Member Highlight: Javier Ortega & Andrew Slane
It all begins with an idea.
Javier Ortega and Andrew Slane are a dynamic duo whose professional lives bridge the worlds of entertainment and fitness. Together, they are building Moz Media, a production company born from their passion for storytelling and the desire to share narratives that reflect their unique perspectives and voices.
Their first short, Leave On High, is already making waves in the film festival circuit, and they continue to dream big! Driven by community and creativity, they are thrilled to be part of the Creative + Community, where they hope to inspire and be inspired.
Read on to learn more about Javier and Andrew!
Full Name:
Javier Ortega & Andrew Slane
Nickname:
Javi and Andy
What do you do professionally?
Andrew is a working actor in film/tv/stage, and we are both fitness professionals in our day-to-day hustle.
What do you want to do (professionally and/or personally)?
The dream? We are both writer/directors with our own production company, Moz Media, where we write and produce passion projects that we hope to build into a larger storytelling empire. We hope to create and tell stories that speak to us in a way that can only come from our individual voices and perspectives.
Do you have any passion projects or ideas you want to explore?
Our first short film, Leave On High, is currently making its way through the festival circuit, and is loosely based on our experiences with waning friendships and getting bedbugs while living in NYC. As we write our projects in development, we are focused on writing what we know, speaking to our cultural backgrounds and personal experiences.
Who inspires you? Why?
We are good gay boys, so we will start off by saying we are both very much inspired by our mothers. Neither is an artist, but they have both faced incredible adversity and have fought for getting their families and themselves ahead. We hope to be more like them in those ways, and hope to make them proud. Artistically, we are both passionate about our queens — Lady Gaga and Shakira. Don’t laugh… Here's why: Lady Gaga is an Italian girl from a Catholic family who has battled trauma and overcome, using her artistic perspective to shine a light on mental health through her unique voice — a journey that speaks very much to Andrew and his life and future goals. Shakira is a groundbreaking Colombian artist who has broken barriers and united cultures through her art, intellect, and point of view, evolving and being unafraid to show the many authentic facets of herself to the world — a story that speaks very much to Javier and his background, as well as his future. Needless to say, we stan our queens.
Hobbies / Interests / Things that bring you joy:
First and foremost, we are obsessed with our dog, Ozzy. He is our second dog, after our first dog Motley passed a few years ago. Our dogs have brought us and continue to bring so much joy and have also helped us grow up, not to mention bringing us closer together as a family. We actually named our production company, Moz Media, after both Motley and Ozzy, so their legacy is something that we can carry on far into the future and remember everything they did for us over the many years of our partnership. We also enjoy consuming culture: reading, watching movies and shows, listening to podcasts, and traveling as much as we can. It should probably be noted that we are theme park dorks, having grown up in Florida, and love following the development of rides and attractions that push the limits of imagination and storytelling through physical experiences.
Greatest accomplishments:
Our partnership, both personally and professionally, is one of the things we are most proud of. We have been together over 18 years and been through more adversity than you could imagine. It would not be surprising, given the competitive nature of the industry, that our union would have fallen apart, but we work every day to support and respect each other, and inspiring each other to grow. We are also extremely proud of having conceived, written, produced and directed our first short, Leave On High, which has been selected by four festivals around the country, with many more months in the festival circuit to go.
Future accomplishments:
Professionally, we are developing a series based off of our experience coming-of-age in Orlando, FL, and are also developing additional shorts and features for future production. Personally, we have dreams of traveling more and eventually growing our family together.
What excites you about being a Creative + Member?
We understand the value of being part of a community of artists, something which is very hard to find and maintain, even in a city as creative-friendly as NYC. We would never have been able to produce our short without the connections we have forged over the years, and Creative+ affords us the possibility of meeting and being inspired by a whole new collective of creatives we otherwise may have never met. We hope to be able to give as much as we will receive from this community.
Best piece of advice you have ever been given:
Stay true to who you are, and trust that your unique voice is what will bring you success.
Who is someone you want to collaborate with? Why?
These days, we would love to collaborate with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, the two actors/creators behind the podcast Las Culturistas. We feel a strong connection to their perspectives, voices, and partnership, and very much admire them as artists.
There are SO MANY creatives we would love to work with who have inspired us throughout our lives, but overall, we are passionate about working with hardworking, warm, and open-minded people that are interested in working in community with others. While it might be beneficial to collaborate with success-driven people looking to advance their careers, without the aforementioned qualities, art becomes work — difficult, taxing, and cold. The world has too much of those qualities to burden ourselves, and our art, with more of that.
Favorite quote:
“The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.” - Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Buffy the Vampire Slayer
What does your best life look like?
Balanced — stemming from, and driven by, joy and passion. We hope to tell many stories in a multitude of ways, professionally, while filling our personal lives with memories of family, friends and travel. We are still working on striking that balance, as I’m sure many of us hustling are, as well.
Last words for the Creative + Community?
We want to thank this collective for allowing us to bring ourselves and our voices into the mix. We are nothing if not grateful for the opportunity to meet and be inspired by all of you, and we hope we can bring something to your journeys, too.
J&A’s Socials
Moz Media Productions Instagram
We love shining light on our members!