Meet Kevin Genki Tsai

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Genki Tsai.

Hi Kevin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Kevin Genki Tsai. My friends call me “TAIWAN DON” or “CARBONE”. Today, I am 24 years old and a full-time independent filmmaker/multidisciplinary artist. More specifically – I direct, edit, and color films with the team/production company, BASEWOOD. I also take interests in acting, modeling, and styling. In order to tell my story, I need to begin with my family lineage.

I was born into a first-generation Martial Arts family. My father is a Kung Fu disciple. He brought his practice from Taiwan to the US, found a community here, and is still active to this day. My mom used to be a competitive Dancer during her upbringing in Japan. Although she stopped dancing when she came to the US, her mind is still extremely artistic. To this day, I still think I get my tough side from my father and my compassionate side from my mom.

My parents first settled in Downtown, Los Angeles before moving further East to the unincorporated city of Rowland Heights in the San Gabriel Valley. To paint a picture for you, Rowland Heights is a predominantly Latino and Asian immigrant community where majority of the signs aren’t even in English. This is where I grew up.

I was considered a “latch key” kid because both my parents commute to East LA for work every day and often come home late, leaving me unsupervised after school. To keep me in check, my father put me into a Kung Fu school at the age of 5, where I would train under rigorous and militant conditions six nights out of the week for the next 12 years of my life. During the summers, my mom put me into a Chinese speaking program where I was able to learn and maintain my native tongue. So up until I got to high school, it felt as if I had multiple “moms” (my Chinese Teachers) and “dads” (my Kung Fu Coaches) who all disciplined me.

But I also lived a life outside of that as a regular child from SoCal in the early 2000s – witnessing racism, drug abuse, violence, city politics, ICE raids, the whole nine. Even with the absence of my parents in the daytime, I stayed out of trouble. I grew up in an Asian household at the end of the day. If I got in trouble at school, talked back to an adult, received a bad grade, failed in anything, showed emotions perceived as weak, I was getting my ass whooped later that night.

My environment was unnurturing to say the least. By the time I was 14, life took a turn for the worst. Without going into too much detail, my family was going through it. It was almost to the point where none of us were really on speaking terms unless it was to fight each other, whether verbally or even physically. I was already getting into more trouble because my grades were suffering. My performance lacked at my Kung Fu school, and my Coach could only reprimand me so many times before it was pointless. I was just starting to give up on everything. I was never told “good job” growing up. The only form of love I knew was called “tough love.” I didn’t know a life outside of being in trouble, yelled at, in danger, or hit.

At this point, watching movies and playing video games were my sources of comfort. I developed a fascination specifically with Kung Fu movies (duh). Although my high school was severely underfunded in art curriculums, I decided to join a Video Production class in Junior year. They didn’t have much, but they did have these DSLR cameras and cheap light kits that I was able to borrow over the weekends. I found every opportunity to take advantage of the resources from that class to make movies on the weekends. At this point, I also had some computer experience from all the gaming. It wasn’t much, but I had all the tools I needed to fully produce, shoot, and edit my own videos. It’s funny looking back at it now because I took the class way too seriously. But my newfound passion for movies helped me get through some of my worst days at home. By that point, I had come to realize I was truly happy when I made movies. I never felt this way in my life before, even with Kung Fu. I love Kung Fu, but I wasn’t always happy as a Martial Artist. I’m skimming a lot here but I could definitely open up way more about this period in my life another time.

Around this time too, my Kung Fu coach was transitioning into the Hollywood Stunt industry. He knew a few contacts back in the motherland that landed him opportunities to implement his Martial Arts into some pretty big Blockbuster titles. He stopped training me altogether and just had me help conceptualize Action Choreography and Design for the big screen. He made a fast transition into being a full-time Stunt Coordinator for Hollywood, and the Kung Fu school closed down. But, he looked out for me beyond the walls I grew up training in. He landed me my first job as a stuntman at the age of 16 (I lied and told the producers I was 18 to hustle my way onto set). This was my first real set experience. Before this, I was always shooting run n gun with my friends from that Video Production class. But this was the real deal. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I skipped school to be on set, I was like “fuck it, I’ll worry about the consequences later.”

With the way Hollywood had been so White-washed at the time (it still is although things are definitely improving now), I never thought that a random 16 years old Asian kid like me from outside the city would actually get to be on a real set. This was a privilege, people in my neighborhood don’t usually get to witness things like this. I hit the ground running with a passion from that day forward. I met a few friends from that film set which led to more film sets. The next two years of my life was a blur, I was getting paid to be a stuntman at the age of 18. I was skipping class in Senior year and even my teachers supported me because they knew I had a spark in me and I was making some income.

However, college application season was right around the corner, and I started facing pressure from my parents. It’s every immigrant parent’s dream to have their firstborn attend higher education in the US. I decided to apply to film school because it would at least be the closest thing to doing something less education based while still being able to tell them I’m going to college. I had to be real with myself, I’m not good at math, science, or history. I’m good with words because I am a natural-born artist fulfilling his purpose, but that didn’t mean I liked writing school essays. Due to my poor high school grades, I got rejected from every top Film School. But I did get accepted into Syracuse University, which I overlooked at first.

I was so conflicted because I was considering not going to college. I wanted to just hustle and continue the path I was going down as a stuntman. All my connects were here in California and there was money to be made. My parents and I fought over that a lot, but eventually my mom was the one who actually convinced me to commit to Syracuse University. So I took the leap.

