Check Out Boogiewhip’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Boogiewhip.

Hi Boogiewhip, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Oakland, CA. I was raised in Vacaville, CA. My father was a high school teacher. My mother was a stay-at-home mom who opted to homeschool younger brother and myself. Unbeknownst to my chronically oblivious father, she stopped homeschooling kid brother and me by the time I reached 4th grade (kid brother 2nd grade). She suffered from obesity, diabetes and laughably unchecked mental illness her entire life, and by the time I reached 4th grade, my family had become involved in a local Christian cult, and my mother — for reasons related to her unmonitored mental health — abruptly decided to stop schooling kid brother and me. We would sit at home all day long, watching movies. When dad would come home from work, mom would lie to him about our schooling for the day, and he wouldn’t ask questions. Of course, between our daily movies, mom would tell brother and me NOT to let daddy know about what our “school days” looked like. The irony in all of this, of course, was that dad was a damn high school teacher, completely unaware that his own children weren’t receiving a proper education! How and why this was possible, you might ask? Daddy was a closet homosexual who married mommy BECAUSE she was obese, simplistically Christian, and frankly stupid. She was the perfect “beard” for a closet homo, voting Republican and shielding himself from the real world. He didn’t care about brother and me, really; we were just accessories to his wifely “beard.” Further; neither of my parents were smart enough to understand that the church we had become involved with was actually a fucking cult! And thus, as a gay boy myself — tragically unaware of my own sexuality because ultimately; mommy kept me out of school for fear that I would become educated and learn of my sexual preferences, hence, her zombie-like insistence that I be deeply immersed a Christian cult — became the target of various predators in the congregation. I was being molested by this Christian man, raped by that Christian man… and so manipulative was this place, that every time I went to other mother’s within the church, crying to them HELP ME! I AM BEING FUCKING RAPED BY THIS GUY, THAT GUY…” said mothers would ALWAYS respond thusly: “you shouldn’t use such foul language!” And then they’d turn their back on me in a huff, and storm off in a red puff! More furious at my use of the word “fuck” than the fact that a born fetus was crying rape! And so the abuse continued, and bein g utterly helpless and brainwashed myself, I just let it do whatever the fuck it was going to do. What choice did I actually have? At the age of 16, a particular Jesus pedophile asked if he could fuck me in a field, to which I replied, “If you do. I’ll fucking kill you, Rob.” And then, through further manipulation, Rob convinced me to let him perform an exorcism on me with two other rando dudes in a back room of the church. And so it went, and he “expelled” all of my “homosexual demons”… and AFTER THIS, something permanently shifted in me: I was finally smart enough to understand that this “church” was WAY MORE than just a “church.” And I wanted out. i told mom I wasn’t going to attend the services anymore, and that I wanted to go to a public school, so that I could finally experience what it was like to be a regular kid. She said, “you can’t! You only have a 4th grade education and no transcripts beyond that!” So, out of defiance towards her, I got online (in 2002) and learned how to make fake transcripts for kid brother and me. Then I managed to get myself enrolled in a local public high school (Will C. Wood)… and I graduated with a 3.5 GPA, and NO ONE had any fuckin’ idea where I came from, or any of the things I had to do to get into that school. That regular life. After graduation, I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no actual skills, and obviously, my education was spotty at best. Dad said he’d pay for me to go to junior college, so I enrolled in a2 year acting conservatory. I needed to learn how to act like people, because all I knew were zealot Christians and some high school kids at this point. I figured I could fake my way through life if I at least knew how to act like people. So I graduated as one of the best actors in my class, and in my mid twenties, I moved out of dad’s house, and relocated in Los Angeles, to pursue my acting career. I knew that it was going to be impossibly hard, but I had already done “impossibly hard.” Plus; I just wasn’t good at anything else. My entire life had been one performance after another (pretending to be schooled so that teacher daddy wouldn’t get mad at dumbass mommy… making fake transcripts to attend a public school… acting my way through those two years…), so I just kinda figured, fuck it! I know how to do