Meet Kevin Ralston | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin Ralston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
The end goal is to get to make a movie that annihilates the people in the theater with laughter, tears and adrenaline, like a real good concert may. So that when they leave the theater, they’re emotionally drained, manically giddy and glad to have went through that. By the end of my career I want to have had so much influence in the game that I would be next in line to take over a gigantic media corporation, take all the money that company has and simply put it into my bank account without thinking about any other person on the planet. Just kidding. I would like to get to the point where I at least have or am a part of a successful production company where we are able to movies that, well, annihilates people with laughter, tears and adrenaline. I would also like to have enough money to live. Hopefully I don’t finally find that part at the end of my career.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I make funny/weird films with a dash of dreams. Or dreamy films with a dash of funny/weird. I can also make other kinds of films too. I try to mix the serious with the silly in whichever way. That sounds like a vague or broad description, but it’s the truth. My main influences are Tim and Eric Awesome Show and John Cassavetes, which is a broad spectrum kinda but that’s what it is.

I think what sets me apart from others is my process. And yes that is the most likely answer for that kind of question and no I will not explain further. Muahahaha. I’ll say this though-music is probably the biggest influence on my creative life. I should be a musician, but I’ve had to settle for filmmaking.

I’m proud to have actually made anything at all. Take a lot of time, effort, money, thought, chutzpah, execution, money, imagination and money to make a short film, only to have it not really go anywhere. I’m really excited about a new short I just made called “The Warmest Color is Blue” but I will not say anything about it, sorry. But my most exciting moment was when my short film “Hubbards” won its first award, Short Com International Film Festival’s “Funniest Film” (and $500 prize). I was amped, I had to walk outside and shout and punch the sky a few times. And since then, Hubbards went on to screen and win an award at Fantastic Fest and screen at Slamdance and other fests. I’m really glad people have appreciated and enjoyed my weirdness in some form.

I got here by seeing Tim and Eric Awesome show in college, saying to myself “I can do that”, enrolling into whatever film department my college, Binghamton University, had in the middle of my Junior year, which was a very good one. Binghamton’s Cinema department’s focus is on experimental filmmaking, which basically meant anything you wanted it to be. It was freeing, because each production assignment was any idea I wanted to explore. The movies we studied was for the humanity and philosophy behind it. It was like a Philosophy and English Literature and Fine Arts all in one. I then went to NYC, did some (mostly unpaid) work on set moving lights around, I learned some acting techniques, read books, watched some movies and shows, did sketch comedy, took improv and sketch comedy classes at Brooklyn Comedy Collective and Upright Citizens Brigade and the pandemic. Those are all the things that led to me actually starting to make films-Hubbards, Easily Solved Mysteries, Spank Patrol and The Warmest Color is Blue. All movies/a pilot that are all on a festival run right now. Was this easy? No. Well the making of the films weren’t that hard, but it was hard going through this gigantic process of figuring out what direction to go. I’m what is called a multi-hyphenate, which is well and good if you have a lot of money, but not when you’re applying to every position and role for a low budget short film through craigslist or something. My twenties were a bit rough and my thirties are only a little better.

I overcame challenges by going into debt so that I can buy gear. I should technically be dead right now.

Lessons: Trust myself, listen to others, ask questions, communicate with others, have fun and meet people. Also, take improv classes at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective or Annoyance theater in Chicago. If you are an actor, or a comedian, or a writer or a filmmaker, go there and you will gain access to a world of wonder and funny.

I want people to watch my movies, give me money to make more of them so I can hire people and give them money for helping me make them. I want to blow people’s minds and give them an experience like they’ve never had before.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My partner, Alice O’Dell

Website: www.kevinralston.com

Instagram: @kevnralton

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-ralston-379233279/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kevnralton

Image Credits
Arin Sang-urai (for profile photo) Kevin Ralston (Me, for the stills from the films)