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

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

This is probably a terrible way for me to start an interview, but I don’t think happiness is something I experience regularly. Hear me out though, despite how emo that sounds. I think most people affix happiness as a location that when you arrive to it you will just reside in it permanently. I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s the high you chase. As an artist and as a person I feel I’m always chasing that, with the understanding that it is by nature fleeting. I live in a state of relative contentment. But I strive for and look forward to the moments that are joy, or an inner warmth, or what have you. Those moments aren’t perpetual, because if they were, they’d lose meaning.

I remember when I was like 15, I went into a recording studio for the first time to record some music, and I was so nervous; it was a lot of money on the line, i had always dealt with people telling me I wasn’t good enough, and to top it all off I had come down with a fever earlier that morning. I get in the recording studio and I’m laying all the tracks myself, going from instrument to instrument for about eight hours. I finally find myself in a cramped vocal booth doing some recording and my fever breaks. It may be a grotesque description, but I was drenched in sweat, I could finally breathe clearly, and the pain of a throbbing migraine lifted. I felt like I had exorcised my demons. And all of my life I’ve kind of tried to recapture that.

In life I get that same dose of endorphins from snuggling with my dogs, or someone saying they connect to something I wrote, or the random compliment that feels heartfelt, or even someone seeing the hard work you put into something. Sometimes my happiness comes just from the art of creating in of itself, even if it goes nowhere; the sense of accomplishment from having made something where once there was nothing.

I think because that is such a needed fix in my life, I realize I wouldn’t be suited for a regular job. I’ve often wondered how Neil Armstrong could walk around his hometown after having seen the glory of space, and I feel that same way about being in the creative space. It feels like I’ve tamed the essence of fire, so why on earth would I want to do anything else?

Keith, 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?

So I’m an actor. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I went to Berry College for undergrad as well as The Juilliard School and NYU for grad school. I’ve acted in things such as The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Strays, Renfield, The Big Door Prize, Manhunt, and other things I”m sure. But I also write, edit, direct, and produce as well as co own a production company called Bean Dip Productions with my good friend Trevor Garner.

The latter of those labels came about a little over ten years ago. Trevor and I were both actors in Atlanta right before the big boom of the film industry really occurred there. It was still slim pickings for work because most of the casting for actual characters went to out of state talent (a problem that still persists to an extent). So we figured if no one else was going to give us work, we would create our own.

Through the process of making our short films, we learned more and more about the film industry and it as an art form and craft. We have a YouTube channel with our own projects, but we’ve produced and helped helm feature films, music videos, commercials, infomercials, radio dramas, music projects, documentaries, and are currently working on a Dungeons and Dragons actual play series.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that we have a mantra as a company, but if we did it would be something about having fun and pushing your own limits artistically. And because of that we’ve been lucky enough as a company to work with greats like Stan Lee, Stephen Amell, Ernie Hudson, and just tons of our heroes. I carry that same personal challenge into acting and writing. I never want to settle on my laurels, I always want to try the hard thing and see how it challenges, tests, and improves me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think my particular goal is just to be better and I mean that in every way.

The more I edit, the more tricks I learn. The more I direct, the more I find my voice. The more I write, the more research I have to do and the more I understand the world and the things I didn’t even know existed before.

We did this show called The Eye in Big Trouble in Little Chinatown, it’s a podcast with a predominantly Asian cast and it’s one of the things in my life that I’m the most proud about. I think I really came into my stride as a writer on it, and I think it was interesting taking my knowledge of film and music and utilizing them to produce an audio drama that attempted to blend noir detective stories with a world full of monsters. It was challenging and rewarding from a technical standpoint.

But even more important to me as a person, it introduced me to all of these amazing creatives, the vast majority of them of Asian descent, and enabled me to put a spotlight on their talents, their struggles, their voices (quite literally) and forced me to think of the world differently than when I had started the project. I learned all of this information about the 1930’s (where our story takes place), about world mythology (something our story draws from), but I also learned Mandarin (which a lot of our story is told in)!

I feel richer after leaving a project. Of course I hope that someone connects with it or feels something from it, but I walk away feeling a little more complete each time- a little better than I had been. My goal is to keep doing that.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

This might seem like a cop out answer, but the biggest influence that impacted my way of managing and running a business is working shitty jobs.

The vast majority of my work has been within the creative sphere, not all of it, but most of it. And even within that, there are some incredibly terrible people to work for and with. I don’t want to become anything like those people. So in the back of my head is always the notion that I want to treat people better than those shitty people treated me.

For Bean Dip Productions, the vast majority of the things we’ve done are no to low budget. Especially when starting out, we didn’t have the money to pay people for our passion projects. So part of our goal was to show people such a good time that they would want to come back and work for us again. I think in business your reputation is huge, and that reputation is earned not by the quality of your work (though we hope that’s great) but by how you treat people.

I also do like conventions and stuff as an actor, and when a fan comes up, I want to make sure they had the best possible experience; that it meets all of their expectations and that they don’t leave thinking they wasted their time. I want the same thing for any actors, or crew, or audience, or client. I want you to feel like you were listened to, like you were respected, like you were valued. I don’t want to take up any more time from anyone than is brutally necessary. And I want to do all of that because that’s how I want to be treated at work or on set.

Bean Dip Productions sets are different in that regard, because we want it to feel like the best of the industry; a summer camp, a vacation, or a bunch of friends hanging out. As I’m writing this, we just finished a three day shoot about four hours ago, and it’s very heartwarming to get messages from cast and crew about how much fun they had and what it meant to them. I think that comes from having a welcoming environment and an appreciative one. We try to play fun games on set to keep up morale, to talk up people and their talents so they feel seen and admired, and to just provide a safe space for people to create.

When it comes to clients who we might be making content for, we want to find a creative way to present their desired outcome that feels fresh, and new, and different, and diverse while making sure they feel included every step of the way. There is always the limitations of budget, but there should never be limitations on the creativity of the mind. We employ professionals in the industry and their respective fields who love to create. Their expert advise is what we hired them for, and that advice tends to flow better when you treat them with the respect they deserve. Everyone does a better job when they’re happy to be there.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dieabeticrage
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dieabetes/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9Ksj8vB0k_ksDcBDb6BuA