NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
Kevin Cheatham: From Veteran to Filmmaker
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What happens when a 21-year Coast Guard veteran trades military service for movie magic? Kevin Cheatham takes us behind the scenes of his remarkable journey from aviation mechanic to Hollywood stunt performer, actor and filmmaker in this fascinating conversation.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
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My name is Kevin Sheetum. I'm a 21-year Coast Guard veteran. I am an actor, stunt performer, writer, director, cinematographer, and I'm so happy to be here on NOLA Film Scene.
Speaker 2:Welcome to NOLA. Film Scene with TJ Plato.
Speaker 3:I'm TJ.
Speaker 2:And, as always, I'm Plato. Yeah, cool, you made him laugh, tj yeah.
Speaker 3:All right, so welcome Kevin. Kevin is my friend. We are both Coast Guard veterans. I served just over 20 years, he served just 21 years. Is that right?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Bob Krieger on a few weeks ago and he was a Navy veteran. I did a deployment to the Middle East with a joint unit that was Navy and Coast Guard and he was in a similar unit to the type of Coast Guard unit I was in on the same Navy base at the same time that I was in that Coast Guard unit. We just didn't really cross paths. He was in a similar type unit, so that was kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Sorry I digressed.
Speaker 3:Anyway, kevin, welcome, we're glad to have you on. Thank you, happy to be here.
Speaker 2:I was fine with y'all digressing a little bit. It's great to hear those kinds of stories, so many, so many stories. What we are having, folks, is a thirst trap reunion. Most people won't even know that we all did a short film called Thirst Trap about vampires, which was my second short film about vampires and the first one was also called Thirst Trap, but that's a whole nother story. But, kevin, they asked me to reach out for people and Kevin answered the call and I can't thank you enough for that, buddy. Oh, thank you for reaching out.
Speaker 1:I was surprised when he messaged me. He was like I. He was like I don't know. There's been a while that I have like talked to you and I saw you and he's like you know what I'm going to do it and there's no reason, I have no reason to not do it. So, like you know what I'll do it, yeah, I'm class and, like you know, from tax in America. Knowing you was like you know what, I can trust that you know whatever was kind of the same for me. He reached out same thing.
Speaker 3:And when I got there I was still really new in the industry I think I had only done maybe two credited things up to that point and hearing all y'all talk about stuff on set and things about the business, I was just kind of impressed and I had a really good time hanging out with y'all that night and honestly, it was a really quick shoot. I don't remember us being on set for a really long time. It felt like they kind of had their stuff together and they were moving right along. We were holding for I don't know a little bit.
Speaker 2:We were like four hours getting our party supplies together gym vests, molding balloons. We were a bachelor party on a vampire tour. Yeah, With real vampires maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, I remember that, yep.
Speaker 2:But back to Kevin.
Speaker 3:Back to Kevin.
Speaker 2:When did you get started into this industry? What inspired? You?
Speaker 1:I would say I started in the industry officially in 2018, when I was probably like my last year in the Coast Guard and I was trying to figure out what's life's going to be like when I get out. But what drove me to it was NCIS New Orleans, because I was stationed on the Navy base here in New Orleans, the NASJRB in Belchase, so I was an aviation mechanic, but they went to the base and they were doing a scene there that needed a bunch of service members to just you know, just as background for stuff. I was in my last year and they actually came to my base. I think I was like the chief warrant officer at the time and he was like hey, there's some guys from some show that want some people to just stand there, you know, so I don't know what it's about. It's like what is it for? He's like I don't know Some NCIS type of show or something like that. Oh, it's like I'll go, I'll do it, you know.
Speaker 3:I'll do it.
Speaker 1:Is this the life? Is this what it's about? That kind of put me into wanting to do more into the industry. But what drew me more is because, when I was younger, my dad was a movie buff. He just loved all types of movies, so I was there, I watched it. He would get every VHS tape you could find of every movie that came out at the time. He'd have it to the point where he'd have a whole wall all the AHS tapes that, like, our friends would come over and borrow from him, versus borrowing from, like, the actual movie stores and stuff like that. So, like he had laser discs. He had all this stuff. Like he exposed me to the film industry when I was a kid, but not realizing it.
