like I said, this is the type of person that I am outside of film.
Tanya Musgrave: (15:06)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (15:07)
I’m giving people their credit and that’s just what it is.
Tanya Musgrave: (15:11)
Yeah. I think that’s great because a lot of people will just be like, “Oh no, you know, it’s such a hard business. They’re not going to want to give you the time of day.” All that stuff. But more often than not, I come across people who love to give credit where credit is due and all that stuff. But I mean, this is the thing in the world in general, especially with social media. Like, “No, actually, you know, I’ve got Michael helping me out with marketing. David’s helping me out with, his other thing, you know, Carla is helping…” There is a team and it’s a big deal. So I props to for giving props.
Mike Wilds: (15:44)
Yeah. For sure. That’s very important to me. Because it keeps people sanity it just keeps people going because I feel like I came from a place of underdogs where people overlooked it and wasn’t too sure. So if you’re in my circle, I want to make sure that you don’t feel that way because that’s just not a good place to be. It’s not a good place to people for people not to feel like nobody appreciates you or not to give you credit.
Tanya Musgrave: (16:07)
I read in an interview that you did with a Voya Delay-
Mike Wilds: (16:11)
Yes.
Tanya Musgrave: (16:11)
You mentioned that you have dyslexia.
Mike Wilds: (16:14)
Yes.
Tanya Musgrave: (16:15)
It’s something that, especially for a visual medium for an artist, it can be a kryptonite or it can be your super power. How does the way that you see things empower your work?
Mike Wilds: (16:24)
You took the words. I just told my, my grandmother it’s like I have a superpower. Like a blind man. Right. So he can’t see, but his other senses are so strong that it’s almost incredible. His touch, his sense of smell, his energy. And I felt like it was a gift of course and a curse. But the gift is that I recognize who are good at other things. So that’s a gift that I had to know that, you know what, that person is really good and you fit with what I have going and I’m going to make sure that you’re good. And that’s just what it is. And people understand that, you know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (17:04)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (17:04)
It’s just like you said, I feel like I have these other super powers, which is being able to treat people good, being able to know who’s really good and being able to put all these people into one box.
Tanya Musgrave: (17:14)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (17:15)
You know what I mean?
Tanya Musgrave: (17:15)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (17:17)
Is to be able to get something good out of it.
Tanya Musgrave: (17:18)
Yeah but you’ve also got some strong visual skills though. I’ve seen your Instagram-
Mike Wilds: (17:21)
Thank you.
Tanya Musgrave: (17:26)
And I actually read a study, dyslexia it kind of happens with the left side of the brain, but right brain is so creative and so this is so much stronger because of it. In elementary school, when I first learned about what dyslexia was, it was because of a museum, of a dyslexic painter. Her imagery was incredible. You’re in great company anyway, like DaVinci, like Picasso and that kind of thing.
Mike Wilds: (17:52)
Right.
Tanya Musgrave: (17:53)
You’ve got a good visual style too, you know?
Mike Wilds: (17:55)
Thank you so much.
Tanya Musgrave: (17:56)
You’ve mentioned Basic Films LA, tell me about your company.
Mike Wilds: (17:59)
I started Basic Films LA in 2019. Got to go on paperwork-wise and all that. And then, like I said, I didn’t know what I was going. I had a few friends, we always talked about it. We did those small projects here and you guys are doing small projects. So we said, “Let’s just figure it out. Let’s let’s make an alliance with each other.” From there we just been going, but we are a production company here in Los Angeles. We can take care of any need, it doesn’t matter. We just need to know what the budget is, you know? So yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Mike Wilds: (18:30)
We pride ourselves in, self-service. Making sure that the client gets what they need, providing a service for production, whether it’s a wedding, whether it’s a funeral, whether it’s a feature film, a birthday party, whatever you need. I’ll tell people now it’s like, “Well, I can’t do it, but we’ll have somebody to come take care of it.” So we just make sure that we pretty much take care of everything and we make sure we provide a good service, a good communication base. And that’s pretty much it. It’s like I said all the time, we’re basic, but we’re far from basic.
Tanya Musgrave: (19:06)
Nice. You guys have done music videos, you’ve done commercials. Now short films. For independent filmmakers, we’re always told to specialize in one specific area. Like, “I want to be known for commercial or what have you.” What would be the most ideal direction for you that you could go?
Mike Wilds: (19:23)
Ideal? I would say commercials. Commercials and producing films.
Tanya Musgrave: (19:27)
Nice.
Mike Wilds: (19:28)
At the end of the day, it’s just that, in my mind that’s the NBA for me. I tell people when it’s shoot day it’s game time. When we get on set, we’re in a game. It’s game time. So we’re playing like we’re taking… Time, maybe we might lose time. So we might be down a little bit, but then we want to come back. So that’s how I think about it. So yeah, that’s pretty much how I think about it.
Tanya Musgrave: (19:53)
What this reminds me of, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Salomon Ligthelm, him he has this crazy visual side. I remember him way back. I probably wow… I don’t know, like 2007, I found him while I was in college. And he started off in sound and in graphics and photography, but I remember him… They did a short film. It was one of the first crowdsourced, short films. It was called Anomaly. He took that style into doing his high-end commercials and he is that director that… Oh my gosh, you talk about the most amazing commercial style. He’s got his pick of gigs because of that. I would wish that for you, for sure. That’d be amazing.
