KarynRose Bruyning and the power of her pen.
Take a BTS peek into the storytelling process with industry producer, director, and writer KarynRose Bruyning.
From the young age of 10, KarynRose Bruyning was introduced to the world of cinema beginning with Spike Lee joints. “When I found out that the guy in the movie also wrote it and got to tell everyone what to do, I was completely sold!”, stated KarynRose. From then on, Bruyning began to immerse herself in the world of creative arts. She would go on to perform in every church play possible and proudly sit at the feet of her mentor who had experience as both a playwright and director. With this newfound passion, KarynRose would soak up and learn as much as possible about creating, directing, and crafting stories which would lead her to direct high school plays throughout her teenage years.
After college, KarynRose decided that in order to begin her path in the industry, the theatre would be the perfect place to start. Like any motivated young woman, filled with vision, and artistic passion, ready to take on the world, off she went! Bruyning moved to New York and began acting in small productions before running a play of her own. A few years later, she wrote and directed her first web series. Since then, the flame that was ignited inside of KarynRose Bruyning since primary school has continued to burn brightly through her immense love for storytelling.
Her stories have continued to evolve, engage audiences, and highlight many of today’s most important topics such as race, politics, and treatment of those in marginalized communities.
“My art is my activism. That will never not be so. From producing -
SHIP: A VISUAL POEM (the story of how a family deals with suicide), to
UPTOWN, THE WAY GOD INTENDED (the story of a black man’s journey to find
himself in efforts to be present for future generations), to stories about love. I
believe that art should either reflect the world around it or model an idea for
change.” - -KarynRose
In 2020, at the height of many uncertainties and fearful times for many marginalized communities in America, KarynRose along with Director and writer Bobby Yan and a host of other creative storytellers brought xxVISIBLE to life. xxVISIBLE follows a successful young Asian-American struggling to navigate life during the pandemic lockdown, as a series of events forces him to confront issues of self-identity and racial politics, culminating into an aggressive Anti-Asian attack on him and his mom on the street.
At that time, the President of the United States had been spewing out hateful and ignorant falsities toward the Asian community. Many people bought into these cruel and false narratives, which let to a spike in hate crimes toward many Asian people all over the globe. According to NBC News, a surge in cities such as New York, anti-Asian hate crimes rose from three in 2019 to 28 in 2020, a 833 percent increase. Los Angeles and Boston also experienced notable rises in anti-Asian hate crimes, from seven to 15 and six to 14, respectively. It was time that someone used their platform to speak up and out against this false and hateful rhetoric. So, in November 2020 the crew went into production on this short film with a sense of urgency. Through the power that lies within storytelling, xxVISIBLE was born.
Writing, producing, and directing in the industry for people of color can always prove to be a challenge due to biases and other stereotypical tropes people of color face within many work forces.. KarynRose comes from Southern and West Indian roots; two cultures that she proclaims is well known for not mincing words. Bruyning has crafted many stories that involve and surround black culture, familial relationships, and how to navigate within the society as a black person. She gives credit to her cultural background as to why a lot of her work contains many silent yet strong looks that can connect to dialogue heavy or emotional scenes for audiences.
Most recently, in May 2024, KarynRose served as a writer for the BET+ hit series The Ms. Pat Show, which boasts a very talented predominately black cast who portray characters in a suburban black family living in present day middle America. There are scenes that are filled with emotionally heavy dialogue that have sense gone viral within various black spaces on social media. The season 4 finale titled “The Graduation Party” involved an emotionally heavy argument that ensues between characters Brandon and Ashley in front of the entire family at a party. Many of the comments on social media have consisted of everyday users stating things like, “This is so relatable”, “I feel seen”, “This is too real”, and many have even chimed in stating, “This is just like my family”. We wanted to get insight into how KarynRose brilliantly used her pen to craft such a moving and realistic scene filled with emotionally heavy and sensitive dialogue.
Scenes In Color: Can you tell us about the process of penning this episode and explain the creative process behind weaving such emotional, serious, and vulnerable topics into the fabric of a comedy-based show?
KR: The beautiful thing about The Ms. Pat Show, is that we don’t shy away from anything. It’s rooted in Ms Pat’s life, so it’s supposed to feel real and relatable. With that said, the Writer’s Room is incredible! Jordan (the Showrunner, Creator & EP of the 2x EMMY nominated The Ms. Pat Show) challenges us to tear a thing open and see what’s inside and the thing I’ve been dying to open up was Brandon. He loves everyone, he goes with the flow, he even lets himself be the joke but what happens when he can’t? What happens when being the loveable goof is too hard? I wanted to know, and I thought the only person on the planet who could take him there would be Ashley. Jordan agreed and sent Avon Haughton (who had similarly strong feelings about Janelle) and I off to write it.
Having black writers pen black stories, working alongside with other black storytellers and creatives, creating art for characters who are portrayed by black actors and actresses truly gives an authentic and real feel to a story from a cultural standpoint. It is important to have primary source input and perspective especially when these stories are filled with unique isms, unspoken yet well known traditions, and ways in which stigmatized topics within a certain community or culture are addressed. Black stories must continue to be told and crafted from a black perspective in order to remain genuine as well as provide detailed nuance to the actual storytelling process.
Being able to create in a space that has a supportive or diverse writer’s room and supportive show runner can be the key to success for a writer. Bruyning firmly states, “Your team is EVERYTHING! Everyone is walking in with their own special skills and should hold the vision clearly. A great team makes great work.”
While KarynRose is ever motivated to pen emotionally taxing stories and direct monologue heavy scenes, she also adores creating short films. “I find it to be a place where you can truly be creative without fluff because you have so little time to communicate a point of view. I’ve written, directed, and/or produced 11 short films in my career because I love them so much.”
In her downtime, she enjoys playing chess daily. She started playing via app during lockdown as a means to stay connected with friends, however, this continued and expanded to playing with strangers from all over the world.
KarynRose Bruyning has been a part of the cinematic industry for over a decade. She continues to craft, inspire, motivate, and tell stories that involve the hard truths about life, race, family, and politics. We were honored to be able to peek behind the scenes with this amazing writer, producer, activist, and director as her creative contributions to the industry continue to raise awareness and promote equality through her powerful and informative storytelling within the cinematic universe.
Bruyning is currently working on a video installation that has been in works for the better part of two years. Although she’s excited to share more news, we will have to wait until next Fall for any official information. One thing that KarynRose was allowed to share was her advice or words of wisdom for creatives (writers, producers, directors etc.) of color trying to navigate the industry.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions and when you learn something new, pay it forward and teach someone else. An OG Latina actress told me once, “It shouldn’t be as hard for y’all as it was for us” and that really starts by giving up the real game on how the industry works. The difference between how I thought things were and what they’ve actually been is WILD!
I’d also say, if you want something to exist, make it. The idea that everything must cost a bunch of money is created to keep people from doing anything. As an independent artists, I can honestly say, my least expensive projects have been the most successful and had the greatest impact on my career and the most expensive indie projects I’ve worked on are sitting on a hard drive to maybe be discovered when we’re all too old to care. WRITE THE BOOK. WRITE THE PLAY. SHOOT THE MOVIE ON YOUR PHONE (there are award winners that have). MAKE YOUR ART. The person who sees it may just be the one who gives you your first “big gig”. That was certainly the case for me.”
You can check out The Ms Pat Show streaming now on BET+. Don’t forget to grab some tissue and watch the season 4 finale penned by KarynRose Bruyning & Avon Haughton.
Click here for a list of more creative contributions to the industry from KarynRose Bruyning.