The next four years of my life took a turn for the best. I moved to Syracuse, New York to study film. I quit doing stunts to focus on living a new life in the East Coast. With my prior experience in front of the camera as a stuntman, and my limited experience shooting high school class assignments before that, it wasn’t hard for me to continue the momentum. Just like my Video Production class from high school, I took advantage of all the University resources because it felt like a playground. Instead of a DSLR in my hand, it was a cinema camera. Before I was running everything as a one-man-army, and now I was learning how to work with a film crew. Syracuse itself provided a very unique backdrop which accelerated my creativity in a new way. I’m Cali born and raised so you know this new East Coast environment was truly like a blank canvas to me.

Every summer break, I would come back to LA and start hustling again. That’s all I knew how to do anyway. I found myself working freelance video jobs, which led to remote editing jobs that allowed me to continue making income from California even while I was in Syracuse. It’s pretty obvious that being in a film school, actively hustling in freelance filmmaking, and literally breathing film for 4 years accelerated my knowledge and capabilities FAST. I was really in the field. It was in Syracuse where I also met some of my best friends who are thriving in their own careers or are making films with me to this day.

Fast forward to 2020. The COVID pandemic hit right around the time I graduated. I came back to California to quarantine with family. The distance alone had healed a lot of our old wounds. I was 22 by then – I was no longer a child to my parent’s eyes. I was also entering such an unpredictable market as the economy slowed down tremendously. I knew how to hustle, but I really didn’t know what was actually next. I guess I got lucky because I already had a lot of work up on social media from my previous freelance gigs. It occurred to me that I was already playing the long game since the age of 16 and that I had already put years into the freelance grind all throughout college.

Thankfully I was still able to connect and do work with different artists through the pandemic. I’m not gonna lie, we broke a few COVID guidelines at the time. You just can’t make movies without the help of other people. But I was willing to break a few rules and do things under the table like I had already been doing. My mentality on it at the time came from a standpoint of survival. How else was I suppose to make money when this is all I know? Any gig I wasn’t down for in fear of catching COVID, somebody else hungier than me would take it. It’s just how I was raised. While you rest, the next man is working for your spot.

During one of my freelance jobs in late 2020, my client introduced me to a very cool group of artists in LA who were building a new venture called BASEWOOD. It wasn’t long before I found myself hanging out with them often. The energy was just right. They hustled the same way I did. They had many similarities to me. I realize now it’s because they come from similar backgrounds as me. They all have different stories but they remind me a lot of the spirit of Martial Arts. It’s the discipline, the philosophy, and the hunger to be great.

As we all know, great minds think alike. I went from working with BASEWOOD at the top of 2021, to working as a part of BASEWOOD today. So that’s how I got here. This also isn’t the end of my story. I’m still writing the rest.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Because filmmaking became an escape for me during the lowest point of my life, I actually enjoyed the trials and tribulations that came with it. Well, I didn’t and still don’t enjoy failing. I tend to feel guilty when I fail. But I’ve failed enough times to the point where I just fell in love with the game. I can’t define good days without the bad.

I also started my journey young, so I already put my dog years in. I treat it just like Martial Arts. You have to learn the fundamentals over and over again until you get it right. I was okay with starting over a hundred times.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a director, first and foremost. In the “professional field” I just tend to book more post-production work than actual directing work. Nature of the game at the moment. But this will change. I’m just being patient with it. I really do enjoy post-production. So for now, I’ll say that’s what I mainly do on my day-to-day.

My position at BASEWOOD is Post Production Supervisor. Oftentimes, the work that goes unspoken are usually along the lines of dealing with client communications, handling deadlines, taking meetings, managing post workflow, troubleshooting delays and human error during the post process, etc. There’s a lot more to it than just editing. We all know that the creative process can fluctuate from minute to minute. So I treat every project like it’s a baby that needs nurturing as it takes steps towards maturation. At the end of its life cycle is the final product.

I’m currently practicing and expanding my color portfolio as well, with intention to create a new lane specifically for that. In terms of color, I’m still a student of the game. I do take professional color work all the time, but I still believe there is a higher power within me that only repetition and time will unlock.

I’m not entirely sure what separates me apart from others. I don’t focus on anything else aside from my own path. I tend to take influence from or mimic the things I enjoy about other people’s work while giving my own spin to it. I always try my best to do my research when I’m portraying something outside of my own experiences. I also believe in the power of collaboration and never being too big to hear a secondary opinion. I take my path very seriously like I have everything to lose. I believe that, because the path isn’t linear, I have to constantly put effort into self-maintenance and optimization. Markets change over time, and so do people. What I’m doing now may not be in demand in five years. It’s not about the market for me, but I also can’t be ignorant to it. I do this for a living at the end of the day. I’m open to whatever I have to do. It’s just about me finding the right balance between Filmmaking as a job vs Filmmaking as a passion. To create at my best also comes with a lot of self-care. I trust my intuition and my feelings. My feelings have never done me wrong on a project. Nine times out of ten, my gut decision was right. The more in tune I am with myself, the more at peace I am with any outcome. At least I know I gave it my all.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Technology is certainly improving at a very fast rate, but everything conceptually has already been done before. All artists are influenced by other artists who are influenced by other artists. I think individuality and personality is what’s going to shine in the coming years. Art that very much reflects the artist in a way that no other person can replicate. It’s unexplainable with words, but you can just feel it when you look at it.

In the next 5-10 years, I do hope that our generation can undo some of the curses in our fields – such as financial or social exploitation, toxicity in the workspace, and the marginalization of other communities. I’m aware that I can’t singlehandedly fix every problem in the field because it takes a village. But I’ll do my part leave the outcome up to divine timing and the reciprocation of our universe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kevingtsai.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevingtsai/
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MUh0kCWINA

Image Credits
Lihem Russom Keaton Brownlow Louis Lee Dina Ben-Nissan Alex Harper