About Us
Daniel Klimek
Daniel Klimek is an actor/director with a mixed ethnic background who has worked both in Korea and America.
He is the Co-CEO of New Standard Studios which seeks to diversify the film industry by giving underrepresented people stronger voices in films that reflect a worldly and much larger demographic.
As an ethnically mixed actor, Daniel himself has struggled with identity growing up both in America and abroad. Through this struggle Daniel has come to realize that the gap between these societies was not cohesive or bridged enough to just accept him as who is, an American mixed actor. Often times he was considered as only “Asian” by American standards or "only Caucasian” by Korean, Japanese, or other Asian standards. Because of this, he firmly believes that by diversifying the film and social media industries you can influence and broaden the public's eye of what they find attractive or appealing.
He currently resides in NYC.
Masaya Okubo
Masaya Okubo is a co-CEO of a film production company, New Standard Studios and a Japanese actor and producer.
He's worked as a personal assistant for the renowned Japanese actor, Masachika Ichimura, for 4 years in Tokyo. While working as a PA for Mr. Ichimura, he made appearances in a TV drama with him, as well as the Japanese adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd. As of 2015, Masaya had moved to New York to work on an acting career in the United States. He joined in a Samurai performance group "Samurai Sword Soul" in March, 2015, and performed at the NJ Cherry Blossom Festival, Brooklyn Cherry Blossom Festival, JAPAN DAY, Taste Asia in Times Sq and so on.
Masaya Okubo Web http://www.masaya.website
Samurai Sword Soul http://www.samuraiswordsoul.com
Our Objective
Promoting racial equality and diversity in acting roles for theater, television, and film. We want to make films that will promote more racial equality among leading roles in American plays, television, and films. Hollywood films are the most famous in the world. Because of this, they have a substantial influence on societies everywhere. Even so, the majority of leading roles are still being played by Caucasians. Our goal is to make the industry more universal, and susceptible to the idea of what Americans consider the “minority” (Asian, African American, Hispanic, Indian, Native American, Middle-Eastern, etc.) to be starring as these lead roles in major films. There seems to be a skewed belief that people labeled as such are not considered as "influential or desirable" to the "public or universal" eye and are therefore turned down for major roles. America is considered one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet, yet the industrial market does not reflect the same.
That being said, continually casting the vast majority main lead roles as caucasian in order to promote films and plays in the belief that this method will receive more acclaim and attention is becoming more and more outdated and too mundane. This is by no means an attempt to try to defame the deserved recognition that current caucasian actors today have achieved. By breaking this invisible wall, we hope to appeal and reach out to wider audiences across the globe. By doing so, we hope to create a more globally connected world with greater mutual understanding and social equality between all races.
We love American films and want to share that love with everyone. To do that, this industry needs to continue to grow, adapt, and expand to fit an ever growing population of people from all over the world. The practice of maintaining distinct racial categories is becoming more and more obsolete. Today, there are more people with mixed heritage backgrounds than ever before and this population is continuing to grow. It does not make sense for someone who is of mixed heritage to specifically label/identify him or herself as a single race. Some examples would be a half African American and Caucasian to specifically label him or herself as “black” at an audition or casting on the call sheet. Or a half Asian and Caucasian to be labeled as solely Asian. These are clear examples that show racial categorization based on appearance have become unjustified. This is like saying that a mixed person has no clear place in the entertainment industry.
It’s absolutely wonderful to see the world rapidly becoming more interconnected. Because of this, new challenges are rapidly arising. Roles, ideas, and views of society must continually adapt and evolve to fit our ever changing world. We strongly believe that the film or television industries are some of the best ways to show the world our new global reality.
-Slate Magazine Video and Article-
Discusses the misrepresentation of other races in film and television.
Video
https://www.facebook.com/Slate/videos/10153568445156438/?fref=nf
Article
-Fortune Article-
Hollywood still has a major diversity problem
http://fortune.com/2015/08/06/hollywood-diversity-white-men/
-New York Times Article-
Oscars So White? Or Oscars So Dumb? Discuss.
ARTS BEAT; Pointed Talk About the Barriers for Asian-Americans at the Casting Door
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500EEDB1E3CF936A25751C0A9649D8B63