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Meet John Varkados of GFD Productions in Brighton

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Today we’d like to introduce you to John Varkados.

John, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Seoul, South Korea and was adopted. No one knew who the father was. Perhaps it was a guy who crossed paths with my mother as my biological mother was hurled in a prostitution ring from a young age- or maybe it was one of the doctors on duty once they found my mother homeless, took her in, and she digressed in a catatonic state…I was born amidst all that. My adopted mother and father meet in Queens, NY while Woodstock was alive and well. They may deny it, but I saw the pictures from old scrapbooks where they would hide all the Christmas presents- they were hippies. I was raised and grew up with my high-functioning autistic brother, and my three older sisters in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania.

Let’s fast forward and at 19 I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I served from 2009 to 2014 and was honorably discharged a Corporal. I decided to leave the service because I was accepted to Berklee College of Music. At that point in time I was stationed in California and the only reason I found out about Berklee was because I was providing security detail at the Monterey Jazz Festival. I took a 4 month cross-country road trip down through California, 2 days with a cousin I’ve never met who happened to be a Marine sniper in Arizona, glancing in awe at the purple rocks of New Mexico, 3 days in Bryan, Texas, 2 weeks winning $600 in slot machines in Oklahoma with my close Marine buddies, the following weekend watching my older sister perform her stand-up comedy act in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, a week at my friend’s beach house in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and finally Boston, MA. That journey in and of itself was eye-opening to me aside from the people and interesting characters I have encountered while in the Marine Corps.

As I made camp, I started making a home in Boston. Initially I hated the people, the roads, the parking tickets, and the tolls that came with the east coast. I started to really understand why people were considered “Mass-holes”. Berklee was another hurdle in and of itself as well. I never read a piece of sheet music so between learning that from the ground up and then being immersed with my peers who were almost a decade younger than me, it was challenging collaborating and doing whatever musicians and artists do because the industry I chose to pursue is very relationship-driven.

One year became 3 years and as I walked to get my degree on stage as Lionel Richie gave me a beaming smile- I thought to myself, “This can’t be the end.” So, me and a friend created a video production company. We started doing music videos for other musicians. We then started working with artists at Berklee and created a separate nonprofit independent record label Vision Records Music Group. I crossed paths with Jovani Rosborough and started collaborating with Dream A Little Big Photography and on the weekends, we would do wedding videography. All of 2016 to now was used to write a story that took place right smack dab in Boston in the 1950s, write the melodies and lyrics to music for a time I never lived through, cast a bunch of first-time actors, film in a time span of 7 months within 11 locations in Massachusetts, and ultimately produce and solely fund the musical short film “Wonderful”.

Now I’m awaiting Emerson’s decision of accepting me to further my studies to get my master’s in media and Film for the fall. Accepted or not, this path has been one paved myself and I’m really at awe of life’s journey. Every mistake, every person, and every choice had a direct reaction because of every action taken- I have no intention of leaving Boston for quite some time. Boston got to me and I am happy I can explore and create in this city.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No it never is (haha). Trying to fund a LLC while paying student loans on top of some debt accrued while in the service but everyone somehow magically expects a musical film to come from a magic wand or something. On top of that getting laid off 3 times from the ‘day job’ within a 6-month period right after graduating with a bachelor’s Degree.

It’s very easy to just count your losses and call it quits and lick your wounds before they get any deeper- but what is the fun in life if you don’t pursue what you are most passionate about?

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the GFD Productions story. Tell us more about the business.
GFD Productions provides its family of artists and clients with many services such as video production, photography, and marketing strategies. Along with these services, artists and clients gain access to a network of talent in a designed effort to strengthen their value in today’s entertainment industry. I noticed there are so many different moving parts in the film and entertainment industries. Every artist is at a different stage in their career whether they are starting out or they have an internal workflow for booking, performing, and everything else in between- whatever gaps or aspects of the process they need someone to cover well- that’s where me and my team steps in.

I’m a freelance music publisher so using those skills trying my best to be the most transparent and communicative intermediary for my artists is my goal so that the artists can ultimately get revenue for their songs. Especially after making a musical film from scratch you see the process from start to finish from creating, pitching, and collaborating. It’s a beautiful process.

What I am most proud of is the movie we were able to produce. “Wonderful” consisted of 72-75 actors, crew, dancers, studio musicians, and people in the Boston community who were equally passionate about this. I believe what was also instrumental was the Internship Practicum Program we put in place. Last summer we hired 9 interns coming from Berklee, Boston University, and Boston College to help support this project as well as the artists we signed which is why we decided to launch our nonprofit record label. The program is currently being reviewed by the Boston Foundation for funding, so we are really excited keeping this program running which will give college-level students the opportunity to get entry-job level skills as the entry-job positions are decreasing as more graduates leave college and college students are without a job that relates with their area of study.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
It might not be relevant in today’s day and age, but I have a strong belief in God. Maybe it was going to a Roman Catholic school where the priests and nuns struck fear in my soul talking about hell and eternal damnation. Maybe it was the fear of death while serving in the Marines and trying to justifiably come with my own personal conclusion of what happens after we die. That belief followed me from California and while going through my second semester on the brink of dropping out, someone reached out to me- literally invited me to their church, and this “family away from my family” really supported me and my passions in the arts.

Getting laid off because your citizenship is in question, your local congressman is unable to do anything, and you are waiting for your replacement certificate of citizenship because it was lost while being transferred from duty station to duty station in the Marines- there’s an opportunity for depression to set in but you must keep moving on. If anything, these circumstances lighted a fire up my butt to push all my passion projects even more.

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Image Credit:
Janah Dawson Photography, Dream A Little Big Photography, GFD Productions

Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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