Of all the bad words, nothing beats “fuck.”

But with little to no information available, I’ve been wondering: Who the hell is this guy?

Looking at your early videos, I’m wondering where you were looking for inspiration outside of skateboarding, like horror movies or psychedelic music videos maybe?
I love skate videos, but I also love horror movies. I remember thinking Osiris’s The Storm had a creepy vibe to it, so did Toy Machine’s Good & Evil. Maybe it’s the music, or the way they film some stuff. So I liked the idea of making videos that were weird.

For a while I stopped filming and I got really depressed when I was 18, and then I took some mushrooms and I was like, “Wow, imagine a skate video where you see it through the eyes of someone on mushrooms.”

A bunch of my ideas came from that.

Who’s Gene Belanger? I see he’s credited alongside you in much of your early work.
Gene’s my best friend. I’ve known him since we were in the sixth grade. We met in Boy Scouts [laughs]. We grew up making skate videos together, like Nagajoose. With that video, we were both still living with our parents, and we would always edit at Gene’s parents’ house in the basement. We had this editing area with a mini fridge and speakers and a couch, and then there was this other area with a TV and video games and a mattress on the floor.

For the most part, one person would be editing and working on stuff and the other would be watching movies or sleeping, and we’d just go back and forth. It was a lot of feeding off each other, and I think it gave us a lot of confidence because we weren’t making the whole thing alone.

“The first thing I did after moving to Los Angeles was help edit the second 917 video.”

When did you decide to take the chance and move to LA to make it as a videographer?
That was in 2018. I was just burnt out in Chicago, the winters obviously sucked, and it was depressing and hard out there. We [Matt and Gene] thought that we could find opportunities to work in music videos, because at the time we were doing some music video stuff.

We were also talking with Logan Lara [filmer/editor] a lot over Instagram, who lived in California, and he was like, “You guys should come out here.” We had worked a bit with Logan in the past, helping him edit the first 917 video, and actually the first thing I did after moving to Los Angeles was help edit the second 917 video.

Holy shit, no way. I had no idea you were involved with those videos.
Yeah, I was a ghost editor. It was a lot of fun, we rented a little studio and edited the whole thing in two weeks.

Stu Kirst, Emerica tour video

Did you ever find success with the music video stuff? What else were you doing when you first moved to LA?
We never ended up doing much music video stuff. A lot of people liked our skate videos, but it felt like no one was going to hire us for that. [The skate videos] can be too much, and people are like, “What the fuck is this?” It felt unrealistic that someone would hire us to make their music video. So we started leaning into making clothing with the Ssquirted logo and different shit like that. And during this time we made our video Dogtooth.

“There was no proof I could just film and edit normally.”

Does your style of video make it difficult to get a normal editing job?
For sure. There wasn’t much proof that we could film or edit a skate video in a classic style, or even outside of skating, there was no proof I could just film and edit normally.

We had fans, but most people weren’t into it. But then I remember at one point we started seeing the shit we’ve been doing forever in more established people’s videos, and that was frustrating.

Looking at your old videos, are there any visuals you’re surprised made the cut?
I’m not sure, I don’t feel like any of them were that gnarly [laughs]. It’s all fake, you know?

Do you ever think adding too many effects starts to ruin the final product?
Yeah, for sure. I’ve gotten to the point where my goal is to make something simple and enjoyable to watch. But even when I try to make a basic video people will be like, “That was weird.” It’s still standing out, and obviously that has a lot to do with the skaters. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m much more toned down now.

When you took a chance and moved to LA, what jobs did you take on to make an actual living?
I was a dishwasher for the first three years in LA, working in a bunch of different restaurants. It’s the easiest job to get, and I liked it because you don’t have to talk to anyone. I actually worked in restaurants up until working on [Sci-Fi’s] Endless Beauty. I got fired because I took too much time off work traveling for that video. That restaurant sucked [laughs].

After I got fired I told Jerry [Hsu], “Can I just work full-time for you on the Sci-Fi video?” He hooked me up, and I spent the next six months working on Endless Beauty.

“Jerry [Hsu] gave us the freedom to make it however we wanted.”

Wow, so Endless Beauty was your first time getting paid full-time to film and edit skateboarding.
Yeah. I met Jerry Hsu through Logan Lara. We didn’t really talk much, but we skated the curbs and chilled. Then, when Ryan Lay got on Sci-Fi, he was like, “Hey, do you want to film some stuff for this Intro to Sci-Fi part I’m working on.” I’ve known Ryan for a long time so we filmed a few things and I edited the footage.

