LOS ANGELES - Zimbabwean born Vivien Killilea is making it in the cut-throat arts industry in Hollywood. (Pictured: Vivien Killilea saw an opportunity and took the Holywood market by storm)
She has worked along-side the famous and the Who is Who of Holywood such as Jennifer Lopez and socialite and reality television star Paris Hilton among others.
Killilea told the Zimbabwean in an interview that she developed a business idea after a work colleague told her she had the ability to run a successful business.
She saw a business opportunity in 2009 after noticing that very few companies were offering affordable services and studios for the average artist in a time of recession.
More and more photographers and filmmakers budgets are being cut and they are now actively seeking out more affordable studios and services to meet their downsized budgets. I saw this need and decided it would be profitable to fulfill it, she said.
Her company is called Daydream Republic and it provides studio services to filmmakers, musicians, artists, actors and photographers.
Day Dream Republic has become the hottest new studio, taking the film, music and arts market by storm, at a time when most other creative industries are shutting down, she told The Zimbabwean.
She said her studio was versatile, catering for a wide market, as opposed to other studio owners who adversely limited themselves to one genre of art.
In addition to her studio services, she curates live performance and art shows once a month, which allow artists of different genres to connect with each other and meet like-minded individuals and buyers. She said some of her supporters of these events included Corey Feldman (The Goonies) and Shane Black (writer of Lethal Weapon, director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang).
Killilea moved from her suburban home in Harares plush suburb of Borrowdale to Los Angeles six years ago to pursue her dream of working in a creative industry.
She said creativity was a passion she yielded to at a young age, thanks to her parents Garrett and Diane Killilea, who encouraged her to take theatre and music lessons at the Academy of Music and Convent and Arundel Schools in Harare. By the end of her school career, she was the head of theatre at Arundel School and played viola in the Harare City Orchestra.
Her parents kept her motivated and ensured she continued practising and developing her talents. The parents took her and three siblings to REPS theatre and various concerts, movies and Tambuka performances at every opportunity possible. Her mother is a volunteer for the Allied Arts and the popular HIFA back home.
When she moved to Los Angeles she studied theatre and television production at University. She graduated one year early. During this time, when she was not studying, she spent her time working on local television shows up to three times a week for the West Coast television station TV26 where she made a variety of acting and directing appearances.
Killilea received her first movie credit six months before she graduated, working on Jennifer Lopezs film El Cantante. She was quickly promoted from just a college intern to an assistant producer and later to a full producer. Immediately after graduation, she also worked on a movie, True Blood.
When she was not at work, she spent her evenings and weekends producing her own side projects, which included the short film A Cost of Freedom which has played at several film festivals. She also produced the first ever South African film festival in Los Angeles.
When the film production industry was hit by the 2007 writers strike and thousands were put out of work, instead of taking a break, Killilea switched her focus a little and began managing and editing for a high profile fashion photographer, Michael Bezjian. While working there, she was lucky enough to work hands on with Hilton, Adrian Grenier, Lance Bass and many more celebrities.
Killilea said Mr Bezjian saw her potential and highly encouraged her to start her own business.
She attributes the success of her career and her studio to her solid upbringing and the well-rounded education she was given in Zimbabwe. She is thankful for the work-ethic she was taught, especially thanks to the strong examples she was given.
She saw her parents, teachers, colleagues and country go through hard times yet they all kept pressing on: keeping hopes high and work motivation higher. She has taken this mentality with her to the USA.
Post published in: Theatre