Speaker 1:So now I was like, oh, a chance to do that. After doing all this work you know Coast Guard, stuff like that I want to do something different. And that's where it started me in 2018 background. And then, from that point on, it's kind of like I kind of pushed myself to learn more about the industry because at a certain point as background, I was like you know what? I kind of want to do more than just background, and it's like, okay, let me start getting classes, start doing standing work, and then so I pushed myself in that area to try and like, okay, I want to keep pushing myself. Until I saw stunts happen on the show and I was like I was doing back, I was doing standing for sacrifice, season-long standing, and I did a couple stunts and I was like I want to do that, you know, kind of like, for I did in the beginning. It's like.
Speaker 1:So I talked to some person at the time. It's like, hey, I want to do this. I got military background, I've done with, I've done stuff like that. I have no martial arts, but I was like I can do the basics. So then he told me about okay, first off, cool, thanks for walking up to me, not like breaking my concentration. So like all right. So I waited. And two, okay, what's your training? That's like stunt related, like specific. He at the time it was all personal training. It's like all right. So I got that information. He talked to his stunt coordinator and later on in the show the stunt coordinator came up to me. He was like, hey, I heard you wanted to try some stunts out. It's like, yeah, absolutely all right. Cool, I'll keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:And then I'll say, like a third away into the show, into the season, he actually pulled me out of a stand-in and put me into a stunt scene. It was fun. It was like pretty much in my wheelhouse. It was like weapons related. It was just we just had a little shootout in a bus. I like one. I was called bobby's roadie in that scene, but I was like I had a shootout and doing all the guns, stuff like that. And then that's where I got hooked on stunts.
Speaker 1:Once I did that, I started doing more stunts and training and then I got to the filmmaking part where I guess, basically when the strike happened and pretty much everything was just done. So I was like, all right, we sat there. I sat there. I was like, what else can I do in this industry? You know, I'm still doing classes through acting classes, I'm still training for stunts and still, with that work put in, there's nothing coming about it.
Speaker 1:So like, all right, let me figure out filmmaking. I want to get into filmmaking, see what I can do, because I want to make stuff too. So that kind of put me into that aspect of like all right if I, if I can't be in films, I want to be able to create films so I can bring people in and we can make our own stuff, type of mindset. And that's why I joined Full Sail and that's where I'm at right now. When it comes to filmmaking, I've done two short films and a mini documentary and I still got to do another short film and, I guess, a commercial I got to do for assignment reasons. I guess a commercial I got to do for assignment reasons, but I'm almost done. I'll graduate in April of next year, so I'll have all those in my resume. So that's kind of been my journey, like a you know a broad stroke of my journey. But yeah, that's where I'm at, that's where I sit today, very cool.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's cool no-transcript.
Speaker 2:all of us, if we're making or if we're in it to treat everybody the same, I almost got into background in a similar fashion back in.
Speaker 3:Oh, I guess it was 2005. Might be off, it might've been 04. I think it was after Katrina, when they were filming Deja Vu in New Orleans Post-Katrina and there was a big scene where one of the riverboats was blown up and it had a bunch of service members on it and after the explosion the Coast Guard was in the air and on the water and they got real Coast Guard members to fill in in those roles. But they also solicited people from my unit to be attack team doing either an entry or an approach or something, and they put out a notice within the unit to see who was interested. Came that close to doing it, but I had some kind of conflict with when they needed it. I wasn't able to make it. That would have been my first foray.
Speaker 1:I wasn't able to make it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that would have been my first foray, it just didn't happen.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, my thought was like I was actually just about to watch that movie again, like I know what you're talking about. It was like literally on my screen, like all right, I just got to press play when I sit down. That was a crazy thing that you brought up.
Speaker 3:Nice. Yeah, I really like the movie. The way they shot it, the way they filmed. It was just incredible and good cast of people. I watch it at least once a year, so you have deja vu by seeing it every year? Yeah, that's right, let me circle back for just a minute to the film school that you're in. Tell us a little bit more about that. Where is that?
