Transcript

“Emmy-Winning DP Ruben Carrillo on 40 Years of Filmmaking in Hawai‘i”

From The Big Picture · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h · 11,862 words · 198 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "“Emmy-Winning DP Ruben Carrillo on 40 Years of Filmmaking in Hawai‘i”", an episode of The Big Picture published October 21, 2025 (1 h, about 11,862 words). It mentions 14 people, works and ideas, including Hawaiian Airlines, Mary Monarch, Cooking Hawaiian Style, Ruben Curillo, Kore Digital.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Hawaiian Airlines, Kore Digital, Mary Monarch, Ruben Curillo
  2. – 30:00: Liquid Planet Studios, Mary Monarch
  3. – 40:00: Cooking Hawaiian Style, Hawaiian Airlines, Mary Monarch
  4. – 50:00: Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Central Station, Hawaiian Airlines, Jurassic Park
  5. – 1:00:00: Ameliano Zapata, Cooking Hawaiian Style, Hawaii to the World

Notable quotes from "“Emmy-Winning DP Ruben Carrillo on 40 Years of Filmmaking in Hawai‘i”"

  • Shows like Hawaii 5, Magnum PI, and Godzilla verse Kong. And if you ever flown Hawaiian Airlines, you've likely watched his videos at 30,000 ft.
    about Hawaiian Airlines · at
  • Home in Away. You do production for TV broadcast for like Mary Monarch, Nhoku Hanu, Nhoku Hano. you've won Emmys, you won te telly's.
    about Mary Monarch · at
  • Museum. they just have one of his paintings in one of their shows. And the Smithi Smithsonian is acquiring two of his paintings as well. yeah, I mean I grew up with artists. My mother was an artist.
    about Smithsonian · at
  • Liquid Planet. Yeah, Liquid Planet Studios.
    about Liquid Planet Studios · at
  • With you on multiple projects outside of our TV and film world. we did a season of Cooking Hawaiian Style if nobody knows that you're you're producer of Cooking Hawaiian Style…
    about Cooking Hawaiian Style · at
  • Scouted and found locations and we shot at the Statue of Liberty. We shot at the Grand Central Station at like three o'clock in the morning when it was closed, incredible. We…
    about Grand Central Station · at
  • Know, and he'd bring me on set, I remember being on set at Jurassic Park, like that big log scene, and I didn't actually know how cool that really was until later, right? It's oh yeah, I guess I was there. and now I've.
    about Jurassic Park · at
  • I've been using. So, we're working on a new series for local series for Hawaiian Council. it's called Hawaii to the World. Mhm.
    about Hawaii to the World · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Ruben Curillo — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Today on the big picture, we sit down with one of Hawaii's most seasoned and versatile virtual storytellers, Ruben Curillo. From Emmyinning documentaries to high-profile…
  • Ameliano Zapata — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Know, or until I can in a dream world, I would do a film about this Mexican revolutionary called Ameliano Zapata. That would be a fantasy dream of mine was to produce a movie about him.

Books & papers

  • Ola — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

Concepts & topics

Places & events

  • Grand Central Station — Place · 1 mention · first at
  • Ry's Donuts — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Like we had these two Micronesian brothers. I put them in Los Angeles in front of Ry's Donuts, which I thought like one of my favorite just like this iconic Ry's Donuts shot. I…
  • Golden Gate Bridge — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Iconic Ry's Donuts shot. I just love that shot, you know. And then I had a hala in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Full transcript with timestamps

Today on the big picture, we sit down with one of Hawaii's most seasoned and versatile virtual storytellers, Ruben Curillo. From Emmyinning documentaries to high-profile network television and global commercial campaigns, Rubin's Lens has captured it all. Born in Mexico, raised in California, and rooted in Hawaii since the mid 90s. He's built a decadesl long career as a director, cinematographer, and founder of Kore Digital. You've seen his camera work on shows like Hawaii 5, Magnum PI, and Godzilla verse Kong. And if you ever flown Hawaiian Airlines, you've likely watched his videos at 30,000 ft.

Reuben's passion for light, composition, and cultural storytelling has made him a trusted creative force in both Hollywood and Hawaii's film scene. We're talking about craft, career, culture, and what it takes to stay inspired behind the camera after 35 years in the game. Let's get into it.

Today we have our my favorite guy. I couldn't wait to have you on. Um, you know, unfortunately someone didn't show up today, so we not I'm just joking. Made the cut.

I seriously couldn't wait to have you on. Uh, Reuben, um, you've been not only like a a mentor to me, but you've been one of the most, you know, experienced camera operators I know based here in Hawaii. And we've had hours and hours of talks um, on the dolly or um, just on set. And so to have you here um to showcase, you know, the true faces of of the people out here making it in the film, television, production world in general. So it's awesome to have you on, Rub.

Thank you very much, Brian. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. Um and by the way, thank you so much for helping me with this production. And I don't know if anybody knows, but Reuben is um Reuben actually you suggested this podcast for me and this was on uh Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Yeah. And I think um I was pushing Dolly for you and you know we had set up our shot and of course we're waiting for the other cameras to shut up set up their shot.

We're good like that. Um but um he was like we're talking sorry bro you should have a podcast and I was like I don't know. I don't know if that would be legal if if I could really talk about the things that I want to talk about.

You've been you've been a camera operator. You've been a director of photography. Um producer, director, uh you worked on shows like Hawaii 50, off the map. I have here Amazing Race.

Um Home in Away. You do production for um TV broadcast for like Mary Monarch, Nhoku Hanu, uh Nhoku Hano Hano. Um, you've won Emmys, you won te telly's. Um, that's Is there anything else I'm missing on there?

Is there anything? Uh, I don't know. I mean, sure. I' I you know, I've been in the business since 1989 and, uh, started in news in California. So, like back then um, worked my way I would start in St. Louis Abyispo, worked my way to San Jose, San Francisco. Then I was in Los Angeles working for a news network during the OJ Simpson trial. So I covered the OJ Simpson trial. Covered the Los Angeles earthquake.

What do you mean covered it? Like would you be on the scene or you're in the court?

