there have been previous post with the same title over the years.

the first one dealt with why i go by kenn instead of ken or even kenneth – my given name – and the name most people know me by 

the second talked about online identity, or handle. how i changed from ‘heyitskenn’, a carry over from aim / msn of the early aughts to ‘k3nnr’  and kinda why.

i’ve alluded at times, not everyone knows me by kenn. not to go into the minute details but i have pseudonym (a few actually but will focus on the main one) that i have used for nearly 2 decades now. at first it was just away to get around some minor issues, then it was just the name being thrown around, eventually it was just who i was in an industry that very little overlap with normal day to day. it was easy to compartmentalize, having hard boundaries and gave me freedom as i was ‘known.’ have never sought fame or to recognized after working on things – some which have gone to gander accolades, recognition, even major awards. there was just something about mysterious or interest in kinda having a second life. and just be someone else for a bit. 

however things became more challenging when lines started to blur – tech and media / entertainment have always had a symbiotic relationship of sorts. me being able to bridge the gap, or even flow between them, has been good for my day job career but at times was confusing to people that only knew me as kenn or my pseudonym even worse a throw away nickname a gave for a project years back. i prefer privacy but not to that extent… just that if you could be anyone for a project in which you might never work with people ever again why not go for it

~anyways~

last year something changed. it started to do mashups again to brush up on my skills and try new things, and posting them on my personal soundcloud that had been dormant for a very long while. mainly just for myself. then i was approached by a colleague about doing some work on a feature – i haven’t done that kind of work in over a decade and even then it was just assisting in re-recording and minor foley stuff and was iffy on taking the job. one thing lead to another and long story short i’m a producer of sorts on the movie. a few months later again, approached by someone with a well fleshed out treatment – nearly a script. and again became an associate producer. 

then i was asked how i wanted to be credited. 

for the first time in a very long time i sat there and thought it out. 

i could use my pseudonym or come up with a new one…. but something in my gut just nagged me about stop using that crutch. 

the entertainment business is interesting, the trade magazine – variety, deadline, the hollywood reporter- all talk about the movers the shakers. what is in pre or post production scripts being shopped around who is tied to what projects. almost everything is out in the open. even if you don’t want to know your name it going to be somewhere. 

i decided use my name. not  even ‘kenn r’ that i mainly use as an ‘identity’ –  but my name. 

a few weeks ago i finally saw the final cut of the short, THRISTGIRL, i help produce. my name appears right there in the credits. 

after working in the entertainment industry for nearly 2 decades. i can literally point at the end credits and say truly i did this. there’s no disputing it. no more alluding to projects, no more the nod and wink of people in the know. 

the instagram post has my name, handle, in the thank you caption, my name appears on the website. i will have an imdb page.

it’s a different era… not sure if this going to continue but for now. taking up space and being me in place where i can make something.