Today we’d like to introduce you to Rule19Cosplay The Black Dread.
Hi Rule19Cosplay the Black Dread, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Sure. Thank you reaching out to me for this story. I’m not a Memphis native, but I’m definitely not a stranger to the area. I grew up in Little Rock, AR, and I have family and business associates in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as West Memphis and Marion, AR and surrounding areas. I’ve always enjoyed visiting Memphis. There’s a familiarity to it for me that is different from simply traveling to another city it’s not “home” but it’s grounded like home.
My creative story goes back much further than either of the brands I operate today. I started cosplaying in 2001, before cosplay had anything close to its current mainstream visibility. Even then, I wasn’t particularly interested in simply putting on a costume and posing for photographs. Some of my earliest work incorporated choreographed fight scenes and stunt performances. One of those early characters was Darth Maul, including performing the entire fight sequence in Duel of the Fates scene from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. I’ve since performed in many Star Wars adjacent projects, mostly centered around charity or community work, but many for business as well.
That performance based approach, which was housed under another venture of mine, eventually became Rule19Cosplay the Black Dread. Rule19Cosplay is where costuming, character performance and my lifelong fandoms all intersect. Over time, it has expanded into multiple convention appearances, media coverage and screen or voice performance opportunities. I’ve had opportunities to take that physical character work beyond the convention floor as well, including portraying Nightcrawler in the fan film X-Men: Children of the Atom, where I also did my own makeup and prosthetics. Bamf!!!
ACADIA Studios came from a different goal.
I reached a point where I didn’t only want to interpret characters and worlds that already existed. I wanted infrastructure for developing original intellectual property of my own. ACADIA is an independent development studio focused on genre properties across animation and live action. That includes projects such as No One Ever Was, an ikhatuni animation drawing inspiration from Super Sentai/Power Rangers and Pokémon; Reckon, which moves into historical horror; and Nuke It, Dammit!, a dark satirical live-action project.
So Rule19 and ACADIA are connected, but I’m very intentional about not treating them as interchangeable. Rule19Cosplay is a performance and creator brand. ACADIA Studios is a development and production business. One lets me step into existing worlds and sometimes expand them through the eyes of Black/African-American perspectives. The other gives me the ability to build new ones.
My professional background outside entertainment has also had an impact on how I operate. I’ve spent years in enterprise project and program environments, so I naturally think about creative work in terms of development and execution as well as whether something can actually be carried from an idea into a finished product. I love creative chaos. I just also believe the chaos needs a formalized production plan.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road.
One challenge has been refusing to accept the idea that I have to fit neatly into any singular category. Creative industries often tend to like labels because labels make people easy to understand. Cosplayer. Actor. Producer. Executive. Those labels can be useful, but they can also become artificial ceilings.
I’ve had to become comfortable allowing different parts of my career and aspirations to develop at different speeds without forcing them together. Rule19Cosplay has had more than two decades to develop even with the numerous start and stops required by regular old boring adulting and responsibilities. ACADIA is much newer and operates in an industry where having a strong concept is only the beginning; getting it developed and released requires the right resources and relationships.
That creates a completely different set of challenges. Independent creators can now take a concept much further on their own, building enough visual and development material to make the project tangible before it ever reaches a producer. However, moving an original property into professional development requires relationships with people who understand production economics and how projects actually get packaged for buyers. Building that bridge without turning every project into an endless self-funded exercise has been crucial and ongoing.
Time has probably been the most constant obstacle. Creative work exists alongside a demanding professional career and continued education, including pursing my doctorate and several additional professional certifications. Eventually you realize that being capable of doing twenty things does not mean all twenty deserve your attention, and certain not at the same moment in time.
I’ve become much more selective about opportunities because of that. I’m interested in work that has a clear purpose and genuinely moves something forward. I’m much less interested in activity for the sake of looking busy.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
With Rule19Cosplay, I focus on character work where performance can matter as much as the costume.
I enjoy characters with physicality and presence. Fight choreography and stunt-influenced performances have been part of my approach since the beginning, so I’m always thinking beyond whether a costume photographs well. How does the character move? How does the character occupy a room? What happens when the camera starts rolling? Can this thing even hold up to physicality?
That is probably one of the things I’m most known for. I don’t particularly want someone to look at a costume and think, “That’s a great outfit.” I’d rather create the moment where they briefly forget they are looking at a cosplayer (in a great outfit), ha!
I’m also proud that Rule19Cosplay has lasted. Starting in 2001 means I’ve been able to watch cosplay culture transform dramatically while continuing to adapt and shift with it rather than chasing whatever happens to be popular at the moment. The builds are becoming more ambitious, and I’m increasingly interested in projects that visibly demonstrate fabrication or performance skill; if it can do both, that’s even better.
ACADIA Studios occupies an entirely different lane. There, I’m building the company as an executive and a creative lead focused on original properties. The focus is ikhatuni genre development and creating properties that have enough substance behind them to support professional film or television development.
I’m especially interested in concepts that have a strong point of view. Reckon approaches historical horror through that lens. No One Ever Was gives me room to work in animation and much larger-scale worldbuilding. Nuke It, Dammit! is deliberately absurd satire built around a premise that still has real science underneath the comedy.
What connects my work isn’t a particular space or concept. It is that I like ideas with enough identity that you can recognize them before somebody explains them to you.
I think what sets me apart is that I approach creativity with both performance instincts and production discipline. I can be completely ridiculous in character and still understand that somebody eventually has to deal with schedules, budgets, rights and deliverables.
All those parts are important, and are all weighted differently.
Any big plans?
For Rule19Cosplay, I want to keep pushing toward more ambitious builds and stronger performance-driven content. I’m interested in creating pieces that work at conventions but can also stand on their own through live performances and other media substrates and platforms. There are characters I want to tackle specifically because they require fabrication skill or physical execution rather than simply sourcing the costume, but I do that too simply in either the interest of time or because it supports the micro and macroeconomics of the community in which my work and that others collate.
I also want Rule19Cosplay ventures to continue opening doors into performance opportunities without losing what makes the brand fun in the first place. I never want cosplay to become something I’m doing solely because an algorithm expects content. My most hated villain cosplay might be the one I did of the personification of an algorithm, with the Sword of the Shadowban. No regrets!
ACADIA Studios is entering a much more development-focused phase.
The goal is to move our original properties into serious development conversations with established industry professionals who can help take them to market at the right scale. We’re focused on these three properties at the moment, but there are dozens of amazing, viable stories in the pipeline. I’m particularly interested in building relationships with producers, showrunners, development executives and film or television finance professionals. I’m also interested in conversations around representation, co-production, packaging and distribution where there is a legitimate professional fit.
I do have one important note: ACADIA Studios is not accepting unsolicited pitches, scripts, treatments or intellectual property submissions. We absolutely welcome professional industry connections, but we are currently focused on developing and advancing our own slate rather than soliciting outside material. Please don’t send that stuff, I have a dissertation to work on.
What I’m looking forward to most is seeing those two lanes continue to grow without forcing one to become the other.
Rule19Cosplay can remain wonderfully ridiculous or action-packed and ferocious when it needs to be.
ACADIA Studios can sit across the table from executives and talk seriously about development.
I have no desire to choose between those worlds. In fact, I refuse to choose.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rule19cosplay.com and https://acadiafilmstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rule19cosplay
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ACADIAStudios and https://youtu.be/Gz1l5rvdNk4
