We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sudeep Kanwal. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sudeep below.
Sudeep, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Yes, but not from day one. While I was in film school, I realized early on that filmmaking didn’t offer a guaranteed paycheck, and as an immigrant, being a starving artist was never really an option. I needed to find a creative path that was both meaningful and practical.
In 2003, a friend showed me a newspaper article about a well-known Indian wedding photographer, and that opened my eyes to a whole new world. At the time, most studios had storefronts, so we literally went door to door asking if anyone needed a video editor. After a number of rejections, one studio offered me an unpaid internship. I was in the middle of my MFA, and after classes in uptown Manhattan, I’d take two trains and a bus to Richmond Hill, work several hours a day, and assist on shoots on weekends. It was intense, but it became my real training ground.
Within a few months, I was getting paid and had made myself indispensable. I learned every part of the business — editing, shooting, client work, even running the store. After about a year, I went freelance and began working for several top studios across New York and New Jersey. A few years later, my brother and I opened our own studio, and on day one we booked three out of three clients we met.
People might call that overnight success, but there were years of hard work behind it. If I could have sped anything up, I would have understood earlier that talent alone isn’t enough — you also need discipline, persistence, and an entrepreneurial mindset. Still, I’m grateful for the slower build because it gave me a real foundation.
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’m a New York-based filmmaker and visual storyteller. My work lives in two connected worlds: narrative filmmaking and wedding photography/cinematography. On one side, I’m drawn to stories that explore human behavior, silence, tension, and moral complexity. On the other, I get to document some of the most meaningful moments in people’s lives in a way that feels emotional, cinematic, and lasting.
Through our studio, we provide wedding photography and cinematography with a strong focus on storytelling. For us, it’s never just about covering an event or collecting beautiful shots. It’s about preserving emotion, family history, and the feeling of the day in a way that still resonates years later. I think one of the biggest things we offer our clients is trust — the ability to be fully present in an important moment, knowing it’s being captured with care and intention.
My filmmaking work comes from a similar place, but with a different lens. My first feature, Privacy, is a social thriller set in Mumbai that explores surveillance, ethics, and vulnerability. Whether I’m working on a film or with a client, I’m always interested in what lies beneath the surface — not just what something looks like, but what it means and what it makes people feel.
What sets me apart is that I bring both artistic sensibility and real-world discipline to the work. I care a lot about craft, but I also care deeply about reliability, consistency, and the experience people have working with us. I’ve never believed in work that is flashy but empty. I’m always aiming for something that feels honest, emotionally grounded, and thoughtfully made.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve been able to build a creative life from the ground up while staying true to storytelling. I’m proud of the business we’ve built, the trust our clients place in us, and the fact that I’ve continued to pursue meaningful films along the way. More than anything, I want people to know that the work comes from a real place. Whether someone is hiring us or watching one of my films, I want them to feel sincerity, care, and intention behind it.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My cofounder is my brother, Sumdarash Kanwal, so our partnership grew out of trust, shared values, and years of understanding each other long before the business officially began.
By the time I was finishing film school, I had already spent several years learning the wedding photography and cinematography business from the ground up. Sumdarash was the one who suggested that we should start our own company. He could see that I had built real experience, and he believed it was the right time to create something of our own.
He also came up with the name House of Talent Studio — or HOT Studio, as he cleverly put it, because it would be easy to remember. He wasn’t wrong. For almost the first decade, most people knew us simply as HOT Studio.
What I love most about our story is that it never came from a formal business meeting or some grand plan. It came from family, belief, and timing. There’s something special about building a company with someone who has known you your whole life. That trust became the foundation of everything.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
We started the business in a very scrappy and practical way. When my internship was ending, another studio offered me freelance work and even financed my first camera. I worked constantly and paid them back within a few months. That gave me my first real sense that this could become something sustainable.
By then, my brother and I were both freelancing in the industry. We’d edit videos at home during the week and shoot weddings on weekends. We saved every penny. We used to joke that there was no time to spend even the little money we made because we were always working. Our social life definitely took a hit, but at that point, building something of our own mattered more.
With those savings, we were able to rent a storefront, buy equipment, get furniture, and place newspaper ads — yes, that used to be a thing. We didn’t have investors or outside backing. We built it through hard work, sacrifice, and staying consistent. Thankfully, it took off from day one.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.houseoftalentstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houseoftalentstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studiohot/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudeepkanwal/
- Youtube: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7575501
- Other: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/house-of-talent-studio-hicksville-ny-500532
