We recently connected with Brian Albert Vega and have shared our conversation below.

Brian Albert, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Values. My parents instilled solid values in me from childhood. Respect, hard work, and love, most importantly. Like, my parents always stressed the importance of the little things — holding the door for someone, thanking people for everything, picking something up if someone drops it. That kind of stuff. Plus, since we’re Filipino, saying “po” at the end of sentences when talking to elders. It’s like saying “ma’am” or “sir” here in the States.

Plus, they’re the main reason I went into the arts in the first place. My parents — my dad, especially — are huge fans of all kinds of media. My dad would play music in the morning on Sundays while making breakfast, so I always grew up listening to stuff like Phil Collins, Billy Joel, the Beatles, and stuff like that. He also introduced me to a ton of movies. He took me to see Iron Man when it came out. He showed me Star Wars and Mel Brooks movies and a ton of stuff I probably was too young to watch. But those definitely influenced my sense of humor and taste in cinema.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For sure. I’m a screenwriter and storyboard artist by trade. I’ve been doing it for pretty much my whole life. As soon as I could type, I was writing. In fact, my mom told me to learn how to type when I was four because she didn’t have time to type what I dictated to her anymore.

I’ve been freelance screenwriting for a few months now, which is something I love doing. I love collaborating with other creatives to tell cool stories. I love it when a person comes to me and they’re like, “Hey, I have this idea but I can’t seem to crack how to bring it to life.” Storytelling is like problem-solving to me. I have a toolbelt of all these storytelling tricks like I’m some kind of screenwriting Batman. I whip out whatever I need to solve the problem.

I also work on stuff for myself. I’m working on an indie pilot for an animated series with Paper Crown Pictures called “House of Rejects.” It’s an animated sitcom about a washed-up 1930s cartoon who’s taken to this permanent residence for rejected ideas. And he’s gotta get out of the House by becoming rich and famous or else they’ll basically kill him. It’s super silly and wacky and we’re basically doing it with no budget. Just a bunch of animation students from all over the world putting this together. We’re gonna start raising money soon to hopefully finish it by the end of 2024, so folks can be on the lookout for that.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

“Creativity, Inc.” by Ed Catmull, for sure. That book changed my life. The way he talks about the creation of PIXAR and how they manage their company was so inspiring. It pretty much changed the way I think about management in the creative space and even reminded me a lot of my favorite creatives I’ve worked for in the past.

Trying to toe the line between being an artist and being an entrepreneur has always been a struggle for me, and that book really grounds me and helps me reorient if I’ve gone too far in either direction.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

That’s a tough one, honestly. Because, like, you don’t know what you don’t know, you know? I think what I’ve seen a lot of non-creatives misunderstand about the creative world is that most of us artists feel things really deeply in a way some people don’t. Like, I have many artist friends on the autism spectrum who use art as a means to express the very individual way they experience the world. And even for myself, I literally can’t express myself in a fuller way than through what I make and the stories I tell.

And because of that, us artists can seem really all over the place and irrational. Which is, like, kinda true though. But you do kinda have to be a little crazy to be an artist. But you also have to really love the world you live in. My favorite art has been the stuff that comes out of love, even the stuff that’s super angry. ‘Cause you have to care about the world to be angry about where it’s going, you know? Artists feel things really deeply, but that’s kinda our strength. Even if it comes off as irrational sometimes, you know?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brianalbertvega.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balbert_art/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-albert-vega/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BalbertAnimation