LAist Interview: Chevon Hicks

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Meet Chevon Hicks, graphic designer, animator, DJ and the mastermind behind the notoriously naughty online game promoting New Line's latest film, Running Scared. Chevon is the owner and creative director of Heavenspot Graphic Design, which also created the animated Land of Burgers sequence in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, as well as the game featured on the film's website.

Chevon and his team are currently working on a website and 3D game for The New Speedracer and upcoming movie websites for New Line and 20th Century Fox. Judging from the response to the game "Running Scared: Welcome to Grimley," we're sure Chevon and his merry band of designers will have even more outrageous narratives to share with fans.

Age and Occupation:
33, Creative Director of Heavenspot Grapic Design Studio.

How long have you lived in Los Angeles, and which neighborhood do you live in?
I've lived in L.A. for 25 years. Currently I live in Los Feliz, with all the other cool poseurs. I've lived in many different neighborhoods during my time here: Koreatown, South Central, Westside, the Valley, Miracle Mile, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Downtown, you name it. One of the only places I haven't lived in is Venice, which has it's own unique neighborhoody thing happening. I spent a lot of time there skateboarding as a youth. Anyone who remembers the Venice quarter pipe knows what I'm talking about — blissful summers indeed were had, with Hosoiand everybody from that era.

Why do you live in Los Angeles?
I've been all over the world, and this is the best place for many, many reasons. Mostly because of the Hollywood movie industry, which has fed me in different ways over the years. I've often said that LA is the small town that some people should have left, and I admire people who have picked up and moved to different cities. One huge reason that I've stayed here is sheer laziness. You can make a good living out here with minimal effort. New York, for instance, kicks your ass and brings out the best in people. LA, on the other hand allows you to relax and chill, which is awesome, but you need to have alot of self motivation to counter that.

You own your own design firm, Heavenspot. What made you decide to go out on your own? In five years, what things do you want the company to have accomplished or created?
Actually, I got fired from a my last corporate job over some political bullshit, so I found myself freelancing out of necessity. Now, brace yourself for a couple of clichés: Everything happens for a reason and sometimes things are a blessing in disguise. Both of these were true for me, although I'm sure I didn't think so at the time. I started freelancing under the moniker of Heavenspot, because I wasn't about to start rocking "Chevon Hicks Designs" — way too egomaniacal. The statistics that I've read are that 80% of all small businesses fail within the first five years, and that 80% of the ones that survive fail within the next five years. With that in mind, I'll be happy to just be around in the next five years. Honestly though, I'd like to be a big advertising agency that also creates original content. Hard to say exactly which platform I'll be delivering this content on, though, as convergence is just around the corner.

If you were to design an interactive game about Los Angeles, what would it be like?
Oooh! Oooh! I'm glad you asked me this. The game would be called "Hollywood Nightlife Fame." You start off as a DJ, at a small bar, and your goal is to rise to the top of the Hollywood nitelife scene. Your first mission is to get girls to come to your club. Notice I didn't say "people" but "girls." If you can get girls to come to your club, the guys will follow. As your DJ skills get better, via a mixer game, more people start to show up and you start making more money.

You have to spend part of your earnings on promotional tactics, like flyers, LA Weekly ads, etc., and lure the occasional celebrity to your club. Watch your fame points soar! There are other ways of increasing club attendance too, like having the coke dealer at your club helps, but be careful, as it's a fine line between posh and just outright dirty. The coke dealer automatically attracts 10 chicks your club, but you have to do a line with him everytime he shows up, which increases your addiction meter, and makes you more prone to fistfights and getting arrested. The fistfight part of the game would be pure Tekken style, you feel me? Are you going to become an alcoholic? Without question. In this game, it's just a matter of how bad of an alkie you become.

You start the game with a girlfriend, but as the popularity of the club soars you'll have to get rid of her. Half of her hottie friends will leave with her though, so make sure your timing is right. Don't get caught in the bathroom with any skanks, either, that'll throw you into a two week depression (slow motion mode) which will effect your ability to be "the man." Getting caught in this way also affects your reputation (dap) with the ladies, making it impossible for you to get a decent date for months. You'll need a decent date because walking into the club with a hottie will attract other hotties, and so on... Obviously, if you play as a girl, some of the rules are flipped, unless you play in "gay mode", which adds a whole other list of variables as you make your way through the gay club scene... maybe you haven't come out to your parents or something, so you have to temper your fame against their awareness or whatever. I'll need some consultation for that aspect of the game... We could create the game with some minor tweaks to the Grand Theft Auto engine... The game would include real venues like Star Shoes, and real club promoters like Jen Bolthouse and Hartwell. We could then expand the franchise to other cities, like New York, Miami, London, Budapest, Paris, wherever. This is copyright, too, so don't be trying to steal my shit!

