By Gavin Wiechert
Brian Worsley has been in the media industry for over 15 years. He worked at Warner Bros. creating trailers for films like The Meg, and posters for films like Pokemon Detective Pikachu. He’s now working at Concept Arts, Inc. still making film trailers and TV Spots. While making trailers and TV Spots, he’s also recently started teaching students at Delta College.
Q: When was the first moment that you decided you wanted a job working in the Media field?
I don’t know if I can pinpoint it to a specific moment per se, I just kind of always wanted to work in entertainment. My Grandpa used to have one of those old school huge camcorders, and me and my brothers would make skits and little movies. We used to all love movies and would go to the movie theater all the time. I can still remember going to see Return of the Jedi and ET in theaters. So, there’s not an exact moment, it was just something I always enjoyed and wanted to do.
Q: Could you just tell me what it felt like to work at such a big media company like Warner Bros.?
It was surreal to be working at a studio of that magnitude, and when I was having a bad day there, all I would have to do is walk outside and see the water tower. Yeah, it was great, I’ve always imagined working in movies and to get the job there was great.
Q: When did you decide that you wanted to start teaching students about creating media?
A while ago, when I was in graduate school at the University of Miami, I had this professor who was the head of marketing at United Artists. His name was Fred Goldberg and he had done the marketing for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and James Bond Films. It was so cool to have a professor who was in the real world doing real-world stuff because you don’t get that a lot. I thought that was so cool and there was always something in me that wanted to come back and teach. I come from a whole line of teachers, including my mom. There’s something I like about teaching, I like the energy of the campus and passing the knowledge I’ve learned on to others.
Q: With all that being said, do you wish you could be teaching in the non-covid era?
So last year, the first class I ever taught was in person, so I haven’t experienced the Covid teaching of it until now. This new screenwriting class online without the interaction, which I miss. I think there’s a lot lost in translation between what you’re trying to type out and what you’re trying to express, as opposed to face-to-face and hands-on learning.
Q: What’s your favorite project to watch the student’s final projects for?
I really enjoyed the film trailer project last year where we would take a film trailer and the goal was to change the genre of film. That was really cool and fun.
Q: What’s the hardest part about teaching students how to create video projects?
It’s a creative field. Some people know the technical aspects of it and then there are ones who don’t know the technical aspects of it. There are ones who are creative and ones who aren’t. I can’t teach creativity, I can teach the technical stuff and how to do it, but it’s the creative aspect that separates people in this field. If you have the technical side that’s great, but you also have to have the creative side.
Q: What was the most exciting part of working at Warner Bros.?
Just being able to go to a movie theater and sit down and watch a movie and your trailer plays before a movie starts. Seeing your work out there in the real world. I’ll be watching a football game, and a TV commercial that I cut is on TV. I went to the Suicide Squad Premiere in New York, and we had done all the artwork for it. Just being able to see your work out in the real world is pretty cool.
Q: What was the most challenging part of working at Warner Bros.?
The most challenging part was the studio politics. There’s a lot of people involved in getting things made. You can cut a trailer, and then present it to a big room of people who give you notes and revisions on the trailer. When they’re happy you get to send it to filmmakers, and then they also give you a different set of notes. It’s the constant revisions while also balancing people’s personalities and politics, which is at least more than half of the job. Creating stuff is one thing, but balancing everyone’s opinions and notes is another beast.
Q: Think back to a time in your life when you were like “I can’t believe I’ve made it to this moment in my career.”.
I think that moment happened on Inception. When I came out to California, I graduated from film school, and one of the projects we had in our director’s class was to take a director that we admired and talk about their style of work, and so I did my project on Christopher Nolan. Then to come out to California and be like hey, we’re working on Inception. My boss at the time brought me to the meeting with him, and to meet him in person was incredible. I did projects on you in school, and now I’m working with you, and meeting with you in person is crazy. On that same project, my boss and I went to Leonardo DiCaprio’s house to present the Print Exploratory to him. Sitting in a room with Leonardo DiCaprio was surreal.
Q: What are you most looking forward to in your future as a teacher of media?
Just growing and getting better at it. This is only my second class now, so just to adapt and get better at what I’m doing, and see students succeeding and doing better work. I like that I’m back where it all started for me. There are a lot of creative people here and I would like to see them succeed.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give to young and inspiring filmmakers?
One of the biggest things is networking. Meeting people within the field and really developing friendships. A lot of jobs come through, and in this field, it’s who you know. It’s developing relationships with creative people and friendships. Also, no matter what the job is take the job. That’s advice I’ve always gotten.
Q: Do You have anything else you’d like to say?
I’m working at a new company called Concept Arts now, and I’m back to doing movie trailers and TV spots, while also teaching.
