Artist Statement: A Vision of Teamwork

Growing up, I was always the kid in the neighborhood to organize epic basketball tournaments that pitted one group of friends against another. We played these games as if our lives depended upon it, with our competitive nature oozing out of us. It sounds simple, but it was here, that I learned about teamwork and collaboration. One game you can be a star and the next a role player. Either way, we always had our teammates to fall back on whether we won or lost, and I’ve always loved that aspect of sports.

I still remember the lessons I learned on the basketball court because they have impacted how I make films. As a filmmaker, the most important part of the process, to me, is collaboration and working as a team. When I set out to make a film one of the first things that runs through my mind is what kind of crew can I put together. It takes a special blend of leaders and role players, strong personalities and quiet ones, all combined to work towards a common goal.

As a result, depending on which position I’ve taken on a film crew, my art can vary and mean entirely different things to me. As producer, I am the veteran of the team, and oversee all aspects of the movie and try to make sure everyone is happy while all departments are getting what they need. It’s sort of a CEO of the business approach, and is far more management-like than creative at times. Still, a creative producer can find ways to save money, get props and equipment for cheap, and still deliver a director what he or she needs.



As director, I am the team captain, out there to lead my crew in the pre-production phases, on set, and in the editing room. I know I must be forceful with decisions, so that others will follow, and I need to work twenty times harder than every other member of the crew, while retaining and fighting for my creative vision of the film.




As a writer, it is my job to give a director and producer a great story filled with vibrant images and actions that tell a complete story. I also like to be involved in the pre-production phases, helping the director come up with new scenes that might inject more comedy into a scene, or put more at stakes for a character to make a situation more interesting.


Depending on my role my art can take countless forms and mean different things to me along the way. Still, the most important thing to remember, to me, is that I’m just one piece of a very large puzzle working on a film. It endlessly frustrates me when directors put a possessory credit on their films. For example, “A James Cameron Film” or a “Steven Spielberg Film.” Surely, there is no doubt that these directors have put the most time and effort into the film and are responsible for the overbearing creative vision, but I feel it undermines all the collaborative effort that the writers, producers, cameramen, production designers, editors, gaffers, and all other crew members contribute.

At the time, I didn’t realize the magnitude of the lessons I learned growing up playing sports, but they are all relevant in filmmaking. Working as part of a team in a collaborative nature is what I love most about the art of filmmaking and even though my position might change from project to project, I know that my mentality won’t.

-Brian