this, and if it doesn’t work out, there’s always suicide. So I managed to snag a few bit roles here and there, but really nothing of note. And then in my late 20’s, I became the front man for a cabaret rock band called Hot Sauce Holiday, and we developed a following. I knew how to arrest the room with performance, and I could actually utilize my best abilities on stage. The band was alive and thriving for 6 years until we broke up (for no good reason other than the lead guitarist, who also helped form the band, didn’t want to work so hard anymore) in 2019. I quickly formed another band called Dirty Lovely Creatures, which performed for 1 year… and then Covid hit. We broke up, and then I needed to find something else to do to keep myself from swallowing a shotgun. So, I went back to what I loved to begin with: movies. My entire childhood education came from watching movies, ALL KINDS of movies as a youngster, when I was supposed to be learning what the other kids were learning. So I sat down during the lockdowns, and I wrote a script that I knew I could shoot on a nothing budget of $10,000, which I had just received as an inheritance from a dead relative. At this point, I knew enough people (actors, musicians, producers…) that I was able to cast and shoot the film in a span of about 6 days spread out across a month. The film was called Rat Talk and it was a horror/thriller about an oblivious podcaster who, unbeknownst to him, forms a cult based on his ramblings… and a human sacrifice comes into the picture… I submitted the film (an 87 minute feature) to the festivals and got picked up at a few. I have since made 2 short films and 2 other features, and I am now (finally) being hired to direct a new indie feature. And that’s exactly where I am now. Production on this new feature begins in August.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
ALL OF IT has been an obstacle and a challenge. Raised by nonsense parents. Having to teach myself everything they wouldn’t. Having to unlearn an entire curriculum of Christian cult gobbledygook. having to work a million different day (and often night) jobs that meant absolutely NOTHING in terms of personal growth. Having to go hungry more often than not because LA is viciously expensive city, and when ya gotta choose between a roof and a buncha roommates ya don’t actually like and food… ya gotta go with the roof because fuck, dude! Having to keep and maintain vehicles in a city that charges SO MUCH MORE to keep a damn vehicle. Oh, and also being a freaking gay man in rock music scene dominated by boys in men’s clothing, who all all suckin’ on that Joe Rogan presents Bigotry dick, making ya jump through bullshit hoops the straight boys don’t gotta jump… discerning when you have to play their game to get a gig, and when to tell them to lick the shoot that spit em’ (as a gay dude in THAT scene, more often than not ya gotta play “bowing homo” in order for anything to happen). Again, ALL OF IT has been an obstacle/challenge. I haven’t slept for about 15 years, and I’ve learned to eat while I walk. Lol!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a director of feature films, short films, and music videos. I am also an editor, and I score the films too.

I am also a lead singer/front man/musician.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Oh god, so many… all of the films I’ve made so far play, in some form or another, with obliviousness. I find it fascinating to no end, obliviousness. It lends itself to every genre (romance, comedy, drama, horror, thriller…). I’ll never forget trying to get my dad’s attention one night at a church service. He was the piano player at our “church” and there was one night when mom wanted to leave early. She asked me to go tell dad — who was sitting at the piano — that we were leaving. I walked over to him, leaned over and quietly told him we were heading out. As he played the piano, he turned and looked me in the face, and said “okay, see you at home.” Then he returned to his playing. When he arrived home that night, around 11pm, he was all, “You guys didn’t tell me you were leaving.” Dumbfounded, I recounted the events to him; me walking up to the piano, telling him we were leaving… him looking me in the face and saying “okay, see you at home.” And he genuinely didn’t recall the interaction. Now, of course, it could happen to anyone. How often do we daze out and go on autopilot, especially as working adults. But as a young teen, this was really struck me: I was just fascinated that he didn’t remember the interaction. And as time went on, I noticed him doing this more and more. Human beings ARE oblivious creatures. What’s most interesting though is how often do we PLAY oblivious… and when exactly, is it just natural obliviousness? This childhood memory, mundane perhaps on paper, has been the psychological catalyst for every film I’ve made this far.