ABOUT BLKMKT MEDIA
BLKMKT Media, founded by Everett Kelsey in September 2020, is a media entertainment technology company focused on enhancing media and storytelling by highlighting humanity’s shared authentic multiculturalism as assets. Its mission is to preserve human dignity in an increasingly augmented world by combating the misrepresentation of marginalized communities in entertainment and addressing techno-racism biases embedded in generative AI deep learning algorithms, utilizing two proprietary BLKMKT large language models:
- In 2022 Kelsey created BLKMKT AI’s BAR (BLKMKT Authenticity Resonance) System a bias-detection and content evaluation tool utilizing machine learning to evaluate representation, cultural nuance, and integrity in generated content, designed to serve as a third-party LLM for AI and media platforms.
- In 2023 Kelsey created BLKMKT Tech's Ethnographic Repository, a foundational data infrastructure to embed cultural fluency into AI systems.
The roots of BLKMKT Media trace back to Kelsey's earlier endeavor, Organic Polyester Productions, established in 2004.This creative studio, born from the Hollywood studio system, marked Kelsey's debut as a director with the art-house, atmospheric feature-length romantic psychological thriller "SHI” .
The evolution from Organic Polyester Productions to BLKMKT Media signifies a shift from traditional filmmaking to a broader engagement with media technology and AI. While Organic Polyester laid the foundation in storytelling and production, BLKMKT Media expands upon this by integrating technological advancements to address contemporary issues in media representation and AI bias.
Together, these ventures reflect Kelsey's commitment to leveraging media and technology to promote authentic multicultural narratives and challenge systemic biases in both entertainment and artificial intelligence.
GENERATIVE AI FILMMAKING
Ushering in the Fifth Industrial Revolution Through Generative AI Film
In 2024 when I made Bad Bunnies and Rats, Gators, Jaguars, Drag Queens, the world stood at the threshold of the Fifth Industrial Revolution — a transformative era where human creativity and artificial intelligence were no longer in conflict, but in collaboration.
This revolution isn't just technological; it's cultural, philosophical, and deeply personal. It is redefining the boundaries of art, labor, identity, and the very nature of authorship.
As a lifelong cinephile and traditionalist in the craft of filmmaking, six months before creating Bad Bunnies and Rats, Gators, Jaguars, Drag Queens, I, Everett Kelsey, found myself resisting the cinematic potential of generative AI. The hesitation mirrored that of many filmmakers in the early 2000s who rejected the move from celluloid to digital — afraid that the soul of storytelling might be lost to the machine. But just as digital eventually earned its place, I came to a realization: if I didn’t adapt, I’d be left behind.
Through BLKMKT Media and Organic Polyester Productions (OPP), I created these AI-generated films not as novelties, but as living theses — artistic statements on where we currently stand in this technological epoch. Just a year prior to making them, films like these were nearly technically impossible to produce. The acceleration of generative AI is exponential. And with each passing year, AI-generated films will become increasingly indistinguishable from traditionally shot works. We are at the very beginning of a new cinematic language.
In much the same way that In Old California (1910), the first film shot in Hollywood, marked the beginning of an industry and an identity, Bad Bunnies and Rats, Gators, Jaguars, Drag Queens are trailblazers of a new frontier. They capture a moment in time — not just for what they depict, but how they were made. They are among the first narrative films of this generative era, produced during the dawn of AI’s integration into cinema.
There is a kind of poetic imperfection in these works. Just as the grain of damaged film reels became a beloved aesthetic, or the hiss and crackle of vinyl found its way into our high-fidelity playlists, the visual quirks and glitches of early AI filmmaking carry their own haunting beauty — a reminder of the technology's youth and the human hand still guiding it.
I believe these films are not just stories; they are artifacts of a seismic shift. The world is changing, and so is the camera.