Keenan D Kunst

Keenan D. Kunst is a producer, media professional, and U.S Air Force veteran. He holds an MFA in Producing from the prestigious UCLA's Producer's Program and a BA in Film and Media Arts and Marketing from American University. He is an accomplished leader and project manager, having initially honed his approaches and skills as an active-duty U.S Air Force officer from 2012 to 2020, separating from the active duty military to pursue creative storytelling and craft resonant, innovative, action-driven narratives. Keenan grew up in the foothills of the famed Adirondack Mountains, in Glens Falls, New York. He always wanted military service to be a part of his life, but he wanted creative storytelling to be his life's work. Following his undergraduate education, Keenan was assigned to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, before a series of overseas assignments with the 48th Fighter Wing in the United Kingdom and the 86th Airlift Wing in Ramstein, Germany, where he served as second-in-command of the Air Force's largest public affairs unit. During this time, he also deployed to Lithuania as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission and to Afghanistan as the primary public affairs advisor to the commander of the Air Force's counter-terrorism mission with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, part of Operation Freedom's Sentinel. His final active-duty assignment was as the Chief of Public Affairs for the 509th Bomb Wing, which operates the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. He continues to serve as a public affairs officer in the Air Force Reserve. In August 2020, Keenan and his wife, Margot, their dog, and their cat, made the cross-country move to Los Angeles, where Keenan began his MFA candidacy at UCLA, as one of 15 uniquely talented individuals selected for the prestigious Producer's Program, under the tutelage of Barbara Boyle and Glenn Williamson. During his first year as a Bruin, he also interned on the independent production, "Lola James", produced by UCLA alum Will McCance and starring Nicola Peltz. He also served as the associate producer for a Chapman University MFA thesis film, La Casita de la Mariposa, managing the physical production of the Latinx-centered piece. Later, he served as an associate producer on Hector Serrano's "Fabula" before producing the action short, "Vida" with a UCLA producing classmate. Keenan is driven by boundary-pushing and innovation, both personally and professionally. He is an avid skier, rock climber and skydiver and passionately believes in the value of informed risk taking. He aims to apply this paradigm to his creative works, to telling novel stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of American identity and the varied nuances of masculinity.