We recently connected with Kim Albright and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
From a young age, I was very artistic but I went to a school that pushed math and sciences and felt I needed to pursue those subjects after leaving high school. I knew I was good at art and very creative and always thought I could tap into that as a hobby whenever I wanted. After studying Biology and then Architecture at university, I didn’t feel convinced they were my calling in life. I decided to take a break from studying and moved to London. It was there that I stumbled into film and felt drawn to the industry. I immersed myself in film and learnt from the ground up, observing and helping directors on shoots and with their prep. I really felt drawn to the craft and felt like I could not only tap into the creative side of my personality but also that my work could find an audience and have a commercial element to it as well.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I stumbled into film by accident. I had just finished studying Architecture at McGill University in Montreal and decided to take a break from it and move to London, UK. It was by chance that I ended up on a commercial shoot for noodles, as an art department runner. The experience captivated me. I was fascinated by the working environment and what everyone’s role was.
I quickly learnt who did what and discovered that it was the director at the helm, making all the decisions about what was captured on screen. At the time, I loved music videos (I obsessed over MTV when I was a kid) and was always amazed by the ideas behind the videos and always wanted to make my own videos for songs I loved. I appreciated the story-telling aspect of music videos.
After speaking with some directors and learning a little more about the industry, I got a job as an in-house runner at a commercials and music video production company in London. And from there, the rest is history. I started making my own music videos and short films on the side and slowly grew my portfolio, network and confidence as a director.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to learn two lessons the hard way: how to have thick skin and that I needed to spin a lot of plates. I remember when I was trying to get a first feature film off the ground and one day, I got some really disappointing news that the film wasn’t selected for a development program. I felt so completely devastated and that life was practically over! At the time, it was the ONLY project I was developing. I had all my eggs in this one basket and I had poured so much time and energy into it. Because it was my first big rejection, I didn’t take it well but I learnt this is a very normal process behind making films. Rejection happens all the time in this industry.
I also learnt the meaning of have a “finger in many pies”? I learnt the value in working on many projects at the same time, ideally at different stages of development. That way, you keep several projects afloat and tap into them at different stages.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think one of the toughest periods for me was when I moved back to Canada after being in the UK for 15 years. I started working in the film industry in London and all my friends and contacts were based there. I was extremely nervous making the leap over to Vancouver as I knew no one working in film there.
I reached out to all the friends I could think of that may have a connection with anyone working in film in Canada. It took some time to grow my film community here but I made a point of getting out there and meeting as many people working in film as possible. Fortunately it’s a very friendly, tight knit film community here in Vancouver. Everyone helps one another out and is rooting for each other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kimalbright.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimaalbright/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.albright.16
Image Credits
Bobby Klein Angel Lynne