I was at his house the day after it happened. I wasn't I was in front of his house. It was all a crime scene. So, I was out in front of his house the day after it happened and just kind of covered that whole story, the whole duration of it. For the first probably several weeks, I was there every day. And then after that, I would be there every once in a while and covering it. I was there when they announced his uh not guilty verdict. Um I was right in front of the courthouse, right behind a a row of police officers on horseback. And um yeah, and then then actually my first Emmy was um the Los Angeles earthquake.

No way. Um covered that. And uh and then in like 95, I moved to Hawaii. I got married to a local Hawaiian girl and and moved to Hawaii.

And um realized right away that that I needed to I I I was looking at the time I thought I was, you know, I was shooting news and I thought that was what my what I wanted to do. I was going to say, let's go back a little bit. Sure.

So, you know, I know you come from a family of artists, right? Your dad is an amazing artist. We always speak about that. You show me his work. It's amazing. It's it it's in museums, right? All over. And you have a collection of his work as well.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right now, actually, this week, it just opened in a gallery in in New York City called the Whitney Museum. Um they just have one of his paintings in one of their shows. And uh the Smithi Smithsonian is acquiring two of his paintings um as well. Uh yeah, I mean I I grew up with artists. My mother was an artist. My dad was an artist. They both met at UCLA in art the art department. My sister is a theater director. Very very talented director and writer.

And then then there's me. I was like struggling and trying to, you know, trying to be an artist, but you know, I do my in my own way. I create art. Um, yeah, just I grew up in Santa Cruz, California.

So, um, yeah. So, growing up around art or so, you did you g you gave it a shot as far as painting and and kind of doing what your dad did or basically when at what age did you kind of realize like, oh, maybe I'm more attractive to like the media, creative media side of art?

I I knew right away that I was a horrible artist. I grew up like all my family members were extremely talented artists and painters and everything. Um, and I knew right away that that wasn't my thing. I like my hand eye coordination with that kind of stuff was just awful. Handwriting and everything.

Um, when I was in high school, I mean, I I I enjoyed the arts and I love the arts. I just didn't know how I could fit into the arts.

And when I was in high school, my senior year, there was a class first year of that class that was a video production class. And right away, like I fell in love with it and and figured out that that's what I wanted to do. I didn't know what avenue. I mean, I think I I immediately knew that filming and shooting was kind of like my thing.

Um I didn't know where I was going to go with it. And then my second year of college, I got a job at a TV station in news

and I was shooting for an NBC affiliate. And so that's what I thought, you know, I there was an adrenaline to news. There was a lot of action going on, especially in in California. all kinds of stuff all the time

and I thought that was my thing. Um, and then as I worked my way through California, um, I I ended up meeting a Hawaiian girl and getting married and she wanted to move home and I got back to this market and I was working news and realized kind of it wasn't as exciting, at least it wasn't as exciting as it was as California and and so I started my own production company basically. Oh, nice. And that was like 95 96.

Were your parents supportive or were they disappointed that you didn't you you weren't pursuing basically almost a family um passion and business of of being a you know painting artist but kind of more showing interest in this different avenue of art. How how was that? Did they did they want you to even be in art or did they want you to kind of have more of a business mindset? I know my dad, he wanted me to be anything but a grip and work in the industry because he worked in the industry, you know. Was your parents supportive of what you wanted to do?

Yeah, they were 100%. I mean, they they they was never any push to do anything from them as far as like direction. It was a kind of like find my own path and figure out what I wanted to do.

And I do have a little quick story and and when I was in my 20s, like mid20s, I was went home with my dad. My my sister was came home. We both went home to see my dad

and we kind of like joined him as he was teaching a class university and they were doing watercolors that day.

So I did a watercolor. My sister did a watercolor and then that kind of was it. I forgot about it. And then like maybe eight months later I went to go visit my dad and he's like, "Oh, I found this watercolor you did when you were a kid." And it was like the one I did like six months before as an adult. And that's like that solidified that I made the right choice is not not to paint. You're like, "Yeah, I know. I was so talented in first grade right now." Um, so you you ended up going to college. What did you What were you majoring in when you got that job at the news station? And

I was in broadcasting. So like I was looking at the news side of things and I and you know I probably really because I didn't really know what was out there and available. I ended up going to San Francisco. That first one I went to was a junior college in

Santa Cruz and then I transferred to a junior college in St. Louis Abyispo and that's where I ended up getting the news job. But then I then I transferred to San Francisco and my two roommates were both film majors

and I'm like well you know like this like that's what I want to do you know like that that was way more interesting and and then what I was in you know

and so that's kind of like was started to like turn the wheels for me and I'd help them like whenever they did their film projects I'd be the one that filmed it for them.

And I know you played soccer. Were you playing soccer at the same time in college? Is is that why you went to these particular college? Not

no I went I went to when my first year of college I played college ball and then after that I I kind of got burnt out on it. I still played I still played pick not pickup but I played on teams and club teams throughout the whole time

and played in the Mexican leagues in LA which was a blast. I had so much fun and and you played all the way up until what like last year?

I played up until 2020. Yeah. I I remember like basically one day after you played, you came to work, you're like I I think I got to stop.

Yeah. My knees my knees gave out of me, you know, as I got older, my knees got like we're probably 10, 15 years older than the rest of me.

And you need that as operator. Yeah. That's what I figured out. I mean, that's why I did it. I stopped playing. I love soccer. I stopped playing because I knew that I couldn't do my job anymore. And in fact, I remember the day Sean um uh I I was working with a dolly grip. I'm trying to remember who it was. Shane.

Mhm. And we were on the beach and I'm I'm doing handheld and I'm going along the beach and there's a piece of driftwood and it's only like this big and I see it coming and I couldn't lift my leg over it and I like stumbled on it and then I that was it. I go, "Okay, that's it. I can't I can't do it anymore." And like my knees were so messed up.

