Ken Kao: The Movie Mogul Among Us
The O‘ahu-based producer has worked with Martin Scorsese, Olivia Colman, Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Brie Larson and many other stars.
It was a slippery slope. As a teen growing up in Kansas, Ken Kao would frequent the local video rental stores. Mainstream movie selections soon gave way to more sophisticated fare – classic films like “A Clockwork Orange,” and the works of directors such as Martin Scorsese and Terrence Malick.
“Godard, Fellini … really advanced I stuff I probably had no business checking out,” Kao says with a laugh.
Photo: courtesy of Jive PR+Digital
Kao, who lives in Honolulu, is the co-founder and president of film production company Waypoint Entertainment. He’s been a producer on a dozen feature films, including “The Favourite,” which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including a best actress win for its star, Olivia Colman. He worked with Scorsese on “Silence,” Malick on “Song to Song” and “Knight of Cups,” and Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe on “The Nice Guys.” He also produced “The Glass Castle,” adapted from the bestselling book by Jeannette Walls and starring Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson.
Prior to launching Waypoint in 2010, Kao was a lawyer, but in his early 30s, he quit. “I realized I wanted to wake up loving what I do every day. I took a hard left; I don’t have film school training. My love for film has spawned from being a fan of cinema. I wanted to be in service and build out a career in an industry that I love so much.”
So, what, exactly, does a film producer do?
“A good producer does almost everything,” says Kao. “A bad producer can get away with doing almost nothing.” With Waypoint, he says, “I wanted to create a one-stop shop that produces, that can finance, and that provides dedicated long-term project development, creative support and collaboration, and to do that efficiently without having to rely on a studio.
“With anybody working in the film business, you’re managing a lot of egos and creative needs, some of which are healthy and some of which aren’t,” he says. “Relationships are key. I am proud to work with some of the same people repeatedly. It means people enjoy working with me and the group. There’s a trust factor that helps in the creative process, and when you find that, you tend to want to work over and over with each other. It’s not that easy to find comfort and safety in this business, to get that shorthand you develop.”
“Stepford Wives” Meets “Rosemary’s Baby”
His latest producing credit is for “Cuckoo,” which premiered in February at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. Written and directed by German avant-garde filmmaker Tilman Singer, the high-style horror movie stars Hunter Schafer, who came to fame on TV’s “Euphoria.” It’s slated to hit U.S. screens in August.
The Hollywood Reporter called the film “kind of like ‘The Stepford Wives’ meets ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ with side orders of Cronenberg, J-Horror and Lynch.” Kao says he was happy to dip into the horror genre but that overall, he is “genre agnostic.” He’s worked on coming-of-age-films (“Mid90s”); action thrillers (“The Outsider”); and period pieces like “Hostiles,” which was set on the 19th-century frontier.
“Hollywood tends to exhaust a formula,” says Kao. “My focus instead has always been to find something or a point of view that is fresh, that subverts a genre, that evolves it in some way.”
It’s not easy being in the film industry these days. Streaming services that once chased prestige are now more interested in mainstream fodder than independent films, says Kao, and if they do greenlight an independent film, it’s likely to be small budget. Added stressors include last year’s actors and writers strikes, which followed on the heels of the Covid pandemic.
The film business is a microcosm of the global economy, says Kao. “I am grateful that we are still standing after more than a decade [with Waypoint]. The main thing is to be nimble and adaptative.”
Up next: “Project Hail Mary,” a sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling, set to shoot in the U.K. this spring and a modern adaptation of “Hamlet,” starring Riz Ahmed, which is in post-production.
Lots of Other Ventures
Kao is also a co-founder and partner at Los Angeles-based Parallel, a celebrity talent partnership studio and strategic investor that launched in 2020. It works with wellness and purpose-driven brands like HOP WTR, a nonalcoholic beverage; Happy Viking, a protein drink co-founded by Venus Williams; and investment funds Springbank and Amboy Street Ventures.
Kao comes by his entrepreneurial spirit honestly. His father is Min Kao, a co-founder of navigation company Garmin, and “not only in my immediate family but also in my extended family, we have a history of taking chances and creating,” he says. “I think there’s some creative DNA in me. But what fuels my entrepreneurial spirit is to find new ways to work with people, and to create.”
“I’m super grateful that Hawai‘i has allowed us to call it home. My daughter is in school here. We’re thriving on a personal level here.”
He also seeks to foster film-based economic opportunities in Hawai‘i. “There are a growing number of productions here and crew as well, but I want to foster above-the-line work” in areas such as creative development, production and direction.
