Rising Stars: Meet Kaschief Miller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaschief Miller. 

Hi Kaschief, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My name is Kaschief “Black Ice” Miller I am a film writer, Director, and Producer. How I started is actually a very long story, but I’ll only tell the interesting parts. For a while I struggled with my purpose, I didn’t know what my purpose was, and those who have this issue know it’s a very troubling feeling “why am I here?” “What do I do?” are always the questions you ask yourself. So, what happened was I went to community college for four years, each semester I changed my major, simply because whatever I was doing didn’t feel like it was what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I left without a degree and I transferred to a four-year college, and after one semester, I realized I was wasting my time and money, so I dropped out. It was around this time that I discovered writing, yes “discovered” because I had no idea I could write. I didn’t know I had that talent. It was something I always liked to do but I never knew I was good at it. No one ever told me, so I just shrugged it off. I remember I used to get essays to write in high school and I’d be excited to do it simply because I get to use my imagination, I have a really wild imagination so any chance I get to use it, I’d be so happy. I was an average English student B’s and C’s, but I never knew I was good at it. Eventually, I got around to writing my first screenplay ‘We Dem Boyz’ .It took me 3 days to write this, it was a 314-page series. That was my first time ever writing a screenplay and after completing it I knew this was it! This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. But you know you can’t write one screenplay and think you’re Tyler Perry, so I had to make sure I was the real deal, within a few months, I wrote some more, at this point in time I had five seasons of ‘We Dem Boyz’ and 4 features. I had big dreams, and I needed these to come through. My dream was and still is to be one of the best writer/directors in the business. I was living in upstate New York at the time, I tried to start production on ’We Dem Boyz’ but I wasn’t successful. It was too big of a production so I had to go back to the drawing board and be smart about this, so I wrote a different series called ‘X—Game can exes just be friends?’ This series had a much smaller cast, less scene locations, and less props, I went to my part-time job racked up 60 hours every week in order to save enough money to move to California. It wasn’t easy but after a couple months, I saved up what I thought was enough money and I moved. Living in LA was challenging, I needed to save every penny that I had to put towards producing ‘X-Game can exes be just friends?’, so I lived in my car, three weeks after arriving in LA, I was conducting auditions. And within two months we were shooting the series. There were so many struggles. At one point I couldn’t find a videographer to fit the time I wanted to shoot the series, then when I found one I lost a set location at the last minute, and I feared all my hard work was in the vain, It wasn’t easy as I was doing everything by myself but I pushed through and I’m super grateful because I learned a lot during this process. Fast forward to today. ‘X-Game can exes be just friends?’ Was selected and screened at Indie Night Film festival TWICE! The feedback I got at that film festival was incredible, it made me so happy that people were excited and laughing about something that I wrote, it was truly a surreal moment. Five episodes are currently available on YouTube, and it has been received with positive feedback. The journey is just beginning for me, and I can’t wait to show everyone what I can do. What I learnt thus far is to just chase my dreams because it’s the only thing that is going to make me feel fulfilled and happy, the ordinary life is not for me. I’m here to do extraordinary things. And if you’re trying to live an extraordinary life, the only advice I have for you is, just do it. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it hasn’t. It was challenging from the beginning but in all of the challenges, I saw God working. The first challenge I had to face was saving enough money to move to California, I was part-time at my job but thanks to my supervisor who saw that I was a hard worker. He gave me full-time hours and overtime and that’s how I managed to save enough money to move to LA. After I got LA, I decided to hand out a script slides for ‘X-Game Can I be just friends?’ to various different acting studios, I am an introverted individual very very introverted and I remember, I sat in my car and I built up the courage to go knock on the door and speak to whoever came out. And when I did her exact words “No, we don’t accept solicitations” I remember I went back to my car and I sat there for a good 30 minutes and I wanted to cry, I also wanted to drive all the way back to New York and never pursue this dream again. But then I remembered this is the job! I am going to get no’s if I am going to stop at the first know, maybe I’m not built for this. No just simply means next opportunity, so I mustered up some more courage, and I drove to the next location when I got there, they greeted me with open arms. They accepted my script slides, and they even gave me additional resources where I could find actors for my series. And for that, I was extremely grateful. After that I had to deal with the challenge of conducting auditions, I remember I had 315 auditions for the lead female role Mila and 230 auditions for the lead male role Dom, going through all those auditions was not an easy process, plus I also had to do auditions for supporting roles and guest stars. This was a one-month process of over 1000 audition reels. I was happy with my selections as they did not disappoint while shooting the series. I found a sound Guy, then I eventually found my original videographer, who drove all the way from New York to shoot the series with me, and then I lost one of my set locations, this was a major setback because if I didn’t have this location, then we couldn’t shoot anything at all. God worked something out and secured another location. Another struggle I faced was being homeless, which wasn’t a big deal for me because I am willing to sacrifice anything to achieve these dreams, but it was challenging because I left a comfortable bed in New York, 3 warm meals a day, Wi-Fi, 35-inch flatscreen TV, friends, and family to come to LA to pursue my dream. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a film, writer, Director, and producer. I write romance films, action films, comedies, drama, romcoms, horror. I do it all. My proudest accomplishment so far is making the move to move to LA to pursue my dreams. I did this in one weekend I was saving towards it for some time, I planned on a Thursday, I packed my suitcase on the Friday, and I was here by Sunday night. I’m also very proud of the fact that a film festival thought what I wrote, directed, and produced was good enough to be screened in front of a large amount of people, it restored my confidence in my work because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with negative energy at the time. 

What sets me apart from others is my work ethic, I don’t stop, I’m very determined, and I don’t give up, once I begin something I WILL see it through. As it relates to my writing, I write all my screenplays by myself that includes all series, features, and commercials so I think that set me apart. I don’t use a writer’s room. All I need is my computer, my earmuffs, a dark room, and complete silence. 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Honestly, the Covid lockdown was one of the best things that happened to me, during the lockdown. I wrote around 15 screenplays, 9 of which are complete and ready for production. So, during this crisis I was busy thinking about my future, thankfully, I never got Covid but what it taught me is life should never be taken for granted and it’s too short to be spending it idly. I always say Life is too serious to be taken seriously, so I go through every day being joyful, and making the best of what I have. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thee_x_game_/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCuNzG3PD9SiuuTU4u5m38yA
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/theonlyblack_ice/

Image Credits
Kaschief “Black Ice” Miller