Mhm. And so I've been I've been spending the last five years just kind of strengthening

yeah myself. I think we should talk about that like how difficult physically it is to be a camera operator, you know, and um I as a dolly grip, you know, witness firsthand how hard it is to operate and um that that's that's why operators do have dolly grips and assistance because

you have this, you know, and and I think cameras got a little lighter maybe over time. They used to be a lot more heavier,

but just I I feel like just the position that you're carrying it in and and how you got to stabilize things, it I watch a lot of camera operators and it and it definitely takes it to its toll on them. How has it been physically for you being an operator? Yeah, I it depends on what what you know part of the industry because I do a big range of stuff, but when you're talking like episodic and feature film stuff, the cameras can be really heavy and you know I do steady cam times at times too and that can be really heavy and you know all it's all part of like part of my job now is to be in shape

and I try to work out four or five times a week and you know keep myself ready for those type of things because it could be really physical and long days and sometimes you're running through mud and dirt and chasing people and carrying a really heavy rig and you know that's our job. So, you know, I want to be ready for my job and I want to be ready to do whatever it is I'm being asked to do.

Mhm. Yeah. No. Um, one job comes to mind you and I was working. It was that standup show. um Ronnie Ronnie Chen and um you know number one we we rehearsed this opening scene where he comes in and this is pre-recorded for his show and you're walking backwards the whole time. We bring him in the building, come all the way down the walkway, we walk upstairs. You're going backwards. I'm spotting you. We come across the whole stage and go down the stairs on the other side. But the amazing thing was you steady cam basically his whole show after that move and it was like you could we couldn't make a mistake on that move

and uh I I always like the whole time I'm like can I get can I hold the camera for you? Can I you're like no I got it.

Yeah. But um yeah that that that stuff is incredible. Was that one of your harder moves you think you you've pulled off?

Yeah. Yeah. For for steady cam for sure you know but I'm I'm still fairly new at steady cam. I'm just, you know, doing it for a short time. And um I love I love it and have, you know, I get I feel like I'm I'm working at it and get better every time. And but that was a that was a difficult one because we were live in front of an audience and couldn't make a mistake, you know, and it was kind of a difficult move going through some narrow things going backwards downstairs and backwards upstairs and

you know, but we pulled it off. We rehearsed it like 20 times. We had to do the rehearsal. If we didn't do that rehearsal, you know, it would have been a different story. But we we did that and we ended up getting it.

Yeah, that was incredible. So you you you ended up um working for a news station in college and you you graduate and did you did you graduate with a broadcasting degree or

I So I got a a I got an AA and then I went to San Francisco State. Yeah. And I did not graduate. I was working um

You and me both, brother. Yeah. I was working for uh Univision and I actually I wasn't working for Univision yet. I started it's like I was going to school and I had a hard time going to school because I had done so much work already.

I had a hard time going to school and like the equipment wasn't that good and and I felt like I really wasn't everybody in the since I chose broadcasting everybody in broadcasting was like they want to be a producer, they want to be on camera talent, you know, like I was one of the few that was a camera operator. Everybody else that wanted to be a camera operator was in film,

which was probably the right choice. And so I kind of got to that point where I'm just like, why am I here? I'm using kind of crappy equipment. I'm using, you know, I'm I'm doing stuff that I don't really want to do, the news type style stuff. And so then I I dropped out and I got a job at the local station shooting news, but that was my background.

And um and then I was there for maybe a year and a half and then the network that network picked me up and sent me to LA. and I worked in LA. That's when I got there.

So now years later, you know, you're more in um television, film, but do you see how any of those news casting operating skills translated helped you in it in any way?

Yeah, I mean I any kind of hands-on stuff with a camera helps you, you know, get through things. You learn different things that help and benefit you. um whether it's lens stuff or camera operation stuff or just framing and that kind of stuff. But like just to give you an example, when we did Rescue High Surf, it was all handheld.

My my background was handheld just because all the new stuff I did and all that kind of stuff, I had a lot of handheld background. I felt like that really added to

Rescue High Surf and what I was able to do on Rescue High Surf and being 100% handheld the entire time. I felt really comfortable. And when you feel really comfortable, it helps you do better, you know, like any kind of nervous. Yeah. You can focus. Exactly. You can focus on side of stuff, right?

Yep. Exactly. And I know like pushing Dolly, the biggest part of um, you know, something that you have to learn is anticipation. I I would assume, you know, shooting news, you know, all those years, it's so live that you have to anticipate what's going to go on. and and um do you do you feel like that's one of um the skills that you picked up?

Yeah, I mean anticipating being prepared for things going wrong. So you like you're always looking at things from having back channel, you know, ways to to get around if you something happens, you know, so you have backups and you're it's just this constant um being prepared, you know, and being prepared is to have these different avenues of attacking whatever it is you're trying to do and you know know how if something comes at you and kind of on the day that's a little bit different, you have to know how to compensate to get what you still need to do.

Yep. And and so after you what was your first gig that was outside of broadcasting where you were operator or maybe you were assistant and and but you made the jump basically from either broadcasting to TV or what was it? I mean I so I started my own production company but that was starting so then I got into all this commercial work and television shows creating show local creating local shows for people. Um, I can remember the very first day I did Hawaii 5, which is the first episodic stuff that I did when Brian Spicer was directing. Oh, yeah.

And it was it was, you know, like I'd already been shooting for quite a long time.

Maybe maybe 20 years. So when but when you came to Hawaii, you immediately was said, I'm going to have to start my own production company. Did you was that something you knew you had to do? So, when I when I came here, I kind of thought I would freelance for the stations because I didn't want any full-time thing. I thought I'd free freelance for the different stations, but I when I got here, I realized they didn't none of the stations did that.

Um, except for KGMBB allowed me to do that. So, I did some freelance work for KGMBB. And then I started a production company on the side.

Um, I just it it's a smaller market and I was trying to figure out how to make a living at this. Um, and so I eventually ended up realizing for me the best thing was to just get really diverse and do different things to be able to be able to shoot commercials, be able to shoot documentaries, be able to shoot features and episodic and, you know, television series. And then I also, as you kind of mentioned before, I delve into, you know, edit. I edit stuff and I direct and I produce. I have equipment. you know, it's it's jack of all trade trades, master of none kind of a thing.

But I I I focus on cinematography. That's what my focus is. That's what I call myself.

