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

Brendan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

When I got into movie making I never went into it thinking “i’m going to win an oscar”. What I want to do is make fun crazy wild movies that give views a fun experience. Growing up my friends and I would have movie nights and we soon came to realize the crazier the movie the more fun and memorable it was. This stuck with me when I started perusing film as a career and so far it seems to be working.

I have come to find out that many people in the film industry want to be the best but not a lot are happy with the type of work they are doing to get there. A lot of people seem to look down upon lower budget films and yet those films tend to be much more fun and creative. Yes they are rushed and have many flaws but they also have a unique indescribable charm about them.

As both a producer and director I enjoy and fully love doing these types of movies. This is not the industry norm as most people want to work on films that they deem “classy”. To me these films are fun and classy in their own way and tend bring a unique wild crazy side that you would normally not see with bigger budget films.

I can’t tell you what movie won best picture in 2010 but I can tell you that Mega Piranha was the best movie I saw that year.

Brendan , 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?

I am a producer first and director second. What got me into the magical world of film making was a mix of Roger Corman and my love for crazy movies. That pushed me to learn more about the history of grindhouse & exploitation film which lead to me moving to New York before eventually moving to LA.

When I started producing I had to work with a very very small budget, the first film I produced was a $30,000 psychological shark movie called From The Depths. It was a challenge but a very satisfying experience and it really helped me learn how to work with nothing and still make something fun and enjoyable. As of right now the film I am most proud of is Devils Triangle.

The experience of both directing and producing the same movie was amazing. It was a hard shoot to get “right” however I think that I was able to do the story justice. Taking major inspiration from the 1980s New York grindhouse scene I mixed a few different genres into one to create a 90 minute nostalgia trip.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When you first start out in film and you’re working your way up you learn to say yes to every job that comes your way. This keeps going until you eventually don’t have to look for work and it will come to you.

A lot of times people have a hard time of saying no and that is something that I have recently had to learn. You get to a point where you don’t need every film job you want to make sure that the work your are doing reflects you and your brand. It’s a hard lesson that takes a while to learn and get used to but its a good step into evolving in your career.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I decided to do film I had no back up plan I was going to direct and I was going to produce, and absolutely no one was going to stop me.

When I lived in New York I had no money and yet was still able to work on a few different films while also working as a barista. Soon after when I realized that LA would be the best place to be I was able to figure out how to make it work and make the jump cross country.

The grind never really stops, years later looking back there were some very risky things that I did to get where I am but yet I was able to push through it and make it work. I would say that if you really really want it to happen it will.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendanpetrizzo/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanpetrizzo

Image Credits
First Photo Outside By Séphora Grace The other 3 are by Sharon Desiree