The Origin Story Podcast

The Origin Story Podcast


Martin Kelley | Independent Filmmaker and Writer

October 01, 2019

Michael sits down with independent filmmaker and writer Martin Kelley.


Bio


After graduation from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Martin started two independent record labels and worked as a music journalist. Martin began his work in the Indie film arena as the music supervisor for the award-winning film The Unreliable Narrator.  Soon after his first screenplay, Martin co-founded and became co-president of the Atlanta Screenwriters Group, which is one of the largest screenwriter organizations in the Southeast. The Atlanta Screenwriters Group has grown from five members to well over 500 participants over the years and has cemented itself as one of Atlanta’s most respected film education organizations. Martin’s directing debut was the short film, Boy@nt!, which was selected for the Annual Atlanta Film and Video Festival. He then went on to direct the HD feature Behind the Nine from a script that he co-wrote and was released on home video through Echelon Entertainment. He co-wrote and directed the Cougars Film Group short film Trust Beam, which earned the audience award at the Atlanta 48 Hour Film Project. Another Cougars film he produced Spleen was an official selection of the Atlanta Film Festival and yet another short film he co-wrote and co-produced Overblown won Best Film and Best Script at a subsequent Atlanta 48 Hour film Project. Martin became one of the founders and Editor-In-Chief of an online film magazine called Cinematl.com, which focuses on filmmaking in the Southeast. Martin continued to write screenplays including Loaded Dice (Shoreline Entertainment), Vicious (M.T.I. Home Entertainment) as well as win screenwriting awards like the Atlanta Film Festival’s Perfect Pitch Award for his script Jen. He continued to produce independent projects like the feature documentary Beat Makers which was released by Nelson/Madison Films.  He wrote the short film Soup which was selected to screen at Film Festivals as well as the short films The Unbearable Rightness of Diversity and Short Time, the former was selected to screen once again at the Atlanta Film Festival and it joined six of his short films that have appeared on the PBS show Atlanta Shorts as well as Comcast ON-Demand. More recently his producing, writing and directing efforts on the short films The Ticket, Tainted Blood and Dead Justice have all seen awards and film festival selections.


His script Immigration Tango was shot in Miami and won Best Picture at the Boston International Film Festival and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate. He wrote and produced the feature film Step Off, which was released by Lionsgate as well as blackhats which was released by Amazon. His new feature Beauty and the Beholder is available on Amazon Prime and iTunes Starting Oct. 8. Also, his faith-based movie titled Full Count will be released On Demand and in select theaters nationwide on October 25th! Also, lookout for a thriller titled Reckoning that will release in early 2020.


SOCIALS


INSTAGRAM
IMDB
Full Count the Movie


SHOW NOTES


STEP OFF
BLACK HATS
BEAUTY AND THE BEHOLDER
Planet Rock
Grandmaster Flash – The Message
L.L. Cool J
Reign of Terror
Richard Etchison
Syd Field
John Woo
The Fox and the Hound
Pedro Almodovar
Atlanta Screenwriters Group
The Screenwriter’s Bible
The Writer’s Journey
Screenwriting for Dummies
Immigration Tango
Beauty and the Beholder
Falcons Color Rush Jersey


Links to more of Martin’s work:


Behind The Nine (2004)
Behind The Nine (2004)It’s the final weekend of an underground nine-ball tournament, with the winner taking home $500,000 cash. The lo…


Step Off (2011)
Step Off (2011)The pressure mounts for a struggling but talented music producer in Atlanta whose tracks for a beat contest in A…


Beat Makers:https://tubitv.com/movies/146646/beat_makers?tracked=1


Blackhats (2017)


Blackhats (2017)A disillusioned bounty hunter has to track down a notorious hacker before he’s assassinated by a dangerous rival…


And Beauty and the Beholder:
Beauty and the Beholder (2018)
Beauty and the Beholder (2018)Atlanta’s leading plastic surgeon, who’s also a raging narcissist, meets his match when he collides with a self-…


Immigration Tango/Available onAmazon Prime VideoFrom $3.99
Prime Video


iTunesFrom $3.99VuduFrom $3.99