We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Kattan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alex, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I was fortunate enough to go to one of the best schools in the country to study acting (NYU), and I learned a lot in my time there. We had very intense acting classes from 8am-6pm three days a week, however I truly believe I wouldn’t be the actor I am today without my life experiences. When you get down to it, acting is embodying all aspects of the human experience– and you can only learn so much in a classroom. I went to school with some of the best students; they went to class early and left late, they volunteered and did extra credit, however I found their craft lacked the authenticity that can only come from taking risks and living life outside of class. I think the best thing you can do for yourself as an artist is to find the right balance between training and simply being.
Alex, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve known ever since I was 2 years old that I wanted to be an actor. I remember watching Barney on a small black box in the living room (the TV) and trying to communicate to my mother that I wanted to be inside that “box” with Barney and his friends. As I got older, my longing to be in the entertainment industry only grew. After college I moved to LA to continue pursuing my acting career, however Covid set my plans back a few years, followed by the strikes. During that time I got together with two friends from NYU who had also moved to LA, and we decided to create our own work. At the time, I believed it would be a temporary project but once we began, we never wanted to stop. Thus, Trauma Bond was born! We learned so much about filmmaking by doing, as well as from some incredible filmmakers we were fortunate enough to have on our set. What was once a horror/comedy anthology web series is now in development to become a full length TV show and I couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come. I can’t wait to start filming our Pilot and continue to work with incredible women in film!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
As a woman in the film industry, there are many obstacles to overcome. Unfortunately there’s no real system in place to keep people in check. Aside from having your work diminished and ideas stolen, you also come across a lot of inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct. Last year for example, we had a fairly successful horror YouTuber reach out to us wanting to collaborate on an episode. At first we were really flattered and excited– Who wouldn’t be? But then throughout the entire process he was very unprofessional and rude and degrading. Finally he made it apparent he had no interest in working with us at all, he just wanted an opportunity to shoot his shot. After very careful consideration, we crafted a very professional email notifying him that his behavior made us uncomfortable. He then responded with a horrible email essentially saying “Fuck you, your work sucks!”. It was incredibly disappointing. We had worked very hard to create a great episode only to pour months of work down the drain. As bad as it was, I am super proud of us for speaking up and I encourage everyone to do the same. No career opportunity is worth any form of abuse or misconduct. We learned a lot from that experience and quickly picked ourselves up and got to work creating our full length series!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
One word: REPRESENTATION. I want to create a safe space where all voices are heard and all people are represented. I wasted so much time, money, and energy trying to fit the mold of the actors I saw on the screen. It’s very frustrating to lose out on opportunities and roles to those who do. In creating my own work, I get to play whatever roles I want, regardless of my “type”. It’s incredibly freeing and I want to help other artists experience the same.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @alex_kattan_official
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-kattan/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@traumabondseries
