Rising Stars: Meet Ben Kawaller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Kawaller.

Ben, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I spent my early- and mid-twenties bouncing around from one thing to another in New York City (where I’m from). My first job out of college was an internship at New York Magazine; I had a brief and weird excursion into elementary-school education; I danced around my dreams of being a playwright by directing and producing some theater. I lived before moving to LA in nearly total denial of my creative ambitions, believing for some reason that they were beyond realization.

I moved here in July of 2012 with vague aspirations of working in television and landed a job in the mailroom of United Talent Agency. I started reading scripts and it became apparent that UTA represented plenty of people no more talented than I was. Suddenly a dream I’d repressed for so long (writing for TV) seemed possible. The plan was to snag a coveted desk in the TV-lit department, put in my time there, and then find a TV writer to work for as an assistant.

I ended up instead in the talent department, where I nearly lost my mind working for some of the most certifiably insane people I have ever come across. I jumped ship at 29 when I landed a job working for a producer. He was gay but not avuncular, and he did not adore me as I felt he should have — never mind the fact that I was a more or less dreadful assistant. After three months, I quit to devote my time to writing and burning through my savings.

I had some encouraging early success with a pilot that was included in the Black List’s TV Staffing Book and which landed me agents at CAA, a surreal experience for which I was utterly unprepared. During my time under their representation, in addition to writing a funny but underbaked pilot about the Supreme Court, I wrote, produced, and starred in a semi-autobiographical comedy about a hapless gay tutor with a penchant for humiliation. My agents thought it was utterly deranged and soon enough we parted ways, but the pilot would ultimately be accepted into South by Southwest (ha!) 2020 (d’oh!). Before the world shut down, it played in over a dozen film festivals, ultimately winning, among other accolades, Best Comedy Pilot at A3’s Catalyst Content festival and the Orlando and San Pedro International Film Festivals.

Several years ago I started producing video content covering local events for Wehoville, West Hollywood’s online newspaper. This eventually led to the opportunity to create similar content for Los Angeles Magazine, for which I now host the human-interest series “The Kawaller Report.” This month I covered my first red-carpet event, an ESPN college football playoffs party, where I interviewed a bunch of famous people I’d never heard of, including the football star Tim Tebow. He was very nice, and our interaction, centered largely around how nice he smelled, has gone nicely viral on TikTok. The validation is intoxicating.

I also recently wrote my first play, a (funny) drama about a conflict between an aging professor and a non-binary student. Largely inspired by the Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson, persona non grata amongst the queer community for his aversion to gender-neutral pronouns (and being compelled to use them), the play is an exploration of gender, language, authority, and competing definitions of truth. In March of last year, it was workshopped in LA by Rogue Machine Theatre, and I am very much hoping they give it a full production this year.

In the fall of 2022, I started contributing regularly to Los Angeles Magazine as an opinion and feature writer alongside my video work. I have written about sexual hysteria, land acknowledgments, bathroom laws, and crypto weirdos, and I am currently working on a profile of the mayor of West Hollywood. This recent turn towards journalism I credit to a newfound willingness, given how difficult it is to get staffed on a TV show, to expand my definition of success, to go where the doors are open, and to take the opportunities to get paid for my writing where I can find them. It has so far been an unexpected delight, and I find myself thrilled to be working for smart, serious writers who thus far have let me color outside the lines and chart my own path.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not. My primary struggle has been and continues to be, my tendency towards procrastination. I am someone who thrives in a structured environment, yet I seem to have chosen a life of self-direction. I am helplessly addicted to my phone, completely in thrall to the dopamine hits of likes and comments on social media, and generally restless, irritable, and discontented.

But I am great in a room.

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 specialize in saying the supposedly unsayable, hopefully in a way that is funny enough to be disarming. I think if you can communicate with humor, even in the censorious era we seem to be living in, you can get away with saying things most people merely think. I have friends who can’t believe I have the guts to say certain things.  Undoubtedly being financially secure (and also working mostly for a publication, LA Magazine, that seems to be particularly tolerant of iconoclasm) has given me a confidence not everyone can afford to have. I can imagine it’s difficult to speak your mind when you worry it might cost you your health insurance. Perhaps Medicare for All is the answer to cancel culture.

What matters most to you?
Truth.

And laughter. What else are we doing here?

Contact Info:

• Website: benkawaller.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benkawaller/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bkawaller
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkawaller/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/benkawaller
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebenkawaller