cials" involved in getting one
project off the ground. "You
work on a project for a year
and it doesn't get built--that
was very frustrating."
One day he was talking
with his partner in a small
Connecticut firm, after having
recently finished all the projects
they were contracted for. "I just
had this realization. I said, `I'm
going to Los Angeles and get
into the movies.' My friend
started to laugh--I didn't know anybody working in the movies."
Undaunted, Barbosa got up and started packing. Within three days he
had shipped all his belongings west and set out driving cross-country.
His first break came when he stopped in Nevada to see a house he and
his former partner had designed. The homeowners were excited for
Barbosa to meet their neighbors, a couple that loved the home's architec-
ture. As it turned out, she was a former soap opera actress and he was a
retired costume designer. When they discovered Barbosa was on his way
to Hollywood to try and get work in the movies, they immediately made
calls on his behalf.
A meeting with one of the producers at IRS Media led to his first job,
as construction coordinator on a movie called Shakes the Clown. Through
connections make on that film he was offered the job of art director on
Lonely Hearts. After that, he began picking up production design jobs on
lower budget projects, steadily building his portfolio of work.
When not working on features or television programs, he honed
his designer skills for commercials, including spots for Burger King,
Coca-Cola, Durasoft Contact Lenses, Isuzu, 7-Eleven, and Sony.
Production designing the television series Moloney enabled him to
join the union, which opened up many more opportunities for work.
Designing on a permanent installation for Euro Disney's Tomorrow Land
garnered a recommendation for the art director job on the 1998 remake
of Psycho--"My first big studio movie." It was an important break in
Barbosa's career in terms of recognition.
He went on to production design the pilot for the series Action. "It was
very smart; hilariously funny. But it was an inside joke of Hollywood and
how production companies work. It was Hollywood poking fun of
itself--it didn't do well in middle-America."
"You really have
to love [filmmaking]
because it's hard work.
In the beginning it's
very difficult. You will
get rejected often. You really, really have to
be convinced this is what you want to do. If
you're doing it from your heart, it will
happen."--Carlos Barbosa
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