Um, but I end up doing a lot of the other stuff just um because I, you know, because I

I'm I'm trying to make this market work for me and um you know, try to bring in as many friends and and other people that I know to work with me as well. It's not easy, especially, you know, if you're trying to make it strictly as a camera operator, you know, on a on a set, on a TV set, on a movie set, you know, you might have a dozen grips, you might have a dozen electricians, you got a whole makeup crew, but really when it boils down to it, there's one, two, three camera operators, you know, so if you're looking on island of, you know, there's maybe 10 operators, you know, it it's going to be hard to get a job. So, you have to d be diverse in in what you do and and so starting that production company, were you when you first started um were you looking to do commercial more commercials or what was what was your target there?

Commercial work. Okay. Yeah, we had a studio. We had some editing bays and that was Liquid Planet, right?

Liquid Planet. Yeah, Liquid Planet Studios. That's old school. Yeah. I ended up having a 48 foot expando trailer that we did multicam out of.

So we did like a bunch of uh sports and all the high school sports and like we did NFL when they did the Pro Bowl.

Yeah. Um we did the Maui Invitational. Um just you know then like Song Contest and No Hoku Hanahan Awards and Mary Monarch and all that stuff. That's where I got into all that.

Um but it was a lot. I mean it was a lot. It was it was overwhelming the amount of money that that we had to make every month to pay all the stuff that we had. And so it was it was really stressful.

Yeah. I mean the whole you know um that's one of the reasons I told you before. It's like why I have so much respect for you not only as a camera operator but like an entrepreneur. And um I think that's a lot of things um that people don't understand is the business side of things. that that's a whole another animal. That's a whole another beast. Like what made you think at that point that you could start your own business and production company? What gave you the confidence to say I I can do this and this is how I need to do it so that I can succeed in production?

Straight up ignorance. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I um I always push I like that's what I that's why I loved playing soccer because I just drive myself. I push myself and um you know like I'm my my heaviest critic and so I'm continually trying to strive and and do better and be better whether it's a father, a husband or at my job. So I mean that's kind of what drove the whole thing. Like I constantly waking up every day and I'm not going to sit around. I don't sit around. I don't like now that soccer's not around for me. I don't have a hobby.

I don't go and do this or I go do that. I'm I work and I'm with my family. That's what I do. So, when I'm not with my family, I'm working like 100% of the time, you know.

What was the biggest challenge in running a production company in Hawaii? I mean, there's probably so many.

There is there's a lot. I mean, the overhead was the biggest challenge. I mean, it's just such a huge overhead. And and and I would say I would say this. I would say that if I was to do school over again, I would a go into film and b minor in business

because, you know, I had no prior business skills and I'm trying to manage a business. And, you know, even to this day, I'm still running my business, but you just like every year you're just learning, you know, you learn from your mistakes. you know, dealing with taxes and GE taxes and making sure that you can pay it every month and, you know, how to deal with billing and how, you know, it's it's not easy. It's not easy. Um, and it's not the fun side of the business. I I enjoy the art side. I enjoy creating. I don't enjoy the other side, but it's a necessity, especially in Hawaii. Um, it's we're I'm a small business, you know, I can't afford to have an accountant on staff and that kind of stuff. So, I do I do the whole thing.

So you you start your own production company. You're doing a lot of great things, local shows. And what was your first taste of basically te television or film as an operator?

Your very first like the like episodic world. It was it was 50. I remember I remember that day. Yeah. I remember that very specific day. And here's the crazy thing cuz I probably had been shooting for 20 years,

but I never grew up in a film world. Never grew up in a film world. So I like we didn't slate. I didn't know the positions. So I'm like totally out there. I mean, luckily I knew some of the crew because through the years like I worked with them in in my side of the business and so they were extremely helpful that day, but I didn't know anything. I didn't know any of the protocols and that's a huge part of what we do in episodic and feature

is just knowing your assignment, knowing the protocols of what what you know who does what and when and

knew nothing. How did you get that job? I got it because um there's a there's a like a designer his name is Amos

Cottomi. He gave Lisa Mitchell my name. No way. So Lisa hired me. Oh that's and I appreciate both of them.

Yeah. extremely love Lisa and gave me an opportunity you know and I and you know

you know luckily I got past through that first day or the first week or whatever you know and I kept going it just it was it was um very very very very hard just because of that protocol thing

me understanding everything um took took a bit and it was hard and um were you a part of 600 at that point or that's when you Oh How how'd you get your 600?

From the from the commercial side. Oh, so commercial side. Okay, cool. And um and yeah, I hear what you're saying with protocol especially.

This is one thing I do notice basically the difference between kind of commercial world or independent world to kind of what I've been mostly experiencing in in TV and and uh feature films um protocol, right? Like I respect I have so much respect for people who run their own productions, do their own thing because you're wearing a thousand hats. You're doing everything. You're you're building your camera. You're you're you're first second AC. And was that hard to kind of let your your second and your first your first your second your second second to kind of manage your camera?

It wasn't. It wasn't hard. It was more like like you show up on set and there's three cameras and you're in a scene but you know like in my head I'm like okay the director's going to come over to me or the DP is going to come over and say this is what I want. They don't say anything to you. They literally say nothing, right? You know, and and you I had to like observe quickly, you know,

and luckily my my dolly grip on that job was somebody I knew really well and he obviously could tell that I was a little probably deer in the headlights

and um was very very helpful to me. Glenn Glenn Grimes, baby. Love Glenn. I I learned a lot from Glenn.

I haven't seen him in a long time, but I totally appreciate everything he did for me that week. And uh huge.

Oh yeah. Um but but you know like Yeah. So so like with nobody saying anything to you, you know, like as operators sometimes they'll come up to us and they'll say this is what we want. But a lot of times they they don't and they just expect you to get your shot, you know, and your shot depends on what camera number you letter you are,

right? And then you kind of, you know, you kind of know what your your assignment is and it depends on the director and it depends on the DP and it depends on what they like and what don't they don't like and all these different things. And it and if you working with somebody you've never worked with before, you don't know those things yet. Takes a little bit for you to get

I I've seen those situations played out and it's a tricky thing, right? Because say if you're C camera, right? You don't want to kind of maybe give your opinion at that level too much. You don't want to interject, but you also don't want to sit back and and continually wait for someone to put you in there because

if you're non-existent on a set, then that means they don't need you there, you know, and they will not need you in the future, you know, so there's a balance.