Speaker 1:Oh, so I'm doing Full Sail University. It's an online class, so, okay, at the time when I decided to do film school, I was trying to think about I want to go somewhere local because I wanted to build a local community through school. So you know two lanes, stuff like that. But whenever I did the uh short film, student films when I'll be gonna sit with them, when I got the different characters, I'll ask them questions while I'm on set, like so how's the uh equipment and availability, how's your crew availability?
Speaker 1:And it's like well, more times than not, we're fighting for equipment because the last person has rented it out for their project and, of course, every project runs later than it's supposed to and then it pushes our project back. So it's always a struggle in the battle. That's, kind of was my last final decision to go with Full Sail, because everything I have is in my tuition. So my camera, my lighting, my sound, everything I have I can shoot by myself is in my tuition. They send to me. So I have everything I need to shoot anything I want whenever I feel like it.
Speaker 3:So it's and you get to keep it at the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's all mine, yeah, it's all mine. So, like what I also use well, coast Guard are a part of it. I use my GI Bill to pay for school. So basically all this is coming to be just because of my time and service. It's not out of pocket unless I go to Masters, which I think about doing, but I'm not sure yet. I got to finish this first. But Full Sail is. I'm doing a bachelor's program of visual cinematography is a program I'm in and that's strictly based on filmmaking. You know, composition, lighting, stuff like that. And April next year is when I graduate and I'll be done. I can make any film I want by myself. So but right now, every three months they have me do a different project.
Speaker 3:Did you have an undergraduate degree before this?
Speaker 1:I did. I already had a bachelor's in IT management. I got that at a different school, american Military University. Yeah, I've heard of it. Yeah, so I have that. I already had a bachelor's. So when I applied for a bachelor's in here, some of the credits transferred, but not all of it, no-transcript. Just recently I just did a physical science class.
Speaker 1:I joke about it's kind of like a fast and furious type of rules like, okay, so fast and furious, push this theory to the limit. So what? This? The equation that the limit is at, and Fast and Furious broke it in this way. So like, oh, cars in space. I don't know what that came from, but like they knew, I knew the theory of what the limit was, I'm like, all right, we're just going to break it anyway. Like, you know what, we're going to do it on purpose. We know this acceleration and gravity and stuff. All right, now we're going to film magic. It's like, oh, we're going to fly in space now. So, okay, all right, yeah, there's math to this. So I get it. But it's been interesting. I've learned a lot.
Speaker 3:I'm learning green screen right now. I'm just wondering what the equation is for suspension of disbelief. I like the Fast and Furious movies, but you definitely have to suspend some disbelief when you watch those. I think it's yeah that's where it happens. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a dance. It's definitely a dance of math and words. I mean, it's not believable. What is the most believable way we can depict this?
Speaker 3:at American Military University when we were deploying. I had an undergraduate degree at that point and I had started a master's. And this was really when I started that first master's. It was before online schooling had really started and, thanks to Katrina and moving and some other things, I just wasn't able to finish it because they didn't have a remote option. Years later I went back to school at Liberty University and finished, started over from scratch a new master's and I did cybersecurity. So there was a lot of IT stuff in that and thankfully I had GI Bill left and it took care of some of that and the rest I just paid monthly. It worked out pretty good With your undergrad credits transferring out pretty good with your undergrad credits transferring.
Speaker 3:How long is the program for you from start to finish? Is it two years or longer than that? It's about two years and they give you really good how to's on how to do all that stuff. Yeah, I dp'd for the first time on this seven and seven. We just did and we used a black magic six K and just made some mistakes and one of the scenes is unwatchable because of the. We thought we had it lit well enough, but it just it didn't turn out right and I've been thinking since we talked when you first told me you were in film school. I've been kind of toiling around that idea. I'm like I miss being in school and I try to find things to do in online courses and stuff to improve along the way. I've been thinking more and more about that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I've learned a lot just from school. So the school is business based. So we're going to teach you the basics of filmmaking but also there's a business side to this and you need to build that as well as you're going through school to learn stuff. So they push you to make a portfolio. So everything I do is all towards a portfolio that I'll have at the end to show whoever I want to show at that point. So they give you a website to try and build and stuff like that through Adobe Creative Cloud. They use other programs in that to try and build your programming.