Mike Wilds: (20:37)
Yeah. So even with his style I think, and this is funny because I don’t watch a lot of people. I don’t watch. If there’s movies, I’ll watch them. But if there’s things… I tell a lot of producers and my partners they’ll be like, “Oh, you know remember it?” And I’ll just be like, “No.” If we do it our way, we’ll always have a style.
Tanya Musgrave: (20:57)
You cut out the noise.
Mike Wilds: (20:58)
Yeah. You cut the noise out, but mind you, there are certain movements or there are certain things that we take from others because in this world we live in, that’s how it continues to go because somebody took a style from somebody and then they just remixed it. And whether it’s a art or architecture, a food, a tennis shoe, whatever it is, people take and then they just flip it. So I feel like I really pride myself on, whatever comes to mind. And simplicity to it.
Tanya Musgrave: (21:27)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (21:27)
It doesn’t have to be crazy, but it just has to be simple but sometimes simple is what you need. I’m looking at it now. Even all the videos, there’s a lot of wild videos, but the new Drake video, you watch it there’s no glitches there’s no sound effects there’s no noise. People are not going crazy. It’s simple and it tells a story. And I feel as a filmmaker, you look at the movies, you look at commercials, they’ve been so simple for years. That’s the format of them. Sometimes they can get a little crazy here and there, but for the most part, movies and commercials are pretty simple. So I feel like that’s the lane that we’ll find ourselves in and we’ll be more successful.
Tanya Musgrave: (22:13)
So one of the things that I do is photography and I remember having a lot of pressure to being the latest and greatest and like, “Oh, we want this super creative shot. We want all this stuff.” And I remember coming across this one, it was a photography couple who was talking about, “Once we let go of the idea of having to have the hottest, latest, most unique look and we had like all this pressure to come up with something new and great, what we realized is when we pulled back from that and provided a consistency of “You are going to get this.”” They had shots that were essentially, the same shots but you never thought about it because they were different couples. They were different couples.
Mike Wilds: (22:54)
Right.
Tanya Musgrave: (22:54)
There’s different scenery and all that stuff, but they were just bent on being consistent and good. Once that pressure was off, it was fantastic.
Mike Wilds: (23:02)
Once you take the pressure off and you look around… I have peers that I’ve started with and I look at some of their work and they’re doing good, but at the same time, it’s like, “Where’s your work going?” You’re still shooting the same type of videos that doesn’t look the same. You probably getting paid, but where is it going? Is it going to the next level? This year we have [inaudible 00:23:24], like I said, the Rams, Case Switch. Just more to come. We’re doing masterclasses, things like that. We shoot these things and this, but what are we doing to push us to go up? To me, the goal is to get to the NBA. The NBA is the big screen. The NBA is the credits, the billboards. Those are the things that you reach for.
Mike Wilds: (23:45)
If you’re not reaching for it and you just think it’s cool and you want to just do videos, then that’s fine. Like Tim said, “If you want me to put your camera on and just record something, that’s cool.” But if you want to make good stuff, then I feel like you have to take that next step and you have to also trust others. That’s a big step with this. You have to trust other people.
Tanya Musgrave: (24:06)
Preach.
Mike Wilds: (24:07)
I had that for a long time I was trying to figure out like, “Well, How am I going to go find somebody who edits like this? How am I going somebody who wants to cut?” And literally when I just let go… So it ended up, my first editor was like the Kid India who felt me, gave him a chance. He kill edit. It just so happened that was his first big 6K video that he’d edited.
Mike Wilds: (24:29)
And then from there we have Ricky now and then we have other editors, but it was just a point of, it took that one kid for me to let go and say, “Hey, I’m going to send you this footage, send it back, edit it.” And I was just like, “Wow.” It feels good to give him my notes and say, “Hey, you know, what about this and what about that?” And then they say, “No problem. I can fix it.” You know what I mean? But you just to trust.
Tanya Musgrave: (24:56)
Yeah, absolutely. So we have a couple listener questions from our Instagram @practicalfilmmaker, “What is a lucky break that you feel like you didn’t deserve and a break you didn’t get, but you felt you deserved?”
Mike Wilds: (25:09)
So a lucky break that I felt like I got and didn’t deserve… If I’m being honest there ain’t no breaks that I didn’t feel like I didn’t get that I didn’t deserve.
Tanya Musgrave: (25:18)
Good.
Mike Wilds: (25:18)
To be honest. I feel like I deserve all of it because my heart is into it. And then what was the next question?
Tanya Musgrave: (25:25)
A break that you didn’t get, but you felt you did deserve.
Mike Wilds: (25:28)
That probably was recently. We literally got a MasterCard LMA. She’s a singer who sings Buddha. We didn’t get it. MasterCard came in as the last minute and they took it away and I can’t remember. I’m just being honest, I can’t remember, you got a lot of stuff and it’s probably something in there that I felt like I should have got that I didn’t deserve.
