Kenneth Stevenson smiling in a camo bomber jacket and gray cap
My ethos

Hi, I’m Kenneth.

I’m a fractional creative director, filmmaker and technologist advancing pro-Western ideas and entertainment. My work runs through cinema, episodics, advertising and open-source platform development.

I grew up working in my family’s southern carnival and amusement business, with Xaverian influences close by. That left me with a hunger for independence, a lifelong habit of learning, and a counter-cultural streak I’ve never apologized for.

I’m a Roman Catholic and a lifelong learner, and I try to hold both with humble discipleship: I haven’t arrived, I’m still being taught, and I’m a messenger, not the message.

How I work

Every skill I picked up is a tool for the same job.

I lean on what I learned as a VFX supervisor, a hardware hacker and a socio-political commentator to push the limits of what’s possible on screen, and to make it worth thinking about once the credits roll.

The music I grew up on, punk and y’alternative rock, and my libertarian streak are where I put my frustration with centralized power and oppressive ideologies. That’s where “y’alternative” comes from.

What I believe

A life by design, not default

Personal sovereignty: every person owns their own life, work and conscience. I write, build and hire from that starting point.

The virtue of suffering

Struggle isn’t a flaw in a good story. It’s usually the point, and my best work has come out of it.

Subsidiarity

Decisions belong at the smallest level that can make them well, closest to the people they affect.

Diversity of thought

I’d rather sit across from a thoughtful disagreement than an echo. My sets and my stories have room for both.
What I believe

Other ideas I keep coming back to.

Voluntaryism

Persuade, invite, build. I’d rather win people over than push them around.

Displaced transcendentalists

I keep writing for people who feel something bigger than the age they were handed.

Humble discipleship

I’m a Roman Catholic and a lifelong learner. I start with scripture and work outward, toward reason, craft, and the world.

A keen eye out for tyranny

1776 got it right. Power concentrates, and it needs watching, whether it wears a crown, a corporation or a platform. I build things that make it harder to abuse.

It is what it is

It cuts against the left and the right. Biology is real. Not everything is a conspiracy. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but there is only one truth, and I’d rather see things plainly than invent a villain or a fairy tale.

Discerning Change

Growth for its own sake isn’t health. I ask what a change feeds and what it consumes before I call it progress.

A good man is not a nice guy

Nice avoids conflict. Good tells the truth, keeps his word and pays the cost of doing right, even when it makes him unpopular.
My mission

Make work that encourages audiences to live a life by Design, not Default. To build the open, independent systems allowing them to self-actualize on their faith journey rather than answer to centralized power.

The long way here

Timeline.

2010

Assistant Directing Training Program

Hands-on training for the director’s chair.
2011

David Letterman Scholarship

Awarded the David Letterman Scholarship.
2011

SONY internship

Learning how a global media company runs from the inside.
2012

Versa Studios Club formed

Started building with other makers.
2013

“Cheery Point” premieres

The first big premiere. Same year, I graduated.
2015

Incubator built, SVOD deal signed

Opened the incubator and landed a subscription-video deal for Cheery Point.
2017

SeriesFest & Midwest Film Festival

Taking episodic work to the festival circuit.
2018

Joined AICP

Joined the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. Visited Star Wars Celebration.
2019

SXSW and a Telly

Showed up at SXSW and took home Tellys for Skookum and Resilient (Gold).
2022

Ron Paul scholarship, office expansion, another Telly

Awarded a Ron Paul Institute of Peace & Prosperity scholarship, expanded the office, and “Long Live the King” won a Telly.
2025

Thermidor LTD. established

My own streaming home for independent films, series and podcasts.

Let’s make something worth watching.