Rising Stars: Meet Kai Grayson of East Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kai Grayson.

Hi Kai, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Altadena, California, and loved movies, TV, and theater. I loved the arts and performing, even though I went to schools more focused on academics. Despite the pressure to focus on STEM, I chose to study film at Emerson College and kept moving toward any new creative goal I would set for myself. Right before graduating, I had the opportunity to live and work as a teacher in Japan, and my capstone professor encouraged me to go, saying it was a great idea to get a different experience. He was right, and I took that to heart. In Japan, I worked as an English teacher, bartender, model, and bassist/backup singer, but I still wanted to pursue a career in TV. While I was having success in other fields in Japan, I wasn’t getting the opportunity to work as a screenwriter, so I decided to move back to the USA in January 2020 in hopes of launching my animation screenwriting career. Unfortunately, COVID had other plans for me, but I was able to start working in live-action productions until I got my first animation job in 2021. I received my first script contract in 2022. After that, it was smooth sailing for a while, but the animation industry began to stutter to a halt. Since jobs weren’t coming in as often, I started to go back to my roots in performance and theater. I started a TTRPD improv comedy show called Roles for Initiative LA, a sister show to Roles for Initiative, which my friend Jon Sabay started and still performs in Tokyo, Japan. After launching that, I started performing in other D&D shows and speaking on panels about my experience. I also started training as a voice actor and a pro-wrestler. I have debuted as a pro-wrestler, but have yet to be cast in my first voice-acting gig. I’m not worried about it though, I know that opportunity is on the horizon.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey isn’t smooth in the slightest; I just have managed to pivot when necessary. For one, I moved to the Japanese countryside without speaking much Japanese. Navigating a new place and a new language as a 22-year-old was rough, but I learned a new language, culture, and life lessons. When I came back to the States, COVID shut down parts of the film and TV industry, so I couldn’t reach my goals in the time I wanted. When the animation industry began falling apart, I was laid off from my role as a script coordinator and was unemployed for 13 months. I couldn’t find a full-time job in animation, so I took a media-adjacent role and picked up freelance writing when I could. Even now, with all the success I’ve experienced, it’s still difficult to run Roles for Initiative LA and get people to buy tickets. Finding writing jobs has been harder than I have ever experienced, and layoffs are happening regularly across every industry. What keeps me afloat is being able to pursue my creative endeavors that are very much off the beaten path.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an LA multi-hyphenate who keeps going and slightly confuses people. I’m an animation screenwriter, TTRPG improv comedy producer, voice actor, pro-wrestler, and cosplayer. For writing, I’m known for writing on Work It Out Wombats, The Creature Cases, and Genevieve’s Playhouse. My comedy show is Roles for Initiative LA, and I post upcoming shows on that Instagram account. I am a pro-wrestler and cosplayer, and I post both on my Instagram, @kai_maintenance. Though I haven’t been cast yet, my VO endeavors will be posted on my main IG account @kaigrayson.

How do you define success?
I define success as accomplishing the goals I set for myself. While that may seem daunting, I’m also not strict about how accurately I reach that goal. For example, say I want to climb a specific mountain, but before I can do that, the trail collapses and it becomes unsafe, so I have to go to a rock climbing gym instead, and I do. Just because I had one thing in mind doesn’t mean the core of the achievement is gone; I was just rerouted. I think that’s something to always remember. I also tend to talk a lot about what I want to do to my friends, and that helps me hone my goals and achieve them. But in the end, it’s all about how happy reaching that goal makes you, not anyone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kaigrayson.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kaigrayson
• Other: instragram.com/kai_maintenance & instragram.com/rolesforinitiativela

Image Credits
Wavy Angel
Queen Skittles Photography