Speaker 1:So they go through every step of every filmmaking process, every single time my first short film I wrote it had to write it, then I had to direct it, then I had to do a lighting setup, then I had to do a shot list. I had to do all that stuff. I had to do location. I had to do casting. I had to do all the stuff to build it and then make it. And then the part the school was teaching me Now your camera settings, you know your F stops, you know when it comes to shutter speeds, when it comes to, like, your apertures.
Speaker 1:The school teaches you that, and then they make you a triangle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all that. And then, once you do it, it's like all right, now, show us what we taught you. But then also I'm saying, oh, you got to take care of the business side, to just business, to this as well. Putting together gives a product and then we'll grade you on that. And then that's pretty much how it goes. Every month we learn something different, and then new project, you learn new stuff, go do it again and just keep doing it until it's over. It's been a good experience.
Speaker 3:As part of the business process? Do they teach you how to raise funds? You know to pay for stuff.
Speaker 1:They haven't yet. That's why I want to do the master's program, because that's more of a business entertainment and I know later on they'll teach more about like bookkeeping and stuff like that and fundraising. That is a class that they do have for it, but I don't know how in depth they go into it. Have for it, but I don't know how in depth they go into it. But I know for the masters, for the entertainment business, they go more in fundraising and like pitch decks and stuff like that and trying to sell products type of thing.
Speaker 1:This program is more about the performance part of filmmaking where the people with the actual work part where it's like okay, we get on set, we need a grip through the key grip and gaffers, you know all the lighting and we're doing like the camera work, dp, all that stuff. This program is meant for that, just to do the work and sell yourself. That's kind of like in there as well. But you create a solid product first and then we'll teach you how to sell yourself afterwards. It's kind of like how they approach. It Makes sense.
Speaker 3:Are you able to act in any of the projects you do or you have too much behind the scenes stuff to do that?
Speaker 1:I have a lot of behind the scenes stuff. But if once I get my team set up then I can act in front if I want to. But because I'm SAG I can't do anything at the current moment because everything I do is non-union. But once I start working on getting understanding of the SAG contract stuff like that, then I can act if I want to. But right at this moment there's so much behind the scenes that I got to figure out and just try and keep straight line, try and get from deadline from like point A to point B, like, ok, call times at eight. We got to be out here by noon. Ok, we got to get this. Boom, boom, boom, boom. So yeah, I pretty much stay behind the camera whenever I'm shooting, maybe later on the line and maybe I'll start doing more in front once I get comfortable.
Speaker 3:But right now it's kind of like no, that was part of the challenge with this one. We just did. It was hard, especially if it was with Matt Carroll, If both he and I were on camera. Then we had to figure out who was going to run it. Jeff Roberts helped us some and my wife did a lot of it as well. So you know, I think you can do a SAG micro contract and from what I understand, it's only a few pages of paperwork that gets sent off to SAG to get it approved, because I've done a few student films that they've done that because they had people that were SAG that they couldn't do it unless it was. But it sounded like it's a pretty easy process once you do get to that point. I could be wrong, but that's my understanding.
Speaker 1:No, you're correct. You're correct Because two meetings ago they had the producers portal. They have, like sag has started hex created, whereas there is like a micro budget, whereas like deferred payments and stuff like that that you can put in that is covered by sag checks all the boxes for a sag performer to do. Yeah, I want to do that, but I'm not to that point yet because I'm still getting the you know, the filmmaking part in my mind. For don't want to put myself in a position where I'm at a detriment to the actual whole set because I'm the one with the least amount of experience. I'm like, oh, let me make sure I'm solid first before I take that next step. So, like I want to challenge myself for that step, but I want to make sure I'm solid first before I get there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great, great attitude to have. What kind of camera do?
Speaker 1:they hook you up with for this. Oh, it's a sony fx6. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I see it now. It's kind of like in the background, but yeah, it's sony fx6. It's a 4k camera, but it's like a cinema line, it's cinema grade.
Speaker 3:That's what they give us I'm eyeing an fx3 and I want one.
Speaker 2:So bad I can taste it, oh yeah, do you and the camera want to be alone?
