We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brad Koepenick a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brad , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

A 24 Film V A L and Cinema Twain with Val Kilmer. But if you truly ask either of us, It’s SparkRise. I can point to SparkRise, as it’s a culmination of decades worth of work in Marketing, Arts Education, Film, Media and Entertainment and it integrates all the impactful things we love most including Technology, Philanthropy and Non-Profit work. SparkRise is in a truly exciting new phase after merging recently and our team has decades of experience in Business, Finance, Cause Marketing, Technology and Fundraising. We work with Influencers, Brands and Causes and have created a meaningful way for all to participate in making the world a better place. It’s fun. It’s engaging and it’s truly impactful. Here we gooooooo!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

There was “something in the water” in Chatsworth High Theatre in the late 70s. And we DRANK IT. I produced a Feature film called SHAKESPEARE HIGH about some of that magic and we travelled the world with it as part of the US Documentary Showcase under the US State Department. We did the same with a film about my work with Animation, Theatre, Film and Autism called Autistic Kids With Cameras. Anyway… back to High School. Discovered by Tiger Beat Magazine late in senior year, I headed to SF State to become a “Rock and Roller. Came back to LA not long after, played music, and became a production rat working on Awards Shows, Telethons and Children’s Television. Wrote Educational films for National Geographic, segments for Saban shows and absolutely LOVED working in live and scripted production on shows like Pryor’s Place for Sid and Marty Kroft and Kidsworld. I became a founding member of the Whitefire Theater in 1985 and with David Beaird we developed and performed plays that had significant runs, headed Off Broadway and became Feature films (Scorchers, Avenue A). Actors like Luke Perry (miss him, loved him so much), Patrick Warburton, Bill Brochtrup, Paul Ben Victor, Leland Crooke and so many came out of that experience. Really top notch Leading men and the Best of the Best Character Actors. I was acting in Comedy Pilot Presentations, Local and National Commercials and working on THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN in ’92 with Eddie Murphy and the LA RIOTS hit. I’d taken my Rock and Roll ditties, repurposed them and and wrote cool little Rock Musicals we performed with students at The Whitefire. That day we were doing a huge Woodstock Musical. That day changed my life. Teaching consumed me. That year we created THE CELLULOID HEROES MOVIE CAMP. I finished my acting obligations and hyper focused on teaching Animation, Film and Theatre at over a hundred schools. I found my way into the “Charter System” at the first charter school in the SF VALLEY called Community Charter Middle School. This week was our 25th Anniversary and they exploded our professional development at the time. I became a FOUNDING TEACHER at 5 more Charter Schools, then in 2014 we launched VIP HIGH SCHOOL (“One of the best in LA”). viphs.org The place simply ROCKS. It’s an anomaly. In the last 6 years Val Kilmer and I reconnected and we created Films, Animated Shorts, Plays, Books, Poetry, Concerts, Screening and an Art Gallery called HelMel Studios. We did several films including Top Gun 2.Then came Kamp Kilmer (Val’s Metaverse) and we travelled to dozens of states with Cinema Twain (Best work of his life and my High Schools students had aided with the project in 2012). “Twainmania took over our lives”. SparkRise and Twainmania took us to Schools and Universities throughout the world and eventually we spoke at the UNITED NATIONS at the 2019 NOVUS SUMMIT.

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

We’re doing it with various “Fintech and “Philtech” solutions. There’s a BETTER way to join forces to do GOOD. We’ve put a lot into this and you MUST check out my former student Dominic Kalms and his company B Generous (revolutionary). There was recently an article in the New York Times called “Grown Up Theatre Kids Rule The World”. FACT. Divergent Thinking, an Ability to Communicate and Collaborate with Creativity at a premium. The jury is no longer OUT. The evidence is IN. Arts Education is THE way. Ps…Check out what we’re doing with Community and the Arts at RAAvolution. It’s truly impactful. RAAvolution.org

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

This is one of my fave things to play with. I’d spoken on a panel with Author Josh Ochs (LIGHT BRIGHT AND POLITE) at UCLA a decade back. He wrote the then social media policy for DISNEY. No Religious posts, No Negative, No Politics. I used to say “If you can’t wear it on your shirt, don’t post it”. So I roll into my Communications classes the next day and said “Here’s the deal. My producing partners are doing a movie on THE FACEBOOK and I’m going to open 10 Brad Koepenicks (and some others) for 10 years and use whimsical storytelling to FILL SCHOOLS…Simply…TO FILL SCHOOLS (and we did). We’re going to study ourselves and our relationship with technology. We’re going to chart our behavior with technology and see where it all takes us. One of those classes was called DIGITAL HUMANITIES. When it comes to social media, I turned the keys directly over to the students. Always. Then we created a “happening”, did something outrageous at a movie theatre and now it’s called SparkRise. It’s quite simple. My former students are my SUPERPOWERS. Way smarter, way savvier on social media and in digital marketing and outrageously cool CREATIVES all. My first Get Lit Poet (H.E.R.) and I just reunited at the Grammy Museum to celebrate the new Spoken Word/Poetry category. with GET LIT. VIP High School’s Ruby Cruz starred in Lucasfilm’s WILLOW. My former VIP Theatre student Hayden Begley wrote us a dramatic short and now I’m acting again after a 25 year hiatus. And having a blast. As I’d mentioned, my former Improv student Dominic Kalms is a mover and shaker in the “phil-tech space” and he took Val and I along for the ride for a few years. Man he lit up our lives. The three of us, well…we were inseparable up until Pandemic. As a novice, my former student Film Maker Mike “Mikey” Canon followed Val Kilmer to venues in 2013 and shot CINEMA TWAIN for months. He’s brilliant. I’ve learned to MEDITATE (Thank you former students and VIP High School) and I simply say “YES, AND” to those who I’ve taught for decades. They rock. I’m part of a “Collective of millennial CREATIVES” now called PANDIUM FUSION and we created cool product. SO my answer is throw the keys to the younger set and GET OUT OF THE WAY. The future is N O W. G r a t i t u d e. “Class is in session”.

Contact Info:

• Website: sparkrise.com
• Instagram: bkoepenick
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brad.koepenick
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-koepenick-061816b/
• Twitter: bradkoepenick
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/valley-international-preparatory-high-school-los-angeles

Image Credits
Karla Lehmann