Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ryan Njenga. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ryan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Since I was young, I knew I wanted to do something creative. I’m a big world builder and loved how television shows create whole worlds on to themselves, with fully realized, distinct, three-dimensional characters. Once I found out people had to write the shows and movie we all grew up on, I spent a lot of my free time at home writing scripts – I loved the idea of creating worlds and telling stories of everyday life, both the funny and not so funny parts. I was really influenced by shows like “Arrested Development”, “Cheers” and “The Simpsons”. I was obviously a little too young to fully grasp all the humor and pathos, but I kept at it til screenwriting became second nature.

Ryan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Like I mentioned before, I fell in love with TV writing in the fifth grade and that was my initial goal. I started out wanting to be just a television writer, but by the seventh grade I decided I wanted to write and direct films. My senior year of high school, I got a free-period class and used that to create eight short films. Since then, I’ve been making film after film, working to get better at my craft and how to tell my generations’ perspective better. Now, I work professionally in the industry as a writer, director and editor.

In terms of my work, I’m most proud of my production company’s recent short film, WISH YOU WERE HERE. It’s a romantic dramedy that I wrote during the height of the pandemic – I think the free time allowed me to really hone in and bring the story to it’s highest potential. I set out to make the best film possible with the best people I know, so I reached out to the best creatives I know – James Foos (Photographer), Jacob Schermerhorn (Cinematographer), Samuel Bricker (Assistant Director), Dalima Kapten (Costume Design), Dylan Groves (Gaffer) – and we pulled off something special. We were even lucky to host a premiere that completely sold out and got a standing ovation. I think I’ll always look back on making and releasing this film as one of the most magical times of my career.

NJENGA FILMS, the production company I run, is focused on creating the best, most unique visual product and really maximizing the voice of the client’s we work with. Everybody has a voice and we see our job is to best showcase it loud and proud. This goes for short films, music videos, commercial and corporate work, etc. We always make sure to get to really know our client and collaborators well too — everyone we work with is a part of the family!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

With social media, you gotta just be yourself to the loudest degree. Never be afraid to put yourself out there. Try new things, have fun with it. I take my work seriously, but I always make sure to do fun stuff for twitter or Instagram – 70s-style photoshoots, goofy jokes about whats in the news, stuff like that. It helps people feel like they’re really connecting with you. Yes, there’s an algorithm to things but the thing that usually ends up being the most successful is the thing you did just because you loved it so much. That goes for Instagram, TikTok, twitter, everything.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

This goes for anything in my opinion, not just for creatives – but showing support to someone can always go along way. Engage with their work and talk with them on what it did for you on a personal level. I think we live in a very hectic, scary world and it gets easy to forget that. It’s like that Kanye line from Graduation – “If you admire somebody, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them.”

Contact Info:

• Website: ryannjenga.com
• Instagram: @ryannjenga
• Twitter: @ryanknjenga
• Youtube: NJENGAFILMS

Image Credits
Photographer: James Foos Film Stills & Posters Owned by NJENGA FILMS