Johnny / @j.canizales

The Basics

 

Full Name: Johnny Canizales

Occupation (day job + passion occupation): Creator/My passion job is to just do what I love. Which is to create or entertain. Whether if it’s with acting or writing, or directing, basically anything that falls within those categories. As long as i can make people smile or laugh with my creativity.

How did you get your start in acting? I cannot make this up. The idea of becoming an actor came from sitting in a Mcdonald’s eating chicken nuggets, haha. I was just looking around and I just thought to myself, there has to be more than this. After that crazy thought I went to acting school, got myself an agent, and picked up a couple of gigs from here and there. But my start in acting, where directors really started to notice me was when I got the lead role of a television pilot episode for a Spanish network. I got to work with so many amazing people from Univision and other Spanish networks. I’m so grateful for that opportunity.

Social Media Presence

 

When did you first get started on social media? It has been 2 years since I released my first skit on any social media platform. It’s so crazy how things change. I started knowing nothing about social media. Now, I have opportunities to work with brands. I know how I can reach a wider variety of an audience if I wanted to with just looking back at my old content that I have produced, and just looking at who engaged more with that post.

Did you have any goals in mind when you initially started? The only goal I had was to just be funny. The skit didn’t even have have to make sense, as long as it was funny, I was happy. But I do look back at my old content and I find it so cringey, haha. But I choose to not delete it just to remind myself to never make cringey content again.

How have those goals changed since then? So much! Before, it was all about me. Now , It’s all about the audience. As long as I can put a smile on their face, or make them laugh within that moment, that’s all that matters.

What initially drew you to start sharing your skits on social media? I wanted to just step out of my comfort zone. I was so used to doing the same thing every single day. Through that, I just fell in love with the creative process. From writing the skits, to directing, shooting, editing, and everything in between. It is so challenging, but when the creativity flows, it flows!

Did you ever have any hesitations about posting your skits in such a public sphere? What a great question! ABSOLUTELY! I was scared, haha. I was very iffy about the whole situation. I started questioning myself, I started to ask people what I should do. But, I will say this! Never ask people for permission on what YOU want to do. If an idea pops into your mind, that means you already know what you want to do, So do it! People are going to support you if they want to support you, people will watch your content if they want to watch your content. I almost didn’t put content out because of this, but I did manage to overcome it thanks to my team, and my friends. The amount of support I got after I put out my first skit was just amazing. That’s when I knew I could do this.

Creativity

 

How do you get inspired when thinking of new concepts for your IG and Youtube? I usually go by what my audience or followers like to see. I’ve noticed they like more relatable type of content. The funny thing is, I never sit down with and just come up with ideas. The ideas usually just come to me in the most random times. I could literally be skydiving and an idea will just pop up in my mind. That’s how crazy my mind works.

What keeps you motivated to continue creating new content? I have come to a point, where I never want to stop creating content. I get feedback from people saying how much they love the vlogs, or how a skit was funny. And I love that, because it means i’m doing something right. I was created to create, therefore, I will always keep creating. I haven’t ran out of ideas yet, so that’s a good thing. Haha.

Workflow

 

How do you manage to stay organized? Any tools or tricks you use? I am not organized at all! Haha. I’m actually all over the place. Luckily, I have a great support system, and a great team that help me when things get a little out of hand. If it’s with filming sketches, or doing photoshoots, or directing videos, I always have certain people by my side to help me with things, because I am so forgettable about things when i’m creating content.

Speaking of tools, what is your favorite feature on The Plug? My favorite feature on The Plug is the message board. You can literally collab with people, Be up to date with certain things that are going on with social media, there’s brand opportunities. It makes everything so easy for influencers or creators.

Behind the Curtain

 

Where do you hope to go from here in terms of social media? I hope to grow my audience more. I want to make people laugh all over the world. I also hope to work with many more amazing brands! I love making content for brands because it shows they trust you with how your content is promoting their product.

Any exciting projects coming up for you? YES! So many new projects are in the works right now. I am going to be working with amazing people, young entrepreneurs, and creative people. I can’t wait to make content with amazing people. This process is so new to me. I usually work alone on coming up with ideas, now there’s more than one person involved, and the ideas just flow. It’s great!

What’s something people may not know about you from just following your account/ Do you have a special talent? I have made it a choice to not put my personal life on social media. So there’s a lot of things people don’t know about me. What people don’t know is that I write poems, Haha. It’s actually a funny story. I went through a heartbreak and I was depressed so I started writing what I felt, and out of nowhere I wrote a poem. Now i’m actually pretty good at writing poems. It’s great though, writing poems helped me get through a lot. AND TO THIS DAY NOBODY HAS READ ANY OF THEM, haha. I’d like to keep it like that.

*BONUS* Is there anything else you want to share with The Plug Community about your journey or your story as a creative? I just want to give a huge THANK YOU to the plug for letting me share my story. You guys are amazing, I absolutely mean that. I also want to say being a creator is not easy work. With whatever you want to do in life, you have to put in %110. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but with the work that I put in, I know i’ll get there. There are no bad days, only bad moments. So don’t let a bad moment ruin your whole day. When I couldn’t film anything right, I would be so mad all day, but then I realized that i’m supposed to be enjoying this process more than anything! I also want to give a huge thank you to all of my supporters, and my audience. Shout out to my team, and my group of friends, for always being down for a skit or just to film. I love you mama!