We recently connected with Khalil Jamal and have shared our conversation below.
Khalil, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?
When making videos for people to consume on the internet requires a ton of flexibility and adaptability especially considering the vast quantities of these same types of videos on the internet. Being different and unique matters. That was something I neglected to take in to consideration when I started Comic Boys with my friend Alon. This oversight is not something that I typically make in my life, when I set out to pursue something I always look for holes in the market or underserved audiences, however for this I didn’t even consider that mainly because it was just something fun and I didn’t have the foresight to see what it could become. It started as simply a copycat of other channels I watched at the time, and was just a way to have fun and say what’s on my mind without much emphasis on promotion or anything really. However that model changed when I realized realized there might be a way to engage more people and put this in an interesting direction. One day I just had the idea to do a one off interview to spotlight a few under the radar Canadian actors. It started when I sent a DM to Canadian Actor and Director Taylor Olson. He agreed to do the interview and I was so excited. Although at the time I had generally said it would be a series, there was no expectation of that until that first interview was over. That interview was also the first time I had put in an effort to promote a video. The YouTube video ended up (as of today) with 121 views and 8 likes which although was not the most up until that point it was a definite jolt of energy. I went through various platforms and started the process of recruiting Canadians to try to get interviews with them. This became the most successful and one of the longest running series in our channels history. The first 5 interviews all ended up with 100+ views on YouTube and this was the opportunity to reorganize the channel under a new identity, the Canadian one. This helped me realize the way to growing an audience and building in a unique way. This also helped as a launching pad to go to the Stimulant movie premiere, get media accreditation for the Hot Docs film festival, multiple screener links to review movies, virtual media accreditation to the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and even more which is in the pipeline, including expanding the shows and team behind the show, and finally launching our website. This way of building is unique in the sense that channels that are at the scale of mine and people as young as me (being 19 turning 20) and all while still doing this as a hobby while going to university and working during the summer. Some of these rooms especially at the Stimulant premier afterparty and a few of the hot docs events which have been a part of my accreditation I am normally one of the youngest and least known people in these rooms. It all started with one twitter DM which was answered, and had it not been answered this channel may not exist the way it does today. It also helps that I am very relentless when I really want something, which has served me well in getting these opportunities. I have also built significant connections through this process with publicists, agents and talent.
Khalil, 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?
I am the host and producer of the CB Media Network (formerly Comic Boys). We currently have a number of different shows including one which focuses on promoting Canadian talent (Hollywood in Canada), our main show where we debate film news, recommend movies and break down the box office numbers (The Comic Boys Show), and a few other shows which are loosely based around movie news and award season. If you are a fan of fun and engaging content around film and tv, this is the place for you. If you are looking for a place to find some hidden gem movies to watch, or if you want to hear from Canadian talent about Canadian made movies this is the place for you. We are everywhere you find your podcasts, on YouTube and on all social media including TikTok.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think the biggest story of resilience is the story of the rejections. Throughout the Hollywood in Canada series, while emailing publicists and agents trying to convince people to agree to an interview especially early on included a ton of rejections and some rather mean or flat out dismissive rejections from people. Sometimes the only emails I would get for weeks were just rejection after rejection. I would feel defeated and just tired of all the rejections. Of the 40ish interviews we actually conducted, I probably got about 70 rejections (not a hyperbole) and 200 non responses. Finding the energy and motivation to keep going despite the rejections and non responses is something which is a story of great resilience.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Its actually a very funny story, I was randomly scrolling through the quick adds on Snapchat a handful of years ago and was just adding people, I added this random dude named Alon and I saw his face on his story and mentioned how much he kinda looked like Tom Holland, and we just started talking about superhero and movies. After that I pitched him an idea I was toying around with, about starting a podcast about movies and superheroes and it pretty much started from there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @comicboys_
- Twitter: @comicboys_
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/comicboys
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@comicboys_?_t=8bxrxb0lDqI&_r=1