Life & Work with Kevin Bourne of Toronto/Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Bourne

Hi Kevin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew in as a shy kid in Toronto, Canada. My parents immigrated to Canada from Barbados in the 1970’s. Growing up in Toronto was a great experience because it’s so multicultural and you get a chance to learn about different cultures. It’s also a big city (the fourth largest in North America after Mexico City, New York, and L.A.) so it has all the amenities, inspiration, and creative energy that you’d expect from a major city.

My parents were really good at exposing me to different things, like piano lessons and acting. In elementary school, my parents got me an agent and I got a few roles. That was my introduction to the entertainment industry. That introduced me to being on set and having to memorize lines. I didn’t realize it would come full circle with me now being a producer, writer, and director (and hopefully actor again).

I was always into writing, storytelling, and language growing up. I was always good with words. I was a natural writer. I remember being in third grade and my teacher reading my story in front of the class. I remember being in fifth grade and loving spelling bees. Fast forward to being an adult, and I moved from Toronto to Ottawa, Canada’s capital city to work on Parliament Hill as a communications staffer. In other words, my job was writing everything under the sun for a senator. This allowed me to pivot into journalism. Ottawa didn’t have a lot of media outlets so I decided to start one called SHIFTER. I learned how to take pictures and shoot and edit video. Eventually, the platform grew and I got the chance to reviews films and interview celebrities like Kevin Hart, Tyrese Gibson, and Dascha Polanco.

This all led to me becoming a Golden Globe Awards voter and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-Approved Critic. The highlight of my career so far was attending the 2024 Critics Choice Awards and being in the dining room with the biggest names in Hollywood. Although I was there as a journalist, it inspired me to one day in those rooms as a writer and producer. After spinning off the media platform into a film/TV, digital content, and live experiences company called SHIFTER Entertainment that I co-founded with my wife, Koliah, we produced a reality series called “A Date In The Life” that’s available across Canada. Not only was I the showrunner, but I also did some writing and directing. Now, I have a number of TV pilot scripts and screenplays written and a pipeline of projects in development.

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?
Absolutely not. As an entrepreneur and creative, it’s pretty much impossible to have a smooth road. Almost all of my struggles have been financial. There have been times when my wife and I were on social assistance because the company wasn’t doing well and I couldn’t find a job. We’ve had to get food from the food bank. There were times when my wife was pregnant with our first child and we barely had groceries. Luckily, my wife is my business partner so she was in the trenches with me. But I’ve definitely had moments when I looked like the biggest success on social media, but was struggling in real life. Any time you’re trying to build something, whether a business or your career, you’ll have temptations to give up. You’ll have times wondering if your work is in vain. But I’ve noticed that every time I battle through that temptation something big is usually right around the corner. I remember back in 2019, I was considering shutting down our media platform SHIFTER for good. I decided to put a plan in place and give myself a few months to turn things around. Six months later, I was invited to interview Kevin Hart about his new book. If I had given up, I wouldn’t have had that opportunity which ended up being my first of many big celebrity interviews. The meme with the miner and diamond never made more sense to me. I almost walked away before that last swing.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As I mentioned before, I’m an arts and entertainment journalist. Whether on a red carpet, at a press event, or virtually, I’ve interviewed everyone from Kevin Hart, Tyrese Gibson, and Dascha Polanco to Ziggy Marley, Grammy winner Muni Long, and Ava DuVernay. A lot of my work as a journalist is around Black culture.

Overall, I love storytelling. It’s the thread that brings together everything I’ve done over my career so far. Communications is storytelling. PR is storytelling. Journalism is storytelling. Curating art exhibits, which I’ve also had a chance to do in my career, is storytelling. Now, I’ve pivoted into writing, producing, and directing for film and TV through our company SHIFTER Entertainment. The exploration of new ways of telling stories continues.

There are a few things that I’m proud of. Becoming one of only 300 or so Golden Globe voters in the world and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-Approved Critic were things that were never on my radar. Producing the reality series “A Date In The Life” and having a series on TV, one I executive produced with my wife, is also something I’m really proud of. Producing my short film Going Up? as well – leading the team, helping with casting, and all that. To be honest, I have so many things that I’m proud of.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I like best about L.A. is meeting like-minded people. People move to L.A. from all over the world to make their dreams happen. It attracts dreamers and hustlers who felt like they didn’t fit where they were living. When they come to L.A. they feel like they find people just like them. I’ve met some great people in L.A. who have become great contacts and friends. My Uber driver who happened to be a screenwriter and production assistant. My salesperson on Rodeo Drive who is also a stylist and image consultant.

What do I like least? Traffic. Also, it’s not just an L.A. thing, but having grown up in Canada, the American healthcare system needs help. Ya’ll need universal health care ASAP.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm16872625
• Instagram: https://www.instagra.com/kbtheboss_
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinrbourne/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/shiftermagazine
• Other: https://goldenglobes.com/voting-member/kevin-bourne/

Image Credits
For the main picture (blue toned) the photographer was Elisabeth Clarke