Event #1: Keith Knight Writer of “Woke”

Keith Knight used a slide show to talk about his past work and the impact his work has had on society. He started his career as a cartoon artist. He used real life events he experienced and injustices he has views on as inspiration for his work. Keith mostly focuses his work on minority groups to influence change in the world. The slide show gave us the audience a chance to view his comics and understand his position on major topics still relevant today even though they were written ten to fifteen years ago. I was confused as to why he spent so much time talking about his comics and not the show. That is, until he revealed that in the pitch for his show “Woke”, he used his years of comics as material for the show. He said that he tossed the portfolio of his work up into the air and let it slam down onto the table. This got the attention of the producers and he said that his book was filled with enough material for the first ten seasons. This was a bold move that could have ended poorly, but the producers respected it and picked up his show. Keith mentioned that he still gets nervous for pitches and to combat that likes to pump himself up in the care before he goes into the meeting. He said that the producers like to display their achievements on the walls of the office building and that can be intimidating. So, Keith lines up all of his awards on his dashboard before his goes in. This helps remind him that he is good enough to be there and people admire his work enough to recognize it with awards. I found this helpful as a beginning artist to know that even successful people still have doubts about their own work. While talking about his comic strip experience he said the writing is the hardest part. He said the art work is less important and only compliments the message he is trying to convey. This only reinforces focusing on writing skills for myself. It inspires me to careful craft the message before creating the artwork. Writing is what I struggle with the most because I am the least experienced in that area of film making. I have no problem making good looking films, but some of them lack substance and story. I am taking CP-451 Writing the Short Film this semester and seeing Keith Knights work has only inspired me to focus more on creating a well crafted message. One story that Keith told us was about a comic that he believes was one of his most influential. He created a comic strip commenting on the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy put in place by the military. He received numerous letters from active military members saying how they agreed with him or that the comic changed their mind on the subject. I find it interesting that such a small thing as a comic strip can resonate with so many people. It makes me think of how films can change people’s perspectives and ways of thinking.