 And wow, here on Community Matters, I'm Jay Fiedel. This is Think Tech. And the beautiful young woman is Ken Austin. We know her, knew her as Kendra, but she's Ken now, and she's in a film career. And she used to be one of our interns here in Think Tech, Hawaii a couple of three years ago. And it's always wonderful to see her. Hi, Ken. Hello. Hi, Jay. It's been great to see you again. So let's talk about your schooling so far. You're in Georgia. You've been studying film for the past few years. How has it been for my, before I get to the political? I want to ask you how film school has been? Film school has been a very, one of the best experiences of my life, but it's also been like the most stressful time of my life as well, when I wouldn't go back. It's been a great experience. And I gained a lot going film school. What was your favorite part of it? I mean, what course really was, you know, like the best creative experience for you? My favorite course, I would probably have to say it was a production course by one of my professors and it was commercials and music videos because that was right after we came back on campus. And it was very challenging because I haven't really been behind a camera in like a year. And I didn't have a lot of experience prior to my school locking down. So it was, it really like throwing me into a deep end and it was scary, but I did well and I did it well. I surprised myself with how much skills I gained in the short period of time. But I'll say that production class was pretty good. This is in Atlanta, was it? Yes, Atlanta, Georgia. All right, so I hope you're doing the right thing politically in Atlanta because if you don't vote for the right people, you know, Atlanta is in trouble. Yeah, yes, Atlanta is an interesting part of history right now because it's kind of a swing state. So it's been interesting kind of seeing it evolve into this swing state and maybe it will be blue. I don't know. Yeah. How did you like Atlanta and Georgia? You know, I mean, I was there many years ago and I really thought it was a great city. How was it to live in Atlanta over the time of your school and your film school? Transitioning from Honolulu, like Oahu, it was like it's much slower pace in Hawaii, laid back. And then, you know, I jump into Atlanta and it's very busy, extremely busy, lots of traffic, a lot more fast pace. You know, it can kind of either get lost in the crowd or you try to keep up with everybody. So I think it was adjusting to the fast-paced environment again of Atlanta. Atlanta is a very interesting city, both historically, politically and culturally, because it's evolved so quickly in the past 10, 15 years. And with the film industry coming, it's really exploded. So it's been very interesting and exciting to see Atlanta grow into like this film. Film, a prominent film making location. Yeah, that's interesting. I wouldn't have thought that maybe I haven't kept up, but Atlanta has become a film making center, is that right? Yes, a lot of productions from LA are coming down and they're filming, do a lot of filming. It's very regular to see, you know, the store on the corner is you see in the Marvel film, like, oh, I recognized that place, so they were just filming there. So it was kind of surreal. So what kind of frame of mind did your experience with ThinkTec put you into? Did it help you make the decision to go to film school? Did it help you in film school? Did it help you deal with the challenges of film school? I think working with ThinkTec, one helped me learn quickly to be on my feet, which was something I truly needed. It's like quintessential in film school, with thinking on your feet, thinking in a fast-paced environment. And so since we were doing so many shows, you know, at my internship in a day, I think that experience was what I need to go into films that were a television studio. And that did prepare me to go to film school. Yeah, I mean, we had, you know, we had a small studio and we had studio equipment. You've probably been dealing with movie equipment now with those 50, 60, $70,000 cameras and all the fancy lighting. I mean, it must have been a bit of a change of pace for you. You know, it's surprising when I remember the cameras, some of the cameras were used on set, and that was partially what we're using in our, especially, television studio set at school. I was like, oh, I remember this. So it was a pleasant surprise to see similar things. But why in general, did you go to film school? I mean, how do you see the industry unfolding, to use that term, unfolding for you in this country now? How do you see the possibility of a career now? And let me digress for a moment to tell you that my niece went into film, she went to film school in New York City. She went to South by Southwest and got her feet wet there. And now she's a producer for series films on cable and, you know, it's really quite something. But how did you see the industry? Did you see these opportunities opening up for you? How did you see the career at the time you entered film school? I think that was kind of part of it. I, you know, growing up, I went to be in the film industry and I knew that, but I was living in Alabama. So I was like, how is this really gonna happen? And it took a lot of learning, it took a lot of experience to kind of make that jump finally after my undergrad to Atlanta. For me, it was never, I knew at five years old that I would be a filmmaker. I just, you know, unfortunately, I just didn't really see a lot of people who looked like me to think that was a realistic thing. So it took a while to really push myself to wanna go into this industry and kind of be the change that I wanna see. Yeah, so how do you see the film, the film school or film career unfolding for yourself now? What kind of a career are you looking at? Are you looking at television? Are you looking at film? Are you looking at documentaries or other kinds of