What's your favorite movie(s) or TV show(s) that are based in LA?
My favorite film of all time is Blade Runner — the ultimate vision of LA in the year 2019. I can quote the film from front to back and I hereby challenge anyone to a Quote-Off. That's right, a muthafuckin' Quote-Off.... uh, that's a Project Runway reference, for those in the know. You go Santino!!! That guy is my hero.

Best LA-themed book(s)?
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. I used to live in a building called The Asbury, which I believe is mentioned in one of his books. Many of the neighborhoods mentioned in The Long Goodbye, which was published in the early '50s, are in the exact same condition today, which I think says a lot about LA.

If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be?
That would have to be either right now, or slightly in the future. Past decades haven't been so nice for black folks, y'know? I love it when this question comes up and someone says, the '30s or some shit, and I'm like, "Yeah, like I really wanna go to an era where I'm a second class citizen and shit!" No thanks. I don't think people have an accurate view of all the shit they would have to put up with in past eras. I mean, what about toilet paper? You think Charmin technology was up to snuff back then? Hells no.

What is the "center" of LA to you?
Right now, it's the Silverlake/Los Feliz area. I have gone months without going west of La Brea — often to my detriment, I feel. When I was a kid it was Koreatown. In the early '80s there wasn't the tension between the Korean and Black communities that exists today — although I do remember being followed around in toy stores on Western and 8th. Back then my friend Dae Won, would invite me into his home and his parents would serve us kimchee, and we'd sit around in a circle, it was great. Wait... I just remembered I became friends with Dae Won after kicking his ass in a fight! Dang, maybe there was always tension between the two communities! Anyways, my best friend for years was this kid named Dong, he was this intellectual skinny kid who went to Hobart elementary with me — those were the days. Green trac, baby, green track.

Is there an "LA Child" personality?
Yeah, it's called LOSER. Seriously, people that were born here are either really successful because their grandfather rocked it fucking eons ago, or just plain losers who would be better off running meth labs in Barstow. They're exactly what I mean when I say that L.A. is the small town some people should have left.

If you were forced to live in a neighboring county, which would you choose? Ventura County is a wussy answer.
Send me to the Boo, as in Malibu any day. Oh wait, is that officially Ventura county? I secretly love Pasadena, too. When you're a kid, you dream of living in one of those big Craftsman homes.

If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA, where/which would you choose?
Ben and Suzanne from Earl Jeans have a bomb ass house in the hills — I DJ'd there one New Years back in the dizzy. The house that Spike and Sophia used to live in is fresh, too. You see it in a lot of commercials, I think. Anywhere in Los Feliz hills would totally rock. I need to be next to Griffith Park, that's all I know.

Los Angeles is often stereotyped as a hard place to find personal connections and make friends. Do you agree with that assessment? Do you find it challenging to make new friends here?
No, I believe it's easy to make friends here. I think the problem is in finding REAL friends here, y'know? My grandmother calls them "associates" which I think is a much more accurate description. At 33, I kinda feel like I already have the friends that I'll have for the rest of my life. But then again, I felt that way in Jr. High School, too, so you never know.

What is the city's greatest secret?
I wish I had something cool to say like, "Yeah, there's this one restaurant that's actually in the sewer system" but I'm just not up on it like I used to be. I remember when I used to hear "new" music on KCRW, it was already old to me. Like by the time KCRDub got to it, I had already played it out. Now, I really do listen to KCRW for the new shit, so I'm realistic about the level of my hipness meter — low. Here's something that true Angelenos will be able to relate to — the depressingly ugly LA Sunday. You know what I'm talking about — the greyish brown sky, the weird tingling feeling in the air, everything looks and feels dirty.

What do you have to say to East Coast supremacists?
If by East Coast, you mean New York, then there might be room to argue, but the rest of the East Coast? C'mon, really? Schenectady in the house? Never...

Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters?
Yes, I do. I've never been seriously hurt by an earthquake, although I was really scared by that '94 jammie. It's the price we pay for living in the best city in the world.

Where do you want to be when the Big One hits?
Man, not here. That's why you gotta contsantly get your travel on, to help your odds of not being here at that fateful moment. If I am here, at least we'll all be together.