Meet Venk Potula of Khrisp Studios in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Venk Potula.

Venk Potula is an award-winning Indian American filmmaker and actor based out of Los Angeles, CA via Atlanta, GA. He is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television where he studied Theater and English. While in school, Venk studied filmmaking and acting with professors James Franco, Peter Weller, and Charles Haid. After graduating, Venk started a production company where he edited digital content for various brands including Bai, Vice Golf, Fnatic, Warner Sisters, Rise-Nation, and ARRI. His branded projects have aired on NBC’s Golf Channel and achieved 500K+ views on various social media platforms. In 2019, Venk launched Khrisp Studios, a production company that creates character-driven films for actors. Venk continued his education where he shadowed Peter Weller as he directed episodes of TNT’s The Last Ship and recently graduated from UCLA’s Professional Program in Writing for Television Comedy.

He recently directed and starred in Woke, an indie short film which has played in over 20 film festivals across the nation. Woke was nominated for the Grand Jury Award for Best Short film at the 13th Disorient Asian American Film Festival and won for Best Short Narrative at the Sacramento Asian Pacific American Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Best Actor and Best Screenwriter at the 2018 Asians On Film, Festival of Shorts and won for Best Actor at the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival. Woke is currently available exclusively with SEED & SPARK’s distribution arm. Venk co-created and stars in the critically acclaimed fiction podcast, Masala Jones, which launched on Apple Podcasts to 200+ Five Star ratings and was recently reviewed by AV Club as one of 13 Podcasts to Listen to This Week. You can binge the entire first season on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not at all. In fact – it’s been more bumps than anything. The road is rough. And it always will be rough. The only thing that changes is that you grow appreciate the road. And that’s the hardest part. Instead of sharing my struggles – I’d rather share the things I’ve learned from those struggles. 1. Find inspiration in friends – not in the Steven Spielbergs’ of the world. Create your own “Hollywood.” – I’m not saying the Steven Spielbergs of the world aren’t amazing people. But it’s easy to start to compare yourself to them and think that they’re some big, unattainable goal. Instead, look at the people around you who inspire you just as much. Strive to work with them. Here’s the thing: you will have to work to stake your claim in Hollywood. Nobody will give you a free pass. I used to think that if I just met someone like Steven Spielberg and talked to him for five minutes – my career will be set. He would see how passionate and how hardworking I am and that would be it. He’d put me on. I even had a conversation with a person who I considered as big as Spielberg and sadly, I can tell you from personal experience, that’s not how this works. Look to your friends – the people who might sacrifice something for you – THEY will put you on. Create your own “Hollywood” with the peers you trust – that will be provide the ticket to your dreams. 2. This is a “You do something for me – I do something for you”‘ business (but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing!) – Instead of asking people to help you – think about how you can help others. Get your EGO out of the equation. The minute I stopped thinking about, “How can I make a film to boost my acting career” and refocused the question to, “Who’s story do I want to tell?” – My life changed. If you’re an actor – my specific advice is – tell someone else’s story. Don’t make movies about your problems. Think about the people who need their story told. But I will say this – if you believe your story is something the world NEEDs…then Tell it. Tell it Loudly. And Tell it Authentically. 3. Be an entrepreneur. – I had a casting director tell me that I was going to have a difficult time getting cast because “I’m different.” That “I’m unique.”

For a long time – I looked at the things that made me different as a curse and as an affliction. Especially as a person of color – it’s easy to look at the world around you and only notice the differences between you and everyone else. That is a very lonely place to be. I used to think that the universe hedged its bets against me – and it was my responsibility to “overcome all odds” and beat the universe. It’s only very recently that I’ve realized that the universe/God is on your side. I don’t know how to tell you how to realize this. Only that you must. The real successes I’ve had in my life have come from the opportunities that I decided to create. It came from stepping out from the crowd and using my “uniqueness” to be a leader.

My recommendation is that you try it out. Be an entrepreneur. The feeling of making something that is YOURS is an incredible humbling feeling that you can’t replace. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad – it’s YOURS. It doesn’t matter if people like it or not – it’s YOUR’S. I asked my dad to help me make my first real short film, Before Love After Marriage. I asked him for $700 and he said “no.” That was one of the best things my dad did (among many things). I didn’t have the money to make that movie. But I made it. So, anything that I’ve learned from making that movie has become growth that I OWN. Don’t measure your successes by how many awards your film wins, or by how many likes your post gets. Make something because you have something to say. Become an entrepreneur, become a leader, and go achieve your dreams.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Khrisp Studios – what should we know?
At Khrisp Studios, we produce high-quality short films for actors. At the end of our collaboration they’ll have a professional movie that you can not only use for their acting reel, but that they could also use to submit to film festivals, pitch to agents and managers, or send to production companies. The goal is design a story based around the actor’s strengths to help them make the best possible introduction to Hollywood. We offer a unique film festival package in which our team will take you through the film festival submission process bringing our combined total of 20 years of experience to the table. We will also produce the correct marketing materials like a movie poster and a trailer which will help boost your films chance of getting accepted into a prestigious film festival. The most common recommendation casting directors, agents, and producers give to actors is, “Create Your Own Content.” However, most actors do not have the means to creating high-quality content (screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, colorist, sound mixers, etc.) We provide that content solution for actors. Our slogan is, “We take care of the filmmaking; you can take care of the acting.” Khrisp Studio’s production teams are based out of Los Angeles, CA and Atlanta, GA.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the entertainment industry moving towards creating high-quality vertical content for our smartphones. It’s the new TV screen. Blockchain will also become a bigger part of our industry. It’s already happening. We are currently in negotiations to distribute our content with a blockchain based distributor for our films.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.khrisp.com
• Phone: 4042715487
• Email: venk.khrisp@gmail.com

Image Credit:
Jor-el Vaasborg KJ Knies Vincent Capparell Hashim LaFond Melissa Nolledo

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