film? Are you looking at being a member of the crew of a producer, director? What do you have in your mind going forward? I think once I entered my film school and I started writing more, I realized I had a bit of a knack for comedy, black comedy specifically. When you say black comedy, you mean an African-American comedy or a dark comedy? A dark comedy, I love dark comedies. So that was something that I really kind of honed in on as my time in my film school grew and continue. So that's something I first see for my career to be a writer-director, particularly in film. I'm not so sure about television. I take any opportunity that comes my way, but I do see myself directing teachers and writing teachers. You know, my wife was at her computer this morning and she had a headset on so she couldn't hear me just as well, I suppose. And she was cracking up. I said, you know, I told her to take the headset off. What are you cracking up at? What is really so funny? She says Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks and Zero Mustel. You're too young for this. But they're on YouTube. Everything is on YouTube. You see old-fashioned comedy go on YouTube. It's all there. It's the pay store or anything. Anyway, she was cracking up at Mel Brooks and I'm saying, you know, there's still a place for classic comedy. The comedy store is open. But what's the difference between Mel Brooks and Black comedy? What's the difference? I would say, you know, Mel Brooks is to me, I think he is like a Black lead director and writer. I don't think there is a difference. I don't think he paved that way for that. For that type of comedy. And I know you're talking about, I do love Mel Brooks. Yeah, yeah, well, I can, there's so many things that he has done, you know, live in my mind and memory. And in all of our minds and memories that he's, he's had an effect on American culture. Yes. Because of the crazy, zany, dark things that he's done, you know. Yes. Probably a big inspiration of mine. Do you love this type of writing and his direction in film? Yeah, let's talk about writing for a minute. You know, apart of every filmmaker, whatever job you have in filmmaking is to write. Appreciate the language. If you're not writing, you're editing. And if you're not writing and editing, you're directing. And it's all around, you know, the intellectual property that's written down somewhere. What did you learn at film school about writing? How do you feel about writing today? Writing is kind of like, to me, writing is like the foundation for everything in a production, you know, film, TV or whatever. In feature films, you know, the screenwriter doesn't have as much of the control as they would in television. The director has a lot more control when it comes to features and writing and so forth. They can change entire script around. The screenwriter doesn't really have much of a say when it comes to feature writing. I find that writing is very, it's very, very important to have a solid story and solid characters. And, you know, you could have okay directing, you could have okay even acting, but if the writing is really good, it can really carry a story. And when the writing is bad, you know, you gotta have a really strong director, a really strong actress to bring it for, because, you know, but good writing is really hard to, it's really hard to get a bad film. It's really good. We have a really good story happening. Yeah, yeah. You know, when we watched television in my house and at the time of COVID, it's become more important. We really care, we always cared about movies, but we care a lot more about them now. And we can usually, we usually tell the quality of a movie in the first like two minutes. We can tell even from credits or from the opening scenes. And we judge our evaluation, we make our evaluation of a given movie on the writing. It's always on the writing. And I turn to my wife and say, this one is good. Listen to the dialogue. You'll see what I mean. Or this one is really bad. It has bad dialogue and they're stumbling and bumbling and they can't express themselves. So, you know, I agree with you 100%. It's a matter of getting that intellectual property down on paper. So, Cleary, are you writing? Are you the person who would write? Or are you the person who would appreciate the writing? Are you the person who edits the writing? Are you the person who directs the writing? Where do you fit in all of that? Well, maybe it's all of the above, huh? I feel that I am a writer-director. I do want to write and direct what I write. You know, I want to be in that privileged position to do that. Obviously, some directors are famous writer-directors. Sometimes they seem right. Sometimes they direct something I never wrote. I never touched. So, I think for me, writer-director is very important. For me, going throughout my career is to be both of those. Yeah, and you have to have a certain state of mind, a certain worldview, a certain way of looking at the reality around you to deliver to an audience that's waiting to be educated, waiting to be titillated, waiting to be entertained or somehow drawn in emotionally to your story. So, you have to see it through their eyes, right? You know, what about production values? You know, at Think Tech, we care a lot about production values. And we have the impediment of doing that, you know, through Zoom rather than a studio or rather than, you know, dending our stuff out in a way that it's high resolution. We struggle to make decent resolution using broadband and Zoom. So, query, what have you learned about production values? And I mean lighting. I mean, sound. I mean, camera angles, framing, all that. You must be loaded with that stuff right now, huh? Yes, production value is extremely important. When you don't have good lighting, good sound, especially, you know, it takes the audience out of the story. And it may not understand why exactly they are not into it, but