They're a lot of times not thinking about Cameron just because, you know, they have other things to worry about. They got A and B and, you know, and and so yeah, you kind of like you can't like go and jump in because you're the last camera. or you got to let the other cameras get what they're getting first, but you got to pay attention and figure out kind of what they're looking at so that you can figure out how do you you can,

you know, play your part in that scene and not get in anybody's way and and still get a shot that's usable and get a shot that the director needs and the DP wants and the and the lighting works for the DP. You don't want to set up a shot where the lighting or the background doesn't work and the DP's pissed off at you, you know. And then you got like two two dads. You got the director and you got the DP and you know both of them depends on who they are and what they you know what their thing is and you know who do you talk to. Sometimes it's one and sometimes it's the other and you don't want to talk to one and piss the other one off and you know so it's this little game to play but

you get used to it and and you know just like anything else and just like we talked about earlier it's about confidence too. You

you have to have some confidence in yourself. You have to feel comfortable. Well, you don't want to be overconfident and do stuff that you're, you know, but you got to be able to have the confidence that then you can do your job,

right? Cuz if you're not confident, it's really hard to do your job, you know. So, you have to just come in there

and and feel feel good about what you're doing. Yeah. A lot of the times, you know, it's how we all learn in the industry. You got to get thrown in the fire and you got to be willing to get thrown in the fire and and learn on the go. And um did once you got into that seat of being a operator on TV, did did you love it? Is that something you you would want to do all the time or were you missing your production and managing your productions and the projects that you had going on?

It that's a that's a tough thing. I mean I I like I told you before, I'm my worst critic. And so I literally every day would go home thinking, man, I you know, if I just did this or I just did that or I should have done that. and and every single day, every single day, you know, I would just like, you know, okay, well, I'm going to get back there. I'm going to try something different or I'm going to do this. Um, I I love working in that world. Absolutely love it. I love being a part of team. I love being a part of the Hawaii team because we're we're I would assume much tighter than somewhere like LA where it's so huge and not everybody knows each other. Here we all know each other. you know, you can go into one production and then the next day be on another production and and you know 90% of the people on set. Um, so, you know, I also love what I do on the other side.

I love, you know, sometimes when we do some really cool documentaries or music videos, you know, or commercials, I enjoy doing that and I, you know, so it's I kind of like have have played in both worlds and I try to keep that. couple years ago, maybe four years ago, I kind of decided to put myself full-time into the episodic future world.

And that was great. And then all of a sudden, it wasn't. Yeah. You know, and that was difficult. It was weird. It was like this um

I don't know. It's it's it's psychologically difficult because it kind of it's almost like a like a little bit depressing when you realize like you're on set every day and you're needed.

Yeah. You know, you're needed. You have to do your job just like everybody else on the set. We all are needed to do something and then all of a sudden, you know, you're doing it 14 hours a day and all of a sudden you're not needed.

Yeah. You know, you're not needed. It's like it's kind of crazy. Yeah. And so then I I I was trying to figure out what to do, but I had been out of the local market for like four years. And so now that's kind of where I'm at now is I'm kind of building myself back into the local market and trying to keep myself open in all directions and and um you know create as much work as I can so I can also help some of my fellow

Yeah. film industry people and you know what you've done that a lot. You've done that for so many people that I've worked with and I I think that's awesome how you can share share that. And um I've I've been fortunate to be able to work with you on multiple projects outside of um our TV and film world. Uh we did a season of Cooking Hawaiian Style if if nobody knows that you you're you're producer of Cooking Hawaiian Style and you guys have done like 20 seasons or something like Yeah, we were somewhere in there some 20ome.

And you had me uh key one of your seasons, which what we shoot like the whole season in two three days, two days.

We do uh 26 episodes in 4 days. Yeah. Yeah. And you and Lai, you guys got that thing down so good. And Don and your whole team there is just

you guys got it. And um and I enjoyed, you know, me being from the TV and film world, when I go on the the other productions, I really enjoy I I I like the vibe and especially their local projects. You know, a lot of the projects that you're going to do, it's going to be a for a local business or a local show. And I I really do enjoy the vibe and not to mention all the food that I got to eat.

Yeah. I mean, Cooking Wine Style is just one of those things. We've been doing it for so long. I think we're probably around 300 episodes.

Wow. And um it's just really for love, you know, just en enjoy doing that. Enjoy seeing people like stop you on the street. Not me personally because nobody knows I'm involved, but I've seen them do it with guests of our show

and that they sing in LA all the time, right? Everybody recognizes him, but people like the show and it's just the the broad range of what I do, you know? So I could be on the set of Godzilla one day

and then I could be hanging out on Cooking Hawaiian Style, you know. Um, and you you do a lot of um you've done your fair share of documentaries. So,

I I I wonder how that balances for you personally, right? When you're doing projects that, you know, maybe have a a little bit more weight to them, more meaningful. you're getting a message across as opposed to just operating on a a cop show, you know, that kind of probably has not too much meaning to us, but your craft that you're executing is at a high level, you know, so how's that balance for you? Do you prefer passion projects?

I mean, I I would No, I don't think I prefer I love them both. I I I'll tell you what I love about going onto a set is that

it's not easy when I'm when I'm doing episodic or feature. It's not easy. My job's difficult, but it's less stressful.

So, I don't have the weight of a client. I don't have the weight of of like a final product being delivered, you know? I don't have budgeting. I don't have dealing, you know, all these stuff that I have to deal with. I literally walk on set. I have people that help work as a team together, you know, and then we work really hard, but then I leave and that's it. Like, I'm done. Like, the the door is closed.

On the other side, I've got to develop something. I've gota, you know, have clients to deal with. I have all these people to deal with. I have to deal with financial stuff. I have to pay people. I have to get money from people. I have the creative side. And then I got to show a product that, you know, either the client's happy with or not happy with and it's on my shoulders, you know. So, so much weight that goes over there. I love doing it because I love creating stuff that like on the documentary side that that makes a difference, you know, that tells a story that that that you see like if you show it in a theater or you or you talk to people and you see the emotion in people's faces, you know, like that's that means a lot. It means you're thinking

Yeah. It means you've done your job and you've accomplished something and all of that is is an incredible feeling. It's just two different things, you know, and I love them both. What was the most like meaningful documentary that you feel had the biggest impact or revealed something to the world?