Speaker 3:tj holy just just Just not ready to quite pull the trigger on that price tag I love you so much, tim.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how I feel about SAG roles. It's so bad. Just get me in the door.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Kevin, that's great, but you've also just had a recent experience on a very major film. Could you tell us about that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So, like I said, on my journey started with background and then I said, oh, I want to do that when I saw stunts being done. So what I ended up doing? Got in contact with them. They let me do a scene for you know, sacrifice, which helped me because the stunt coordinator for that part had a partner, and that partner was Tim Bell and Tim Bell is stunt too here in New Orleans, and he and Andy Gill was the stunt team, or stunt coordinators, for the film Sinners.
Speaker 3:Boom. So there we go, sinners.
Speaker 1:So what happened was that he actually from Sacrifice, I would say, every three months, doing the actor mindset was like you know what, let me check in with you. Say, hey, I'm doing all right, how you doing, you know know, general checking in is like, hey, anything going on, do you need people? Or anything like that, kind of like that. But like no, nothing right now. But then he called me when the production for centers came up and he's like, hey, what's your schedule look like for two weeks? It's like pretty clear actually. He's like what do you mean? What do you need? He's like all right, so we gotta do some uh, previs or for stunts is pre-visualization, whereas basically you come in for a couple weeks, we make up fight scenes or make up whatever fight scene that the director wants basically it's just an audition and we give them to him and he picks through all of them like you know what I like, this fight, I like this fight and this fight. So I did that for two weeks and I am so sore and so bruised and so battered but it
Speaker 1:was the most fun. I had a long time because I was actually on set doing something that I love doing, so like it didn't even matter, like I'll come home and like. It was like what happened to you? Like my whole forearm was bruised from like, from my wrist to my elbow, just one big giant bruise in my back. It was a mess, but what happened was that in the end, ryan coogler actually liked the scene that I set up when I was in the fight scene, because it included Haley Steinfeld, because she was the one who kills me. So when we set it up, she came in and she was timid. She was very professional, but she was like ah, I don't know, it's like this is a weird state to be in because it's not used to doing something like that, not comfortable with it.
Speaker 1:Initially the scene was kind of like how you see in the movie. But they rush into the juke joint. She jumps on me like I'm standing up, kind of like pretty much like you squat on a wall. But I'm not squatting on the wall, I'm just squatting. She jumps and her feet land on my quads and I'm basically standing and holding her up on my legs and we're just standing there fighting for a while standing and then, as we're fighting, I slowly stagger in back as she's fighting and slashing at me, and then we fall onto the stage where the piano was at.
Speaker 1:There was no padding, there was nothing on there. It was basically I had to brace her weight and my weight and slam onto this wooden stage and that was the scene. So when you see the movie, you see the fight happen and me falling back and me fall onto the stage. I was being flat onto the stage, so like the only thing I had was a. I have a little pad I had under my shirt to protect my spine, but that was the only padding. I had to pretty much brace her weight and my weight and try and get us to land safely. You know, and we did that like four or five times.
Speaker 3:That's rough yeah.
Speaker 1:This was her. It was probably about four times because we were trying to get her timing right to run and jump, because the floor had like slats in it and she had high heels on. We're trying to time out. Okay, this is where you step, because right here the wood a little wider than the other piece of wood that you're stepping on. So we're trying to time that out, but four or five times with her. But then we had to do it with a stunt. Double was lee and she was, and we did that, like I'll say, four times as well. You know, easily on that day, on the day of the shoot, same thing and I'll just fall back, she'll jump on, we'll grab. I had to fight, fight, fight and fall down and it was, I'll say, eight times on the day and we did the scene. We shot the day. The scene is probably like three days. It took us to really get the whole fight scene together, like the main part. But there's more days that happened afterwards when it came to like delta slim dying stuff, like that. That was. For my part, it was probably about three, three days of just straight people jumping on me and I'm falling because I enjoyed every single bit of it, because whenever people ask me, he's like, hey, did you like it? Yeah, it's like a bunch of kids at a playground jumping around monkey bars and breaking stuff. Or like, oh, we can break this and we can just do this and we just jump on stuff. You're like, yes, so we're like a bunch of little kids. That was like the most I had.
