Working as a full time film major with a marketing minor and business owner, sophomore Michael Arriola has paved his own path while on the UCA campus and within the Conway community. 

After graduating in 2024 from Springdale, Arkansas, Arriola didn’t know many people on the UCA campus but ended up going to Lunch on the Lawn during his first week of freshman year and his life on campus shifted.

“[Lunch on the Lawn] was amazing and I met a few people who are now my whole friend group. Just having those connections and being able to have places at UCA to make social connections was great,” Arriola said. 

His passion for film was molded during his junior year of high school.

“I was like, oh, I can make this a reality and I can make this my job. I was pretty good at it and I felt like I was pushing myself to learn more than all the other students in my class. I just felt like I wanted to pursue this full time,” Arriola said. 

After deciding on UCA to pursue his upper-level education Arriola has been able to refine the skills he already possessed and was able to develop his technical skills like camera placement, lighting and parts of film that he hadn’t perfected. 

And yet, the best hands-on experience Arriola has had so far is starting his very own business. 

Starting with a flag football intramural game and turning into a student-owned business, Arriola took a leap of faith that paid off. 

“I started the business about a year ago, one of my friends, we made a bet, and I told them I would film the flag football intramural game for free for him,” Arriola said. 

After that social media post AP productions, Arriola’s business grew from there.

“Being a full-time student, an RA, and a full-time business owner it takes a toll on me but it’s fun,” Arriola said. “AP Productions recently hit one year of operations and has since then done projects for real estate agents, content creation, for social media companies and social media [in general.] We work with a lot of restaurants now like brick and forge and some other places to help produce content for them to get more and we just started moving over to weddings. So, we keep ourselves busy.”

Arriola expressed how being out in the field and filming has taught him a lot in a natural way from remembering his SD card or making sure all of his cameras had batteries. 

“All those mistakes and everything that I have learned not to do again have made me a better person and make sure that our content is over the top. It’s really good for what we do,” Arriola said.

As a RA Arriola wants to make sure no one on his floor feels isolated and he creates a great space for all the students on his floor so he can make a difference while on campus. 

As a full-time student, business owner and RA Arriola is still figuring out how to manage all these aspects of his life while juggling different responsibilities. 

Arriola has also had to figure out how to manage his time. 

“Last semester, I remember, I was busy for every minute of the day with shoots in the morning and then classes in the evening and then shoots at night. So that was, that was hard. And then, of course, editing takes a ton of my time as well. We really blew up last semester. We’ve gotten a lot of calls and a lot of things that need to be covered here and there in Conway and especially weddings, we’ve gotten to do a ton of work for weddings. But, I’m still figuring out a schedule that helps with me,” Arriola said. 

He mentioned that even though it’s hard to balance everything all the time he would rather do something big than not do it at all. 

“Leap of faith, that’s all it is. I’m very impulsive sometimes and so if I want to do something, I want to do it right then. Once I landed a few clients I made a business and I was like, let’s see where this goes, and it’s going in a great path so far I’m really liking it. Make sure you plan everything out and you make sure to give yourself enough time to sleep. But yeah, just do it,” Arriola said. 

After his collegiate career Arriola plays to continue the business if it continues to grow exponentially like it has been so far in hopes of working it full time. 

“I put all my trust in the Lord and that’s what has kept me going, and the business has grown and it’s been nourished all thanks to Him,” Arriola said. 

He said his faith has led him through his obstacles whether on campus or working on building a business.
Find AP Productions on Instagram and Facebook to stay connected and find out more information about upcoming projects.