We had the good fortune of connecting with Carlos Malache and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Carlos, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve never been good at anything else! Really, it was a necessity (haha). Like many people, I remember being so lost as an adolescent—I didn’t have much athletic ability and when you’re 14, you basically think “I must not be really good at anything”. Eventually, I picked up guitar and I remember the intoxicating feeling it was to have found something I understood and made sense to me. Eventually, I went on to to study jazz performance and played in bands all through high school and college.
Turns out, I was more creative than I thought. This exploration lead me to a degree in communication (journalism / advertising) where I found myself in a video production class during sophomore year. I didn’t know where it would lead, but I picked up a camera for the first time at 19 and never looked back. With the encouragement of my professors to keep at it, I landed a job in production at a news station right out of college. Here I am 10+ years later.
What should our readers know about your business?
I am honestly most excited for everything that is coming in the future, both career-wise and personal. I recently became a father and it’s really shifted my perspective on work and play. I do a lot more playing now. It’s been a journey—and even then, it’s really just beginning. I started RELIGHT creative in 2019 after leaving an agency producer job at an automotive-focused advertising agency—right before the pandemic. Starting a business is never easy, but 2020 was just a whole new level of difficult. You have to be nimble. Production shut down so I shifted into post production and that was what sustained me that year. I would not have survived without that refocus and adjustment.
I’ve learned that business is about relationships, giving before you take, and being grateful for everyone who helps you in your business along the way. Treat people not just fairly, but GOOD—and you will be rewarded. RELIGHT started as a way to do production the way I thought it should be done—letting the artists lead and not being afraid to tell a client no for the good of their own project. Our philosophy is to always put the good of the project/production first. Clients are paying for your expertise, after all.
Anyway, the thing I want people to know about RELIGHT is that it’s trying to do things differently. Perhaps not better, because there are so many amazing production companies in town—but definitely differently. We’re trying to put our crew first, run extremely organized and professional sets, stick to 10 hour days, and most importantly pay people the rates they deserve.
We don’t cut corners. We are uncompromising. Our main goal is to create excellent experiences for client and crew—and not sacrifice the final product in the process. We’ve gotten some great feedback from clients and crew on basically all of our projects to date and are excited to keep refining our process into the future while making some more friends along the way.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh, dude. National Forests tour for sure. I love camping and being outside. A week-long adventure tour of Colorado has been on my bucket list for a while now. I would encourage anyone who visits Colorado to take in the best of what it has to offer: the great outdoors.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The person that needs a shoutout is definitely Diego Estrada Bernuy of Degotelo Studios. He is a wonderful person, community engager and insanely talented artist—when I first moved to Denver he was the one I started working with a lot. His encouragement, the opportunities he afforded me and the relationships he connected me to are a big part of where I am now. For example, I met a gaffer the first time I worked with him that I still work closely with to this day.
As anyone in the industry knows, when I moved up to DP from camera operator it was a little scary. A lot scary actually. You don’t immediately get work, and you can’t count on the same work you had before since you’re trying to move up to a key position. It’s insanely hard. I began working with Diego when I was in the middle of this transition. It was really the first time I felt “seen” as a DP and I just owe a lot to him and will always be appreciative of the person he is and what he wants to do in this town. Thanks, Diego.
Website: https://carlosmalache.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlosmalachedp/
Other: Company website: https://relightcreative.com/
Image Credits
Images by: Nathan Mitchell and Sam K. Saliba