• About Adam Protextor

Adam Protextor is a producer, director, rapper, and host working in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work in hip hop and live comedy as well as for co-founding the Shout! Studios' international brand Hong Kong Cinema Classics (HKCC) in 2025. A graduate of the University of Iowa's intensive film theory program, Protextor relocated from his hometown in Iowa to Austin, TX in 2008. In 2012, his feature-length horror film Dropping Evil was distributed on DVD through Wild Eye Releasing. A radically experimental genre film, Dropping Evil wears its influences loudly, from Godard to John Woo to Friday the 13th, and was called "bravura independent filmmaking at its gonzo best and "undoubtedly one of the best ultra-low budget horror movies of the last decade" by DVDTalk.com. That same year, Protextor co-founded Austin Mic Exchange (AMX), a hip hop open mic that would run weekly for 5 years, earning multiple awards (including "Best of Austin") and spawning Weird City Festival, Austin's first-ever live hip hop festival. From 2012 onward, Protextor worked as both live show promoter and artist as a prominent figure in the Austin music scene, opening for Run the Jewels, Aesop Rock, Geto Boys, Kool Keith, and more, as well as playing Sound on Sound Fest, Art Outside, 35-Denton, and Fun Fun Fun Fest Nites. During his tenure in the Live Music Capital, he released four LPs, including "American Neon" (a collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Brother Bear featuring guest performances by Mélat and CupcakKe) that was released to critical acclaim. A frequent host of Austin Mic Exchange, Protextor also went on to host several episodes and live shows of the talk show "The Hot Conversation" for OVRLD.com and Alamo Drafthouse. In 2018, Protextor graduated from the ColdTowne Theater's improv conservatory program. In addition to performing regularly in 3 house troupes, he appeared in Super Black, Secret Mountain, and as the Doctor in Amber Ruffin's Bigfoot: The Musical, performing at Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Austin Sketch Fest, and Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in 2019 alone. At the ColdTowne Awards, Protextor's troupe Hunnicut took home "Best New Troupe" and Protextor received the "Best Sketch Writing" award for his work on Secret Mountain. He also served as Out of Bounds Fest's PR Director. Protextor co-founded Baby Lion Studios with his partner and frequent collaborator Stephanie Thoreson in 2018. Together, the duo used their new production house to create a variety of on-demand promotional video work for artists in the Austin sphere, direct music videos for indie artists, and produce several independent talk shows for YouTube. In 2019, the duo began preproduction on Wind-Ups, a semi-autobiographical sitcom about Protextor's tenure working at legendary Austin toy store Toy Joy in his early 20s. Protextor relocated to Los Angeles in 2021, where he served as brand manager for Scream Factory and Shout! Select at Shout! Studios/Radial Entertainment for 2 years, during which he was listed on Media Play News' 40 Under 40 list and founded the HKCC (Hong Kong Cinema Classics) brand as an umbrella for lost films acquired from the Golden Princess Library and worked alongside partners like Criterion and GKids to market the films internationally. He released his solo LP "Gonzo Recites Poetry While Defusing a Bomb" with producer Bird Peterson in 2023, the second American Neon album (This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco) in 2025, and continues to produce with Baby Lion Studios and host live film screenings with events company Street Food Cinema.