Speaker 1:Even though I may not have a lot of scenes in the movie, my stunt is in the movie and also, I guess I tapped into my background work when I did. There is another scene in there that you do kind of see me, I think, when they're eating garlic. I'm a guy holding a jar of garlic next to one of the main characters and she's talking about I don you know, I don't say nothing, but I'm like eat the garlic. I got tapped into the background part and then my stunt happens afterwards and then I'm scattered in the background through. You know, just BG work. That's pretty much what it was after that, which was actually a goal that I had when I first started BG. It's like you know what I want to be able to do this BG work but get paid 10 times more to do the same thing, and that was a testament for my just challenging myself, pushing myself like do the next thing. It may be something that you may not like, but if you're not dying, try it out. You know, it's type of thing so like, yeah, let me try it. Yeah, cool, yeah, that looks like fun, let me try it. That's kind of like how it ended.
Speaker 1:I met a lot of people. A lot of people from Atlanta were here too, like some people from like Texas, people who came around, and I created a lot of great connections there. It's fun, it's been good. This whole journey that I've been on has been fun. I met so many different people Like I met you guys you know, I met the stunt people.
Speaker 1:I met so many, so many great experiences.
Speaker 2:You got paid a lot more, but you got your ass kicked for a couple of days, so you earned it. You needed the rest to just watch and okay, I can move.
Speaker 1:The amount of people who had to jump on my, because, like when we first started, it was just stunts and I would stand there and people would jump, just continually jump on me, and I had to stand there and hold them because they were trying to figure out, because it's my first time doing stunt in front of Tim Bell and Andy Gill, so like I'm kind of auditioning for them as well, even though I did get this job. It's like so many people kept jumping on me and then once like oh man, you're pretty sturdy. He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sturdy. And then once the actors, every single actor, the main cast, they all didn't show up at the same time, so we had to run that scene, the whole fight scene, for every single cast member that was in there. So they all can understand. So I getting jumped on for every single cast member doing the same thing, and I was doing the most strenuous one because the full fight scene was they come in, there's another stunt actor comes in, I grab him, I flip him over and slam him and I'm stabbing him. And then I get up and I'm back on the way trying to figure out who's coming out. And that's where Haley Steinfeld comes in, jumps on me, we fight and I fall on the stage. That's the full fight scene. So we did all of that for every actor, plus the time we practiced, plus the time where we had to do it.
Speaker 1:When hayley steinfeld actually came out, it's like all right, this is your scene. And it seemed like every single stunt person there wanted to try it out. So it's like, oh, let me try it. No, this is how you do it. No, this is how you do it. She asked questions like do I balance myself? Do I do this and that? So another stunt person be. No, you do it like this. And then you run up and they'd jump on me. That was just nonstop. So iron quads and I soaked in Epsom salt for at least a week. My legs were burnt by the time we were done and fried, but still, it was still all fun.
Speaker 2:That's really cool. They talk about people stepping on you to get up in Hollywood.
Speaker 2:So you literally had it Well in Toxic America. While you were talking, I remembered our stunt because I'm so spastic. I wasn't supposed to be the guy getting thrown around. That guy didn't show up. We were mutant cannibal, zombies or whatever, and we didn't have any safety equipment. So I come swinging at you and you didn't even really throw me, you just kind of not even a hip toss, but I had to stay on my feet and when I planted, everything popped and I went down and I'm in the bloopers later trying to just keep acting like trying to run up to a different scene. They're like cut, cut and I'm like what, why are you making fun? I'm not built for stunts. I'm applauding your greatness with that because two quads and I'd been gone part of it anything can happen anytime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were in the old naval base, so it was not only condemned. People did lots of drugs on there. We'd find paraphernalia all over the place. And then when we shot the final scene for Toxic America two weeks before there had been a murder, it was not a safe environment. Now, that didn't affect us, you know what I mean, but it was not in good conditions, like a good set, like you had on Sinners.
Speaker 1:Oh no, definitely. This is definitely indie level.
Speaker 2:We're winging it right now no budget running gun mostly running.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the same thing for me when I played Ravage for that that wasn't my part originally, I was supposed to be just another henchman. That was kind of like how my mindset goes when it comes to the film industry itself. You never know when someone is going to ask you to step up, so you do what you can to prepare up to that point and then, when the time comes, like you figure it out. I remember the day when you say, oh, so-and-so is not showing up, you want to play his part. It's like, yeah, but I don't. I don't know any of his lines, I don't know nothing like that.