Good question. We did we did some documentaries on Maui um about water water rights and and I think that helped change the the ruling for some of the water issues on Maui in the direction that we were looking to go. So they they opened up a lot of water for the like people's loies and farms and stuff like that that was being cut off before and that's nice to be a part of that and and you know a small part I mean there's so many people that are doing

so much work on Maui fighting fighting for that and we just helped kind of like help share their story.

So I I feel like you know that helped change some of the some of the laws and opened up a lot of the waterways and it's still a big fight. They're still a big struggle and they're having a lot of water problems on Maui right now as we speak. Um but you know that um

what was the name of that just in case somebody wants to kind of go take Ola okay

and and I there was a couple of them so I can't remember there was another one something but yeah

but that show goes to show like the power of media sometimes you know and you know you have so many people fighting for a particular cause that no one's hearing their cries you know and and when you can really capture somebody some someone's interest through visuals, you know, you never know what that can, you know, push forward. So, I definitely respect that and um I respect everyone kind of working those documentaries and shedding light on on things that should be spok spoken about, you know.

Yeah, it's a it's like I really I do enjoy doing that. It's a lot it's a lot of work because you have to do a lot of research and you know, I have a partner that does all that most of that stuff done. M

um but but you know really enjoy doing it and most of the documentary stuff we do is um Hawaiian based

and doc I love working with Donna. She's a sweetheart. And uh how long have you been working with her?

Uh since 2008. I knew her I mean we we worked together before that but we started a company together in 2008

and and uh is that four miles? Yeah, four miles. Oh interesting. and and what kind of projects that you you guys focus on or have done? It's all Hawaiian. Like we the first job that we did was Mary Monarch

and we we executive produced and I that back when I had my truck, we brought my truck over there and then we did no hookuano awards after that and then we've just done a series of documentaries. Um the first one that we did was one called Mano

which is about Hawaiian Chant. Um yeah, epic. Um, you also, as far as local production goes,

a lot of people don't know that you shot a lot of the Hawaiian Airlines uh content, right? Whenever you're going on a on a flight that that's you recording uh what was it? Is it the introduction videos or

No, I do I have done a bunch of uh probably around 20 music videos for them. So, all the boarding music videos um were were done by me and my team.

Yeah. Man, that was some epic locations, right? I've seen some up in the mountains. And um you also did some stuff with the um what do you call it? It was out at the Sandbar and you guys brought a piano out there. Uh oh. For the census, right?

Yeah, that was that was um that was for the Yeah, the 2020 census. Wow. So that that was for we we we were asked by um uh Kalimoku group um to to produce something to help raise awareness for about the census to Pacific Islanders and Hawaiians. And um we came up with the idea to do a music video um where we went to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Hawaii. and we included all these different Polynesians, Pacific Islanders artists, not necessarily, they weren't all necessarily like well-known. We were just trying to find like really beautiful voices.

And then we also scouted and and and um luckily, you know, Hawaiian Airlines was was a partner for us and and flew us around to do all these things because otherwise it would have been, you know, huge. But like we flew to New York and scouted and found locations and we shot at the Statue of Liberty. We shot at the Grand Central Station at like three o'clock in the morning when it was closed, you know, incredible. We had the whole space to ourselves and this incredible voice in there. Um, you know, like we had these two Micronesian brothers. I put them in Los Angeles in front of um Ry's Donuts, which I thought like one of my favorite just like this iconic Ry's Donuts shot. I I I just love that shot, you know. And then I had a hala in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Um kind of a what I think I, you know, because I could scout, I kind of found an area that was kind of not a view of Golden Gate Bridge that I had ever seen

and and filmed them there. And um Patrick Mulakani, I think it was um don't quote me on that because I might have been wrong on that. I mean film making and producing has taken you all around the world. I mean how is that aspect and how it relates to the lifestyle that you want to live? Is that is that a huge factor on why you keep going in production in media? I keep going because this is all I know. You know this is I'm almost 40 years in now which is crazy. It's like 38 years. Um, I do it because I love it. Uh, it's for anybody who who wants is thinking about going into the business. It is not easy. It's not easy. I mean, you know, your family, you have to have a partner that understands what we do. And you know this more than anybody, you know, they have to understand that you're not going to be home for maybe six or eight months, you know, where it's 14 hours a day. And then when you are home, you're

exhausted, you know, and then you go right back to work. It's like, you know, that part of life, like I, you know, my children ended up being great and my my eldest one is working in the business,

Kino. Oh, yeah. But, you know, like them growing up, you know, that must have been hard on them that dad not being around that much, you know, and you were one of those kids cuz your dad was in the industry, you know. Mhm.

Um, so that's tough and you have to be ready and you know like I my my first wife we got divorced and it was you know that's because I'm gone. I back then I used to travel more internationally so I'd be gone for like a month at a time.

Mhm. And it was hard really hard. That's the truth about our industry, you know, and um we feel like, you know, when we working, we putting in so many overtime hours and, you know, we're getting these checks and sometimes you're like, "Oh, yeah. Making bank and it comes at a cost, you know, and you know, like you said, like I grew up in the industry and and my dad's a single dad." And so I he he's working on these shows while trying to raise me alone. And you know, that's where like I had a Hana family. I was like literally with them, you know, majority of the time while he he's working and um you know, but I always did think it was such a cool thing what my dad was doing, you know, and he'd bring me on set, you know, I remember being on set at Jurassic Park, like that big log scene, you know, and um I didn't actually know how cool that really was until later, right? It's like, oh yeah, I guess I was

was there. Um, and you know, now I've become a father and my girls are seeing, you know, experiencing basically what I experienced um, when I was a kid and and you know, me sacrificing. There's no other way to put it is like I'm sacrificing um, time with them, time with the family into what I'm passionate about. And like you said, it's like when you have a spouse or you have family that understand that, that's that's going to be the support system that that you need. And um if we if we're talking about real facts here is like the marriage rate uh the successful marriage rate in our industry cannot be that high.

