We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keith Obit a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Keith, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Both failure and consistency. The only way to succeed is to be willing to fail, and to learn from those lessons. With that, you must remain consistent and resilient, especially in filmmaking. There are times when it seems like everything is going wrong and it feels like every obstacle possible is trying to stop you from your film being made. You may not know it at the time, but with all of these struggles and obstacles, as long as you power through them, comes something bigger and better. It is all a part of the process. The other thing is to surround yourself with people just as ambitious if not more, and not waste your time on all of the negative people in your life.
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?
My name is Keith Obit and I am an Actor/Writer/Director from Phoenix, Arizona. At the beginning of 2016, I was a former Heroin addict and I had absolutely no thought of being an actor or a director, but I was looking for a creative outlet to stay sober. It wasn’t until after a fellow co-worker, who happened to be an actor, brought me onto the set of a feature film, that I fell in love with the whole world. By that March I was gaining experience running slate, boom, lights, and any other crew work I could help out with. This eventually led to over a half dozen credits in extra work. After filling many background roles, I was given the opportunity to move on into stunt work, speaking roles, and finally the lead role in the short film Erebus, which had a successful festival run.
Throughout 2016-2019, I continued with several small roles in different shorts and features. I even had a stint in the True-Crime genre on Network Television. I played Matthew Bonner on the episode “Officer Down” on A&E’s Cold Case Files, the lead character Joey McStay on the episode “Shallow Grave” for People Magazine investigates on Investigation Discovery, and Vance Tibbets on the episode “Murders in Maine” for Buried in the Backyard on the Oxygen Network. I also began doing commercial/print work locally in Phoenix and nationwide.
While taking some time off in 2019 for some health issues, I started a podcast with my best friend of 20+ years which features various inspiring guests from Phoenix to Los Angeles. You can find it at youtube.com/thebogcast or anywhere you find your podcast apps including: Spotify, Itunes, Google Play Music etc.
I am most proud of my writing and directorial debut of my new pilot television series “The Soundguy”. I was able to bring a very talented group of individuals together, from the cast to the crew, and create some really funny content. After 2 years of writing and some intense Pre-Production, we started shooting the project in early October of 2021 and finished principal photography in mid-January 2022. We finished Post Production last August and even had a private premiere at Harkins. Currently the project is on its Film Festival run, where we have won several awards including ‘Best TV Pilot’ at the Vegas Movie Awards. We are currently looking for distribution and it will finally be open to the public later this year. All the information can be found on our website at www.thesoundguyseries.com. Stay tuned!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I was an opiate/heroin addict for YEARS. Looking back, it’s crazy to think I was ever even that person. Although it was a very dark and ugly time, it has definitely shaped the person who I have become today. Knowing that I shook the devil’s hand and told him to “F” off makes me want to inspire others that there is still hope. I know what it is like to feel “stuck” in addiction and having absolutely no hope for the future. Not even caring if I live or die. But there is HOPE! You just have to be willing to make those drastic changes and finally love and forgive yourself. This doesn’t happen overnight by the way, but if you take it one day at a time you really can get your life back. I went from shooting heroin and destroying every relationship in my life to directing a “Pilot” television series. Most importantly, I have all of my old family and friends back. With Fentanly being the leading cause of death to adults 18-45, it is now more dangerous than ever. I have overdosed a few times in my life. I am not proud of this at all, I just feel lucky it was before the Fentanyl craze or I definitely wouldn’t be here sharing my story with you. If you know an addict, you can still love them, but tough love is the only way.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me personally, the most rewarding part about being a creative, especially a filmmaker, is watching a scene come to life. So much work goes into the writing and pre-production of these projects, that when you are finally on set, and all the actors are in their wardrobe, the lights and camera are in place, and I finally get to say “Action”, there is seriously nothing like it!
I am always lucky to work with such phenomenal actors who always bring something to the scene I would have never even thought of. This entire collaborative process with the cast and crew is what I live for.
Also, knowing that at some point, this whole thing was just an idea, and now it’s actually being executed by a group of talented people. It is absolutely amazing and I love every second of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.keithobit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keith_obit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/obitwan
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/thebogcast
- Other: www.thesoundguyseries.com
Image Credits
Terri Whitehurst Dustin Hambrick