That led to me editing Arin and Akwasi’s part, and it went from there. Jerry [Hsu] was like, “You made our first video, let’s just keep it consistent.” After that we started going on trips and that turned into the full length. Luke Murphy filmed the majority of it and we edited it together.

What’s the working dynamic between you and Luke?
Luke’s the master filmer. I would come on trips and help, and I filmed a lot of the B-roll, but sometimes I couldn’t come on trips and he’d handle all the filming. Jerry gave us the freedom to make it however we wanted, he’s like, “You’re good at this stuff. Take my vibe and mix it with your vibe and that will be Sci-Fi.”

Julian Lewis, etnies Promo

What opened the doors to working with etnies and Emerica?
Well, my friend Kyle Seidler had been working for those brands for ten years, and I had worked on some small Emerica things a while ago. So I was dipping my toes into those companies. Towards the end of “Endless Beauty” I started working for Etnies and Emerica, which turned into the etnies promo and the Emerica tour video.

Now I’m the filmer, editor, and team manager for all these brands along with Kyle. We cover éS, etnies, and Emerica.

“Just do what you do, and that will be the new Emerica.”

Were you intimidated to take over two brands with such a big history and legacy?
I remember being intimidated, and then I was talking to Spanky, who was a huge part of the push for me to work on Emerica stuff, and he was like, “It’s new owners, they want to rebrand and start over.” That took a lot of pressure off. Spanky was like, “Just do what you do, and that will be the new Emerica.”

And the same goes for etnies. I’m working hard to make each company’s videos look different, and people have still been like, “This just looks like Sci-Fi,” but I think it’s just because people know I made the videos. In my opinion, they don’t look alike at all.

Have you ever been this in demand before?
No, it’s kind of crazy [laughs]. This is my first full-time job where I’m filming and editing skateboarding, and then I’m also being a team manager, and I’m doing social media, and I’m in sales meetings. I’m also picking flow riders who could potentially be on the team next year, and it’s cool to see people who are hyped since the video came out. They want to be involved and are excited about the brand. People are reaching out like, “Hey, I want to be on etnies.” And some of these people I’m surprised by. I’m hyped that people have gravitated towards it and want to be involved.

These opportunities have come a bit later for you. Do you ever worry about becoming the out of touch old guy?
[laughs] No, I don’t worry about that. I’m trusting my taste, and I’m sticking to what I like and what I would like to see. Also, my taste is always changing, and there’s a million things that people haven’t done yet. There’s plenty of ideas left to do.

“I think my videos have been successful for a long time, it’s just the opportunities that are coming now.”

Why do you think people are coming around to you now?
I’ve made videos and tried to show people stuff forever. I think it’s just a timing thing. This is just the time that it works. I’ve known Spanky and Kyle forever, and I’ve always shown them my videos. They’ve always been hyped on them, but it’s not like they could just say, “All right, let’s have him do it right now.” It takes a long time for businesses to hire people and trust you, I guess. And there’s also a lot of luck involved. I think my videos have been successful for a long time. It’s just the opportunities that are coming now.

Do you see skate videos as art?
If I see a skate video and it makes me feel something, then yes.

Has there ever been a point, other than when you were 18, when you gave up on pursuing skate filming?
There were moments working in kitchens where I thought maybe I could be a chef or something. I liked cooking, but I kept thinking about how I’ve been focusing on skateboarding my whole life. I felt like I needed to do this.

I remember talking to my older sister and her saying, “It’s cool you’re still doing that [filming skateboarding] because most people would have given up.” And when she said that, I was like, “Oh, fuck, I can’t give up.” She said it so casually to me, and I really look up to my older sister. She’s helped me so much and influenced me with music and everything that made me never want to give up. So I’m like, “I have to try and do this as hard as I can,” and that’s what I’ve been doing forever.

Is it harder to pull off more creative ideas these days?
Yeah, and it’s harder to get people to agree to do things. Skaters just want to chill, and they’re like, “Why are we doing this?” I just have to be like, “Trust me” [laughs]. It was a lot easier when we were younger, and everyone was partying and being goofy. Back then you didn’t care. You weren’t thinking about being presented a certain way.

It’s been a month since the Emerica and etnies video dropped. Do you feel like that buzz has sustained?
Definitely. I get a lot of people telling me that they are still watching it and they like it a lot. We’re moving on to this etnies full length, Subwoofer and everyone is really excited to film for that. I think this is the beginning of a big change, and so far so good.

Interview and intro by: Ben Komins
Photos courtesy of: Kyle Seidler and Matt King
DM us a meme on Instagram and Twitter
Ah geez, follow us on TikTok too