The entertainment industry professional is giving youth of color an inside look behind the scenes.
Jonathan Kee is looking to educate youth of color about the opportunities behind the scenes in film, television and more.
“How could you go get something if you don’t know that it is out there for you to get,” said Kee.
Originally from Buffalo, NY, Kee moved around a lot in high school. It was through a local, youth program that Kee’s future began to take shape.
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“HBCU in L.A. really gave me a start to my entire career,” said Kee. “I’m a product of that program, so, when I was in college, I interned through HBCU in L.A. at United Talent Agency and at SAG-AFTRA.”
Kee decided to put his education on hold to pursue the opportunities that came from those internships.
“I had job offers from both of those internships and then from there, that’s how I got my foot into the door through HBCU in L.A.
“From there, it has been monumental.”
Currently, he is a literary manager with Circle of Confusion, a management company in the industry, which is one of the largest representing writers, directors and documentarians. Recently, Kee created Breaking In, a speaker series that invites established agents, managers, producers and studio executives to come educate inner city Black and Latino students on careers behind the scenes in the industry.
“I got more connected with Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and Venice Arts more recently in starting this program,” said Kee. “So, over the last year, I’ve been working with them to get this program started.
Kee continued, “Breaking In is my baby, it’s so important to me, it’s my heart, it’s my everything because getting back to this next generation, especially that high school age [demographic], is important to me.”
It’s through Breaking In that Kee wants to show Black and Latino youth that there are opportunities behind the scenes in the industry.
“Most people that grow up in these communities, you only know about athletes, basketball players, football players, rappers, singers, people like that,” said Kee. “So, managers, producers, agents, studio executives, everybody that makes what you see in front of the camera, come to life.
“You don’t know that there’s an entire team that’s behind the scenes that make all of those people actually become who they are.”
“I am beyond proud to have an alumni of our HBCU in L.A. program in Jon Kee, giving back and bridging the gap between South Los Angeles students of color and the Hollywood community with his Breaking In Speaker Series,” said Stacy Milner, founder of Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program/HBCU in LA.
“This important series gives the next generation’s diverse talent access to major entertainment industry leaders along with valuable knowledge needed to navigate a career in Hollywood.”
“We love being able to open our doors to great partners like Jon Kee, Venice Arts and HBCU in L.A.,” said Tony Brown, CEO of HOLA. “Partnership is always how we’ve approached our work, and as we look at expanding into more parts of the city, primarily South L.A. at the moment, these are the sorts of relationships we’re hoping to build.”
“I’ve got to give it up to Jon for thinking of bringing these three powerhouses together,” AJ Amiri of Venice Arts. “It’s the first collaboration Venice Arts has had with HBCU in L.A. and Heart of Los Angeles. We’ve been dying to get back to in-person events, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”
Kee recently held a panel on January 10 were youth got a chance to hear from industry professionals. Breaking In will be holding another panel on Wednesday, February 7, at HOLA with a panel of established and well-known producers of film and television. Kee expects to have an even larger turn out than the first.
“There’s plans and hopes towards hopefully pipelining these kids into HBCUs, to colleges across the country and then planning for it to grow into other neighboring industries as well,” said Kee.
“That’s the purpose of the program, to expose these kids to opportunity early in life.”
For more information, you can contact Jonathan Kee at [email protected]
You can also follow Breaking In on Instagram @boss__jon or @breakingin_la.
For more information on HBCU in L.A., please visit eicop.org
For more information on Heart of Los Angeles, please visit www.heartofla.org
For more information on Venice Arts, please visit www.venicearts.org
