Peter Ferris - Creators First Spotlight
Peter doesn’t just tell stories – they build entire worlds. Whether it be behind decks at a rave, scripting a graphic novel, or creating a truly unique card game their work is rooted deep, raw emotions thank make you clutch your chest and want even more!
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Peter is the embodiment of cool. They have great fashion sense, have a huge creative library and have traveled the world. The coolest part about Peter though is that despite all this they are a grounded, playful and deeply kind person.
Working with Peter has opened me up to storytelling with unapologetic heart. The passion and hard work they bring to everything they work on is nothing short of inspiring. I leave every meeting we have bursting with excitement for what Peter will make next.
I can’t wait for you to get to know them more in this week’s Creators First Spotlight!
-Flip Sarta
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What's your story?
Starting off with the biggest question. So my artist journey it's definitely been pretty multifaceted and broad. I would say I feel like I spend a lot of time in many varieties of art forms and finding interest in different pockets of making stuff. You know, from music to illustration and writing and performance and game design and all kinds of stuff, directing.
But, the pretty clear through line when I look back at all those things from when I was like a kid till now, is definitely storytelling. And whether I was working in a medium that is very obviously storytelling, like writing, or something that's less so obvious, like DJing. It's very clear that I approach those things from a storytelling standpoint.
Why do you tell stories?
The base of it is probably quite simple, just that I really love it. It makes me feel very fulfilled and challenged and excited.
It's just a really great feeling to be immersed in a world that you're creating. I love thinking about the world I'm building and the characters populating it. It's constantly in the back of my brain throughout the day, putting the pieces together. I hope people who experience something I’ve made can feel the intention, care, and emotion in it.
How do you decide which medium to tell which stories in?
It's really nice to work in multiple mediums because whenever one just isn't flowing, maybe the other one is. It feels natural, I follow wherever the least resistance is coming from or where I’m currently feeling inspired. It's less of an intellectual decision. There's definitely some concepts or stories or worlds that have crossed into multiple mediums though.
For example, I have this one story called Hand Betrays Heart which started as the episode title from a series I had in development at Netflix, shifted into a narrative DJ set I performed at a rave in Los Angeles, became a deck building card game, inspired a short film script, and then a full length graphic novel. That concept that must have just been really sticking to me for some reason and I wanted to come out in different ways. It’s quite different in each iteration though.
Could you tell us more about DJing and how you got into that?
I love music so much. I think music is just the best. It's brought me some of the best times of my life. The most intimate moments and the biggest feelings that I’ve felt, specifically in the rave environment. I really fell in love with that space kind of late compared to most people. Maybe when I was 25 is when I really started going to raves and getting into the space. It was just so –
Okay, so I love world building and fantasy and stuff like that. I feel like when you go to a rave, especially whenever you're first discovering the space, it feels like entering into another world. Especially in LA where all the parties are like illegally thrown, they're always in these really cool environments.
The way to get there is complex and there's passwords and they try to keep it from getting shut down. Then you cross through some grassy meadow and you hear the music in the distance and you're getting so excited as you're getting closer to it . You end up running into someone else on the path who's going there too.
And when you get there you experience this amazing feeling of release . The energy and emotions are connecting you with all these people. I feel like I fell in love with that type of music through experiencing those connections and aliveness.
My brother is an amazing producer and DJ. Around that time too he had a tiny little DJ controller when I was visiting him in Mexico City. He showed me how to use it and I got pretty quickly hooked and bought my own equipment. I started playing house parties and then eventually started playing bigger shows, and now I’ve been touring internationally and creating hybrid performances with my partner Jas Lin who is a dancer.
What do you hope your audiences take away from your stories?
That's a really good question.
It’s definitely not a starting point for me. I don't really start from thinking of how I want an audience to feel, but as I'm working on something, it definitely comes up. I think the main answer would just be - and it sounds so corny or whatever - but just to feel and feel big.
I want someone to clutch their heart, you know? I want them to feel whatever it is that they need to feel. It will come up if the big emotions are being channeled.
I think that most of the stuff I make is less about making someone think very deeply about something in particular and is more about cracking the heart open to whatever is in there that needs to get out.
As a DJ, it's such an immediate feeling because you can see it happening in real time. Whenever you’re creating an arc through the set and landing the emotional punch at the end – the process of dancing through the whole set is lubricating the heart to be ready to be popped open at the right moment!
It's really satisfying to be able to create that feeling right in front of the audience. Whereas with writing or directing you don't usually get to see that happen. It's like you already prepped it and someone else experiences it in their own time.
And what's great about DJing too, it’s an experience that can’t be replicated. Its communal and happening just in that moment. And my DJ name is Hearthealer so it definitely makes sense to what I’m saying here.
What is a story you find yourself revisiting over and over again?
I think something that I keep finding reoccurring in my own work is just the kind of feeling of hurting the person you would at least want to hurt and the inevitability of there being pain and conflict where there's also the most intimacy. Going along with this, a story that I read relatively recently that's really stuck with me is, Berserk, which has similar themes.
Our motto is Creators First, Original Always - Are there any creators or recent originals that you fit into lately?
It's a good question. I have a lot of really talented friends that make amazing music, who I've met all over the world. Those people definitely inspire me a lot, both as creators of their art and of community and spaces, specifically in countries that have been impacted by colonization, war, corruption and/or where the scene exists out of pure desire, love, and passion and not as much for clout/industry. I feel so lucky to be invited to and be a part of these spaces. Panic Library in Hong Kong. Terminal Dogma in Manila. Red Room in Yangon (which is sadly closed now), Bussy Temple in Singapore, Shapeshifter in Bangkok. They create spaces the world needs.
There is a monthly radio series called Innermost that I always listen to the moment it comes out. To me it is deeply inspiring and the world building really brings you into a new environment with each episode. They're just really beautifully and thoughtfully crafted, I’d definitely recommend listening to everything they release.
I also have a friend who writes novels named Jud Widing. He writes these fat books with insane vocabulary that I don’t even know what every word means. But I’m always so entertained by his writing. It’s laugh out loud funny, super sharp, and dark.
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Find Peter's work HERE
Creators First: Spotlights is a new interview series in which we interview creators about their lives, their work, and what they love! Stay tuned for more from artists, writers, musicians, comics creators, executives, and other friends of FredFilms!