Speaker 1:And I remember like, okay, well, here's the script he gave it to me, where we want to say, like, I was so prepared to be the other guy, yeah, oh, okay, give me a minute. So I was walking around and I nailed, based in circles, like reading the script, and like, all right, all right, so this is trying to build a character, yeah, so yeah. When you say like, for that wasn't your, your original role, and then you changed it, it's like, oh, no, I get it, I understand, especially if it's a stunt. That was a lesson I learned. You definitely need to stretch.
Speaker 2:You definitely need to prepare to do any type of stunt and when you threw around the girl, and because we had this big inflatable, whatever the hell it was, but I have a great picture of you and her, and her hair is following her. That that was the coolest part for me because I was just watching, but you know that I'm not sure what it was, and yeah, I was winded for a second.
Speaker 1:It's like all right, they're like okay, do I want to do stunts? Let me rethink my life yeah, earlier, just like I don't know, that was a mistake. I need to make sure, I need to make, I need to protect myself, you know, make sure. Okay, we need more padding or something like that. I'm gonna do something like this, you know learn my lesson so well, I still have a mask, my guy right here.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, look at that yeah, because I remember when he moved out it's like hey, you want the mask? Like hell, yeah, I want the mask. I like trinkets, I like to keep little souvenirs from whatever I've been on. At least try to so yeah. I'm that type of guy.
Speaker 3:It sounds like your love in filmmaking. Stunts may be kind of at the top of that list. Would you put cinematography and acting around the same level? Do I have that right? Like stunts maybe is your favorite and the other two are a close second.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, it's tough, it fluctuates when it comes to how I view it. I guess stunts is a little bit higher than both of them. I want to create a space where I can invite other actors or stunts or anything like that to be on something. So I was like, okay, but I like to act, I like to do stunts. So, like every time I film something, I'm like I want to be in front of the camera but I want to understand the behind the cameras too, so I can be very versatile in the industry. But I would say stunts acting is really high on my list.
Speaker 1:Cinematography is kind of like I'm still learning, so I don't have a full-on love for it yet, but I still like it because I can get my thoughts onto paper and then put it onto a film. So I like that aspect of it stunts acting cinematography right now. That's why I created my well, I have a business called illuminated enterprises llc. My business that I created, which is a performance-based business, which was acting stunts, cinematography, all the performance parts of the industry. It's kind of like how I go about it. It's like, okay, you need an actor? Well, I'm an actor, you know, I do stunts and I do filmmaking, I've done directing, I've done writing, I've done all that stuff. I put it out there. It's like I put it out there like, hey, if you need anyone to fill any of those roles, let me know, because I have experience in all of it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and even if it's just like oh well, I need a script supervisor, oh well, I've done that, let me help you out with script supervisors. We have a new actress or a new actor here on set. I know you're sad, but can you like talk to him about other than that? It's kind of like creating a business. That's all it is. It's just creating a business to put my experience out. That's what I want to do. I want to return the favor, show my journey. You never know where the industry is going to take you, so it's kind of like all right, this is where I started at BG, and then now I'm a cinematographer who's been on a major and done stunts on like TV show, like Queen of the South and like in show sacrifice and stuff like that, and she asked New Orleans out of a dead body as a featured extra. So this journey has put me in so many different situations that I've enjoyed it and you know anyone who's doing it. It's like just be open to whatever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really cool At seven and seven I mentioned that we filmed. Last week was my first turn behind the camera and that was just out of necessity. We just couldn't find somebody that was trained to do it. People were committed to other projects or had personal work commitments that they couldn't get around. And it was fine. We moved forward and we did the best we could with it.
Speaker 3:I've AD'd on a short before. I've never directed one, and I got to say I really liked being behind the camera. It's a very, very close second to acting. Acting is still my first love. I think stunts is not a possibility for me. I mean, I get what you're saying for sure. I really liked the process and trying to learn the stuff that I didn't know and even though it didn't turn out great, it was still a lot of fun and I want to progress that. I want to improve and learn more about it. Of fun and I want to progress that I want to improve and learn more about it. We had Rachel Jacob on a couple of years ago and she recommended that all directors act in at least one project so they understand what actors are going through, and actors should direct at least one project so they understand the other side of it. And being behind the camera and getting hands on picking up some of that stuff, I think they both go hand in hand and improving the other side of it.
