David Cash is a 22 year old from Toronto, On. In the past 5 years, he has grown his creative production company to work with Vogue, Netflix, Airbnb, New York Fashion Week, OVO, and Pride Toronto to name a few. He's had editorials in over 80 publications over the last 2 years and has personally ran 6 exhibitions. He prides himself in his ability to handle the entire creative process and has amassed 10's of thousands of followers on several social media sites. He is set to graduate from Queen's University in December.
Can you let the audience know a little about yourself?
I’m David Cash, I’m 22 from Toronto, On and I’m a creative director in terms of photo and video who's worked with a bunch of prominent and up and coming brands like Vogue and Lyft.
I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for about 5 years now. I have been in the creative industry at large for a lot longer; I was an actor when I was younger. That later evolved into behind the camera roles like working as a director and photographer and creative director for photo and video design events.
More recently I’ve been working in a lot more celebrity and fashion photography roles. Doing a lot of music video direction. I do a lot of stuff.
When did you first discover your passion?
Film started much younger than photography. I started working in film as an actor when I was a kid for short films that ended up in the Toronto Film Festival and others. I made my first personal film (a stupid documentary where I filmed my friends talking about different things) when I was in the fourth grade and won a film festival for private schools in Toronto which really jump-started my drive to create more content.
After I left high school, I got a camera and that evolved into photography because I really liked creating scenes and putting stories together which serves with photography as much as it does film.
You’ve been more focused with photography than film over the last couple of years, right?
On a high level that’s probably true because photography is easier to do and it’s cheaper, so more people are willing to pay for it- especially as an up and comer in the industry. But I have done a lot of both.
What are some of the brands that you’ve worked with in the past?
Pride Toronto, Netflix, OVO, Lyft, Airbnb, Vanity, Getty Images, CBC, 80 publication in the last 2 years, multiple film festivals, NewYork Fashion Week, 5 or 6 exhibitions.
That’s awesome David, so what/who inspired you to follow this path? I know your mom was a prominent solo cellist.
It helped that I was surrounded by artistic and creative people around my mom, but I don’t think that necessarily made me want to do one thing or another. When I was younger, I really thought that I wanted to be an actor. Basically, I’ve always wanted to create something-
whether that be directing a short film or creating a fashion spread. I would have to say that the more I’ve been involved in the creative industry the more roles I wanted to try and take on.
I don’t regret any role that I’ve taken because they’ve all given me skills to be able to evaluate projects from a multitude of lenses.
I knew you in high school and I know you weren’t as prominent as you are now on Social Media, when did you first experience growth online and career?
In terms of career growth, I think its been pretty gradual. Every year I think I’ve kind of peaked in terms of productivity, but then the next year I realize that wasn’t anywhere close to what I did the following year. When I was running video for Pride Toronto- it was an unpaid internship that I got an honorarium for, I’d never do in a thousand years now. It was great experience, though. It’s an interesting thing to think about: being very grateful for something but never wanting to do it again.
In terms of online growth. People start recognizing you after doing it for along time. Working with brands and social media starts helps with growth, but I’ve been less concerned with it as I was when I was first starting out. Instagram is my biggest SM because I do a lot of images. You unlock some features after you hit 10k followers- that I was able to grow my actual business rather than my online following.
What are your short and long-term goals?
I have a couple of gigs that are coming up in the New year. I can’t talk about all of them, but I can say that I have released a short film. I’ll be touring around to a bunch of film festivals which Is very exciting.
I’m also running my first international art shows in New York and Los Angeles this summer- so if you’re around let me know. I’m working with a bunch of others- so it’ll be my first group show which is super exciting. I ended up majoring in art history- so I’m excited that I’ll be able to do something along the lines of that. The premise is showing the inter-generational gap between the 90’s and the 2000’s.
Long term goals would involve potentially doing a master’s degree in the fall in Italy- which as you know- I never had the intentions of doing. I actually wanted to leave school after my production company was starting to gain traction- but I was contacted by Vogue Italia which has an affiliation with a university in Italy- so I may be heading to Europe for 9 months!
When I come out of that, I really want to start producing the movie that I’ve been planning to do since I was in high school. I don’t want to talk to much about it because it’s far into the future, but I’ve written the full screenplay and have some interest on some other production sites to help put it together. When I get back.
That sounds like a great plan, I would’ve never thought that you would want to do a Master’s. One more question- kind of a 1a 1b. What do you consider your niche and your passion?
My niche would probably be like fashion art or film media as weird and existential as that sounds. My passion is either film or fashion and art or the intersection of those two.
Who are some of your role models? Could you give me two in your industry and one outside?
First, I have to say David LaChapelle. I try to model myself stylistically like him as a photographer and among other things.
Jean-Paul Goude is another one that comes to mind. He’s a famous director and creative director. He’s still alive, I think. He did Grace Jones’ album art in the 70’s and 80’s. He’s a French dude and super prolific; I love him. So, I guess those are my two role models in the industry.
Not in my industry, Truman Capote is it for me. He wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s which was my favourite book of all time. Actually, there are a couple but he’s the one that pops into my head.
What are some things that you’d recommend to someone trying to break into the industry or as a director?
Honestly, you must work hard, take all the jobs you can- even if they’re not paid- and learn as much as you can. Even if you have all the talent in the world, this industry respects your resume beyond anything else. I’m sure that some famous creatives were dismissed because they were so young even if they were a better fit than older people who got a gig they wanted. It’s the nature of the beast and you’ve got to keep your head up. Sooner or later your name will come up and you’ll be able to do the things you wanted to at the beginning just because you were doing the things that were not your hope at the time. Also, be humble. Nothing goes farther than letting people talk on your behalf.
And finally, would you fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse sized duck?
I would pay someone to do it for me.
Which one would you rather see that person fight?
Probably 100 duck-sized horses; I think I'd get a better bang for my buck.
Thank you David for taking the time to participate in this interview. To follow Dave on social media, check our the links below:
twitter.com/shotbycash
instagram.com/shotbycash
TikTok: dvdcash
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