Today we’d like to introduce you to Gavin Kelly.
Hi Gavin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started out as a country singer in Nashville. I released my debut album Honolulu Blue in 2011 and was a regional finalist on Nashville Star. After some personal setbacks that pulled me away from music for a while, I relocated to Paducah, Kentucky.
Around 2012, my wife Paula and I had a series of unexplained experiences in her family’s old home after a fire. What began as curiosity turned into a full investigation, and we founded Phantasmic Ghost Hunters together. That work eventually grew into In The Shadows Entertainment Group / ITSEG Films, where I’ve spent the last decade as a producer, director, cinematographer, and editor, creating paranormal series and original content that now streams on platforms like Tubi, Amazon Prime, and Roku.
In 2024, I graduated as valedictorian from Full Sail University’s Digital Cinematography program, which sharpened the technical side of what I’d already been doing hands-on for years. These days I’m balancing ongoing series work, The Horizon (sci-fi), CARNAGE, and others, with feature development, while also stepping in front of the camera (I play the lead in EMPATH: soon to be on a Network) and writing books that explore the intersection of the paranormal, consciousness, and storytelling.
It’s been a long road from Nashville stages and haunted houses to building a production company and developing original IP, but everything’s connected by the same drive: to tell grounded, researched stories that feel real.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road at all.
Early on, I had a solid start in music, an album out, a Nashville Star run, but a toxic relationship left me with a pretty deep psychological block. I stopped playing guitar and singing for years. That part of me just shut down. Paula is the one who slowly helped pull me out of it, but it took a long time to feel like myself again creatively.
When we started Phantasmic Ghost Hunters and then ITSEG Films, everything was self-funded and built from the ground up. No investors, no safety net. We’ve self-funded multiple series. I even ran a GoFundMe for The Horizon for eight months and got zero backers. That was a hard reality check. Indie film funding culture can be brutal: lots of talk, very little follow-through when you’re not already in the right circles.
We’ve also had to learn everything the hard way, from producing and directing to cinematography, editing, distribution, and marketing, while living in a smaller market and wearing every hat ourselves. There were plenty of nights of pure frustration, technical failures, dead ends, and the constant pressure of keeping projects alive with limited resources.
The road’s been rocky, but those struggles forced us to stay resourceful and keep full creative control. Nothing was handed to us, and that shaped the kind of work we make.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I wear a lot of hats. I’m a producer, director, cinematographer, editor, and occasionally an actor. Through In The Shadows Entertainment Group / ITSEG Films, I create and run original content, primarily in the paranormal, horror, and sci-fi space.
I started in the field as an investigator with Phantasmic Ghost Hunters, which my wife, Paula, and I founded. That real-world experience shaped everything that came after. We’ve produced series like Phantasmic Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Journey Into the Unknown, and Truth or Legends that have streamed on Tubi, Amazon Prime, and Roku. These days, I’m developing larger projects like the sci-fi series The Horizon and the horror film CARNAGE, while also writing books that explore the psychology and theory behind the paranormal, most recently, The Veil Fracture.
What I’m most proud of is that we’ve built this from the ground up with almost no outside money and zero industry connections. We self-funded multiple series, learned every role the hard way, and still managed to keep creative control. Graduating as valedictorian from Full Sail’s Digital Cinematography program while running the company was a personal milestone, but the real pride is in the body of work that exists because we refused to wait for permission.
What sets us apart is authenticity and range. A lot of people in this space either chase pure entertainment or pure investigation. We came from the investigation side first, then learned the craft of filmmaking at a high level. That combination, real experience in the field, strong technical skills, original theories, and a willingness to blend practical production with tools like Unreal Engine and AI, enables us to create work that feels grounded rather than manufactured. We’re not trying to copy what’s already out there. We’re building something that comes from lived experience.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I don’t think of myself as a reckless risk-taker, but I’ve never been afraid to bet on myself when it mattered.
The biggest risks have all been the same type: choosing full ownership and creative control over the safer, more conventional path. Leaving the music world and starting over in Kentucky was one. Then, deciding to turn real paranormal investigations into a production company with zero outside money and no industry connections was another. We’ve self-funded multiple series. I ran a GoFundMe for The Horizon for eight months and got nothing, zero backers, and still kept going. Right now we’re self-funding CARNAGE the same way. Going back to Full Sail later in life while still running the company was a risk too, both financially and in terms of time.
My view on risk is pretty simple. Playing it completely safe in this industry usually just means waiting for permission that never comes. The real risk, to me, is spending years making work you don’t fully believe in because it was the more fundable or trendy choice. I’d rather put my own resources, time, and reputation on the line for something original than dilute them chasing other people’s approval.
That said, I try to make the risks calculated. We don’t jump into things blindly. We learn the craft, control the variables we can, and accept that some things will fail. But I’d rather fail on our own terms than succeed on someone else’s.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intheshadowsentertainmentgroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intheshadowsentertainmentgroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PGHGavinKelly
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinkellypgh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ITSEGFILMS
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3812068