Speaker 3:I kind of equate it to playing football. My coach wanted everybody on the offensive line to know every position's route, what they had to do or what their assignment was on every play. That way people could be interchanged if something went wrong and you knowing what everybody else is supposed to do helps you complete your assignment better and I think that kind of translates over. It's kind of a similar concept.
Speaker 1:It just makes it easier when you understand yeah, that's where, for my directing class, he put like two categories, like there's an actor's director and there's a technical director when it comes to their styles, where, like, the actor director like what you're saying, like they relate to the actor, they understand, like where their process is and like how they build the character. Technical is more like okay, this person is showing this emotion, this type of light we want on them. So, like, because I've done acting and I've done stunts before I've gotten to the cinematography, I'm more of an actor's director where, like, okay, so this is how you feel. It's like. How do you feel right now? It's like, well, I feel you know joy. It's like cool. So how can you show me more joy? You know joy, it's like cool. So how can you show me more joy? You know it's like show this, give me this experience. What was this joy experience? How did you feel in this moment, at this time? Okay, show that. Okay, let's go. Okay, action. You know, that's kind of like how I approach it.
Speaker 1:Everything is interchangeable. Like you said for football, it's the same thing for this. But hey, I know you're kind of like in your head right now because of something that's happening that's not on set. But let me draw you, bring you back in focus, you back onto your character. This is how to do it.
Speaker 1:Let me give you the steps for that Breadcrumb you back on you know, versus, you know, stunt guys, kind of like, okay, well, this is a better way of trying to go about it If you're trying to show this emotion as an your face before you, you know, do your punch or whatever it is stuff like that. Like I mean, that's how I, that's my mindset of how I approach all this, which is why I'm doing the acting stunts and cinematography, like I like that everything can actually help something else when it comes to like there was different aspects of it. So, like I've kind of given it the broad stroke approach of like this industry, I love this industry and everything is interchangeable, be Every tip and trick from each position can help someone else make something look better. So that's how I went about it, or go about it.
Speaker 3:That's really cool.
Speaker 2:Awesome, it's that time, my brother, we got to call it. Is there any socials you want to share with people?
Speaker 1:Instagram is that actor, kevin Cheatham, and that's pretty much my main one I use for anything. I do have Facebook, but it's basically the same as Instagram. It's the same thing. But I use my socials as my personal and also professional kind of like portfolio building, advertising type of stuff. I just finished that short film. Thank you, brian, for doing a voiceover for that piece. You're welcome, my friend. I'm still editing that. My professor loved it, so definitely going to try and get that put together so I can start putting that through film festivals and IMDb stuff like that. I realized IMDb rules kind of changed when it comes to like trying to put stuff on there, so I gotta get it to film festival first before I can imdb it, because I'm not really releasing it yet. Oh, I'm learning, so it's been good, cool and now the hard part begins no, I'm just kidding, good to have you on.
Speaker 2:Thank you for coming, my friend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great seeing you, kevin. Yeah, I think definitely we ought to see about having you back. I feel like you're a really good wealth of information. We've had a couple of guests on that were mostly multifaceted, like yourself, and some of that's worth revisiting to go in a little bit deeper detail and you certainly have a lot of knowledge to share and that's what we try to do. We try to pass on good information. It was great seeing you. Really appreciate you coming on, thank you for having me and and I will hope to not have this damn rooster in the background no, we're leaving, we're leaving it in.
Speaker 3:I like the rooster, I live. I live in the country.
Speaker 1:It makes me feel right at home okay, well then, great then, but it's been bugging me this whole. So, like, whenever I want to set, I worry about sound, and sound has been my biggest thing now. So everything that is out of the norm was like okay, I want to have a clean audio to talk to y'all and like rooster.
Speaker 2:I worked on the film Palmer and it was a football scene, so it was done at night and the train tracks were right next to it and every 15 minutes a train would come by. You can't control sound. Have a good one, brother.
