Leonard Paulasa/UCSB Photo Club
By Leonard Paulasa
Kyrié Howard is a 21-year-old who’s originally from Los Angeles and is now a Film and Media major at UC Santa Barbara. Prior attending UCSB, Kyrié interned at Bad Robot Productions, a company led by the acclaimed film producer JJ Abrams.
Kyrié recently sat down for an interview, discussing her experience in the film program, how she found her calling, how she continues to hone her craft, and her plans for the future.
You mentioned you always wanted to work in film. How and when did you know?
My dad moved from Kansas to L.A. because he wanted to be a director, but it was a difficult career and eventually he and my mom had me so he had to get a more stable job. He instilled his love for film in me, we would have movie nights with popcorn and everything. In terms of how and when, it was during middle or high school. I watched The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz. She was editing trailers in the movie, and that’s when I knew that’s exactly what I want to do.
What career do you want after college and are you doing anything to pursue it?
I have my own vlogs and Youtube. I also make highlight reels for my younger brother’s soccer games, and I’ve been doing that for a little over five years now. I just made a video for their GoFundMe to help send them to Spain for soccer.
Two years ago, I interned at Bad Robot Productions led by J.J. Abrams. I found out about it through a family friend, which was actually his wife. During my internship, I was able to help with some of the projects, including a campaign video for Michelle Obama. Once a week, we also had lessons where we were taught about production, set up, and even worked on content for their social media platforms.
Now, I’m editing a friend’s short film, and I’m also trying to direct and edit a short film myself. I really just enjoy messing around with editing programs, and really improving the art. I only have one year left at UCSB, so I want to take advantage of it and join more film clubs or look for internships. And eventually I’d love to work for Trailer Park.
What are some of your experiences in your major, do you like your classes and major, how’s the experience compared to community college?
The way we analyze movies here are so in depth, and I’m watching more indie and foreign films. Another difference is it’s not just film classes here, it’s film and media. I took a media criticism class, and we went through all the media platforms and how it influences people.
Besides classes, I feel like people look at me weird when I say I’m a film major. They think I just watch and chill while watching fun movies, but there are days where I have to watch like, five or more movies a day. Some in different languages! It kind of ruins movies for me. I can’t stop analyzing movies anymore…The papers are gnarly and the hours are long. My major is serious, and I wish people took it seriously.
Anything you’d like to add that you didn’t get a chance to?
I just want people to know the importance of film and entertainment. A lot of times, we forget that and just brush it aside as good or bad, especially older movies. But that’s history. We really need to appreciate how it’s paved, changed, or even dictated things that we have today.
Leonard Paulasa is a third year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Communication.