We recently had the chance to connect with Kacy Boccumini and have shared our conversation below.
Kacy, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I grew up in and around dysfunction: screaming, fighting, lying, cheating, stealing, addiction, betrayal, crying, chaos. Because I didn’t know this wasn’t normal, I replicated it in my work, friend groups, and relationships outside of my family of origin. Up until lockdown, my life was one traumatic event after another.
Through therapy, self-work, Al-Anon, meditation, tarot and spiritual practices, and writing, I’ve built a life of peace. I wake up in the morning to silence. I pray and do morning rituals to the sound of birds singing. The loudest noise in my house is my cat purring in his sleep.
There is no metric for that kind of success. But for me, it’s everything.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Kacy Boccumini. I was born in Diamond Bar, CA, and have lived in Los Angeles most of my life, with brief stints in Santa Cruz, New York City, and San Francisco.
I currently live in Miracle Mile, where I run two distinct businesses.
The first is a production company called My Best Guy. As a writer, director, producer, and actor, I’ve completed nine short films, a 21-episode digital series, and one feature film since opening in 2019 – most of it while working a full-time job. I’ve also written several feature films and one original TV show, and I’m currently seeking funding or representation to produce them.
I hold two degrees in film theory, which I draw on in my podcast, The Stories We Tell. The show functions more like a lecture series, where I deconstruct the codes and hidden messages in film, TV, and media that shape our personal narratives.
François Truffaut is one of my cinematic mentors. He began his career as an academic and reviewer, using his study of film to inform his work. I’ve followed a similar path, using my academic background to call out the discrepancies and shortcomings I see in modern filmmaking – especially around gender and diversity.
If I had to define my “brand” as a filmmaker, I’d call myself a Classicalist. I believe firmly in the Classical Hollywood structure and work in traditional genres. For me, the problem has never been the structure of storytelling -it’s the underlying narratives and myths. Without the restrictions of the old production code, we can tell the truth. That’s what my films aim to do: tell the truth about my characters and about our shared lived experience. It’s a simple but profound shift. For example, “champion” is a non-gendered term, yet most films about women in sports aren’t treated as true “sports” films. That’s how one small act of truth-telling can change the myth.
My second business is more of a sanctuary—or at least, that’s the vision. In 2024, I created The Lighthouse, a full-service Spiritualist-based center designed to provide direction, clarity, and a light in the dark. I am certified in Tarot, Astrology, and mediumship. I offer private sessions, workshops, and classes, and I’m developing events focused on thought exchange, community-building, and revival. In 2025, I became an official member of Lily Dale, the historic Spiritualist community in upstate New York.
Spiritualism is rooted in the belief that all people are equal under Spirit, and that mediumship is just one expression of that light. It holds that people are entitled to their own reality under natural law, and that the highest form of Spirit is to love others as you love yourself. Simple, practical, and open to everyone. My goal is to open a physical location in Los Angeles where people can gather, pray, hold space, and build community in a spiritual practice – without judgment or exclusion.
As of 2025, I will also include marriage ceremonies. Being legally married in a religious ceremony provides federal protections, and I am an ordained minister in several states. Protecting the right to marry is vitally important, and it will be a central focus of The Lighthouse beginning in 2026.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
For a very long time, I was taught that I wasn’t allowed to be the one who wins. Any attention I received, any accolade, any spotlight, any opportunity meant specifically for me—was something I had to immediately give away. The last time I was featured in this article, in fact, it was to promote something or someone else.
I was raised to believe my purpose was to serve at the pleasure of others, even to my own detriment. It wasn’t a choice – it was the price of admission into my family of origin. That expectation showed up everywhere: in small things, like how I spent my free time, and in massive things, like my career path, my physical appearance, and even my gender identity.
It has taken me a very long time to break free of this codependent conditioning. I had to grant myself permission to exist in every sense of the word. I came out as trans in 2021 and have been living authentically since then. I’ve also begun writing openly about my experiences growing up in addiction and dysfunction, both in my memoir and on my Substack, All the Things We Do Not See. I’ve worked hard to turn off the need for outside validation before calling myself an artist, or creating my art.
