How I Died (And Lived to Tell the Tale)

The film

A Mexican Western told from a deathbed. A grandfather makes one last effort to connect with his grandson the only way he knows how: by telling him the story of how he died, and lived to tell the tale. Directed by Leonardo Giovanni Garcia; produced by Charles Gunn and Natalie Jenq at USC.

The production

Six days, shot across Los Angeles: practical locations around the city, a day of in-camera VFX on USC’s LED volume, and a production day on the Universal Studios backlot’s Old Mexico set. As lead producer, I owned the budget, locations, and department oversight, and worked closely on casting, all on a student budget where every line item is a negotiation.

Universal took months of back and forth. The ask, essentially, was whether one of the most famous backlots in the world would let a student film shoot its standing sets for a fraction of the standard rate. They said yes. Walking a full company onto Old Mexico, where studio Westerns have been shot for generations, was the kind of day nobody on that crew will forget.

The LED volume

For the grave sequence we went the other direction: no location at all. We brought in a virtual production technician, built the right desert environment for the scene, and shot in-camera VFX against USC’s LED wall with zero technical downtime across the day. Same producing discipline, pointed at a game engine instead of a permit office.

The people

The number I’m proudest of: over 80 cast and crew worked on this film, most volunteering their time, on a total budget of $13.5k. We closed out post the way the film deserved, with a live scoring session. The lesson that carries into everything I produce: premium production value is a planning problem, and people show up for material they believe in.