Yeah. You know. Yeah. You have to you have to find somebody that that understands you know is compassionate towards what you're doing and understands what we're doing

and your partner has to be really understanding and you know and a lot of us are lucky that we have partners like that. you know,

uh, my current wife is amazing and supports me 100% and understands what we're, you know, last minute we're gone. Travel, you know, come home, they think we're going to be home at 6:00 and we get home at midnight.

You know, that's always the question. What time do you think you're going to be home?

So, here here's a story. So, I was day playing for 5. Mhm. And at the time it wasn't that, you know, it was once or twice a month or something like that. It wasn't a lot. So I was really trying to make sure that I was available whenever.

So I get a call and they go, "Okay, we got a day available for you." And they gave me the date and it was the day before my wedding. And I'm like, "Um, let me just hold on, you know, like just give me a second. I'm going to just check." So I go to my wife. Hey, do they want me to work this day before? And this is how understanding she is. She's like, "Sure, no problem." I'm like, "You sure?" "Yeah, yeah, sure." "Okay, great." So, the one thing about day plane is is they never tell you anything about it. It just they just say, "Hold that date."

And so, then the day before I find out, I get the call sheet. It's a night shoot.

Oh my god. So, like it's like a 5:00 p.m. call. And so, I'm like, "Oh my god, this is crazy."

What time is your wedding? 8:00 a.m. What? 10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. I had to be there at 10 a.m. So 5:00 p.m. call. So I go to the I go to the shoot. It's uh it's over like cool little ranch side.

I go to the shoot and everybody like you know through the night I'm telling people so like everybody starts to get so they ended up letting me off a little early but I got home you I got home about I don't know 4 in the morning or something like that. And uh but the funny thing was is the shoot that we did that night was a wedding. The wedding and I drive I drove a Mustang at the time. The wedding was the whole scene was the bride was running out of the wedding driving a Mustang and then she crashes off a cliff.

Somebody like knocks her off a cliff. So I get home and it's like 4 in the morning and I and I go to sleep and like for like an hour and a half or something like that and then I went and did my wedding.

Oh my gosh. But that's part that that's the industry, right? Yeah, cuz if I said no,

then it would go to somebody else. And then the next time that they needed somebody, who would they call? The guy who said no or the somebody that said yes. You know, it's like

you have to be fully fully committed to this business in order to succeed. You do. Um, I love to talk about that because it's something that maybe people don't want to talk about, but there's high pressure in in performing and showing up and you know, prior to COVID basically, like unless you're on your deathbed, if you got a little sniffle, you're hiding that and still coming in because like you said, you never know when the the one day that you miss, somebody comes in, fills in for you, and you never get a call back.

To me, that's kind of shetty, you know what I mean? And I think that this is my personal opinion that that was kind of

it's a very old school style. Um, I get it, you know, but I feel like we've kind of evolved in a way and I've been super fortunate to work for um for Key Grips, my bosses, who have been incredibly understanding. And I think it comes with um growing up in the industry or being around the industry and understanding what it does to family. Like you know, Ane Trinetski was my key grip for 10 years on Hoy 5.

Yeah. And he was awesome in completely telling all the boys, no worry, family first. And he meant that, right? He meant that if you have to miss a day for your family, you're not going to be replaced. So you don't need to operate under that pressure. you don't need to sacrifice, you know, your cousin's wedding or your your kids baseball game, you know, and I I see it and even, you know, moving on to to the next show where I had less Tomita as my key grip and, you know, legendary keygrip who comes from the old school style who who totally knows like you miss a day, you're out, buddy, you know, or you know, he's the kind of guy I got to walk up to. It's like, oh c can I take a day off? and he look at you, what what you got to do? But um at the end of the day,

he understands how important family is and he never holds that over your head. And and and when you have someone like that, a boss like that that's not going to put that pressure over you because there's a lot of people who do put that pressure over you, who still operate like that. And no offense, but I see camera, you know, camera guys kind of operating like that, like cutthroat, no mercy. Yeah.

Yeah. It's Yeah. It's part of it, you know, and especially as a day player, you know, and like you said, there's not a lot of jobs in Hawaii for camera operators.

Most of the productions that come in from out of town bring their operators. And I understand if you're a DP, why would you want to work with somebody you never worked with before?

So, it's it's it's uh very limited what we have offered to us in that in as an operator. And usually it's day playing like if we if a a film comes here or you know it's it's usually a dayplay thing that comes available.

Um and then some of the episodics we you know we some of the operate we can get positions. Yeah. You know

and um you landed one of those full-time jobs on uh Rescue High Serif, right? Yeah. I got Magnum was my first one and then Rescue. Yeah.

Nice. Very excited and happy to have both of those and work with everybody that I got to work with.

Yeah. And um you you DP a lot, you know. Did were you able to DP any of the second units on on Rescue High Surf?

Um I did a tiny bit on Magnum and then I did probably about five days on Rescue High Surf. Who would you say is kind of your biggest has been your biggest kind of inspiration or mentor or someone you know that had a huge impact on your camera operating career that you you hold with you or you remember?

I I you know it's funny I thought you might say that. Um it's kind of weird because I guess maybe the way that I went about my career I never really had any mentors and it's not that I didn't want one. and I absolutely would have want one and I think that's

critical you know in in learning. Um, but like I went from news and then started my own company, you know, and then went from there. And then when I got into the episodic stuff, um, you know, I mean, I, you know, I look, I I learn from every single time I'm on set, first of all. Um, I think it's part of like the process. You don't want to go onto a set and think that you know this and you know that. you want to absorb and everybody does something different and I wa you know when I watched television same thing and you know I watched a show the other day and just some of the camera work was amazing you know and and to get to get the opportunity to work to all the different DPS that I've gotten to work with uh Krishna and Kurt Jones and um Ana you know it's like you get to see the different styles and you get to take away what you want from each one you know you get that opportunity to take away, you know, lighting and camera

angles and lenses and, you know, all of that. So, uh, you know, I appreciate that. And not just that, I take away stuff from gaffers and grips, you know,

and dolly operator, you know, any anybody. There's something to be learned from. And I did, you know, I part of it is probably because I didn't start out in this in this side of the industry, but I try to learn from everybody that I can.