And no matter how many skeptics I encounter, I no longer seek permission to express my truth: yes, spirits are real. And no, they don’t watch you masturbate. They can literally do anything in the universe—watching you is the least of their concern. You’re entitled to not believe me. But that doesn’t make you right.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
In October of last year, my position at Sony Pictures was eliminated. I was asked to reapply for a new role that was essentially my old job, only now lumped in with candidates from a completely different department that had just been cut. Despite being perfectly qualified, the position went to someone with nine months of experience.
Suddenly, I was a 45-year-old trans man with Multiple Sclerosis, out of work, facing an incoming Trump administration. To say that the last year has been filled with fear, uncertainty, and panic would be an understatement. But you know what I haven’t felt? Regret.
They let me go because I had a life outside the company. Because I was willing to have hard conversations, to challenge bullies who overstepped, to ask tough questions and back them up with receipts. I wasn’t afraid to speak from decades of experience, even when I knew it would fall on deaf ears. Some might call that a failure. I now see it as a blessing.
I didn’t enjoy working for people who didn’t see or value me. No paycheck is worth my self-respect.
I didn’t enjoy working in rooms devoid of innovation or creativity. It was dull, uninspired, and I disengaged.
The truth is, I didn’t belong there.
And while I was still at Sony, I had already been building the life I wanted. Now, I wake up and write every morning, the most important part of my day.
I also work part-time as a strength trainer at Next Level Holistic Healing, where I’ve trained for six years. It has helped me manage both MS and the stress of corporate living. Now, I get to help others in the same way.
I’ve been pouring energy into The Lighthouse, helping others navigate their own major life transitions, just as it helped me through mine.
I am a writer, filmmaker, actor, producer, podcast host, film academic, medium, tarot reader, astrologer, and coach. All of those things are true. I get to live them every single day. Depending on the day, I might get paid for some or all of them, but money no longer dictates their worth.
That shift in metric has been the biggest change. I don’t need to chase the life of my dreams. I’m already living it. The rest is just scale.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
Here’s the truth about where I am from that most people take for granted. I cannot speak the name of my birthplace in my native tongue. Los Angeles is not English. California is not either. Those are Spanish words. America is Italian. We are not a white nation, not in our inception, not in our name, and not in our soil.
The words that describe my home are in a foreign language to me because my English was imported. I am the great-grandson of Italian and Irish immigrants. I live in a nation that forgets itself and its history. I am horrified, disgraced, and furious about the current fascist, faux-Nazi regime marching across our city and country.
Diversity is the most natural part of the universe. Look at an atom. The very building blocks of matter exist only through the interplay of all things positive, negative, and neutral. Diversity is the design. Look at a coral reef, a forest, or a desert and you’ll see the same thing: diversity creates beauty and mystery. There is nothing natural about simulacra. It is manufactured to fool you. Any Postmodernist theorist warned of this back in the 80s, just before Reagan tried and failed to erase difference the first time.
The world, and specifically America, cannot survive without diversity. It is the hill I’ll die on. It is the war I will wage in the name of. It is what every vote I cast is meant to protect. I wish I had more of a presence in the world to talk to the powers that be and change their minds. I often have lofty ambitions of running for Mayor of Los Angeles, but I do not have the financial backing for such an endeavor. And isn’t that the problem in a nutshell?
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
About a year ago, I implemented the concept of Four Pillars to simplify my decision-making. These are four words that describe me at my core:
Authentic
Creative
Loving
Principled
Every action I take must align with these pillars, or I don’t do it. Even the things I have to do, like chores and taxes, I approach in a way that fits this framework.
I don’t live this way for praise. I don’t organize my life around writing, eating well, exercising, telling the truth, growing, changing, evolving, taking accountability, being kind, or being of service because it is easy or because anyone else is watching. I do these things because they are who I am at my core.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mybestguy.com and www.lightwork.care
- Instagram: @mybestguyfilms @lightwork.care
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kboccumini
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MyBestGuyFilms
- Other: Substack: https://kacyboccumini.substack.com/
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5126987/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Image Credits
Bobby Coyote
Stephanie Epuna
Stephanie Gerard