there's a small details that production value adds that has to be there. Because if someone is, you can't hear something or they're too dark, you can't see their face. You know, it really pulls the audience out of the story when those basic things are not aligned and well done. So, production value is very important to visually and audibly for people to hear, you know, and be entertained. Yeah, so you say story. And you know, story is a very broad term, especially in movies today. One of the kinds of movies that I like is, you know, is documentary or docudrama, which, you know, can be more interesting than a documentary, I'm sorry. Or, you know, an outdoors movie, an environment movie, a movie with a cause, a movie which, you know, exposes an activist, you know, cause in the world. Where is your head these days? Are you pointing toward documentary, docudramas, environmental movies and the like? Or are you pointing toward other stories, you know, fiction stories, strictly entertainment movies, Marvel comics, high production value movies like that? Which way are you pointing? You know, I'm really into a lot of independent films right now and they're kind of like a very character-driven. I do like documentaries, even though it's not something I first see myself pursuing. Entertainment-wise, I do enjoy independent movies. I actually really love thrillers and comedies, of course, and period pieces. Those are like the main three really captured my interest as far as what I want to write. Also what I tend to lean into in my own entertainment. You know, a lot of people, when they finish school, whether it's high school or college or whatever, that they turn around and say, I'm finished. I did all my education now. I don't like school that much. I didn't like the homework or like working at home. So I'm not gonna do that anymore. But the fact is that in our world, in our culture, you are exposed to media every day and media has an educational impact on people. I mean, just take the political side. How do I learn what's going on in the world? Well, I watch the news and the news educates me about what's real. And sometimes it educates me with information and sometimes with misinformation, but I am being, I'm getting my graduate degree, if you will, from the news every day and whatever I watch on television. I mean, if I read papers, that's fine, but a lot of people don't and they watch the news. And so what you do, what you will do in the future is you will have an effect on public opinion, on the thinking that people do. Don't you agree? And do you accept that responsibility because it is a responsibility? Of course, you know, I think with, you know, as a storyteller, it's not part of when you're creating a story, like what do you necessarily want to say to the world? Like why are you writing? Why are you directing this? Why are you part of this production to bring this very expensive project to the world? What are you trying to say? And I really enjoy, I think the best films do have something to say. They don't necessarily beat you over the head with it, but they do have a profound theme to it. I do enjoy that and I hope that my work does that as well. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, my own view is you have to be in the right place at the right time because of many factors, but COVID is one of them. The development of the media, of film especially is another one of them. More movies being made, my more people from more points of view, more places in the world. I mean, if you just check Netflix, and there are movies on Netflix from every country in Europe, in every language. From all over Africa, Latin America and Asia, there are movies coming in and they're perfectly watchable. I always wonder by the way, whether it's American producers and directors who help those guys out making movies that appear entertaining in the American market or the global market. But it seems to me, and see if you agree, I'm asking, that movie making, filmmaking has become a global enterprise. There are no barriers geographically or culturally. Am I right? Oh no, every country has now, especially, has one in part taken, create their own source of films from since process film has began. I think one of the best things with streaming platforms is that, you know, Americans especially get to see other perspectives from different filmmakers of other cultures. I think that was one thing that was lacking a lot. That the average viewer, American viewer just doesn't get a more wide variety of film. It's a little bit American-centric, but now streaming platforms, it's not so much anymore. Yeah, that's true, that's a good point. I mean, you know, in the US, you sit there on your sofa with your junk food and you watch your stuff on a 100-inch television. But in many places in the world, they watch these movies, same movies on their smartphones, because that's what they have. It's the same movies. So, you know, the platform for movies, movies that you might make much greater now than it was even five or 10 years ago. And the number of people who can watch it in the billion. So you can affect public opinion everywhere. You can entertain, you know, people everywhere, whether they have a 100-inch television or nothing at all. They can see what you're doing, which just changes your way of looking at it, right? You're not just speaking to the guy with the big television. You're speaking to the guy with the smartphone, who could be anywhere, right? I just, especially now with very streaming services, social media, it's really expanded avenues where more filmmakers enter the industry, where it was much more tight-knit and very, I was still hard, but it was very, it was very narrow and not a lot of people of different cultures, ethnicities, whatever could really enter into these fields. But now, since we have Netflix, Hulu, HBO, so many other streaming networks and social media itself, YouTube, it's