Today we’d like to introduce you to Gio Schwab.
Hi Gio, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I began acting at thirteen, having grown up in and around the New York City theatre scene; I attended the Professional Children’s School, where child stars like Scarlett Johannson and Macaulay Culkin went. While in high school, I flew back and forth to Los Angeles to film Fresh Off the Boat, an ABC primetime sitcom –– and shortly after graduating, I moved to California. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to act for film, television, radio, stage, animation, and more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A career in entertainment is inherently risk-prone. While I vehemently argue that art is the very fabric of culture – the most provactive and far-reaching connector we posess – I certainly wouldn’t prioritize movie tickets over food and shelter.
Within the last five years especially, as many have struggled financially due to the pandemic or shifting political landscape, funding for the arts has declined significantly; as have consumers’ capacity for non-essentials. The 2023 entertainment union strikes displayed a vocal concern from my colleagues regarding the future of our careers. While our demands were mostly met, many have still struggled to find compensatory work. Many studios, distributors, and financiers have clutched their resources tighter, bristled at the foggy horizon, and shuttered their windows.
Concurrently, the very medium with which we consume art has evolved rapidly in the last two decades; I’m specifically referring to the proliferation of content-creation, a decidedly democratic form, albeit one without the hard-earned legislative foundation decades of union-champions have wrung from Hollywood. The trade off for instant and widespread attention is a monopoly of data resources, the effects of which we have only begun to fathom. Now, anyone can create or engage with anyone and/or anything, no matter how niche or abstract –– a distant leap from the days of acronym broadcast channels with complete viewer control. But the metrics don’t tell the whole story. The series finale of M*A*S*H* had 125 million viewers, which pales in comparison to the cumulative 15 billion views Baby Shark has brought in. And yet, in 1977, 125 million was 77% of U.S. households – all watching simultaneously – a true cultural landmark experienced by an entire generation who could chat about it at the watercooler the next day. What we gained in personal preference, we lost in communal networking. As such, the most pertinent challenge has been to stay atop the log, so to speak, and keep audience attention on any one given project; think about the last show you bingewatched… how many of the characters’ names can you remember? The ultimate challenge is to find ‘staying power’ in our collective conscious.
If I may leave my soapbox on this one note, I’d bring our collective attention to the word “acceleration.” Attention spans have accelerated, production schedules have accelerated, the rate of technological advancement has accelerated, our tempers have accelerated, and our insatiability has accelerated. The complex and beautiful effects of such supply and demand has enured us to inundation, and perhaps nullified our senses. Remember to take in and experience where you are, who you’re with, and what you watch.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The clogged valve of social media has given (or forced, depending on your interpretation) us all to become multi-hyphenates. Fortunately, I take great pride and joy in creating my own work as a writer, director, producer, actor – and often wear many hats in post as editor, sound mixer, publisher and distributor.
While acting is and has always been my first and foremost calling, I found a very rich sense of fulfillment (professionally and creatively) from writing. In my 12+ years as an actor, I’ve seen projects in every stage of development, and in every state from dissarray to masterpiece. Whether from a sense of misguided superiority, a naive yearning to use my own voice, or just merely get my hands in the mud too – I began to write scripts that more accurately reflected me and my young friends – the world I lived in and experienced, not the aritificial teen melodramas on cable. From that youthful rebellion grew a more mature inclination to share meaningful stories. Coupled with my capabilities as a filmmaker, I found such joy in creating independently, without the burden of studio approval or bureacratic notes on licensing deals and merch. My first proof-of-concept, SPIN, was the product of shedding the yoke of endless pitch meetings – no longer waiting for approval – and instead making something with my friends. Ironically, this attitude of rejecting topdown control in the short run has resulted in an uptick of interest from streamers for the longform of the project!
What were you like growing up?
At 5 years old, Fantastic Four was in theatres, Jamie Lee-Curtis and Lindsay Lohan swapped bodies, and The Jonas Brothers dropped a new album. At 25 years old, my summer sounds eerily familiar! In spite of the inevitable tide of life, I’m much the same now as I was then, sheepishly enjoying the same commercial properties I did as a child (comic books, video games, Coldplay). I was a characteristacally quite and mature boy, reserved and cerebral. The great shift in my adulthood has been embracing the qualities of youth I turned away from – that limitless curiosity, an indefatigable spirit, an unabashed passion for fun. Acting is likely the culprit for my Benjamin Button-style return to youth; a career of playing pretend.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flashgio/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ksiX_07Bqo
Image Credits
Zach Goodwin, Emily Sandifer, ABC Studios, Zach Goodwin, DarylJim Diaz
