ABOUT KEL

Hi, I'm Kellan (or Kel) and I'm a videographer and filmmaker based in New York City and Philadelphia! Originally from New York, I've been a professional videographer since 2012, but picked it up in 2004 when I would go into Manhattan on the weekends and document my trips with friends, mostly over at the TV show Saturday Night Live. When my dad died in 2005 those home movies he had of us together became so valuable to me and a prime source of inspiration to my career path.

I grew up on the comedy scene in NYC and became the resident videographer for Seth Herzog's show 'Sweet' in 2012 until 2017 and shows here and there from 2018 onward. In 2014, I also did Zog's wedding video and that's when I discovered I could do this as a real everyday job ....

THE BASICS.

I'm Kellan Kelly. Middle child; child of tattooed Harley biker parents. 4th Gen New Yorker. Irish Jew-talian. Tattooed (5). Videographer. Filmmaker. Writer. Former dancer. Occasional actor (SVU, The Romanoffs, Orange Is The New Black). Future dog mom whenever I have time. Obsessed with the 'Hamilton' play. Adult coloring book lover. Iced coffee and music for stress relief. Buffalo wings and fries, always. The Office is my comfort show.

PROFESSIONAL.

In 2005, after my father died, our home movies became so valuable to me. It took me until 2007 to actually play them and when I did I bolted out of the room to the bathroom sobbing. I was alone and i think it was the first time I reacted like that since his funeral and that moment sticks with me so vividly. Between 2005 and 2007 I was finishing high school and discovering myself. It was a really hard time for a few reasons but going into manhattan and camping out for Saturday Night Live was my escape. I documented my trips each weekend on my little palm camcorder and collected a bunch of fun footage. On Mondays I would often get asked what was so special about going there so I put footage on my video ipod and would show the highlights. At the time I also created a website for Bill Hader who often collaborated with me in website content and it eventually became popular within the SNL community. I even the opportunity to be in two SNL film productions and photographed for a New York Times article. I would get a lot of questions from fans about the process of going to an SNL taping and what it's like so I decided to make a highlight reel of my footage. It turned out to be 3 minutes and I intended to make it longer but put it on pause.

At the time that I was putting my SNL reel together (2008) and finding its direction, I developed an interest in becoming a documentarian. I met Seth Herzog via UCB Theatre where we would cap an eventful weekend at SNL by seeing some of the cast do improv at the Sunday show Assscat. So basically SNL lead me to UCB which lead me to Zog and that brought me to a whole new area of comedy in New York City. I interviewed Bobby Moynihan and Seth Herzog but became stuck on how I wanted to move forward. I posted Bobby's raw onto my youtube channel and wanted to do more with Zog's. I put it on the back burner and in the fall of 2009 I filmed one of the 'Sweet' shows ironically with Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte co-hosting. It was a bit of a full circle moment. In two days I put together a 90 second teaser out of the interview over the footage. Much like the SNL video, I intended for it to be longer but comparing the two I actually really enjoyed the challenge of packing a story into a short feature like this. From there it became my signature style.

In 2010, I took tickets at the door for Sweet until 2012 when we suddenly lost the videographer. I literally took the train from midtown to lower east side and got asked to shoot the show and ran back uptown to get my camera and trekked back down just before the start and from there I became the resident videographer until 2017. It was such a fun experience where I developed my videography skills and got to see some worldwide names and local favorites come by and perform. During that time I got to work with The Chris Gethard Show, Nerdist, and also did Zog's wedding video which opened up a whole new door for me to take videography to another professional level. Starting in 2018 I started shooting the show again on special occasions and in 2024 we made a documentary on the show's 20th anniversary. It was such a special project to be a part of after being part of the show for 16 years.

It took a while for me to get into wedding videography and I honestly didn't think (and i dont think anyone else thought) it would be my kind of thing but what I love about doing wedding and event videography is that it allows me to consistently work in videography and offering a personal style towards the field.

I want to offer the same sentiment my home movies brought me. I love capturing moments to help turn them into memories for people and not just make a video but actually create a keepsake full of love, laughs, fun, and joyful happy tears.