Yeah. I I think that's one of the common things I see in successful people in this industry is that you're always willing to learn.

You know, and I tell people a lot of grips that, you know, I might be training is um even though you know something, you should still just listen to what that person has to say and take from it what you want. You know, you never want to be that person of oh, I know that. I' I've already learned that, you know, because every, like you said, everybody does it different and and it's for a reason, you know, and um I I I've learned a lot of things from from you definitely on set. Um you you've really, you know, you've been a mentor to me. I think you just being so critical of yourself and all the work that you've done that you're right like you never had a mentor but you push forward you learn from your mistakes and I think you know it it's it's just encouraging um to a lot of people in the industry that it's okay to fail like anything else right you hear it all the time it's like don't be afraid to fail and I think

that's one of the things you just it's time under tension right you put yourself in a position whether whether you're creating your own project at home or with a friend or somebody's short film or on a big TV set or a film set is just stay busy like like you said, you know, um there's no time to really sit around and uh I could be doing this, I should be doing that. But um so now you're kind of, you know, TV has kind of gone away. It's the first time we don't have a television show here in what, like 15 years. So, you kind of back in the realm of producing uh your own shows or other people's shows. Uh what is something you currently uh working on now or uh look forward to working on in the future?

Um I I developed a a system, a flight pack that's a multi- camera system that I've been using. So, we're working on a a new series for local series for um Hawaiian Council. Uh it's called Hawaii to the World. Mhm.

It's kind of like a America's Got Talent type of a show, but Hawaii version and each each island is has a competition and then they're going to have a finals at the end of this year

um in December, I think. Um so that's something we're doing with with Crayons and Malcolm working on that as well.

Yeah. And uh I've got a series of commercials that I've got that I've got to get going on um coming up. Um but you know we just did um lantern I mean uh not lantern but uh kumalipo

um which was a three-hour chant that we did a multicam of from in front of the palace and that was a uh an awesome event. It was beautiful and um great that we got to be a part of that. So it's just all different kinds of things you know I there's and obviously cooking Hawaiian style still around you know we still got that coming up. Yeah.

Um, but you know, just the whole variety. Every day I'm working on something. I I don't stop. It's a grind.

Are you working toward a particular goal? Do you eventually want to, you know, do you have, you know, some people they look forward to shooting their own full feature or, you know, a particular documentary that they have in their pocket that they're waiting to do? Or at this point, are you just trying to survive? I know I am.

Yeah. I mean, I I think at my age that a lot of that's kind of pounded out of me, you know, like I had way more dreams, I guess, when I was younger in this business. And um you know, now I'm like, well, let's see how many more years till I retire, you know, or until I can uh in a in a dream world, I would do a film about um this Mexican revolutionary called Ameliano Zapata. That would be a fantasy dream of mine was to produce a movie about him. And there's been at least one that famous movie done about him, but it was in the 50s or 60s or something like that. Um, that would be like the ideal thing like that would be okay, I'm done. I can I don't have to, you know, continue anymore. Um, but but my my sister is a writer and a director and she's writing a screenplay right now um that she's she's going to shoot in the hometown.

I'm from Mexico. I was born in Mexico and raised in the States, but um there's a tiny little town that my family's from and we have our family home there and um she's writing a screenplay for that town to be shot in that town next year. So that I'm looking forward to that and that would be quite an accomplishment to be able to work with my sister and to to be able to lens a a film in the town that my family's from.

That's awesome. Um before you go and that's already been an hour. Um, I always try to ask my guests, you know, if you could give one bit of advice to the filmmaker specifically in Hawaii or, you know, just in general, um, what would you what would you, you know, encourage them or or give them advice about?

That's a good question. And since I've been to almost all your shows, I should have anticipated that. Um, that's a good question. Uh, I mean, I I guess I don't know. There there's a there's a lot of rules like in in film making. There's a lot of rules in lighting and camera work and all that stuff. And I think it's extremely important to learn all of them. But I also think it's extremely important to break all of them or most of them. Um, you know, people get caught up in both one or the other, you know, they think they don't have to learn the rules. But I do think it's important to learn them so that you know how to break them because it's it's not just breaking them, it's how you break it, you know, and so I guess that that's what I would leave with with everybody.

Make sure to break them. Yeah, that's very interesting. That's definitely something I haven't heard. Um, but you're absolutely right. And um yeah, I just want to thank you, you know, number one for, you know, helping me with this big picture podcast. And um I just want to thank everyone who who's been watching it um while I'm here talking with you because I do get stopped from people in the industry who says, you know, they love what we're doing and um it's kind of given everybody a centralized platform to speak about our industry specifically here in in Hawaii. And I think that's what we needed right now. And and for you to give up your time with all the projects that you just spoke about to be humble enough to come over here and help me um you know just highlight the people of our industry here. I think it's an important thing. I think we're making an impact and I don't know how much longer

you'll work for Mapulas, but I hope we can do this a little bit longer. Um especially while we're all out of work. But um yeah, thank you so much, Ruben.

Yeah. Well, I mean, isn't that what makes Hawaii film industry so special is that we're there for each other. We all got each other's backs. I mean, that's what I feel. You know, we're a family.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "“Emmy-Winning DP Ruben Carrillo on 40 Years of Filmmaking in Hawai‘i”"?

In order: 0:00 Hawaiian Airlines, Kore Digital, Mary Monarch, Ruben Curillo; 20:00 Liquid Planet Studios, Mary Monarch; 30:00 Cooking Hawaiian Style, Hawaiian Airlines, Mary Monarch; 40:00 Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Central Station, Hawaiian Airlines, Jurassic Park; 50:00 Ameliano Zapata, Cooking Hawaiian Style, Hawaii to the World.

What is mentioned in this The Big Picture episode?

14 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Hawaiian Airlines, Mary Monarch, Cooking Hawaiian Style, Ruben Curillo, Kore Digital, Smithsonian. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "“Emmy-Winning DP Ruben Carrillo on 40 Years of Filmmaking in Hawai‘i”"?

The episode runs 1 h; the transcript is about 11,862 words in 198 timestamped sections.

More from The Big Picture

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.