Kirby directed his first student feature, a psycho-sexual revenge thriller called “The Pain of the People,” when he was 18, right after his freshman year of college. He did this Robert Rodriguez style: no budget, volunteer crew, etc. Directing this film was a great learning opportunity, and Kirby got the experience of talking his way into a few fun locations, like the famous Pontchartrain Hotel (where they shot parts of “Benjamin Button”) and a sex shop on Louisiana’s infamous Bourbon Street. The finished film had no color work or audio work, because frankly Kirby didn’t really know how to make a movie. He simply ripped a few songs off of YouTube for the soundtrack. The film – shockingly – didn’t make it into Sundance, like “El Mariachi” did, but it did play at the Idyllwild Film Festival. The story depicts a young woman dealing with the aftermath of grueling sexual assault. At their one and only screening, a senior citizen who saw the film (the premier had maybe 8 people), came up to Kirby and told him that she had been sexually assaulted as a teenager. She had never told anyone else this information before in her entire life, and using the film to gain this woman’s trust remains one of the proudest moments of Kirby’s life.
While working on that film, Kirby met Felicia Stallard, who was friends with one of the actors. She had a strong interest in film and expressed interest in helping produce or finance Kirby’s next film. Two years later they did just that, as Kirby wrote/directed his next student film; “Love Me True” brought on Felicia as Executive Producer. The romantic comedy was Kirby’s undergraduate honor’s thesis, and it went on to win Best Cinematography at the New Orleans Film Festival, where it premiered. It was also the Opening Night film of the Rincon International Film Festival. It was distributed by Indican Pictures. John Swider also produced this film, and it starred William McGovern, who plays Ed in "We All Think We're Special."
After “Love Me True” Felicia founded The COOL Cooperative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that teaches film-making workforce development skills to inner city middle- and high-school students. Kirby was a founding member of the organization, and although he took a few years off, he’s currently the Executive Director. This is COOL’s 5th year of operations.
After helping start COOL, Kirby also taught cinematography at the Shanghai Vancouver Film School, lived in Los Angeles, and made a number of short films, mini-documentaries, and commercials. When he felt the need to make his debut professional feature, Kirby returned to New Orleans.
After finishing "We All Think We're Special," he was so impressed by the students of The COOL Cooperative that he joined the organization! He is currently proud to serve as The Executive Director.
