Filmmaking is… a neon speedboat from the Miami Vice era… or something like that?

Hi everyone — I’m Robert Requejo Ramos, aka Bobby Rams. After moving to Los Angeles with my band as a teen and promptly dropping out of film school, I ended up scrolling Craigslist for purpose. I found a job on a yacht that took me to Europe for the first time — several months that felt like an accidental gap-year movie montage. My writing professor had once told me, after my first assignment, “brilliant, you really got something here,” and after my second, “what happened? I suggest you go out and live your life.” So… I did. Reckless behavior and art appreciation included.

Working on boats weirdly taught me everything I needed to learn about filmmaking: keeping a crew calm, solving problems on the fly, negotiating with strange personalities in tight spaces, and communally rallying against the vicious billionaire yacht owner we all despised. Basically… filmmaking.

Eventually, I went back to school when I’d had enough inhaling diesel fumes and sun-drunk brain. My thesis film was licensed by PBS, which put me on the scene and connected me with a bunch of influential filmmakers and friends in the biz. Since then, I’ve produced and directed work that’s screened at SXSW, DOC NYC, and my hometown favorite, the Miami Film Festival. My feature documentary South Beach Shark Club — a lore-soaked love letter to the wild 1970s Miami Beach fishing subculture I feel spiritually tied to — went through a “worldwide distribution” situation that was… not great. I eventually reclaimed the film from predatory forces and self-released it on Amazon (go watch it). https://www.primevideo.com/detail/South-Beach-Shark-Club/0JNNEJETGD71JYFA6Q6TDD3WP3

Over the years, I’ve picked up some screenwriting accolades, done private adaptation work turning memoirs into screenplays, and I’m currently enrolled in UCLA’s Professional Screenwriting Program — trying to wrangle my unhinged psyche, fierce ambition, and Miami gutter magic into coherent, entertaining storytelling.

I’m here for real-deal community. I’m here to promote a feast-over-famine mentality in the biz. I’m here to learn from y’all and connect with people who understand that filmmaking is basically sacrificing yourself — steering a barely legal speedboat through Biscayne Bay directly into a shallow-water dock because “the director needs the shot.” (I had a brief stint as a speedboat stunt driver too — we’ll talk.)

If you want to see an old website I never update or promote, visit bobbyrams.com.

Looking forward to choppin’ it up with y’all. Bless!

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