Langston Griffith-Siebens graduated from the LACHSA Cinematic Arts Department in 2018, a mere 5 years after it became a full-fledged department in the school. He was in one of the first CA classes and made his mark at LACHSA with some incredible films, while also being selected as a National YoungArts Finalist in Cinematic Arts, as well as receiving the Norman Cohen Award. You may also recognize him as one of the faces of the CA program on the LACHSA Foundation website.

Langston featured on the landing page of the LACHSA Foundation website.

After graduating from LACHSA, Langston went onto study film at the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts. Now working at Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), his latest project is as Executive Producer of Doechii’s new video for the song Anxiety. We had the pleasure of interviewing this incredible talent who traces it all back to LACHSA.

Tell us about what it was like for you attending LACHSA. How did you know you wanted to be in the CA department?

I coincidentally followed a friend on my first tour and originally planned to audition for Theater but ended up switching over when I heard about the CA Dept. I really can’t overstate how formative my time at LACHSA was. Especially being only the second year after the department was founded, the freedom we had to experiment was amazing.

What do you think was the most important thing you learned by attending LACHSA?

It’s hard to pinpoint one thing, but I think the practice of learning from and collaborating with my peers has been the most vital to me. I probably learned just as much, if not more, from my friends at LACHSA as I did from my teachers. Learning how to approach creative partnerships and being open to learning from the people that surround you, not just the people above you, has been extremely valuable.

Do you still stay in touch with or work with other LACHSA alumni? What has that looked like for you?

Of course, especially throughout college I continued to work with people I met at LACHSA and the network I was introduced to in programs like YoungArts. Early on I almost exclusively worked with other alumni both out of necessity and comfort. Now I get to bump into people at festivals, check call sheets and see a friend’s name, or call them for advice in whatever field they landed in.

Tell us about your journey after LACHSA.

I ended up at USC for film school in the Cinema and Media Studies major which was mostly theory and history based. I wasn’t making very many films in my classes but honestly that was perfect. I knew my way around a set from my time at LACHSA so USC became four years of watching films I would never have seen elsewhere in theaters, then writing and talking about them. It exposed me to so much and developed my taste while allowing me to work professionally on set outside of class, mostly as an AD. As much as I pull from my personal and set experiences at LACHSA, I constantly reference films and theories I was introduced to in film school and the connections I made there ultimately brought me to TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment).

How did you connect with Doechii to work on her videos?

Growing up in LA I was obviously a huge fan of TDE and their artists, I had heard rumblings of Doechii but first got connected with the label. My sophomore year at USC a handful of TDE executives came to speak at a Black Student Association meeting. There, my partner at the time and I met Moosa Tiffith, President of the label and Doechii’s manager. We approached him after the meeting and showed him the shorts we had done at LACHSA and the music videos we had worked on since. Based on that work he hired us to direct videos for two of their smaller artists which we were all prepped to shoot but unfortunately it was March of 2020 and COVID shut down production. Thankfully, in 2022 when I was getting ready to graduate I reached back out and off of the strength of that initial work Moosa brought me on full time as an in-house creative producer.

Still from Doechii’s Anxiety music video.

Tell us more about your role as Executive Producer on the video Anxiety?

As EP I creatively advised our director James Mackel and Doechii while also handling budget and logistical conversations between TDE, the producers, and Capitol Records who also represent Doe. This starts with giving James notes on the treatment and advising him and the department heads on what works best creatively to me and what is realistic within our budget and timeline. I worked closely with our producers who fought so hard on this project and really pulled it together. Essentially, I was the bridge between them and Capitol/TDE in negotiating budget, contract, Doechii’s schedule & notes, creative hurdles, etc. It’s the same responsibilities I have on most of our videos at TDE including “Denial Is A River” which we did for Doe late last year but I was really fortunate this time that James and Moosa gave me the EP title. When things are going well in this role I pretty much just sit at video village and watch James, Doe, and our amazing team do their thing. When things start blowing up, which happened more than a few times on Anxiety, it gets a bit more complicated.

What’s next for you?

I’m truly fortunate to be in a role at TDE where I have a lot of creative freedom and input working directly with artists, execs, and directors that I’ve looked up to since I was 13. I don’t see myself leaving that anytime soon but my goal is really to make the jump into the narrative space. Music videos have been an amazing way to cut my teeth. It’s probably the only medium where people will give a kid straight out of school 50k, 100k, 500k+ to shoot something and experiment with equipment and production. However, long term my passion is for narrative film & TV.

Tell us about your goals and dreams. What do you hope to be doing in 10 years?

Someone asked me a similar question when I was getting ready to graduate LACHSA and I said something along the lines of I just want to keep making cool things with cool people. I think that’ll always be the goal. As I mentioned, I definitely want to branch out into more genres and longer form projects but I’m really blessed to just be able to work on stuff that I think is cool and do it with people I look up to and enjoy.

How did LACHSA prepare you for your artistic journey?

Being in a place early on where I was surrounded by other people who were so passionate, supportive, and even more knowledgeable about film than I was taught me how to build that community for myself. Even when I got to college I saw a lot of people who had technical knowledge but couldn’t rely on and cultivate collaborations. I truly would not be where I am without the community I’ve worked with at every stage. Especially in my current role, everything is team building and the people I met at LACHSA are still probably my favorite people I’ve ever worked with. I can’t wait to work with them again throughout my career.