WEARE SPEAKING TO KEVIN LANRE

Nov
30/09

Written by Esguerra
Monday, 30 November 2009

Today we speak to executive producer of Street | Talk Kevin Lanre.

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HQ: Tell us a little bit about yourself?

KEVIN: My name is Kevin Lanre and I executive produce a show called Street | Talk in addition to being the creative director of The Media Mushroom.
HQ: What made you want to get into media?

KEVIN: There are many reasons but the main one has to be the freedom to create something I and like-minded people would enjoy watching or reading.

HQ: Tell us about Street Talk, who’s involved and how did the idea come along?

KEVIN: There are many people involved with Street | Talk as we are always open to creatives.

Street | Talk is about anywhere creativity and innovation thrives and it can be on your block, the next city or even on another continent. With our forthcoming New York project we set the foundation for future episodes away from our home base in London, covering the globe.

The Street | Talk idea actually came from a series of other program ideas, but in the end we decided on meshing our two favourite ones together, public opinion and a talk show.

HQ: What are the differences/comparisons to the US “Scene” to the UK “Scene”?

KEVIN: First off, I must state that we only did NY and not the whole US, so it would be wrong to generalise. Hopefully one day soon we will be able to do the whole country.

But to answer the question, the NY “scene” was welcoming. A lot of people were ready to embrace new and interesting things and they were very driven about creating exposure and promoting their works. The phrase, time is money comes to mind.

There was no dilly dallying about, it was really fast paced and I really liked that because it kept me on my toes.

HQ: Who did you speak to out there?

You’ll have to wait till the shows air, but I can tell you we had the pleasure of meeting, talking and hanging out with some amazingly talented and driven people.

HQ: You made this project happen and followed the necessary steps to make sure you carried it out to the wire. What would you say are the fundamentals of following completing a successful project?

Being able to connect with people, having a strong team, being passionate about your dreams and having a manager who not only shares your vision but constantly keeps you on your toes.

HQ: Give us some details of your journey in the States. What was it like undertaking this project so far away from home?

KEVIN: It was exciting!

Even though we were far from home, New York has always felt like home to me so there really was not much hassle with getting things done. My only problem was the subway system, having not been back to New York since my last trip in 05, I had totally lost all my bearings subway wise. It was a good thing Craig, Money Mike and my little brother Akeem of Akstarlifestyle.com where on hand as I would have probably gotten lost many a times.

HQ: Tell us about the other people involved in the project?

KEVIN: Well, there’s our cameraman and editor, Michael Osaer who we all fondly refer to as, Money Mike. He’s doing some amazing work with his designer baby films, my good friend and model extraordinaire cum behind the scenes cameraman Craig Daryl Arthur, who is also working on a few exciting projects as well.

Oh, and there’s our super secret weapon, Ivory Dome. She’s somewhere on the globe right now taking over a continent or two. Shout out to her!

HQ: Street Talk has obviously been a huge success, what does the future hold for Street Talk and the collective working with you?

KEVIN: I’m incredibly humbled by all the love we have gotten so far and it pushes me to go harder and better. As for what the future holds for us all I’ll say is, the sky is NOT the limit. We have jet packs and cylinders of oxygen.