Meet Richie Kulchar and Ben Boyd of Junk Films in Culver City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richie Kulchar and Ben Boyd.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Richie and Ben. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ben and I come from very different backgrounds within the same industry. For over a decade and a half, I’ve worked in NY, LA, Texas, Georgia, and many other states as a Production Manager before moving to the agency side and Producing content for accounts like the US Army at Ignited in El Segundo. Ben came up in the world of NASCAR, documentaries and ENG (electronic news-gathering) crews in North Carolina.

We had one thing in common, and that was alcoholism and drug addiction. We had both ruined our careers due to crippling heroin, crystal meth and prescription painkiller addictions, Richie went in and out of jail and psych wards. Ben drove a satellite van into a bridge, and his parents sent him to rehab in LA, where he met Richie.

When we met in rehab in 2014, both at the lowest points in our lives, we bonded over our love of movies. Once we got enough days clean, we began working together at a boutique ad agency in Culver City, helping them expand their video production capabilities, until we were laid off suddenly because that company couldn’t stay profitable. We knew we could create something amazing if we stuck together, so we did, and in January of 2017, we used our last paychecks from that job to open our own shop: JUNK.

We knew we wanted to create video content that helped people tell their story. Drug and alcohol treatment centers, nonprofit organizations — a lot of people doing great work around LA have shitty marketing materials, and that was something we wanted to change. So we decided we would create real videos, telling stories that people could connect to, and bring a professional sense of authenticity to the advertising efforts we become involved with at JUNK. We found that in sobriety, we no longer lie to ourselves. We found meaning and fulfillment in telling stories that matter or ones which make a viewer feel something new. We want authenticity and truth to underlie everything we do at JUNK. We’ve turned down work we feel doesn’t align with that. We don’t want to do things that don’t feel right.

Our backgrounds have always been different: Ben worked on small passion projects and Richie on Superbowl Ads. But when we come together, we can combined those experiences, and our victories in the face of addiction, to create anything: you know…all the JUNK.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Challenge #1: staying sober. We both work hard to stay sober today, after years of addiction tore our lives apart. That means connecting with people, going to AA meetings, being an active part of our sober community at Beit T’Shuvah where we first got sober, and so on.

Challenge #2: starting a small business. This is a first for both of us. We don’t have small business backgrounds, and we went into it not knowing anything. One some things, we had to learn by failing forward, on others we googled it first. We just celebrated our first year in business, and we have been able to stay afloat which is not an easy task for a new startup. This year has been a whirlwind of uncertainty, exhilaration, self-discovery, and pure fucking joy. And we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We should be dead from overdoses. We should be in jail. We should have never gotten sober, considering how few addicts get and stay sober. We shouldn’t have ever met, considering just a few years ago we were both in our respective corners of the country. We should have failed in our first year as a small business.

Luck has played a huge role in bringing us together and giving us the opportunity to do good in the world. But there has been a turning point where it’s up to us to take that luck and make it continue to work by devoting ourselves to our craft, remaining transparent and authentic, and continuing to be humble about where we came from, always realizing how easily this all could have never happened.

Pricing:

• We package our rates to make the process easier for our clients. A typical half day shoot (including all equipment and crew) including post production to create a 1-2 videos, plus social media cutdowns, starts at $5,000 (post includes color grading, music, sound mix, graphics, and text). These packaged rates go up to $7,500 for a full day, $10,000-$15,000 for multiple days, and up to $30,000 for full ad campaigns.

Contact Info:

• Address: JUNK FILMS (office address)
  8985 Venice Blvd, Suite H
  Los Angeles, CA 90034JUNK FILMS (mailing address)
  723 N. Gramercy Pl #6
  Los Angeles, CA 90038
• Website: www.junk.film
• Phone: 323-382-5485
• Email: richie@junk.film
• Instagram: @junkfilms
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/junkfilms
• Other: www.vimeo.com/junkfilms

Image Credit:
All owned by Junk Films Inc

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