Tanya Musgrave: (25:50)
Well, it’s good that you don’t dwell on that because, yeah, who wants to dwell on that anyway?
Mike Wilds: (25:54)
Right.
Tanya Musgrave: (25:54)
All right. And then the last one, it says I don’t have enough money for film school. Where should I start?
Mike Wilds: (26:00)
Start with investing in yourself. My first camera was a Zoom camera. Do you remember those? It was a pocket Zoom. So it was literally a little white camera and then it had a red button. They sold them at Costco. They were a hundred bucks. And you can record on it. Now I don’t know it was… Oh, no what was it? A flip? It was probably a flip.
Tanya Musgrave: (26:19)
Oh, no, no, no. I think I do remember those. Yes.
Mike Wilds: (26:22)
And then you literally hit a button and then a USB comes out and you stick it in. With that being said, I bought a desktop at the time. It was 400, Balta Flip, started going on iMovie and I started from there. This day and age, you can be a filmmaker and you can do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to go to film school. You just have to have the desire. I think that’s more important than anything. I actually really wanted to do it because you’ll figure it out. Like anything else you do in life, you’ll figure out how to get it done. And you have so many things like Instagram and YouTube nowadays that wasn’t like that for me coming up. If you want to go to film school, that’s fine. But if not, come work for Basic Films and basically you’ll be in film school..
Tanya Musgrave: (27:05)
Nice. Nice. All right. What current project are you excited about?
Mike Wilds: (27:09)
This Case Switch. The fact that I actually was a DP, but I work my ass off and everybody over there seeing that, and they actually gave me co-director credit.
Tanya Musgrave: (27:20)
Yes!
Mike Wilds: (27:22)
We posted dropping on complex on the 15th. Like I said, it has wide G but he’s the owner of the Case Swiss. Baron Davis is director, executive producer, Tim banks, he helped me DP. And Sam was our AC and it’s just big. It’s just big because it’s for the culture. It’s a monumental piece that will let you know it’s LA. It’s who I am is what I am, from South central so it really speaks to me about things that’s going on and the culture and you look back and to be a part of it, it’s just really huge for me. You know what I’m saying? To actually have that title co-direct, which doesn’t mean a lot, but it means the world to me.
Tanya Musgrave: (28:02)
Yeah, absolutely. So how do people find that and find you or follow your work?
Mike Wilds: (28:07)
You can go to mikewilds_ and that’s my personal IG. The production company is basicfilmsla and you can follow that. And if you guys have any questions or want to talk or any questions, basicfilmsbooking@gmail.com, also mike@basicfilmsla.com. You can find me there. So I’m an open book. If anybody wants to ask any questions or have any concerns, find me there. You can find the work there. Also mikewilds.net that’s where you can look at my real life.
Tanya Musgrave: (28:40)
Yeah. Yeah. What questions should I have asked you?
Mike Wilds: (28:44)
Is there anybody that I would love to work or collaborate with?
Tanya Musgrave: (28:48)
Okay. All right. All right. Yeah. Consider the question asked.
Mike Wilds: (28:52)
So I would say, who I would want to work with is Jordan Peele.
Tanya Musgrave: (28:57)
Okay.
Mike Wilds: (28:57)
I have stuff that I’m putting together and it’s almost like it’s a suspense shooter story based in LA. It’s a suspense. So I would really like Jordan Peele to come board and I feel like if he was a part of this, it would obviously be the next level if Jordan was om our project, obviously. But Jordan Peele is somebody that I would want to work with. And the late great John Singleton, but rest in peace. That’s pretty much it. Artists wise, obviously a Drake or Kendrick Lamar. That would be great to get, one of those two under my belt when it comes to music video or any kind of content, but pretty much, yeah. That’s pretty much it
Tanya Musgrave: (29:37)
Drake brings on upcoming talent like the 22 year old who directed his, Nice For What video and God’s Plan. I can’t remember her name right now.
Mike Wilds: (29:49)
Yeah. Yeah. I know who you’re talking about Cecil Canada.
Tanya Musgrave: (29:50)
Yeah.
Mike Wilds: (29:50)
She’s right under- [crosstalk 00:29:53] Yeah.
Tanya Musgrave: (29:53)
I really appreciate the time that you’ve taken to talk to us.
Mike Wilds: (29:56)
No worries.
Tanya Musgrave: (29:56)
I love it. I love the fact that you have figured this out on your own.
Mike Wilds: (30:01)
That’s it, man. You just got to just work hard and continue to go. And have faith-
Tanya Musgrave: (30:05)
Nice.
Mike Wilds: (30:06)
And treat people good.
Tanya Musgrave: (30:07)
Nice. Thank you so much. If you enjoyed this interview and are curious what Mike’s favorite gear is, subscribe to our Patreon page. Follow us right here and check out more episodes at thepracticalfilmmaker.com. If you have comments or know someone who would be a great guest on our show, send in your suggestions to tanya@thepracticalfilmmaker.com. Thanks for joining us. Be well and God bless. We’ll see you next time on The Practical Filmmaker.