Meet Kevin Tsai | Filmmaker and Human

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

Hi Kevin, how has your work-life balance changed over time?

Truth be told, I was a workaholic for years and am only now undoing the mental damage that it has caused. Just like any other addictive tendencies, overworking is a common form of escape/denial, especially in Asian communities. We tend to run away from our emotions by keeping ourselves “busy,” while not allowing ourselves the grace to be imperfect, let alone to simply exist. Existing is enough, but we were never taught that. It’s a generational problem.

When engrained from a young age, it causes people like myself to attribute my self-worth to my results. The buzz that comes with “achieving” something gets watered down when operating in this frame of mind. On the other hand, the disappointment that comes with “failing” gets magnified tenfold. It fosters a negative environment and only leads to burnout and depression. I had to crash and burn myself before realizing just how counterintuitive overworking really was. I was logging hours, not real progress. I was comparing myself to other people instead of staying focused in my own lane. I was “grinding” while digging my grave at the same time. Overworking is a bad habit; a crutch; and half the time I wasn’t even aware I was doing it. Because of this, I undervalued my worth. Isolated myself from society. Bent over backwards for others, sometimes even strangers, before showing myself the same commitment.

To me now, finding work-life balance means setting boundaries and standing on self-respect. Self-respect is understanding your limits, allowing yourself to rest when necessary, and knowing that – what really counts is the fact that you got out of bed and showed up today. Of course results matter. Results equate to progress. Of course I still believe in hard work. Hard work is how our families and communities built our ability to have a future. I’m just saying…don’t forget to rest, to celebrate, to enjoy, and to be present. At the end of the day, work is just a means to an end. It’s not your personality. It’s not a full reflection of your character. It’s not your sole purpose to be alive. Your self-worth can be whatever you define it to be. You’re alive and here today, and that’s what actually matters.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I’m currently a 25 year old full time filmmaker based out of Los Angeles, CA. My bread and butter is post production – editing and color grading. I’m trying to transition into full time directing, but I’m also just enjoying where I’m at right now. I currently work in both production and post at BASEWOOD, a production and artist management company. But I don’t really have a strict guideline for myself, I just pursue whatever I enjoy doing. Sometimes I play other positions too – I act, I model, I style, I operate camera. It never hurt me to gain more experience in other departments of production. But the big picture goal is to direct full time. I’ll probably just end up editing my own work, too.

I started my career early as a martial arts performer/stuntman. I was training Kung Fu by the age of 5, and was finding my way onto film sets by the age of 16. My long time mentor and Kung Fu coach joined the Hollywood stunt industry when I was in middle school, and that’s how I got into it early. He brought me to film sets and put me on game. I was skipping class or staying out late to be on set. Soon, he started putting me in front of the camera. I fell in love with filmmaking through the process of watching him and other action directors dress the set, light the scene, choreograph the action, block the actors, shoot it, then later edit it all together. The final product was always like magic, especially after knowing exactly what went down on set. I was juggling both school and what was becoming a full time hustle.

By senior year of high school, I had started a YouTube channel with my friends and we were shooting short films every weekend. My parents invested in my first consumer camera that I used to record anything and everything that was in front of me. I decided to apply to film school to continue exploring my passion for cinema. Then, during college I would begin to book freelance work on the side. I remember my first ever “directing” job was this wack ass music video that paid me $300. I can recall that a lot of my early gigs were not necessarily leading me in the right direction, but they were still necessary in terms of the experience I gained from them. I remember doing a bunch of oddball and low paying jobs at first. At one point, I fell into doing documentary work for an upcoming social media influencer, which taught me a lot about advertising and marketing. This is what sparked me to build a website and start taking social media more seriously – to leverage my work and put myself out there to be discovered.

It didn’t just happen overnight though. After I graduated film school (having freelanced on the side throughout the entire four years), I kept freelancing for two more years. Everything was stagnant though – I was only taking on low budget, low paying work. At this point, I was also fully transitioned out of the stunt industry as I had been away from LA for so long. The pandemic also happened, and it had all of us on lockdown. The first time the entire world “shut down” was the first time I questioned everything I was doing. The lack of security that comes with pursuing art in the real world. The never-ending cycle of non consistent clientele. The isolation that comes with being one of the few people from your hood attempting to pursue a career in the arts. Nothing felt promising of panning out long term.

This is the part of the journey where I admit that there’s no “magical” moment that made everything change overnight. I just kept my head down, continued to market myself online, and said yes to quite literally any film gig no matter the job position. It’s honestly just years of consistency – trying new things, failing, learning from mistakes, then failing again – all while meeting new people in the process. It’s the genuine people who gravitated into my life that led me to my bigger and higher paying gigs. I can’t even explain how I got lucky enough to get offered certain jobs that put me in a position to be able to move out on my own, but they eventually happened.

The simple answer as to how I ended up here, is that I worked very f*cking hard, said yes to new avenues, kept in touch with genuine people, and applied whatever knowledge I was able to gain from any and all positions of the playing field. The DIY hustle approach I started with since high school gave me the mindset to be a jack of all trades and to play the long game. The work will speak for itself. I don’t know the answer to everything. This is just how I found my path.

To summarize, I started off as a teenage stuntman in front of the camera and ended up full time behind one. I don’t focus so much on trying to contextualize it all. Who knows what I’ll end up being in another 10 years. How the f*ck am I suppose to know what the future holds, you know? I got here somehow, I’ll continue to just figure it out as I keep going.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Anybody who visits LA to see me knows I’d take them east side to the San Gabriel Valley, where all my Asians and Latinos stay at. The Chinese, Korean and Mexican food is unmatched out there. Just to rep my heritage, I’d also take them back to my city of Rowland Heights, AKA “Little Taipei,” for some of the best Taiwanese food that LA has to offer.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I want to shout out so many people throughout my life and career. They all know who they are. But first, I have to take a step back and give credit to my mom and pops.

My parents and I didn’t always see eye to eye growing up, but they undeniably supported me the only ways they knew how, and planted all the seeds that blossomed into what my story is today. They invested in my first camera, my first computer, my first everything really. They pushed me to go to college, to film school. They sacrificed everything for me. I still feel guilty for the ways in which I used to fight them when I was younger. As I’m older now, I’m doing everything in my power to visit home more often and spend time with them. I carry my parents’ life experiences in my blood stream. I am a reflection of them and every generation before them.

So shoutout to Izumi Hashimoto and Sheng-Chang Tsai. I love you both.

Website: https://www.kevingtsai.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevingenkitsai/

Image Credits
Keaton Brownlow Aries Marie Macy Bryant Ka’Lynn Youngblood Jon Carter Chauntice Green Adrian Per Lihem Russem