Kel Thompson – Storyteller 

If you're here, you're probably considering joining me on my next adventure. What follows is the track record, the awards, and the hard-earned lessons. I'm a storyteller at heart, whether it's for a major corporation, a small local business, a short documentary, a feature film, a guided tour, or stand-up comedy. I've done it all, for decades, at every level, and more often than not, I've walked away with awards and five-star reviews.

 

📷  Early Education & Foundations

• Studied photography at Brooks Institute and Rochester Institute of Technology, developing a strong technical and creative visual foundation.

• Earned a B.A. in Mass Communications from Texas State University (1997), with a minor in photography.

• First got hooked in high school — working on a pilot news show called C News 

 

🏢  Studio Ownership & Commercial Work

• Owned and operated a photo/video studio in Boca Raton for five years.

• Shot catalogs, corporate campaigns, product photography, and indie music videos.

• Gained deep experience in commercial storytelling, production logistics, and client management.

 

🎤  Stand-Up Comedy & Live Performance

• Performed stand-up for over a decade — hosted, produced, and built rooms from scratch.

• The Improv (Ft. Lauderdale/Palm Beach) – Hosted and performed in recurring showcases; produced one independently-curated show.

• Hosted shows at:

  • 🍝 Mama Jennie’s

  • ☕ Spill the Beans Comedy Show

  • 🌴 Shade Balls at the Shade Post

  • 🇺🇸 Red White and Brews Comedy Showcase

  • 🎙 The Improv (Hosted and Produced)

• Marina84 – Open Mic Host (3+ Years)
  Voted #1-ranked open mic in Fort Lauderdale by New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
  Known as “the Roadhouse of Open Mics” wild, loyal, unpredictable, and formative.
  “Comics got banned. Cops got half-priced jokes. The crowd got everything.”

• Built and nurtured community with comics developing content across multiple formats.

 

🎬  Film School & Short Films

• Graduated from the Palm Beach Film School and produced:

  • La Caja — satirical short about smuggling drugs through adult products

  • The Janitor’s Got Talent — a janitor stumbles into a national talent contest

• Worked across 12+ student films in multiple roles, line producer and acting

• Hired by the school as a line producer to guide other student projects

Learned to support other filmmakers’ visions, even in chaotic and often unorthodox shoots (student short films can be boring and wild!) 

 

🎧  Corporate Media, Broadcast & Technical Direction

• Writer, director, and producer of sponsored segments for LifetimeTV, aired nationally & internationally (Budgets for each segment north of $50k)

• Directed, shot, and edited hundreds of corporate videos, and filmed thousands of live events

• Served as a video engineer, switching and calling multicam live productions

• Ran high-quality audio in live events/post as a sound engineer

• Helicopter Videographer for News24Houston, multiple stories picked up by CNN and ran nationally and internationally.

• Served as in-house videographer at Mar-a-Lago for 15 years

 

📺 Television & Documentary Work

• Created, wrote, directed, and edited the mini-series Show Boating
  → Telly Award winner, nationally distributed via TUFF TV

• Directed Comedicness: Quest for the Essence of Comedy
  → Official selection at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

• Freelance Writer/Director/Producer 

  • Military Makeover ​with Montel Williams

  • Designing Spaces​

 

🎥 Festival Work, Remote Production & Industry Roles

• Directed or shot over 800 live and remote productions, from jazz clubs to major festivals

• Worked with LiveControl.io as a lead operator and behind-the-scenes director
  → Notable: 3-camera shoot of a panel & interview with Ethan Hawke at Woodstock Film Festival
  → Collaborated with dozens of jazz greats and world-class musicians

• Celebrity who have been in front of my lens:

  • 🎤 Dave Chappelle

  • 🎶 Katy Perry

  • 😂 Howie Mandel

  • 🌴 Jimmy Buffett

  • 🎙 Donald Trump

  • 🇺🇸 Hillary Clinton

  • 🎬 Spike Lee

  • 🎙 Ed Sheeran 

  • countless others, I'm just awful at naming celebrities. Not that I'm above name dropping here, it's just been decades and so many have been on camera, this list could be easily 100+ known names.

