We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sevan Najarian. Check out our conversation below.
Sevan, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I walked a path from when I was born until I was about 23 years old when I stopped believing in the high control religion that was given to me, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was told to only walk a certain path and there wasn’t much wiggle room to pursue non spiritual interests or certain career paths, let alone go to college. The aftermath of being in such a group is having to find my true self outside of my cult personality. I had to stop thinking I’m being surveilled for my behaviors and handed down corrections and penalties to keep me in line. I had to stop wearing a mask that wasn’t actually going to protect me from Armageddon.
Since I’ve broken from that worldview, I’ve become a wanderer by necessity. I came out of a small bubble and wanted to explore the once scary outside world. I picture my cult personality as that 14 year old evangelist going door to door trying to scare people that Armageddon was just around the corner and argue with them why they’re wrong about the bible. That child preacher went to college and got involved with the evil things of the world and discovered he enjoyed the freedom to think for himself and not make decisions out of fear.
Of course I use this experience of my early life in my art and storytelling. I just did a Channel 101 show called Foodmageddon where the main character, played by myself, eats magical clam chowder to stop the apocalypse from happening.
Although I try to wander around my discovery of the real world and the kinds of projects I want to be involved with, I seem to zig zag across the straight and narrow path of my youth realizing some of it was so weird that it has to be shared.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Sevan Najarian and I’m a filmmaker. My company Midnight Kids Studios is involved with cartoons, visual effects, live streaming, VO demos, and general post production. We just got done producing a feature length cartoon “Whitest Kids U’ Know’s Mars” starring Trevor Moore and Zach Cregger, the director of “Weapons” which will have a theatrical release in early 2026 and a bluray/VOD release soon after.
Since the pandemic, union strikes, and Los Angeles fires, our industry has slumped to a level that might be scary, especially with the looming AI technologies that are sure to wipe out the VFX and possibly the cartoon portions of my business. While remaining AI forward, we are striving to create original and authentic content and champion the work of local artists and performers.
We partnered with Channel 101, the monthly non profit film festival that started in 2003, and help support the creators with equipment, locations and training. We also are opening up to other educational ventures including supporting actor workshops, internships, and voice over demo production with my wife Erin Pearce who plays Toodee from Yo Gabba Gabba.
I manage the Frogtown Stage, a small black box sound stage in Elysian Valley where we do live streams, podcasts, greenscreen production, classes and workouts. Our newest edition is a fully equipped sound booth for ADR, looping and dubbing.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
I was lucky early on to be naturally curious. I wasn’t afraid to ask questions. In my early career I worked with a couple seasoned filmmakers in post production. They went out of their way to help me orient myself in the filmmaking business. They taught me that money matters much more than I believed at the time. I used to pick the projects I actually believed in and wanted to work on, not the highest paying projects that required more than 12hr days and dictated creativity from talentless commercial executives only worried about their brand.
I didn’t value myself and my time as much back then so I often worked for free or way underpaid just to get the experience. After a decade of doing that I remember my friend Donny telling endlessly reminding me that I should get paid for what I do. It turns out you only get paid if you ask to get paid. That was an ironic lesson to learn. I stopped taking jobs that were “out of pocket”, “not much of a budget” or “a personal project”.
Eventually I became the producer who has control of the budget. I can say now the lesson Donny drilled into me was a defining moment in my career. I’m not begging to work on things anymore, people are standing in line to work with me.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
To my younger self I would say, read Joseph Campbell and follow your bliss. Reading comparative mythology at that time would have answered a lot of questions for me about the nature of belief. It would have set me up better as a storyteller as well. Hopefully that would have led young Sevan to a higher education, which was frowned upon by my former religion. I feel like I was robbed of a proper education when my mind was more lucid and ready to absorb.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
I’ve strived to be authentic as much as possible. Coming from a cult it was a challenge to actually know my real self because I was shaped into a cult personality while constantly repressing my true self. Now I’m aggressively questioning my authenticity. I’m hyper aware of the choices I make so that they aren’t performative or it’s not some kind of mask I wear for the moment. I think that’s why I have a hard time acting, my experience with truth is tainted and I always have to give a pause and think about what my truth is for the moment. That usually takes me out of any kind of character or personality I have to portray. I do better as the observer, the one that points the camera to notice things that others do not. The spotlight doesn’t need to be on me because I’m boring. There’s plenty of others in this industry that need to peacock and receive the praise.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I don’t think I care abut legacy as much anymore. The world is going to blow up some day and all the data we’ve created will be erased so the legacy of humanity is not much. I don’t think I’m anymore special than humanity. I like the idea that my name is in IMDB and it lists all the work I’ve done but that’s just for me now. I’m not planning on having children so who will tell the story about me when I’m gone? That doesn’t really matter to me.
I think growing up being told I will never die as long as I’m a good JW robbed me of a need for legacy. I wasn’t planning on being gone, why would I need to secure the story about my legacy?
If any story is told about me, it’s that I helped many other artists with their work and they appreciate me for it. I know I add value to everything I work on and that’s enough for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.midkidstudios.com
- Instagram: @midnightkidsstudios
- Linkedin: Sevan Najarian
- Twitter: @sevannajarian
- Facebook: Sevan Najarian
- Yelp: Sevan Najarian
- Youtube: sevannajarian
Image Credits
Erin Pearce
