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Podcast: S9 Ep. 7
Date: March 06, 2026
Title: LU Moment: Absolute Cinema: Adam Baeza talks Red Beak Productions | S9 Ep. 7
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹 faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. Today we're sitting down with one of our ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹 seniors who is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in communication and media. It's my pleasure to welcome Adam Baeza to the show today. Adam, welcome to the podcast, and thanks for joining me today on the LU Moment.

ADAM BAEZA: Thank you for having me, John. It's great to be here.

JOHN: We know you're an engineering student, as I just said, but it's really your love of film that kind of is the reason the invitation was extended -- the groups that you're a part of, we want to hear more about it. So, I do want to ask, what kind of sparked this love for filmmaking for you?

ADAM: So, I got into filmmaking when I was young, or not filmmaking, but just like into film in general, because, one, my dad liked watching a lot of movies with me, probably not movies that I should have been watching instead of watching, like Barney or Thomas the Tank Engine, which I did watch. I also watched Arnold Schwarzenegger's “Predator” and “Jeepers Creepers” and “Child's Play” and movies I should not have been watching and probably scarred me for life. But it's alright, I guess. It led me here. But other than, like, just big budget movies like that, I also found myself on the internet watching a lot of kind of, like independent people like Michael Hickox with his stop motion series, just like, or I guess, stop motion movies, like made out of Legos. I got into, like, other independent filmmakers like Christopher Cox at the time, known as CA Cox 97 who would make nerf style videos kind of just him and his friends messing around. But then it got a lot better as he got on and he started making actual films. Now he's his own independent filmmaker with his own winnings and everything like that. Moving on from that, got into like shows, like Video Game High School, one of my favorite shows, which is a web series made by Rocket Jump, just kind of moving on from there. What do I like more? What do I like more, which is shows, then movies, and then kind of moving on from there.

JOHN: I love to ask people their background story, because I think that's kind of neat that you watched with your dad, and you mentioned horror movies. And when I asked you for a few notes about yourself before, you emailed that over, that horror is kind of your go-to but you're trying to venture out a little more and kind of open that up. So I thought that was really cool, that that's part of your upbringing.

ADAM: Yeah, with horror, I've found myself getting doing a lot of horror movies because horror itself is kind of just a very versatile genre, and it can do a lot with very little. But because every semester I've pretty much done a horror or mystery or something kind of dark related movie, I've been wanting to branch out and do more things like my favorite genre, which is science fiction.

JOHN: Well, hey, branching out never hurts for sure. Yeah. So let's hear, I guess you kind of gave us a little bit of background. But you know, you’re an engineering student, film student, anything else you want to share about yourself before we kind of go into some of the things you're involved with here on campus?

ADAM: I guess it's common to ask a film person, or just any person, like, what's their favorite stuff? So my favorite movie, Speed Racer, by the Wachowskis. I love his kineticism. And it's, it's a very frantic but very controlled chaos type of film, which I love. Favorite shows right now, probably Andor, but it switches constantly. So it's like, you know, Andor Into the Badlands, Video Game High School, Yellow Jackets.

JOHN: Oh, I love Yellow Jackets.

ADAM: I love Yellow Jackets. I’m making my so we when we were making the short film Nola, directed by me and written by fellow student, Heather Harmon, one of the big inspirations I pulled for like, how do I want to make this look and sound and act and basically everything, was Yellow Jackets.

JOHN: Awesome. It does it have such a distinct look and color? Yes, all the vibe and yeah, that's really, really cool. This kind of segues us into our next topic, which is Red Beak Productions. I know it's fairly new, and you are the president, so tell us more about that particular student organization.

ADAM: So, Red Beak Productions has been around, kind of off and on for quite a little while when I, when I came in to ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹 around 2022 fall, it was a pretty new org, but I know now that it had been revived from a previous attempt at Red Beak Productions years before. Okay, how long ago? I don't know, right, but I do know Red Beak existed before, and then it restarted around the time I came in. Anyways, we are a filmmaking organization here at ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹. We like to write, shoot, edit, make films, post them on YouTube and but then now one of our big goals, slash, things we've been doing is entering into film festivals for the second, slash, kind of third time, we have entered into the Boomtown Film and Music Festival. I say second time because this is the second time under the Red Beak name. But the first time we did, it was just some members from that were in Red Beak, but we were under the Red Beak name, yeah.

JOHN: And like you said, y'all recently took home some awards at the Boomtown Film and Music Festival, and I have in my notes that you're looking to enter festivals in San Antonio and Austin. Yes, got to put your work out there.

