We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Robert Kessler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I’ve had some sort of “regular job” my entire life. When we moved to Florida, I was planning to open a mortgage brokerage, but thankfully, my wife talked me out of it. She’s seen me miserable chasing money and clout in jobs and careers I didn’t love and had zero passion for.

For the past 20 years, I’ve been involved in the film industry in some way, but I never fully committed to it. When the opportunity came to take the leap, my wife didn’t hesitate—she made me do it. That leap eventually became Bad Monkey Pictures.

We’ve been in business for over a year now, and while things are tighter than they used to be and the future isn’t always predictable, we’ve stayed strong and never gone into the red. Despite the long hours and the intensity—and sometimes brutality—of production life, I’ve never felt more alive and fulfilled. I’m finally doing what I love, and it doesn’t feel like work.

My wife plays a big role on the team with her talent in makeup and set design, and I couldn’t ask for a better creative partner than Melvin Audaz. He’s the kind of collaborator who pushes me to think bigger and do better every single day. Fear has become our barometer. We challenge each other, and it’s made us a stronger team.

Every day is different, and every project feels like a new adventure. We get to make movies, and honestly, there’s no better feeling in the world.

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.

We set out with a promise: to say no more than we say yes and to only work on projects we’re truly passionate about. We’ve been told we couldn’t make money creating short films and stories, but we found a way to not only monetize them but also get hired to create shorts that stand alone or act as proof of concepts for larger projects, helping secure funding.

Sometimes it’s about an actor who hasn’t been given the opportunity to show who they really are as an artist—using the short as a vehicle to get cast in roles they’re truly passionate about. Other times, it’s for a writer who wants to prove what they’re capable of. In this business, showing rather than telling always works best. New ideas that haven’t been seen before can’t always be explained, and that’s where we come in.

We also help businesses stand out by creating beautifully weird shit.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Networking can be such a dirty word; I prefer to make friends. When I made the decision to go all in, I knew I had to build a team. So, the first place I went was a local film festival, and that’s where I saw a gorgeous documentary from a local artist, Melvin Audaz. It had so much contrast, and it was emotionally and visually stunning. I knew I had to stay and talk to the filmmaker. We hit it off right away and had coffee the next day. From there, we met up three more times to talk about film and discuss what we could create together, just to see if we clicked and could truly make art.

And we did. Just a few weeks later, we made a short film about teaching my daughter how to drive, called I’ll Walk. He brought such a beautiful touch to complement my absurdity, and we instantly saw the potential.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We do a lot of social media for marketing and always show up to events, festivals, and panels. Everything we create, how we represent ourselves, and how we conduct business stays on point with our brand—to create beautifully weird shit. We don’t hold back or pretend to be something we’re not. You might lose some along the way, but you’ll gain so much more. We’re on our way to becoming a household name because we tell the truth, and we’re passionate about it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.badmonkeypictures.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badmonkey.pictures?igsh=dXg5MWE5NHJ0Mzl1&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BBVaEALPL/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bad-monkey-pictures/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@badmonkey_pictures?si=ajSWY9pgwPtCc3AY