About Salesman: The Series

During Amadeo‘s freshman year at North East School of the Arts (NESA), he was assigned to make a little short stop motion project. He came up with an idea about a watch salesman who gets evicted, and gets so angry he punches someone that rejects his sale and ends up in jail.

Amadeo decided to write a script with Colby Guillory, a long time friend since sixth grade. He would spend the next two years trying to create a live action version of the short with the help of his childhood best friend Daniel Smith and Kristin Quintanilla who would play many roles on set and would later be Amadeo’s longtime girlfriend. He met James Ybarra on a film set and later casted him to play Vellucci, who would later develop into the character Vincent Vaquero in the newest iteration.

When the “Salesman” short film was finally finished Amadeo and Colby started to develop a sequel titled “Colorblind.” "Colorblind" won best short at the 2019 Mission City Film Festival.

In 2020, Amadeo became close friends with James Ybarra. Amadeo, Colby, James and Kristin would make short films together. Amadeo and James were taking a drive around the Westside of San Antonio when Amadeo introduced music made in San Antonio during the 60s known as Chicano soul. This experience gave James the idea to turn the Salesman short films into a series, that properly represents San Antonio, the stories, culture, and people in it with a satirical twist.

The crew would meet every Sunday in Castroville off of James’ property to develop the characters and story. James would be the director, Colby as the head writer, Kristin as the director of Photography, and Daniel as the colorist.

Whether it would be a film shoot or post-production, something would go wrong. At one point, we had 5 people staying at Amadeo’s house for almost a month straight to edit, plan, and shoot. The work became grueling, being a very small operation, but thanks to James’ leadership and determination to finish what we started, we managed to export the final version before our deadline. It took a year to create the pilot, and we made many new friends along the way, such as Josh Padilla who handles our PR, Fabian Munoz, one of the producers/AV Tech, and Marc Rios, our VFX Supervisor.

“Salesman: The Series - Pilot” was released on April 14th, 2022 at Alamo City Studios. We had hundreds of attendees, so many that we had to do 4 screenings to make sure everyone who came out saw the episode. Later, we screened it at the 2022 San Antonio Film Festival, where it caught the attention of the SA Current. They wrote a nice article about us and definitely made it easier when we decided to make an episode 2.

It has taken over a year to make Episode 2, and this journey is far from over. We are not just doing this for ourselves, but because we believe that this project is bigger than any of us. It’s raw, different, and new. It’s a testament to San Antonio and her people, and if any show deserves to be brought into syndication it should definitely be this one.

Behind the scenes & festival photos / stills from the original Salesman and Colorblind short films.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

"San Antonio has an abundance of riveting stories and characters that deserve to be highlighted as much as those of Los Angeles and New York City. My perspective is that cinema has been bogged down by corporate interests, tired tropes, and lame storytelling. A budget is the last barrier that should hold back an artist's potential, raw passion, perseverance and integrity. Anyone can pick up a camera, and anyone can tell a story worth watching."

- James Ybarra, Director of Salesman: The Series

THE CREW

James Ybarra

Producer | Director | Writer

James Ybarra has been writing, directing and acting in his own short films and plays since the age of 13, then begun assisting and mentoring other young filmmakers. After film school, he got into the world of live event production and specialized in lighting design and technology for almost ten years. He has worked as a stagehand for large scale events as well as local DIY house shows and concerts. He is involved in Indigenous Activism and was interviewed for the Vice News series RISE: Apache Stronghold. Recently, he has revitalized his passion for film and has dove full-force into the production of Salesman: The Series.

Amadeo Rivas

Producer | Writer | Editor

Amadeo Rivas is a native San Antonian who is passionate about sharing the culture and unique experience that makes San Antonio feel like home. Rivas graduated from North East School of the Arts as a cinema major in 2019, and is currently continuing his studies at San Antonio College. His work has screened in a variety of film festivals throughout the nation, and he is proud to be a co-founder of San Antonio-based production company Broken Window Films.

Colby Guillory

Producer | Writer

Colby Guillory is a native Texan, bred and trained in San Antonio. He has always had an interest in writing, starting off his early career with short stories, but after meeting Amadeo transitioned to writing for television and film. When he's not writing, Colby can be found working on deals or diligence for Venture Capital or Mergers and Acquisitions. Colby uses his business background to run Broken Window Films and keep the show on the road as a producer and series lead writer.

Kristin Quintanilla

Producer | Director of Photography | Marketing

Kristin Quintanilla is a filmmaker and freelance videographer, writer, editor, and graphic designer based in San Antonio, Texas. She also works as a Location Manager and Production Coordinator for films, commercials, and TV shows in San Antonio and surrounding areas. Kristin graduated from North East School of the Arts as a Cinema and Musical Theater double major, and from the Say Si media arts program in 2021.

She strives to combine her work in the arts with service to her community by maintaining non-profit employment in marketing and administration with La Casita in Syracuse, New York and San Antonio based organizations such as Network for Young Artists, The Classic Theatre of San Antonio, KLRN, and Texas Public Radio.

Josh Padilla

Social Media Coordinator | Content Manager | PA

Joshua Padilla, a native of El Paso, Texas. Is currently, a student at Our Lady of the Lake University, majoring in Mass Communications. His experience here has prepared him to face real-world challenges confidently, and is grateful for the opportunities to expand his knowledge in the upcoming semesters.

Daniel Smith

Colorist | Assistant Camera

During his teenage years, Daniel worked on dozens of short films as a camera operator and actor with his best friend Amadeo Rivas. At age 22, Daniel taught himself all aspects of color grading with the application DaVinci Resolve, and continued his involvement with Salesman: the Series as lead colorist.

Fabian Munoz

Producer

Fabian Munoz is many things, but if there is one thing that defines this frog-loving, A/V technician is that he knows talent when he sees it. A child from the Westside of San Antonio, Fabian grew up fast. The Brackenridge High School alumni set out to run Audio Visual Events across the country, gaining the experience and knowledge necessary in helping out Broken Window Films get to the next level.

Marc Antonio Rios

Visual Effects Supervisor | Graphics

Marc Antonio Rios is a filmmaker based in San Antonio, Texas. Growing up poor in Von Ormy, a small town outside of San Antonio led him to creating unique and exciting stories created from scratch just as the land that surrounds him, making something out of nothing with the limited resources at his disposal alongside with being a jack of all trades in the filmmaking world.

Starting with only making video game movies to feature films, Marc has been making sure that filmmakers can collaborate with each other to make sure that unity and companionship can help create something truly extraordinary in creating films while staying humble to their roots.

Ian Scott

Stunt Coordinator / Actor

Movies have been an important part of Ian's life since he was a child. He loved making VHS movies and stop-motion animation. As he got older, he became more serious about filmmaking as a craft. Ian was accepted into North East School of the Arts and placed in their 800 Pound Film Festival. He was later accepted to Columbia College Chicago where he honed his screenwriting, editing, and directing skills. Ian's internship with Key Ideas allowed him to apply those skills in a professional setting, particularly in editing. He has since continued to build up a portfolio of films, most of which he has directed, written, and edited.