Hello Everyone,

My name is Ricardo Lugo and I’ve been an independent filmmaker for over 10 years. Currently, I’m a video producer for Prize Box Productions and like every artist I work extremely long hours. I work about 30 hours a week at Prize Box and 40 hours at my day job, so I don’t go out much. Many don’t understand what creatives have to sacrifice in order to do what they love and as a result, I’ve lost many friendships over the years.

As a kid I was heavily bullied and I had no friends. The fact that I came home to a emotionally abusive stepfather didn’t help either. Throughout middle school and high school, I swore to myself that whenever I was able to make a friend that I would do whatever it took to keep the friendship alive; so when I made my first group of friends at 15, I was overjoyed. However, due to my creative pursuits, time and distance, most of these friendships ended. I still feel very depressed about these lost relationships.

In 2015, I attended the Miami Urban Music and Film Festival to promote my fiancée’s short film entrée “Foggy Sky.” While there I met an indie rock band called Above The Skyline from Homestead, FL. I was blown away with their performance. I remember thinking to myself, “Why aren’t these guys famous?!” A few months later, my fiancee and I made the band’s first music video “Don’t Cut Out The Light.” While helping her shoot the music video, I noticed that in spite of the fact that most of the band members were going to school full-time working full-time jobs and touring across the country, they still managed to maintain their close friendships and party like the rock stars they are.

After the music video, I directed a short documentary and EPK for ATS. As I worked with the band more and more, I became increasingly fascinated by their ability to maintain their friendships while pursing their dream. I wanted to know where along the way I messed up. If these guys could do it, does that mean I could make meaningful friendships again in spite of working 70 to 80 hour weeks? More importantly, did it mean I had a chance of winning back my older friendships that had been lost in time?

The price I paid for my hard work was that my creative and filmmaking skills began to wither. I knew that the only way to grow in filmmaking was to make films, so I decided to do another, longer documentary about ATS in order to finally learn how to maintain meaningful relationships and re-teach myself the filmmaking process. However, so much more would happen along the way. I would meet new people, make new friends and learn a lot more than I thought I did about love.