The Making of "Who Is Danny Miranda?"

September 29th.

1 day after my 24th birthday, I made a commitment to myself. I wanted to get back to my roots as a filmmaker. I wanted to create art again.

In what form? I was not sure.

That night, as I was heading off to bed, a fully formed thought struck me.

"I should make microdocumentary on Danny."

We both lived in ATX. It just makes sense.

I immediately texted him. Within minutes, he responded:

I haven't made a film in 4 years. And yet this felt like divine providence. A few days later, we booked our first shoot day.

It was something I had to do. A film on the right person, at the right time for the right purpose.

My philosophy on documentaries is simple: Everyone asks famous people about their accomplishments & experiences, few investigate the human behind the temporal victories.

This is what drives me to create.

I believe art is the most powerful way to help people understand themselves, at scale. We're mimetic creatures. We learn by observation & imitation. If we have the privilege to watch someone explain their process of inner work, we will be able to apply those principles to our own life.

Danny's story was always interesting to me because it was a model for so much of Money Twitter. For those that don't know, "Money Twitter" is a small subculture of the aformentioned bird app that started around 2017.

A pack of Lost Boys who, through the internet, realized the reality that school & their middle class parents taught them was dead. Instead, online business, fitness & gaming women was the path to create their own utopia.

But, many of these 18-23 year old guys ended up dropping their own gifts in order to follow the crowd. Personal inclinations & talents would get left behind due to it not being "market viable". Every action had to have an ROI.

The same boy who felt abandoned by modern culture was now feeling hollowed out by the new subculture he adopted. He makes good money, works from anywhere & flexes freely online. Yet deep inside them, there lies the same purposeless they knew before Twitter.

This is the guy who needs a strong, positive role model that went through the same dark places as him.

This is the guy who needs to know that it's ok to reject the opinion mass and follow the path God gave you - no matter how much money you're making.

This is the reason I made "Who is Danny Miranda?".

I see you. I was once in your shoes. And I wish to show you another way of living.

Notes on the production:

My thought process was to center the film around 1 conversation and naturally unfold a storyline based on the direction he took us.

Early October, my cinematographer and I came to Danny's apartment in downtown Austin.

We quickly setup, got the cameras right. I sat down across the table from him. While the film was only 15 minutes, our conversation lasted around 45. Some of these extra snippets will be released on Danny's X account over the next few weeks.

Then, we had 2 separate days for broll: 1 for day shots & 1 for night shots. From the interview, I marked Day shots for the positive moments. Night shots for the darker ones.

Once we got all the footage, I began the edit. I've been editing videos for 10+ years, and this was the first time I ever used Adobe Premiere.

Why do this? I wanted to challenge myself. And what's the best way to onboard yourself to a new editor than an entire documentary.

Overall, very smooth production. Danny was a gem to work with. And frankly, I learned a lot about myself throughout the process.

It's good to be back.

More films coming soon.

God bless

-Tiger