• Served 7 years with the American Black Film Festival:

  • 2 years in AV

  • 5 years as Director of Photography for Reel Critic with Reginald Ponder

• Films screened at:

  • 🎞️ Dances With Films

  • 🎞️ Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

  • 🎞️ Delray Beach Film Festival

  • 🎞️ Awareness Film Festival

 

🏆  Film Judge & Panelist

• Dances With Films Judge (2021 & 2022)

• Power House Panelist in 2022 as the indie filmmaker representative

 

🎞️ First Feature Film – The Terrible Adventure

• Wrote, directed, and produced debut feature
  → Shot in 2019, festival run in 2020, released in 2021
  → 100% self-funded, built from grit and sacrifice

• Awards:

  • 🏆 Dances With Films – Audience Choice Award

  • 🏆 Awareness Film Festival – Jury Prize for Raising Youth Awareness

  • 🏆 Green Mountain Film Festival – Best Family Comedy

  • 🏅 Lit Laughs International – Honorable Mention, Best Comedy

 

🎬  Second Feature in Development – The Alyeskan

• Historical epic set in 18th-century Alaska

• Story centers on Tlingit resistance and Russian colonial incursion

• Teaser scheduled Fall 2025 → full shoot Spring 2026 → festival push Summer 2026

• Potential casting interest in Martin Sensmeier (Tlingit)

• Designed to be cinematic, culturally grounded, and emotionally raw

 

🗺️ Alaska Tour Guiding & Storytelling

• Led 15,000 guests across Alaska — glaciers, wildlife, remote adventures

• Infuses every trip with history, comedy, and storytelling

• Consistent 5-star reviews from guests

“You were funnier than the cruise ship comedian.”

 

📸 Photography Recognition

• Trained at Brooks Institute and RIT

• Awards from ViewBug:

  • 📸 Staff Favorite

  • 📸 Judge’s Favorite

  • 📸 Member Selection

  • 📸 Featured Recognition

  • 📸 Multiple homepage features

Photography remains core to his cinematic eye and creative instinct

 

💥 Other Notable Work & Creative Ethos

• Filmmaker, comic, photographer, producer, engineer — not just titles, but real track record spanning decades. 

• Known for:

  • 🔥 Finishing what he starts

  • 🎯 Vision under pressure

  • 🧠 Creative precision

  • ❤️ A voice rooted in truth, humor, and humanity

• Moving forward with The Alyeskan and future stories that merge history, comedy, and emotional resonance

 

 

“An amazing video producer who can handle entire multi-cam productions. His eye and ability to understand client feedback/cue sheets, makes him a highly sought after production expert. Hire him for any cinematic/videography

needs!” ~Jacob Braunstein, Founder and CEO LiveControl.io, Forbes 30 Under 30

 

“Kel is one of the smartest and most creative individuals I know. Too modest for his own good and is one of the most genuine individuals I know. I admire his vision and his ability to tackle big projects and bring them into reality.”

~Greg Bellomy, Corporate Director / Business Advisor

 

“Kel, I’ve never met a more determined filmmaker than you!”

~Leslee Scallon, Founder, Dances With Films #1 Hollywood Film Festival

 

“Kel, You have been such a consummate professional with your event prep, coverage, communication and improvement opportunity feedback for LiveControl and our clients – I’ve personally appreciated what you bring to

the table to a degree that I haven’t been able to properly thank you for yet – consider this a big THANK YOU!”

~Senior Manager of Operations, Michael Pizzuto, LiveControl.io

 

“Kel has been an invaluable resource for our company. Whenever we need extra help with video production, we give

Kel a call!” ~Shane Hannafey – Senior Video Manager JM Family Southeast Toyota