Meet Matthew Morales of @handle.Productions in Ocean Beach

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Matthew. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit, and business mind, but nothing I aimed for came to fruition, instead what I was meant for just unfolded itself. It was the fall of 2017, and the ride of building a company was coming to an end. At the time I was working on this software that was supposed to “change the world,” and I was running out of steam, out of money, and going head to head with a huge competitor in New York. At that time, I decided I would go to school to network with people and learn, and happened to take an acting class as well. I met my now business partner and friend Will James, and we joked about writing a sitcom, producing it ourselves and using IGTV as the network. After all, he already had all the cameras, lighting, and audio equipment we would need to make it happen; at minimum a connection to it. We joked about it for a month until one day; we were driving down to Ocean Beach about an hour before Sunset. We started talking about a sitcom, and I said, “We keep talking about it. Let’s do it.” “Ok, When?” he said. “Right now, let’s just start right now. What would your character be?” From that moment as we rode down sunset cliffs, a deep-sea of peace and golden honey glistening by our sides, a company was being born. Will dropped me off. I grabbed my computer and started writing. I wrote three pages that day got stuck and realized I had no damn clue what I was doing. So, I studied. I googled “sitcom recipe” and started learning about sitcoms. Everything I possibly could. Then, I started studying sitcoms. I don’t even watch TV. How does that even make sense, right? A person who doesn’t watch Tv trying to write a TV show. Well, that didn’t matter. I just learned everything I possibly could. What’s funny is, Some people watch sitcoms. I study them. I remember putting on Boy Meets World and breaking down every episode of the first season minute by minute, scene by scene. I would watch the episode, pause it, furiously take notes and do it again. I watched ALL of Boy Meets World, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, and so many other shows I couldn’t possibly list them. I put hundreds of hours into studying them, but I also studied all the commercials, ads, network marketing tricks used, EVERYTHING. I figured I don’t know what I’m doing, but they do. Then, the magic started happening. We went to an event in LA (KCACTF) with a bunch of students, but Will and I were so excited about the show, instead of going to the convention we decided we were going to stay in the hotel room and write. As others were preparing to leave, they heard us laughing and talking and creating, and they started to help. Immediately we went from 2 people goofing around writing a sitcom, to 13 people in a writing room. For days, we wrote and knocked out four episodes. We started meeting all the time and did film projects to practice and get us ready for shooting a show. Our team kept changing, but we created a core group (Will, Tess, Osiris, and I) that never left and kept coming around. We made skits, filmed, commercials, and just started creating well thought out content. Mesa college saw all our efforts, and we were starting to get recognized for some of our work, and started being invited to do projects. All the sudden we were producing a Tedx Talk, shooting music videos for an international band, making documentaries, entering film contests. Things started building so fast. We quickly grew from writing a sitcom to producing events and building a business. Sometimes I really don’t even know how it happened. I just know that one day, we sat down and decided, to treat this as an actual TV Network and follow all the rules that a TV Network would. That day turned us into a company. That day made this all real.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We’ve definitely been through our fair of challenges, which is what taught me how important it is to build the right team. Here was the biggest challenge. I don’t believe in just doing the minimum. If I am going to do something, I am going to make sure I am doing it in a new way. In a way, people haven’t seen before, and I am going to try to solve a problem. So we decided to write a show on a topic and using a style no one has ever done before.

What if the person of reason, the confidant, the teacher, the guru was the main character? What if a Shaman on the verge of enlightenment and his brother an everyday Restaurant owner got stuck living together? What if we created a show where each episode challenges the philosophical, ethical, spiritual, or moral beliefs of the audience? Can we create a show that teaches peace and spirituality rather than focuses on the material and surface-level? Problem is, how do you write a show like that? I have no clue how to write a sitcom already, and here I am trying to change all the rules. SMH. Yet, that part wasn’t the challenge. The team is.

Building a team, who sees that same vision and is aligned with you, who are willing to do things they’ve never done and learned things they’ve never learned in order to accomplish things no one has yet to accomplish. You see, I assembled the best. Unfortunately, just because someone is the best at something doesn’t mean they are right for the job. I picked a phenomenal Director and Phenomenal Director of Photography to film, amazing lighting persons, I got help from some phenomenal writers… but they weren’t all on my team. What do I mean by that?

Some of them didn’t understand nor care about the vision. Some just wanted their name out there. Some just wanted to work on a cool project. Even though they were the best at their job, they weren’t the best for THE job. They didn’t study the things that needed to be studied to make it succeed. Their vision was different, and when it was time to shoot the first episode, it showed. None of the parts matched. The colors didn’t match the camera angles, which didn’t match the story. The story was weak because not every writer was on the same page about the philosophy. The pieces didn’t line up for one reason and one reason only. I didn’t communicate my vision clearly, which all came down at the end of the day to me. I’m ok accepting fault in that. Creating something new. That’s easy. Building a business; Creating a team. Even easier. Communicating clearly enough to create a community of people, that have aligned their vision to a common purpose, and a common action plan and sharing that common image with an entire nation. That… is hard. I guess that’s why we call it imag-i-nation.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the @handle.Productions story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a production company that creates high-quality TV shows, Films, Ads, Commercials, Music videos, and produce events that will be filmed, such as comedy specials and events. What sets us apart is whether we are producing something for television or for Instagram our quality is what you would expect on any major network including Netflix, at a price that is still comparable to everyone else. What sets us apart is not only do we produce quality entertainment, but we are also genius marketers which unfortunately this industry is missing. We are funny, deep, insightful, and most importantly, humans. We talk about topics people haven’t explored and get people looking at your product in a way most haven’t thought to do. You can connect with us, speak with us on a personal level and know that we are going to produce a high-quality ad, commercial, movie, or product on your behalf that is in line with your core values and will be affordable for all ranges. We stay away from cheesy and make sure to create something people can emotionally connect to. And did I mention, we are hilarious?

We have a sitcom “Will Be Alright” airing Sept. 12th only on IGTV where you can check it out by following @handle.productions on Instagram.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
In my experience, luck often follows belief and action on that belief. I believe in Good Luck, and so she seeks to express herself through me. Though, if I never acted, I don’t think she would have cared to return again.