Life & Work with Ceylin Kocagoz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ceylin Kocagoz.

Hi Ceylin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am originally from Turkey. I am the only child of my family and a daughter of parents who wanted to be involved in arts but couldn’t professionally. This created such a free and unlimited environment full of support as a child for me and I spent my childhood being in love with my presence on stage. Tried every possibility that would make me feel whole, dancing, acting, playing piano… I remember our family trip to London when I was 12, and that I saw “Billie Elliot” the musical for the first time. I was mesmerized by those kids and the whole crew, the story, the dancing, singing. I remember stepping out of that theatre being sure that this is what I want to do. Then I started to dig musical theatre more and when I was 15, I have casted in the crew of musical theatre “Oliver Twist” as his sister Rose and spent the whole year being on tour with the theatre Izmir Theatre Association. After years spent in various international theatre festivals, acting and producing plays as a high-school student, I was sure that I want to continue doing this professionally.

As I grew up and when it was time to be a college student, my passion inspired me to work in various TV Channels and production companies, when I was studying double majors in Psychology and Media. I enjoyed being able to combine both areas together, as I always believed that coming from a Psychology background would be a game changer for me as an artist. I have gained on-set knowledge in various scripted TV shows and unscripted series. I also got a certificate in “Performance Psychology” where I’ve gained a lot of information about the mental process and healing of an artist and how I can assist that.

All experiences that I’ve gained inspired me to come all the way to LA to pursue my film-making dream after college. In 2017, I arrived LA for New York Film Academy’s film program and spent months working with very successful people from the industry, shooting at the Universal Back Lot, and making connections. Afterward, I was sure that I want to continue building more on to that, and applied to UCLA’s graduate program for Entertainment Studies. This was a great choice as I had the chance to gain knowledge in all aspects of on & off-camera. I also wanted to dig in more of cinematography and got accepted to NYU’s cinematography program and completed that.

During this time period, I’ve gained experience in American Film Festival, on & off-set production, especially thanks to the film I’ve worked in called “Good on Paper” and various production companies. As my latest job required me to try adapting a book into a screenplay, my writing journey has started. I fell in love with creating stories from scratch and the idea of being there from the beginning until the end became a life goal.

One of the pilots that I wrote, named “Unbounded” received an award from Hollywood Script Awards as “Best Pilot” and became an “Official Selection” in San Diego International Film Awards. Another feature script also became a finalist in the same festival.

Recently I just wrote, produced and directed my first ever short film, “Dear Me” and can’t wait to see the audience’s reaction. As a producer, director and writer, I am now acquisitively aim to create women-empowered and diverse teams in the film industry and inspire people by combining my knowledge from Psychology Major with my Film Studies

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?
Of course not! First of all, being from another country has always been a huge struggle. Even though I’ve grown up in American culture and schools, being in another land is never been an easy road. These circumstances led me to work even more to show how capable I am in order to make space for my talent here in Hollywood.

I also feel like this industry is tough and a never-ending road, which is also true for life. As a young women, who is trying to build a diverse and women-empowered culture in this industry, it is not possible to have a smooth road anytime soon 🙂 But I LOVE working for it. I even started to love the failures along the way, which I now try to see as stepping stones. I remember watching “LA LA LAND” before moving to LA in the first place, and that I fell in love with the emotional core of the struggle and the wins coming at the end. I believe in this industry, it is really important to shift your perspective from seeing failure and struggles as setbacks to viewing them as valuable learning experiences. As our industry is so harsh, I used to perceive every rejection for jobs, festivals, and auditions personal, but now I started to see the bigger picture and that embracing the nature of the industry would get you wherever you want to at the end.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I always loved being multi-tasking in every area of life and this also inspired me to learn every little aspect of the film industry. To be honest, I believe, especially in today’s world, especially an artist really needs multiple perspectives and tasks in order to set herself apart. That is why I’ve spent years doing acting, directing, writing and producing. I believe the fact that I can be there from the scratch of the story, the creation of the actual premise, until the post-production and even in the process of marketing that mesmerized me all the way. But of course, life leads you to stuff, and that’s what happened with writing for me. As I started to gain exposure with multiple awards from festivals, I knew that I have write more. So writing and producing what I write became a huge life goal for me. I might say that I’m most well-known for being a creative developer and producer as I can apply everything that I know about every aspect in the industry into any project that I work on.

First of all, coming from a Psychology background plays a huge role to set myself apart from others, as I aim to take it as a perspective to write, to direct, to manage people and of course to utilize what I can observe and oversee in people and projects thanks to my education. Moreover, being a digital marketing professional throughout the years as a side hustle helped me a lot to set myself apart as well. I’ve also studied Design Communication Arts at UCLA while I was doing my Entertainment Degree, and that second major widened my perspective to discover how I can create more for projects regarding social media content, entertainment designs, posters, key arts, and even strategizing how to convert those into ideas.

Being part of the NYU Tisch School Cinematography program also gave me a wider perspective on how I see the world, the frame and the story. Being part of the school that I’ve always dreamed of mesmerized me. Working in American Film Festival, being part of the Independent Producer’s Guild, working on a Netflix Movie called “Good on Paper” were all my luck throughout the year and all inspired me to do more as a young woman.

So now I’ve been working on various projects with a production company called Billings Productions, which has a huge impact on me as an artist. I have gained a lot of knowledge there, especially in writing and adapting books into screenplays. I also had the opportunity to get involved with every step of a project from legal steps to creative steps which changed my whole expertise for sure.

And as an individual artist, I write TV Pilots and Feature Films mostly, but I recently wrote, directed and produced my first short film “DEAR ME” and now planning its release. Looking forward to be in the festivals with that. I continue working on adaptations, other writings and so much more. I can tell that I am proud of being a member of the young diverse women in this industry, who is basically getting her inspiration from her psychology background, alongside with my hustling culture that rises multi-tasking and multi-perspective creative force.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I have always been such an emotional kid back then, and that stayed with me for sure. It must be due to my intensive empathy as I remember myself feeling everything a character or a friend feels since my childhood as if it’s mine. This brings a lot of emotional freedom to an artist while writing and creating. On the other hand, I am such a leader, and I think I am really organized which helps me a lot to take control into my own hands and work on every little detail while I also organize and lead other team members. I feel taking the lead and empathy wins over a lot. Last but not least, being loyal and warm is crucial in this industry, and I feel like I have those from my gut, which really helps me to attract others’ attention as they seek my presence in the workplace.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tinyurl.com/ceylinkofilm
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceylinkocagz/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU2sxrFDam8VybNdiH6vPGQ
• Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12608036?s=7cc467f2-6f5f-da99-f042-23002bbfcddc&site_preference=normal