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Blake Kinsey and the camera in his hand were inseparable in high school. The Etowah hometown product was in love with capturing moments and the creative process it took to turn those clips into stories.

Film school was on the teenager鈥檚 mind, and after a conversation with a classmate, 甜瓜视频app was, too.

鈥淚t looked awesome.鈥㊣ hadn't even considered Western as a possibility,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淚 scheduled a tour. I went up there with my mom, and I was pretty instantly like, 鈥極h, this is really cool.鈥� I love the mountains, but just the school itself, I just really liked the energy.鈥�

Kinsey took a risk, applying only to WCU in his college application process. Thankfully, it worked out 鈥� and so has his degree. 

Kinsey is the founder and owner of Back Porch Films, a production house based in Durham where he鈥檚 doing the very thing his high school-self was infatuated with: telling stories.

鈥淚 try to bring that high-level production feel to a small market and to the backyard, so to say,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淚 only went full-time with it maybe four months ago. I was balancing some part-time stuff for a while, and I recently made the jump this year.鈥�

Starting a production company had always been a dream of Kinsey鈥檚, but like his college search, it was a bit of a risk. That fear was settled when Kristi Ray and Erika Arlee of Honey Head Films came to speak at a film festival in Durham.

Kinsey was familiar with the Wilmington production house, as Ray and Arlee had spoken at a student film festival at WCU and he connected with them there. But at the Durham festival, the two filmmakers sold him the idea of cultivating North Carolina as a strong place for production.

鈥淚 was too afraid to do it until I met them and saw that they did it, and it almost gave me internal permission to make the jump and just say like, 鈥榊ou know what? I'm going to do this,鈥欌�� Kinsey said. 鈥溾�業'm going to figure it out as I go along,鈥� and I'm so glad that I did.鈥�

Since starting Back Porch Films in 2023, Kinsey will admit it鈥檚 been an up-and-down journey. The biggest learning curve for him has been the administrative work and business behind running a production house.

Also, having just gone full-time with it a few months ago, finding his workflow has been among his biggest challenges.

"It's definitely been a huge learning experience. I'm grateful that it's worked out. Honestly, I wish I had done it sooner,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淭here's something really refreshing about when you wake up every morning and you're like, 'OK, I have to make this work.'鈥�

However, the creative side has been the most rewarding part of the gig. One project he鈥檚 particularly proud of is a five-episode web series called 鈥�2020s,鈥� which follows four separate members of a group of friends all intertwined in the same day before they come together in the end.

An independent piece Kinsey takes pride in, which dates back to his time at WCU, has yet to be released. 鈥淟isten LP鈥檚 and the Power of Music鈥� is about the charm of vinyl records, CDs and other physical media.

Kinsey came up with the idea for the documentary as a freshman at WCU when he and a close friend would ride around Sylva and Franklin, hunting for vinyl records. Kinsey finished the project just a few months ago and has submitted it to a few film festivals.

鈥淚 was just always really enchanted by them,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淭hey're timeless in a lot of ways. Physical media, like you own that album. No one can ever take it away from you.鈥�

While at WCU, Kinsey said that he and his classmates in the School of Stage and Screen were given freedom to create what they wanted to.

鈥淚 just really liked the program. I liked the professors a lot,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淚 liked the way that they differed themselves from other film schools, because in the School of Stage and Screen, I was able to go in and see pretty instantly that the students were afforded a lot of just time, resources and creative freedom. 

鈥淥ther schools either make you wait to begin your film education or the resources are different or there's more restrictions鈥� When I went to Western, I remember my first year, they basically told us, here's where you can rent gear. Here's an editing lab if you need it. Go nuts.鈥�

As the production house journey continues for Kinsey with new documentaries and narrative projects ahead, he attributes much of his success he had to experimenting and diving into his love of visual storytelling in Cullowhee.

鈥淚 loved it because I think I needed some time to try things and fall on my face a little bit and learn how to actually run a production end to end versus getting out in the workforce and trying to do it professionally and then failing,鈥� Kinsey said. 

鈥淔ilm school afforded me an awesome opportunity to just have structured time to learn and fail and grow a little bit.鈥