The world is always buzzing with possibilities for those in the creative industries, and Skye Bleu Henry, a recent Chapman graduate, shares how she is making a name for herself in the entertainment industry.
After receiving her degree in business with a real estate emphasis and a minor in CCI during Spring 2022, Skye has been putting her time and talents toward creating the feature she always envisioned. From making short films to feature films, and even traveling to Sweden to record a forthcoming documentary, Skye discusses with us how CCI provided her with the foundation to develop a successful production company.
Growing up in Pasadena, California, Skye was exposed to the film and real estate industries, and during her time at Chapman University she was able to combine both her passions as a major and a minor. As a child Skye first gained behind the scenes knowledge of the entertainment industry when she worked on set as an actress in commercials. While at Chapman, she was able to simultaneously earn her degree as well as her California real estate license, which she now uses for property stage management. As a Business major, Skye used her CCI minor to focus on film and the intersections of real estate within the creative fields.
I had the opportunity to chat with Skye about her life after graduation and her perspective on CCI.
What made you pursue CCI as a minor?
SB: Professor Patrick Fuery had a significant impact on my decision to pursue the minor. He recommended that I attempt CCI even if I had the slightest interest in it. As soon as I started, I realized that it was the perfect minor because it combined every aspect of my interests. When selecting a minor, I didn't want to commit to a certain field, such as film, because I wanted to offer myself the opportunity to experiment with a variety of industries. Fortunately, CCI gave me the freedom to explore whatever I desired. As the months passed, I began to realize that after I graduated, every lesson I learned in CCI would be put to practice. After a few classes, I knew that's exactly what I want to do.
How do you think CCI has played a role in your post grad journey?
SB: My sister [Sahvannah Rae] and I knew we both wanted to start our own production company as soon as I graduated. Although she’s older than me, it was crucial for both of us that I understood the administrative side of launching a business. During my senior year, the short film we produced became the driving force of us forming our company together, Skye Film Studios. We decided right away that after I graduated we wanted to tackle a bigger project than we'd done before: producing a feature film. CCI specifically helped me with both the fundraising and organization aspects of holding events. Since we intended to fundraise and finance the film ourselves my passion in art and understanding of art galleries went perfectly in hand with our fundraising strategy. As a result, we decided to hold art and music festivals in both Burbank and Glendale. When we first held an event, we realized how much intricate work goes into hosting a festival, especially when there are only two of us. Every event had a particular theme that provided artists with both inspiration and creative freedom. We’ve slowly watched our festivals grow in attendance and participation. It's incredibly motivating to witness the progress we’ve made. CCI provided me with the foundation of understanding artists, how they work, the art world, as well as introducing ourselves to musicians, the musical world, locating artists, and of course the organizing of events.
What was one of your favorite classes and what did you learn?
SB: I discovered how significant the craft of storytelling is during my storytelling class. In the course, I learned that there are a variety of audiences to target, including investors, as well as different media to consider, such as documentaries or social campaigns. When building a project, you must tell a story and offer it to your target audience in a captivating way that is catered to their interests. One of the most important lessons I took away from the course was the importance of writing down what you want to convey to others on paper, and then transferring that to the screen.
What would you say is your favorite part of the CCI program?
SB: It's incredible to have access to so many different kinds of people with different majors in a single minor. In many of my business classes, there weren't many writers or filmmakers, but at CCI, there were. It was great to attend a classroom in which you have a melting pot of people within Chapman itself. The minor is a mere reflection of how the real world is because you are constantly collaborating with different people. For example, when you establish a business, you are dealing with more than just business people; you are also dealing with graphic designers, marketers, and other types of professionals. I believe CCI did a fantastic job of grouping us with people who are different from you.
What would you say is your advice for graduating seniors and CCI minors?
SB: If you have a project or an idea in mind, just do it. I know it's frightening, but the risk is well worth the reward. I remember how nervous we were when we launched our first festival, but once we sold our first ticket, we knew it was worth it. Even if your project doesn't turn out the way you expected, even if it fails, the best thing you can do is execute your idea as best as you can. Because once you have that first taste of success, no matter how small, you can learn from it and apply it to your next project. I know it can be intimidating to start something right out of college, but you surround yourself with others who have that mentality of, okay let’s try it and you do, even if you have no idea what you're doing.
Can you share your upcoming plans?
SB: We'll [Sahvannah Rae] be taking a break from these fundraising festivals and relocate to Sweden next month to study cinema and create a documentary. We've done a feature, numerous shorts, and we're curious about what we can accomplish as filmmakers, so we came up with the idea of making a docuseries in Scandinavia. We're heading to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The documentary will focus on the study of Swedish and Scandinavian filmmaking practices. We will be interviewing various professors and filmmakers from the three distinct nations. At the same time, we'll look into different attractions of what these nations have to offer, such as the northern lights. The docuseries is about how they study film in comparison to how we perceive film in LA, including the cultural variations of how to be a filmmaker in different nations.
What is your biggest take away from the CCI Minor?
Thanks to CCI, I was able to learn about editing and film making even as a business major. I believe that Chapman offers excellent programs. For example, If you want to be an editor you can take really advance editing courses. With CCI it was wonderful to get the fundamental abilities I required to use expensive software such as photoshop and adobe creative without having to tie myself down to a specific minor. It’s important to take advantage of the opportunities the university has to offer, especially in CCI. Thanks to my minor, my understanding of what goes on in the minds of artists both historically and currently has improved as a result of taking art history classes. As a result, my art studies prepared me to contact artists and learn to develop mutual benefits and respect between the artist and an employer.
There you have it folks, you’ve heard it from Skye first. The Creative and Cultural Industries minor helps to provide students with opportunities that contribute to helping them graduate having had unique experiences and gained skills that will help them in achieving their goals outside of the university. Skye is a wonderful example of how students can integrate multiple interests through the CCI minor as they work their way toward their degree. We appreciate Skye's time and wisdom on the Creative and Cultural Industries at Chapman, and we wish her well on her trip to Sweden. If you are a CCI alum, or know of one, with news to share about the post-grad journey, please contact CCI Program Manager at shalvers@chapman.edu or CCI Social Media Coordinator at erosas@chapman.edu to be featured.