Meet Michael Alfuso | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Alfuso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
#1) Set goals. Surviving in a creative and self-driven career, let alone thriving, is a taxing endeavor, and it’s all too easy to burn out and change careers altogether. By setting goals for oneself, at least the wacky travel schedules, budget negotiations, and editing black holes at midnight are all building towards something you chose. Focusing solely on the task in front of you, day after day, month after month, can get you mentally stuck and lead to burnout. Setting goals for oneself helps to game-ify the process and remind us to see the bigger picture that we’re working towards.

#2) Play. Everyone needs fun in their life, whatever that may look like to them, to balance out the responsibilities of life/career. My play is mountain biking, snorkeling and outside time with my family and friends.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
For the past six years, I’ve dedicated my professional career towards doing “work for good”, rather than just “good work”. With a passion for wildlife and preservation of the natural world, I’ve worked extensively with the American Wild Horse Campaign as a cinematographer & editor, served as camera operator / additional cinematography on multiple feature length documentaries, and had the privilege of serving as 2nd Unit Director on the AppleTV/Amazon Prime film, The End Of Medicine.

From the age of 16, I knew I wanted to pursue filmmaking as a career. Since then, it was a matter of learning as much as I could, surrounding myself with good and talented people, and eventually building something I could be proud of. I began my career in college making action sports videos in the downhill skateboarding scene for companies like Abec11, Sector 9, and Arbor skateboards. For about five years this allowed me to travel, build my foundation of technical skills, and receive a crash course in all aspects of documentary filmmaking. These were extremely formative years for me and I’m very grateful for the creative autonomy this experience gave me. Although, I was tired of working by myself on nearly every project. During a few periods in my career I’ve had to take desk jobs to pay the bills, which is common for creatives at all stages of life, but starting my own business to provide some level of autonomy, collaboration, and creative freedom was always the goal. Everyone has to work. If it’s within your power, it may as well be for something that you believe in and care about.

Today, I am Co-founder and Director at Outpost Digital Cinema, a documentary and commercial production team which focuses on authentic and adventurous stories in the outdoor & outdoor adjacent genres. Together with my co-founder & business partner, Jonathan Park, we have produced stories across a wide variety of subject matter, made some wonderful partnerships, and hopefully made a positive impact along the way.

The two most valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way are:
#1) Choose people over profits. Relationships and communication make the world go round, so we choose to focus on those first and foremost and money second. This makes for a slightly longer road to travel, but a much happier and satisfying journey in the long term.
#2) Don’t stop, get creative. Too many talented people give up when it gets difficult. The difference between “doing” and “not doing” is simply not stopping. Life, career, one’s craft and relationships will all change over time (as they should). If your craft still brings you joy, then keep moving. If not, then get creative, pivot if necessary and keep on going in a more positive direction.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One experience in San Diego which I always recommend friends from out of town try is snorkeling La Jolla Cove / La Jolla Shores. It’s always a blast to see people’s first reactions to the sea lion colony or the leopard sharks swimming around them. Next I’d take folks to Gelato 101 in Encinitas, a family family owned shop, where they have great chai lattes and fantastic acai bowls. After that I’d recommend packing a sandwich from Prager Brothers Artisan Bread and hitting the trails at Torey Pines for a sunset hike.

A few other spots I like to share with friends from out of town are Campfire restaurant in downtown Carlsbad, Jenny’s Ice Cream (amazing vegan options), Lake Hodges for a mountain bike ride, and a hike to the top of La Costa Preserve to see all of North County. I think North County San Diego has some of the best outdoor areas interwoven through the residential areas. Plenty of hiking and biking trails, and exponentially more breweries between them.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The biggest shoutout is to my parents, Joe & Darlene, who taught me from a young age how to feel, that self expression comes in many forms, and how to follow one’s dreams fearlessly. I am incredibly blessed to stand on the foundation they helped me build. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Another shoutout to my friend and mentor, Keegan Kuhn, who’s work has inspired me time and time again personally and professionally, and has given me numerous opportunities to do “work for good” and contribute to making this world a better place. Thank you, Keegan.

Website: https://www.outpostdigitalcinema.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michael_alfuso/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-alfuso-92389a17/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.alfuso

Other: https://vimeo.com/outpostdigitalcinema

Image Credits
Photos/Screen Shots by: Jonathan Park, Hannah Park, Michael Alfuso, Kimerlee Curyl