Rio Damata: So, what is your name and what do you do?

Kenny Gravillis: My name is Kenny Gravillis and I am the Chief Creative Officer of our agency Gravillis.

Rio Damata: What does this job entail? What do you do in this role?

Kenny Gravillis: Basically, we come up with creative ideas for marketing movies and TV, and I oversee that creative work. For example, Zendaya just came out with Challengers and there’s a movie poster with sunglasses on it – we did that.

Rio Damata: Really? I saw the film, it’s really good. I saw the poster too. So you’re overseeing the making of the film?

Kenny Gravillis: Yes. Let’s say you’re MGM, you call us and say, “Hey, we have this movie called ‘Challengers’ starring Zendaya.” We read the script and sometimes we set up a photo shoot with Zendaya. Sometimes we just get photos from the movie. Then we come up with ideas that we can use to market the actual movie. We can go back and forth, sometimes there are hundreds of options and finally they choose a poster.

Rio Damata: So you are monitoring this process?

Kenny Gravillis: Yes, I oversee that process. We are a boutique agency with about 35 people, 20 of whom are creatives, designers and illustrators. I oversee that part of the business.

Rio Damata: What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a similar career to you?

Kenny Gravillis: Well, it’s a niche industry, a lot of people don’t even know it exists. A lot of kids don’t even know that there are jobs out there designing movie posters or editing trailers. It’s just one of those jobs that you might not even know exists. I would advise you to look around and research what’s out there. There’s a website called IMP Awards that lists all the posters that are out there and the design agencies that have created them.

Rio Damata: So start researching and see what you can do.

Kenny Gravillis: Exactly. We live in a world where you can bring your own ideas too. Start designing your own posters and find out how to design them. It’s all about being creative.

Rio Damata: Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

Kenny Gravillis: Thanks, brother. Good joke.