About
Nikki Kahl is a writer, artist, and filmmaker from Los Angeles, California. Her lifelong passion for storytelling took form during her film school experience, which began an exciting journey through production, post-production, and the written word.
Her cinematic journey began in the heart of Los Angeles, at film school in Santa Monica, California, where she soon became known as a skilled cinematographer, production designer, and editor. Sought after for her keen eye for shot design and lighting, ability to create immersive worlds and set the scene, and weave narratives through a wide range of post-production skills, Nikki collaborated on several short films during school, while she wrote and directed some of her own.
Many of the films she worked on featured artwork she created herself. Each project was an opportunity to refine her artistry and craft, and create something that mattered—these are values she still holds to this day.
Her work took her outside of the realm of school, and she soon found herself behind the lens at LA Fashion Week, documenting the glamour and energy the runway, and at red carpet events, capturing moments of celebration. Nikki’s freelance work also included product commercials and documentaries, one such documentary following a rock band’s musical journey from its conception through their time in Los Angeles. During this time, her ink illustrations were featured in galleries across Los Angeles and New York.
Right out of film school, Nikki was hired to run the video department at Merle Norman Cosmetics as the Video Production and Digital Media Coordinator. There, she orchestrated the entire lifecycle of video marketing, spanning development, pre-production, production, post-production, and global distribution. The impact of her work resonated across Merle Norman Studios in the United States, Canada, and even Dubai. She kept up her freelance work, which opened up incredible opportunities.
In 2015, Nikki collaborated with Cal State Northridge Professor Luciana Laganá Ph.D. on the feature documentary “LGBT United,” where she served as cinematographer, editor, and composer. The documentary won several awards in the festival circuit in 2016, such as the Silver Award Best Documentary at the California Film Awards, Best Documentary at the Back in the Box Competition, Best LGBT Film at the Indifest Film Awards, and the Silver Award for Best Documentary Feature at the International Independent Film Awards. This powerful social impact documentary amplified the voices and untold stories of LGBT youth in the United States.
Following the success of “LGBT United,” Nikki explored freelance opportunities across Southern California. Working with clients on video production and post-production developed into a career in journalism, writing in-depth reviews of the same kinds of home theater and commercial projectors she was creating videos of. Her writing career flourished, and she found success in both journalism and copywriting. But, her heart called her back home to fiction, a love she never lost.
During the Pandemic, she began writing a graphic novel script and short stories, which led her to study the art and writing of graphic novels and comic books extensively. To hone her craft in writing, she took masterclasses from Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown, David Balducci, and Aaron Sorkin, and enrolled at the Academy of Art University where she studied writing for graphic novels and comic books under Joey Cavalieri (DC, Marvel), and illustration for graphic novels and comic books under Carl Potts (DC, Marvel). Under Joey’s guidance, Nikki crafted the first draft of “Immortal Bones,” which is currently in progress. She is currently researching for her novel “Secrets” and as several screenplays in the works.
Nikki’s vast experience in writing, art, and filmmaking has led her on a creative adventure. Along that path, she has encountered many aspiring writers and filmmakers that ask the same questions. Now, she seeks to answer them through her content on social media, her podcast, her blog, and through her products, which she desires to keep accessible to indie creators on a budget. Nikki knows what it’s like to build a creative career from the ground up, to work on a skeleton crew with a shoestring budget, and how to be savvy and work with what you’ve got.