September 29, 2025
Jason Kim (BS ’13, media and cinema studies) is a director of photography and editor at Omnicom Studios in New York as well as director and executive producer of his own production company, House Productions LLC. Kim has earned numerous awards for his film work including a 2018 Telly Award for “General Branding” and a 2022 Webby Award for Advertising, Media & PR, “Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics.” Learn more about this College of Media alum whose work is shaping the future of storytelling across film, advertising, and digital media.
1. What first drew you to filmmaking and production, and how did that evolve into starting your own company, House Productions?
It’s difficult to pinpoint any one moment in time that drew me into filmmaking except for when I saw Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The inverse relationship between hero and circumstance—its anti-hero arc—showed me anything was possible in storytelling. I pursued being an artist through the medium of film ever since. House Productions allows me to hone my storytelling practice, learning, experimenting, and growing as a filmmaker. Today, House Productions produces high quality corporate videos and films I write and direct, including my latest project, Selfless.
2. Winning awards like the Telly and Webby, among others, is a huge accomplishment. Is there one project that felt especially meaningful to you?
The one project that has special meaning to me is working with the government to produce, write, direct, and edit a documentary series on the Stonewall National Monument, which helped pave the way for the gay rights movement. It’s not the most entertaining documentary but I learned a lot, and producing a document that recollects a period of time in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is special to me.
Watch the 15-part series:
3. What advice would you give to students who want to break into directing or production but don’t know where to start?
Directing and producing are two separate paths. The best way to break into producing and production is to gain experience on set wherever you are and move to a bigger production market as soon as possible. Working with more experienced and nuanced crews, getting hands-on experience with the minutiae of filmmaking, and administrating complex paperwork is the name of the game.
As the adage goes, there is no one way to directing. Everyone has their own unique story and journey to how they come to directing. The best way to start is just to start. Get your hands on a script or write one. Find friends who will act and crew for you. Every project I’ve directed has included a learning curve, creative risk-taking, and a financial commitment. Not every project will feel true or significant. Moving past doubt, problem-solving limitations, and exercising curiosity are the first steps to directing.
4. The media landscape is constantly changing—how do you keep your work both current and true to your vision?
The media landscape is more turbulent than ever, especially with the consolidation of traditional media companies with data-driven companies. Media production is under disruption from AI generation, with film projection being made especially vulnerable.
Disruption will have matured when AI artists can tell equally visually compelling stories—replicating the work of filmmakers, artists, craftspeople, and designers, as well as the human emotion and camaraderie in front of and behind the camera. Even still, if the art, intent, and motivations are pure, then I believe that work will have currency and truth.
5. What’s one dream project you’d love to direct or produce in the future?
My dream project is an indie sci-fi retro-noir that investigates the existence of hope in an Orwellian society. The goal is to receive a small working production budget to create something beautiful, meaningful, and artistic to satisfy the tastes of arthouse cinephiles as well as mainstream audiences. As film is a business, I have no delusion that a director must be profitable in their artistry to continue to practice directing. I believe a sci-fi genre within a low budget independent film context has the potential to break the ceiling and achieve commercial and artistic appeal. Complex VFX will be eschewed, instead of relying on ornate set design, practical effects, costumes, and locations for world-building. Then, the story itself will be the determinant of its success.
Another dream project of mine is to create a documentary on the early phases of the Internet developed at ILLINOIS through the ILLIAC computer and PLATO network. Researching the history of these emerging communication systems as a media and cinema studies major was the highlight of my time on campus. I would love to dive deeper into these early networks’ role in shaping society as we know it today, from the maturation of social networks to the advent of artificial intelligence. To premiere this document that encompasses the past, present, and future of digital communication would be a dream.
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