Texan Mosaic

by: JONATHAN BROOKSHIRE/Editorial Assistant

Sergio and Cristian Rodriguez are shaping their future with their hobby and gaining fame.

The twin brothers found the app Vine, and their lives changed.

Sergio and Cristian have lived in Lubbock their entire 20 years of life and attended Coronado High School. While at Coronado, the twins played doubles in tennis.

Being twins, the two explained that they had a bit of an advantage. They didn’t have to speak to one another to understand what they were planning to do. They even credit their former tennis coach for their nickname, The Rodriguez Twins.

Also, through high school, the two were bullied.

“We weren’t the most popular,” Sergio explained. “We were even bullied sometimes,” adding that they were verbally and non-verbally abused.

The two found that the Vine app became an escape.

“It changed our lives in a positive way,” Cristian said.

They filmed their first Vine in San Antonio and fell in love with making videos. Their videos began to become popular and received many “likes.” They liked the number of views that they got – which is at 3.6 million loops and growing – along with the fun and escape that the app allowed. They began to create more and more six-second videos.

The method to their madness when it comes to making a Vine video is “whatever pops in our heads at the time,” the two explained.

“First, we make a list, and then we brainstorm on the list,” Sergio explained. “When we find something on the list that we like, we go into details about that, and then really zone in on the details.”

Also part of making a video is to keep the jokes clean. When they first started out on Vine, most of the viewers were younger. But with more fans and followers came more adults viewing their videos as well. As they explained, part of being a comedian is to be able to adapt to different fans.

“We do our best to keep it as clean as possible,” Sergio said. “We want the videos to have clean humor. But also if you’re going to watch a channel like Comedy Central, expect offensive content. It’s comedy, and the people who watch it should receive it as comedy and not take it literal.”

They also went on to say that everybody is going to have haters.

“You’re going to have haters, and they’re going to say, “Oh, you can’t do a Mexican character,” Sergio explained. “It’s comedy. I can create whoever I want to create.”

As Cristian put it, “You can’t make everyone happy.”

They are polite and understanding, as well as open and accepting to everybody. Their main goal is to make people laugh and to make a positive impact. They went on to explain that there had been fans in the past who direct message (DM) them and tell their stories of how their vines and comedic content pulled them away from depression and even suicide.

Sergio and Cristian took a trip on June 23 to June 25 to VidCon, an annual video conference held in southern California.

The two planned on just meeting online video stars and having tons of fun. The two had much fun and even collaborated with other Vine stars and YouTubers, but didn’t expect to sign with Media Agency: DNA Public Relations.

After signing with DNA Public Relations, the Rodriguez twins have written several scripts with Disney. Manifesting from their relationship with the entertainment conglomerate is a sitcom titled “Brock and Josh in the Lanes.”

Details on the show cannot be released due to the contract with Disney.

Also at VidCon, Sergio and Cristian met the voice actor of “Beast Boy,” Greg Cipes, and the voice actor for Leonardo in the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Seth Green. From this relationship, the twins and Cipes have created multiple Vines with both actors.

Apart from Disney, Sergio and Cristian have also attended the North Texas Presidential forum, where they listened to Republican presidential candidates such as Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Sen. Rick Santorum, speak on hot topics such as health reform, racial equality, religious rights, and education reform.

“It’s important for millennials to be politically educated,” Cristian said.

The campaign that the Rodriguez twins are running is meant to encourage and inspire millennials, or young adults ages 18 to 25, to become politically active.

Even though they both work continuously with their Vines, Sergio and Cristian go to college as well.

After graduating from Coronado High School in 2015, they immediately started attending college during the fall semester at South Plains College. Now they are freshmen in their second semester.

They both said that they are getting their basics out of the way with plans to transfer to Texas Tech University. Sergio plans to get his medical degree, and Cristian plans to pursue a degree in dentistry.

“I’m not a party type of person, so I’d rather stay in a nice, friendly environment,” Cristian said. “You save money, and the education is actually really good.”

They are both a bit nervous about going to Tech.

“It’s crazy, because we have over 90,000 fans,” Cristian said. “We still love people, but we still get nervous. I’m always the nervous one, and Sergio takes over.”

Later on in the year, the twins will be on tour meeting fans and taking part of other collaborations with other video creators around the country, going to VidCon in the summer, New York, California, and a number of other places as well.

The twins are still attending college, but the hobby of making Vines could very well turn into a career.

Sergio and Cristian continue to push the message of  “staying positive, and to enjoy your life.”