Meet Makayla Boyd | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Makayla Boyd and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Makayla, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
There are going to be times in life when you are going to want to stop working hard for what it is that you want to achieve. There are going to be times when a little voice in your head asks you, “Is this worth it? Can I do it?” All I ask from you is that you speak back to that voice and say, “yes it’s worth it; I can do it,”

That’s what I have to do sometimes to keep myself going to follow my dreams. I believe that if you have a S.M.A.R.T. goal in your life, then you should always continue to follow it, even when life gets tough, or you’ll always wonder what could have been if you kept going.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a filmmaker who has just finished the second season of my first-ever web series. I am currently working on my second web series as we speak. I would say what sets me apart from other filmmakers is that I make stories for and about Black people that go beyond just their experience with being black. I tell stories of their love lives, mistakes, fears, and careers. I’m super excited to continue on this journey and help shape the next generation of video content–hopefully, it’ll be a more diverse one.

I got into filmmaking in High school when I took a video production class during my freshmen year with a teacher named Mrs. Cimini. I had always had a passion for writing and in her class, I learned how to turn my written stories into films. I was accepted into the University of Cincinnati Media Production program after High school. I learned so much from this program and made a lot of connections with different actors and other filmmakers. I competed in four 48-hour film festivals and in the last two years I participated, my group won best film. In my senior year when we competed my co-director and I also received the best direction.

Once I graduated I decided to turn one of my scripts into a web series. We racked up over 25 thousand views in the first season and even were shown at a film festival in New York. After the success of the first season, I decided to continue the series. This past summer I rounded up my actors and we made the second season of Done In The Dark. This season was a little tricky to film because I had a lot of personal issues to deal with. My grandmother fell ill and I was helping take care of her while also trying to coordinate a shooting schedule for the series and applying for graduate school as well. Throughout the summer I did get that voice in my head asking “Is this series worth it? Can I pull it together while also handling my personal responsibilities,”

What I learned through that process was that sometimes life will throw you lemons and you’ve got to adjust. It’ll be hard to adjust at first but once you start making lemonade instead of dodging the lemons, life will be a little bit easier. Although this summer did not go as planned it went the way it was supposed to. My grandmother is healthy again, I got into graduate school, and we got to release another great season of Done In The Dark. And in case you were wondering, yes it was worth it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love my city especially the northern part of it. Cincinnati has so many great places to explore but I feel like not everyone knows about what the northern part of Cincinnati has to offer.

Food-wise, I love Toast and Berry for breakfast. They have the best mimosas and a menu full of delicious options to try. I recommend the Cinnamon Streusel pancakes with the hash brown squares. Another awesome breakfast spot that also works great for lunch is DirTy Breakfast. This is a smaller new business but it’s become a quick favorite of mine. I love their salmon croquett and their potatoes and onions. If you’re like me and love a good slushie make sure to try one of theirs! A dinner place I love is Pappadeaux. Every time my family comes into town I take them there because it’s their favorite place to eat in Cincinnati. I recommend the shrimp but you can’t go wrong with any of their seafood.

If you’re looking for places to hang out in Cincinnati some of my favorite spots are Dave and Busters for the arcade games, the Funny Bone in Liberty Township for a good comedy show, The Aronoff Center for a great musical, and Ault Park especially for a photoshoot or a cookout, it’s the most gorgeous park in the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to shout out my high school video production teacher for introducing me to the world of film. Mrs.Cimini was always my biggest cheerleader and mentor while I was in high school. She encouraged me to bring my ideas to life with my camera. I took two of her classes and those classes inspired me to study media production in college and to continue into filmmaking in my adult life. It’s safe to say that without her, I would be in a totally different career field.

Website: www.mcbcinema.blog

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kattt_16/?hl=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSlcKo6encaAUr7OMh1uGpw