much more accessible for filmmakers to create a career through these avenues. So here you are in Atlanta, which for you is the center of the universe right now, right now at this moment. Maybe not for long, but right now. And you wake up on morning and you're done with your degree. All your work has been accepted and you're ready to step out. And you're ready to get a job, find your way into the film industry, in any capacity that appeals to you. And this is creative industry. There are huge creative possibilities. So when you wake up on that given morning, maybe it's today or tomorrow, what are you gonna do? Where are you gonna go? Where are you gonna look? What are your criteria, what are your requirements? For me right now, I know of guidance from my former professors. It looks like that for me, my journey will probably begin in Los Angeles to get into the step into the film industry. Atlanta, from what I want to do and what to pursue, Atlanta doesn't necessarily fit currently into my journey, my film journey. So I look forward to, you know, getting a job, going to Los Angeles and pursuing my dreams. Okay, what does that look like? You don't want, what do you want a million a year to start? What do you want? Let's start small. Let's start small and then we go big, right? We go up from there. Yeah, so where would you go? So here I put you in, I don't know, whatever, Hollywood. I put you in Hollywood. You're standing on the street corner. You're saying to yourself, Ken, what do I do now? I put my left foot out, my right foot out. How do you get a job in this industry? It's an old word of mouth. Do you circle ads in the newspaper? I mean, truly, truly it is either word of mouth or you can get into a production assistant job or writer assistants or any sort of assistant, low level, entry level job is kind of where I have my eyes at and it's a network. Networking is really more important than anything else no matter what you have in your reel, what films you created before. It truly is about who you know and I do have some people in the industry that I have talked to and connected with so I'm not fully barren, but yeah, it's all about networking truly in film industry. Did you just say reel? You have a reel? I do have a, well, I have technically have a reel. Why don't you tell everybody what a reel is? Tell the people what a reel is. So a reel is just the, depending on what you are like a writer's reel or director's reel or cinematographer, the reel just pretty much is a showcase of all your work or your best work that you want to show to clients, the studio, executives, show that this is all I can present. This is my talent and that's kind of like a resume for filmmakers pretty much is what a reel is. Yeah, by the way, when you were with Think Tech and when we saw you in the studio every day, you were very, I hope you don't mind me saying this, you were very appealing, relatable personality and you are now, hey, you're great on screen, you're exuding confidence and exuding relatability, man I say. So my question is, would you ever, Ken, would you ever consider being on the action side of the camera? You know what's so funny? That's how I started it all, like my love for, my love for film started as being an actor. So I've had people ask me like, oh, you know, did you get an acting? Have you acted before? I was like, that's really where it started. So I thought about it and I would love to, I would love to enter back to acting actually. It's been like a passion of mine, but I've been putting to the wayside of how I would love to interact again. Well, you'd be associated with all those people who knows where the road goes, you know? You say journey, it's not necessarily a straight line, is it? No, no, and that's my journey won't be either. You know, there's a lot of, a lot of wine being in it. Yeah. So if you look back now, you know, here you are at an inflection point, historically in your life. You have the film school under your belt, you're ready to, you know, go out, try your skills, and who knows where that goes. I mean, as in the case of my niece, you know, it has really gone to tremendous places. So when you look back at your time in Sink Deck, in our studio there, which was actually a long time ago for us and a long time ago for you, I wonder if you have any advice for us after all your experience in film school and your, you know, way of looking at the world now. What would that advice be? What do we need to do? I'm asking for some, I want some consulting, you know? Well, I don't have no advice, it's perfectly fine. I love you guys set up. I love you guys, you work how everything is set up. I think it's very sufficient. I think the way you transition to Zoom and it's able to continue to show, I think it's a really great way of adapting to the market. That's all the film is about constantly adapting and Sink Tech has adapted well. Okay, well, you got to talk us up in Hollywood, okay? And when you get, you know, organized in Hollywood and somebody says to you, we need to find a good location, you know, you could suggest that they pick Hawaii, Honolulu or any part of Hawaii as a good location. And then you come out here and produce a direct in Hawaii and then you could stop by and say hi. And I'm waiting for that, Ken, I'm waiting. I know, I have to come back to Hawaii. I told Carol this, I need to come back and see you all. I miss you all so much in Hawaii. And we miss you. And I wish you well in all particulars and all regards. And this is only one stop along the way. I want to know more as you go forward. You can run, but you can't hide, Ken. We want to talk to you. We want to crack your career, okay? We are together in this matter and we are not letting you go, okay? Thank you so much, Jay. I love you all, you guys have been great. Thank you, Ken. I look forward to our next show together. Aloha. Yes. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.