Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsey Adkins.
Kelsey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Growing up, I looked up to music and film so much that I give it credit for making me the person I am today, truly. Music was something I could express feelings through that I couldn’t normally express otherwise. It was how I got what I was feeling out instead up keeping it locked away and taking it out on the people I loved. Not only did it help me with negative feelings, but it inspired me with positive ones to replace them.
Film was literally one of the main things that taught me empathy, compassion, and understanding. With film, you could put yourself in the shoes of the characters, feel what they were going through, connect with what they were going through, go on adventures, and laugh even when you didn’t feel like it. You could also step outside the realm of reality to get away from the burdens our lives’ and the world can sometimes put on our shoulders. You could watch a film and it could immediately change your perspective. It could make you want to do things you never had the energy or nerve to do before but always craved. It was inspiring to see how much power film had. I wanted to learn how to produce both music and film, but there is only so much you can do living in Mississippi and only so many classes you can take.
I decided to move on a whim, after selling everything I own, to California like so many others do to follow their dreams. I didn’t go to LA to do this though. I went to San Diego because it had untouched potential. I always thought of making a splash in the waters here and I’ve always been told nothing happens in San Diego for film or music or even art. Yet there are so many artists for all genres here looking for a start.
I ended up producing and working on sets and making beautiful friendship networking with the people of this community. I met Clark Monroe on a 48-hour meet and greet. Little did we know we shared the same ambitions. Before we knew it, we were starting our own Non-Profit Organization, San Diego Film Industry. This was our way to give back to the film community here. We wanted to raise money to get a studio filled with top of the line equipment to rent-free to San Diego Filmmakers.
It didn’t stop there though. We also are planning to Host Premieres for new films. We will be holding fundraising events for networking and learning classes to sharpen your craft. There is always room to learn in this industry. Teaching someone should be something we make time to do. We will also hold our own Entertainment Week every year where not only films will be promoted but also other artists from music to dance, fashion to art, and on and on. Every aspect of the entertainment industry in San Diego will be represented. Then we will hold our own Entertainment Awards for these entertainment artists. We will also be picking three films a year to hold watch parties. The one with the top votes will be awarded money and award.
We also now have our own Record Label called Jovis Records that will help musicians get their music out there. We plan to get our own venue for our artists and other artists to perform at. We will also have our own Publishing for Authors called Jovis Publishing. If there is anyway to help promote the creativeness here in San Diego that is what we aim to do. That is our mission. We both want this community to succeed. Potential should never be wasted. San Diego holds an incredible amount of potential. We hope to create waves.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
You know it’s not meant to be a smooth road. If something is easy to do it’s not worth doing. We know that this won’t be easy but it’s our passion and we will love every minute of the struggle. We did have a minor set back with this COVID 19 Pandemic. The lockdown has stopped us from moving towards our goals we set but sometimes this happens in life. The good thing about this though is it’s giving us time to get really organized.
We can still contact people and organizations and make things happen. We have everything thought out and ready to enact once this lockdown is over. We also hope to bring the community back up and give them something to be motivated about. Right now we are all at a standstill but that’s just for right now. We will be throwing an end of Quarantine party to get people back into their spirits and ready for what we have to offer them and it’ll be free with drinks and appetizers.
Please tell us about San Diego Film Industry Limited.
We are here to give back to this community here. We have big plans to make they’re potentially more than that. They need something like this now more than ever when the Corona Virus finally decides to end all of our struggles and burdens. We need something to look forward to. We will need something to put all those emotions and pint up stress into. Why not put it in pursuing your dreams because our business is going to help them make that a reality.
What Clark and I are proud of the most as a company is the fact that none of this has to do with us and has everything to do with our community. We know the struggle all too well and I wish it was easier to have more guidance and direction in how to pursue dreams of the entertainment industry.
What will set us apart is that we want to teach and provide awareness on how to properly go about having a career in this type of industry. We want to help you network and you learn skills that you can only learn from working on sets or shadowing other artists. Some organizations do offer this but at an expensive price and we won’t. Some Artists, Directors, Producers won’t give you a chance unless you have experience or references from high-quality people that they have worked with. We want to help you gain your skills. We want to help your films, music, art, fashion, novels, scripts you name it, succeed. We want you to have top quality equipment and resources. That is what sets us apart that we provide this to our community.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
A favorite childhood memory I have is probably when I lived in good ole Magee, Mississippi with my Papaw. He had that old box television that played black and white and had a big antenna. At that time in my life, I was a southern child who got her hands dirty and grew crops. We would shell peas we gathered from the garden and watch Old Westerns and Fred Astaire. I absolutely loved black and white films.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.filmindustrysandiego.com , http://filmfreeway.com/sandiegoentertainmentawards
- Email: info@filmindustrysandiego.com
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