ADAM: Yeah, that's been, it's been one of the craziest things to see people's reception to the movies that we work on in the past. We would like the past, the only, the only, like, the only kind of exposure we our films would get is at the Student Film Showcase at the end of every semester, okay, that the communication department puts on, yeah, and it's kind of like, well, that's that at the time, that was our only kind of exposure to a full live audience, right? So getting, getting to watch a movie in a grand theater like the Jefferson Theater, which is a beautiful theater, by the way, sure, yeah. To like, to like, have one, have something you worked on, on a screen that big, and then to hear, to watch and hear people like, like, react to the movie that you made. It's an incredible feeling. And I remember last year when we were watched it, when we watched our award winning film Reaper, watching people react to this, to the special effects that we put into that movie, like with just utter disgust. Everyone’s losing their minds in the theater, like being utterly horrified at what we just put out, and I'm just sitting there trying so hard not to laugh, because I'm like, that's, I'm like, that is exactly what I wanted.

JOHN: So you got the reaction you wanted. Hey, that's, that's the best feeling in the world, is getting the reaction you want. That's fantastic. No, I never thought about that. Like sitting in a theater watching your own film.

ADAM: It is very hard to do if you're in the film, right?

JOHN: Yeah, very surreal, sort of out of out of body experience, I bet?

ADAM: Yeah, which is why I prefer to be behind the camera.

JOHN: Well, that was going to be one of my next questions. You know, what are some of the films that you've been a part of, and what has your role been with those films?

ADAM: When I started out with Red Beak, I started out as an actor because I knew one of the other members, Isaac Durcksen. I knew him from high school, and we did theater together, and so when he said, “Hey, I need an actor for this project that we're working on,” I signed up and joined, and that was that. Other than that, I've been a writer for two of the films that we have worked on, not kind of the film festival race films, because those are kind of written by everyone. I just put together the script, right project? Yeah, it's kind of, it's kind of group project. I'm just the one putting it into those, into the power together. But like, I've written two films I've co-directed, which is basically, basically being like an understudy, kind of director learning the ropes of it? Yeah, I've been a co-director under Isaac for two of my films, hive and unreal, which translates to, I think, wraith in Japanese. I've been a director for the two Film Fest films, Reaper and Deadbeat, and then a director for Nola, our most recent film. I've worked grip, which is basically everyone's kind of handyman. You know, if you need someone to do an impossible task, you just ask a grip to do it. Yeah, I've also worked sound, which is kind of self-explanatory. I'm the guy with the giant stick with the microphone on the end who records sound. It's a very like subtly stressful job, because this second something goes wrong, you know it before anybody else does right? Like, it is also frustrating at times, like, if something gets completely out of your control, causes a sound like a train passing by. Well, I've had that happen a lot, especially on the set of the fur of their, of our second 48 hour film, Reaper, that was a very frustrating part of the control.

JOHN: Yeah, the positive side of that would be the hands on experience that you're getting. You're having these real-world experiences while you're here in college. Because these things are going to happen, you know, especially if you're shooting outside, outdoors, captive to the elements, you know what I mean? So that's kind of neat that y'all have that opportunity to be a part. And like you said, you've kind of done all these different roles when it comes to filmmaking. So that's good experience as well, because you kind of understand the team around you because you've been in a lot of those roles.

ADAM: Yeah, that has been like the biggest kind of benefit to one having had all this experience just being here a while. But then also, I try to, I try to learn at least a little bit of every position, yeah, just so that I can, like better, help people who are coming in and who are new, who, like me, have don't even know what a Felix light is, right? And then I can tell them, Well, this is what it is. This is how you fix this is how you like fix it, everything like that. Try to try to be a little bit of everything. Plus it also helps with the process of, okay, how are we going to do this shot? We're going to do it by putting this light here. This light here. We're going to put sound over there, so that way they can get out of the way of the camera. We're going to put camera here. We're going to make camera do this, everything like that.

JOHN: Yeah, you can anticipate everything. Yes, you've, you've gone through it already. Yeah, I love that. Tell us a little bit more about some of the other things you're involved with at Lamar. I know you mentioned a fraternity. You work two part time jobs. I don't know how you do all this and school, but yeah, just tell us about some of the other things, or maybe some favorite memories of your time here?

ADAM: Yeah. So, the fraternity is Sigma Phi Delta fraternity. We are the Beta Gamma chapter here at ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹. It is a social and professional engineering fraternity. Honestly, some of my best memories have been with both the fraternity and with Red Beak Productions like I remember for the fraternity we've like had, we've had a bunch of tailgates here during the football season, me and one of my brothers, Ryan, were just sitting there. It's almost like an episode of The Bear, but not as stressful. But we're, you know, everyone's coming up to us. We're just sitting there, firing the grill on all cylinders,

like we got the music playing. They’re both very similar in that it's such controlled chaos in the best way possible. But it's also like, these guys, I consider my brothers. They're my ride or dies basically.

JOHN: These memories are going to stick with you for a long time.

