Today we’d like to introduce you to Harrison Houde.
Harrison, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in a small town called Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island in Canada. I started making YouTube videos in 2008, I was super bored, but this made me fall in love with films, acting, editing, and comedy. This was when the YouTube space was very community-based, young, and collaborative. I flew to LA and attended the first-ever VidCon with 1000 people in 2010. I made a lot of skits, music parodies, and eventually vlogs. When I booked a series lead in the kids’ sitcom Some Assembly Required (YTV/Netflix) I quit making YouTube videos regularly mainly because of the time commitment the show was. When the show ended after three seasons, I started directing and producing more quality narrative projects under my production company Houde Entertainment. I since have moved to Los Angeles to continue my acting career, as well as pursue the things I am passionate about in directing, filmmaking, and music!
Has it been a smooth road?
Other than trying to immigrate to the United States, which has been a big adjustment. I think the most difficult thing so far has been learning what type of stuff I want to do next as an actor, and make as a director. Learning the business side of film over the past 1-2 years has been an insane learning experience. If I knew what I do now, I likely would’ve written a very different first feature script. I love the feature I have co-written, but I am unsure if it should be my directorial debut. A lot of my struggles over the last two years has been just throwing myself into many directions of film to gain more knowledge on the industry. I am very excited for what’s next though.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Houde Entertainment story. Tell us more about the business.
I started Houde Entertainment around 2014. Right now, it operates as a boutique entertainment company focused on creating film, tv, and music projects. I have several award-winning festival short films and several music videos. I am working on getting our first features off the ground. I believe my experience as an actor, and my relationships I have built in the industry are invaluable and we are able to do a lot of really cool things that other small production companies would struggle to achieve. I focus on telling a visual story, character-based things, and I plan to keep it that way even with branded content, music videos, etc. I have some big ideas but am willing to try to go above and beyond right now with lower budgets as the company is relatively new.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the business of film is in the midst of changing right now, and in 5-10 years it’s hard to predict. I think cable TV is dead… large funding for cable television is drying up everywhere as far as I see. But, digital content, short-form content, and new media is getting more funding and larger funding every day. Netflix, Hulu, and now Apple, Disney+ etc, are funding so many unique projects.
A lot of the bigger cable networks are opening streaming services to compete. I am interested to see what happens because instead of paying for multiple cable channels, we’re all going to have monthly subscriptions to 5-6 streaming services in the next 5-10 years. With all this happening, I think at the end of the next decade VR and AR content will be huge. I am really interested in AR content, especially in film. I think there’s going to be the seeds of something entirely new in 10-20 years that will change the streaming service landscape completely, just like video killed the radio star, Netflix killed cable? Haha.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.houdefilms.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/harrisonhoude
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/harrisonhoude
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/harrisonhoude
- Other: www.instagram.com/houdefilms
Image Credit:
BN Photo (Bettina Niedermann)
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