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

Hi Isaac, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I am lucky enough to have Co-Founded my own film production company with 3 other creatives and friends, to be able to work on our projects on our terms and timeline. With that in mind, the most meaningful project I’ve worked on was the first one we did together for that company. It marked the start of something we’ve wanted for ourselves for so long. The project itself was, like many other firsts ….. rough, but we are all very proud of what we were able to achieve by ourselves, with an incredibly small budget, during COVID. The project was a short film based on a group of friends reconnecting after one of them tragically passes. The film focuses on showing how each one grieves and processes their guilt and feelings. I myself was a supporting actor, assistant director, executive producer, editor, music composer, and sound technician. Saying that taking on that many roles was hard is an understatement. But, once it was finished, the satisfaction was more than worth it. We received 1 official selection in a film festival out of many entries for that movie. Now with 4 released shorts, we have a total of 3 Awards, 1 Finalist, 4 Semi-Finalists, 17 Official Selections and 1 Honorable Mention. With each film we make, we take huge strides in what we can achieve and being able to visibly see the progress is one of the best feelings in the world. People often say that the first step is the hardest, and it’s true, but once that first step is taken, the momentum keeps growing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am one of the 4 Co-Founders of AlleyCat Pictures LLC which is a young and thriving film production company that focuses on telling captivating, meaningful, and thrilling stories, using the resources of our hometown, Greenville, South Carolina. We don’t make films with the notion of making it big one day, we do it because we all love to do it and we want to be able to make our ideas come to life without anyone else saying that we can’t do it. We have also branched out into doing other projects for clients like music videos and promotional content for businesses.

My personal dream has always been to create opportunities for creatives in SC, because there aren’t many within the state. You typically have to venture out to our neighbor states to find some. I believe that our company will be and has been that medium for people to get those opportunities and even try something they might not have known they were passionate about.

My end goal is to have a mass media production company centered in Greenville that creates music, promotional content, movies, videogames and more. I believe that there is an untapped well of talent here in SC and all that matters is giving those people a shot, and a way to hone their skills.

We are a brand that is in it for the fun, the experience, the community, and for everyone.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative, is seeing an idea come to life in my opinion, The creative process can be a long, gruesome and tedious process, but the end result makes everything worth it. When you start out with an idea, and it ends up being a tangible result, the sense of accomplishment and pride is unparalleled. Even when the end result is objectively below mediocre, you will still always be proud of it because of all that work that you put in.

Additionally, when creating, there’s a tendency to want to be different. Often times, the result is setting new trends or creating something that has never been done before. If you are lucky enough to break the mold at one point in your creative journey, THAT feeling is even more profound.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson has to do with the most rewarding aspect of being a creative. Before being able to truly appreciate your work, and your end result, you have to first learn to block out the noise. As I mentioned, you will be proud of something you made even if critics say it’s not good. But before you can be proud, you have to understand that they are coming to you with an objective point of view. For a lot of creatives, a frequent motivator or inspiration is how the feel in that moment when the idea first came into their head. You then build off of that feeling and express it in a way that speaks to you and many others. If you can understand that criticism is just a way to learn how to check boxes, you can see your projects in a way that lets you appreciate why you started it in the first place.

That’s not to say that criticism is a bad thing. It’s helpful if you allow it to be … it’s also hurtful if you allow it to be. Be proud, listen to what others suggest, but remember why you created it in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kingisaac10.wixsite.com/Isaacking
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlleyCatPictures_
• Other: https://alleycatpicturesof.wixsite.com/my-site-1