ADAM: Yeah. And with, like, Red Beak, it's, honestly, it's like the best feeling, even if it's like, I'm tired, I like, I've got three tests due next week. Everything's going wrong, the second I step on set, all of that kind of just goes away and is replaced by something else. But, no, I'm kidding, but, like, but it's something you look forward to. Yes, I Yeah. Like, I was talking about this with, I think Ren, who was our treasurer for Red Beak. I was like, you know, it's such an odd feeling, because, like, I can be tired, I can be like, anxious, whatever, and then the second I'm on set, all of it just goes away. I still get anxious and tired and stuff, but I like, just that, that feeling of I need to power through, because everyone is counting on me or counting and everyone's counting on each other. It's like it overpowers every other feeling I have, yeah, and I also try to keep, I also try to encourage a set where everyone granted we're not in the middle of a shot, where we can we can have fun, we can joke around things like that, just as long as we get everything done, for sure.

JOHN: And I think that speaks volumes, that you kind of feel at home once you get to the set. You know what I mean? That says you're probably in the right spot, you know, you're doing what you want to do. So I think that's usually a good indicator once that peace kind of comes over you like that. So then I wanted to mention, we’ve got a little bit of time left. You know, being in the Department of Communication and Media, y'all have got some amazing professors there who are very well connected in the film world. You know, Jeremy Hawa, Gordon Williams, so what has that been like for you, learning from them? Because I'm sure they're a part of a lot some of the things you're involved with.

ADAM: So I have not really had any classes under Gordon, because he handles a lot more the broadcast side of things. Yeah. So, and I've, I've only kind of stayed within the lane of, kind of, like the only film, minor film side of the minor. He's involved more with the festival, I guess, yes. But like, for Jeremy Hawa, he was the one who kind of taught me, like the, like, I already kind of knew a little bit of the ropes of script writing, because I just, I just taught myself, but he really kind of gave me a more formal mindset of, you know, especially for writer's block, of like, Hey, if you want to do this, well, you have no idea how, basically, reverse, reverse engineer it. Okay, yeah. Of like, well, who are your characters? Why are they here? What's going to what is going to get them from here to there, and then craft your story around just getting the character to that one point, and then make that your film. And then, kind of like the three-act structure of first act is, you know, introduction, second act is the main course. Third act is the resolution, everything like that. I already kind of knew that from, like English class, but like putting that perspective into filmmaking was what was what really helped me become a better writer. As for, but as for like Gordon Williams, he definitely has been helping. He's our advisor for Red Beat Productions. He's been definitely helping us a lot with getting connections outside of just Lamar in general, like, just like on campus, he's brought over some, some pretty well-connected people to the campus that we've had talks from both here at camp on campus and at Boomtown Film Fest. And last weekend, because of him, we went to we went to Rice University and went to Rice the Rice Cinema Club's media mixer, and we got to meet a lot of people. People in the Houston area, and they got to meet us. So it's been awesome just to kind of see, like, how, how much your world expands, kind of like when you meet the right people, and Gordon, both Gordon and Hawa are definitely some of the right people, for sure.

JOHN: For sure. I'm so glad y'all get to go on this journey with them, for sure. And you're broadening your horizons, like you said, meeting a cinema club from Houston. You probably didn't have that in the cards for this year, but apparently it was, right? So let me ask you this, and then we'll wrap up. If anyone wants to, like, catch up on films that y'all have produced, or are there social media pages? Where can they find you? You said YouTube. What is that YouTube channel? And then my last question for you is going to be, if someone described your creative work in one sentence, what would you hope that they would say?

ADAM: As for the social media aspect of the question, Red Beak Productions has an Instagram. I'm pretty sure it's just called Red Beak Productions. I can't remember exactly, but easy to find. Yeah, easy to find. It's going to have a cardinal with a little film reel coming out of its stomach. Kind of a grotesque way of describing it, but yeah. So there's our main social media page. We also do have a YouTube channel called Red Beak Productions, same logo as the Instagram channel or as the Instagram account, and that is where you can find all of the films that we have made so far within at least, at least within the time that I've been here, I guess so of the of the five films that I've worked on, the way I can describe at least four of them is bloody.

JOHN: Well, you know, like you said, a lot of horror, yeah, in science fiction as well. Yeah, a lot of that's your thing.

ADAM: Yeah, it's a lot, I guess, a lot of like violence, okay, yeah, simulated.

JOHN: Well, thanks again, Adam, thanks for all that you do, and we're glad to have you here on Lamar is campus, and glad that you're getting that great experience right here in Beaumont.

ADAM: Of course. Thank you for having me.

JOHN: As we wrap up another episode, please make sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs and people right here at ¹ú²ú¾çÇ鸣ÀûÒ»Çø¶þÇøÂ鶹. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.