Victor Migalchan is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and educator – Hollywood’s latest renaissance man. His work seamlessly blends cultural storytelling, business innovation, and social impact. From creating the hit TV series My American Family to pioneering water purification projects and educational initiatives. Viktor Migalchan is committed to meaningful storytelling and real-world solutions. Now, he shares his insights on balancing entertainment, business, and innovation, the importance of authenticity in cultural representation, and his vision for the future and recalls, how it was to work with Hollywood’s famous ‘Matchete”, Danny Trejo. Exclusive interview.
What is the biggest challenge for you in balancing entertainment, business, and innovation?
I’d say it is a combination of goals, wishful thinking, discipline, and human factors. Goals could still be dreams without proper analysis, work input and tests. Wishful thinking is what carries lots of talented people away, and what isn’t an obstacle for disciplined people. Human factors – are a big challenge: it isn’t just about finding those with the same values, who are better than you and ready to sail in the same boat. Things happen, it is life. People have mood swings, relationships, and personal growth stages, and as a team manager, I have to take every detail into consideration and work on it. To me failure is not an option therefore none of these factors really affect me in the long term.
You are the creator of a popular online TV show, ‘My American Family’. What inspired you to create this show?
That was a remix of my personal story which I decided to start writing when I was running my workshops in Harbin and other cities of China. I was disconnected from my normal life here in the US, no crazy rhythm, no 24/7 phone calls – I felt bored and started writing. On the other hand, I see that Hollywood portrays cultures in a very superficial, quite often wrong way and I wanted my show to be real and authentic, with no “panda express” or “fresh off the boat” level of understanding. Lastly, it is about bringing us all together: Americans, Hungarians, Chinese, Mexicans – everyone. We have a lot more to share rather than being divided. I pursue the same values in all of my shows, including the cooking show “Dragon Chef”, “Life Academy”, “OnAir”, “Modern Kungfu”, “Annie & Axie”, … etc
How did you choose the cultures to highlight in the show?
It was based on my personal experience in the US with the Chinese culture here (different from China), Mexican culture, Brazilian Culture, etc. I found it interesting how I understood the humor my friends had and how they understood mine. It was the ground level of the beginning of my work. Again I wanted to bring people of different cultures together – for business.
How do you select the right people to collaborate with on your projects and what was it like working with Danny Trejo and Michelle Waterson-Gomez?
I followed my intuition and my major choices were based on people who I knew and wanted to work with. It is about the same style as Q. Tarantino uses. To work with Mr. Trejo was truly a blessing. Mr Trejo usually portrayed as a villain, is actually a very wise businessman and mentor. He does a lot of work for communities. He loved the idea of being different on the screen, he loved the story & the script. He found it funny and agreed to work with me. We built a very nice relationship with him. Michelle Waterson-Gomez, her husband Joshua, and myself – we’ve known each other for a while, and we share a lot of interests and values. Great family and great people. I created their characters based on their real personalities with some extra. Now we are preparing to film a documentary for Michelle after she has retired from UFC.
You surprised me one day when you shared with me one of the projects you worked on. That’s why it was surprising because it has nothing to do with filmmaking… So, please tell us, why is water purification such an important project for you.
Water is life. It is essential for all of us and it is a strategic resource. Quite soon, I believe, water will be a lot more valuable than gold. I want it for our people as a source of freedom and health. We’ve been working on this project for more than a decade and now luckily with the help of one of the world’s best engineers, we have quite a breakthrough.
You are also taking care of the next generation. How does your work in education help students and small businesses?
This is a system: the film world is business (show business is the business of show), which also is the most powerful brand-building tool. No one can succeed in business without proper business education. When we were filming My American Family I noticed that most of the university graduates who I met, including from Stanford, had no idea about basic things in business, finance, and law. It attracted my attention, so we did some research and filmed season 1 of “Life Academy” – an educational reality show for kids & teens, in which they were learning about business, finance, marketing, health, nutrition, martial arts, respect etc. We also filmed season 1 of “OnAir” – a practical talent show which taught them real skills and how to create their own product. It was a great experience. We continue working with the show finalists Josslyn Banh, Ian Chen, and Michael Vuong. They got featured in multiple media outlets including Forbes and received Recognition Letters from California State Senate. Now we are preparing to film season 1 of a business educational show for Small Business Administration and another great business show for Kabateck Strategies, run by the one and only John Kabateck – NFIB Executive, Former Director of External Affairs at the Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Can you tell us a little bit more about your upcoming educational show with the SBA?
Of course, It will be a business-educational show for kids and teens (and not only) which we prepare to film with the SBA team of professionals and SBA Partners. IT will be connecting entrepreneurs, communities, government and other businesses under the umbrella of the show and media.
What excites you most about your new feature film project?
We have two feature films in pre-production, they both are super exciting. The second one tells the story of how internal family conflicts impact the kids. The first one, which is actively developed now, is based on a true story that happened in 1986: corruption in military justice. I am very happy to be chosen by the story owner – executive producer Mr. Mark Latham and his partner executive producer Mr. Robert Cody. When I read the story the first time – I was in 100%. With this film, we want to make an impact, improve the military justice system and of course win Critics Choice Awards & the Oscars.
What advice would you give to young people who want to make a difference in the world?
I’d say: Stay focused, disciplined and invest in your brand!
– Virág Vida –
