Check Out Xochilt Khoury’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Xochilt Khoury.

Hi Xochilt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to work in themed entertainment but thought the only avenue for the career was engineering. Because of that, I shifted my focus to technical theater and entertainment, and ended up landing a spot in Warner Bros REACH program right after my high school graduation. The WB REACH program was a four-year summer internship within different departments in the company. I was accepted for writing and did my first internship with Blue Ribbon Content right before freshman year of college.
During my freshman year at UC San Diego, my trajectory was purely Visual Arts (Media). However, as I continued my studies, I ended up picking up a minor in theater to focus on technical theater and writing. Then one day, a junior walked into my class to invite people to join his themed entertainment club. My roommate at the time looked at me and pushed me to go. That meeting changed my understanding of what I could do in my life. Shortly after, my major changed to Speculative Design (Media), but I kept the minor. I also picked up jobs in events and technical theater so I could learn more about that part of entertainment. At the same time, I became highly active in the themed entertainment club. I joined the board and ran our first haunted house project, which broke attendance records for a school event of that division. I also went to as many networking events as I could, and tried to learn about every aspect of themed entertainment.
By the end of my college career, I completed internships with Blue Ribbon Content (WB pre-preproduction), DC Comics (editorial intern), WB Studio Marketing and Events, Warner Bros Studio Tour Hollywood (design/project coordination intern), WB Public Affairs, and Lionsgate Themed Entertainment/Video Games department. I also completed three haunted house with UCSD (one as a creative director, one as a technical director, and one as a producer), as well as started the haunted house design competition known as Haunt Comp.
Despite my experience, I graduated in 2021, meaning entertainment was still in a tough spot following lockdown. One day, my good friend from college (Sol Markarian) called me up to see if I was looking for work. A themed entertaiment Audio, Video, and Controls systems design and integration firm called TechMDinc was looking for an admin assistant. She currently worked for the company and could recommend me. Within the next week, I was hired. Two months later, I was a project coordinator. Five years later, I am now a project manager and have had the privledge of working on projects for Netflix, Disney, and more.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overall, I struggled to find information on what I was passionate in doing. Themed entertainment is the best kept secret of entertainment, and hard to find if you do not know where to look. Even after discovering the resources available, we noticed there were some education holes in the more niche parts of industry. Therefore, my friends and I worked with industry veterans to make the resources we wanted to see. We started Haunt Comp, STEP (Student Themed Entertainment Project). Sought out talks and classes from industry veterans. We did all that we could to give ourselves a good baseline for work in the industry, and have a huge list of industry veterans to thank. We had a lot of help from people who saw our potential. My only hope now is to return the kindness to the industry and help the next generation of themed entertainment professionals.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently, my day job consists of being a Project Manager for TechMDinc. In this job, I get to work with designers and engineers on themed entertainment attractions, focusing on the audio, video, controls, and lighting design and intergration. My role has brought me across the country, working on projects for clients like Netflix, BRC Imagination Arts, Disney, and more. From client relations to site work to documentation, my job has brought me to different phases within themed entertainment and helped me grow so much. TechMDinc in particular has been such a special place to work because of the community built within the company, and the encouragement from Dave, the company president.
After work, I help oversee my organization called Haunt Comp. Even though I am not longer leading a team, I help the next generation of leads as they carry the organization into a new era. I am very proud of the team and all they have accomplished! With the help of industry veterans and our volunteers, we plan to continue to expand the competition and bring more education and frights to people around the world!
Although there is nothing set in stone yet, I am currently working on some creative pursuits with a couple friends. We are hoping to bring to life an immersive experience here in Los Angeles. More on this coming soon!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Something very important to me is education in our industry. Our group struggled to find resources at the beginning, especially about haunted house attractions (such as Halloween Horror Nights and Knott’s Scary Farm) and how impactful they are to the industry and society. Recognizing this gap in the industry, I co-founded Haunt Comp alongside Matthias Baker and Jared Walker. Haunt Comp is a free, educational haunted house design competition for anyone new to the industry (not just students). Working with industry veterans from Knott’s Scary Farm, Halloween Horror Nights, and more, we developed a competition that featured free workshops for each required deliverable. Our hope was that even if you do not place in the competition, you will still walk away with knowledge on how design worked for themed entertainment. This is run digitally so people around the world can participate.
Since it’s origin in 2019, the competition has grown. We have welcomed hundreds of submissions and worked with so many big companies to make Haunt Comp as beneficial as we can for participants. Our goal was to provide a baseline for the themed entertainment industry (via haunts), while creating a community and filling the gap between the veterans and the next generation of themed entertainment professionals. There is no program quite like ours and we are very grateful for the team of volunteers, industry veterans, and partners that make Haunt Comp possible.
If you are looking to get into themed entertainment, I highly recommend looking into the following:
– Themed Entertainment Association – an organization that hosts mixers and webinars for those interested or working in themed entertainment.
– The Essential Art Department – an online education platform that has classes in art direction, haunt writing, and more.
– Haunt Comp – an educational haunted house design competition, hosted online and with free workshops.
– NextGen Student Showcase – an online “mock-design project” that takes participants through the different design phases of a theme park.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hauntcomp.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xochilt-khoury-955896141/