Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vic Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Vic, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I knew I wanted pursue a creative path professionally in the 6th grade. Ive always enjoyed drawing, in the 6th grade I won an art contest by drawing an anti-smoking campaign on a bookmark, that’s when I realized I wanted a creative career, doing what I love to do.

Vic, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Although I knew I wanted to be a creative at an early age, I didn’t know what that looked like, growing up in south central Los Angeles in the 90’s came with its limitations. As a youth, I didn’t know what an editor was, there were no filmmakers in my neighborhood, and I most certainly couldn’t afford a camera. My mother moved us to Inglewood during my high school years, this is where I met a filmmaker while playing basketball at the local park, a life changing moment. This lead to production assistant work on an MTV show which is where I saw editing for the first time and I immediately knew this was my career path. I learned so much from the lead editor on the show, he gave me the information I needed to move forward in the industry, I still remember him telling me to get a job at a post facility, that’s where I would learn and grow as an editor, he was 100% correct. I went on to vault manage and assistant edit at several post production facilities in Santa Monica before getting my opportunity to edit full time for Mad River Post. I have now been editing for 20+ years, working on commercials, music videos, feature films and documentaries.

In addition to building my career as an editor, I began studying photography. I found myself shooting live bands on the weekends and going on lunch walks with my camera when at work, you couldn’t catch me without a camera. Photography became my passion with a focus on street photography. Today, I continue to carry a camera capturing live events, music, portraiture and street/documentary style.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Choosing a creative career path has not been a straight line, there have been struggles along the way. In the early 2000’s, I attempted to make the jump from commercial and music video editing to feature film editing. I got my first opportunity to edit a feature film in 2016 and also join the editors guild which was a big milestone for me. Unfortunately, it also created additional overhead that I could not sustain at the time, eventually I found myself on the brink of homelessness. I had to start over and not allow the situation to win. I contacted one of my former executive producers who happened to be the same executive producer that gave me my first full time editing job and he hired me back which allowed me to rebuild and get back on my feet.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As an editor and a photographer, trusting my process to achieve the results I envisioned and sharing the way I see the world with others is the most rewarding aspect of being creative.

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Contact Info:

• Website: ivicbrown.com
• Instagram: @skippem
• Linkedin: Vic Brown