Meet Ryan Stephen Holly | Writer, Director, Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryan Stephen Holly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ryan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my business Ocean Exile was born out of rebellion. I wanted to rebel against the way traditional production companies are run. I yearned to plant the seeds necessary to grow a sustainable creative collective. Creativity and originality are some of my major passions, and through my Hollywood experiences I learned traditional business models revolved around safe formulas and familiar intellectual properties instead of the creative community I craved to cultivate. My vision for Ocean Exile is to empower my fellow creatives as a sort of breeding ground for original expression. I want to build my business in a way that it isn’t about an institution or brick and mortar security but instead about encouraging artists to hone their craft and challenge the status quo with every stroke of their pen, brush, or camera.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m primarily a storyteller. I remember drawing on the walls with crayons (sorry mom) until I learned how to write. Since then, I’ve filled countless journals and have written over 450,000 words of prose–be it via novels, screenplays, teleplays, and poetry. I earned an MFA in Screenwriting from Pepperdine University. Since then, I’ve been primarily focused on writing, directing, and producing narrative content. I’m passionate about creative and original storytelling. I yearn to create new myths for our new generations. My writing tends to be character driven and it infuses supernatural and mythological elements. The journey has and continues to be a an absolute thresher of rejection and failure. My early days in Hollywood were rife with moments in which I was made to feel subhuman by the production companies that took me in as an intern. It’s a pandemic in the industry for studio and production executives to treat interns and assistants like garbage and I hope I can be one of the leaders to change that corrupt system. The paradox I continually face is that I’m both a success and a failure on paper. I’ve gotten agonizingly close to financing multi-million dollar features and earning publishing deals. Despite the heartbreak, I continue to write in my father’s honor and memory, as I wrote my first screenplay when he was dying of cancer when I was 21. That was also when I first moved to Los Angeles. Despite my desire to return to my birthplace of Oklahoma City and be there for him, he encouraged me to pursue my dreams with one of the last words he ever shared with me, “Life can’t stop because of this.” Being a bright-eyed and wildly naive 21 year old in LA with no friends or connections, I wrote my first screenplay and of course was convinced it was a masterpiece. Looking back on it, it is absolute trash. Regardless, I knew I possessed this innate, God-given gift of storytelling, so I honed my craft and sharpened my writing skills until to this day I’ve written 15 feature screenplays and know that I’ve written some of the best unproduced films in the world. Two recent scripts include “Water Dancer,” an animated feature that tells the story of Atti, a 15 year old girl who is half indigenous Mexica and half white American. Set against the backdrop of hip-hop dance battles in Mexico City, Atti discovers there is a mythical underground city called Icix that is inspired by Aztec mythology and powered by modern tech. Her challenge is to become a water dancer and thus save her city from environmental collapse. “Water Dancer” is intended to be the first of seven features, all part of “The Rare Earth Saga” in which each film is set in a major metropolis and features the local indigenous group while shining a light on the environmental crisis of the area. Another script I’m excited about is called “American Bison,” which is a revisionist history western set during the bison genocide of the late 19th Century and is about a rag tag gang of ruffians who set out to save the bison from extinction at the hands of the US Government and vicious hunters dead-set on forcing Native American tribes into reservations. And coming full circle, I founded Ocean Exile with the vision to help elevate younger creatives so they won’t have to suffer like I did coming up in Hollywood without any connections or local support. It’s been a joy to witness the filmmaker army we’re forging in Denver and beyond. We’re all cutting our teeth in many aspects of filmmaking, be it writing, directing, cinematography, and editing. What I want the world to know about Ocean Exile is that our ethos is two fold: societal and environmental: societally, we strive to live out the mission of how the artist must exile oneself to the most wild and remote places like the open ocean in order to return to society with wisdom and narratives that only faith and suffering can provide. Environmentally, we strive to operate in an eco-conscious way in the understanding that the ocean has existed in exile for far too long due to human-induced climate change. As creatives, we strive to be good stewards of creation and promote sustainability in our stories and way of life. Stories for the future. A planet for the future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
What I love most about Denver is how it is a thriving urban center while also boasting proximity to some of the most majestic views in the world. Since I live in the Lower Highlands, I would start by honoring Rush Bowls since they have singlehandedly kept me alive given I’m working most of the time and forget to eat. Their smoothies and smoothie bowls are extraordinary. Depending on whether my friend prefers coffee or tea, my two favorite writing spots in the area are Blue Sparrow Coffee and Colorado Tea Station. A few other essentials are Denver Botanic Gardens, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater (for shows or for parkour or just for sprinting up the stairs and checking your lung capacity or lack there of). Meow Wolf is always an otherworldly experience. Alamo Drafthouse is my go-to for cinema in the city. Alamo’s passion and adoration for cinema is unparalleled. My two favorite cuisines are Thai and Japanese, and for me the best Thai spot in town is US Thai in Sloan’s Lake. Uchi is my favorite sushi restaurant. For drinks, the best bar with the most character and amazing staff is Williams & Graham. I’ve written more pages in that moody speakeasy than anywhere in town. To feel teleported back to prohibition era America is a unique and unforgettable experience. One of my favorite hikes near Denver is St. Mary’s Glacier, which is a short and flat trek through trees that opens up to a glorious glacier.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My major shoutout is to my parents. My father was a successful entrepreneur up until his untimely passing when I was 21 years old. I inherited my independent spirit and work ethic from him. My mother was the heart of our family and I was deeply inspired to witness her courage and strength to further my dad’s work after his passing. I inherited my love for God and others from her, along with my strong moral code. She was the one to teach me what love is.

Website: www.oceanexile.com

Instagram: @rsho1ly and @oceanexile

Twitter: @rsho1ly and @ocean_exile

Image Credits
Cameron Padilla