We recently connected with Bryan Ricke and have shared our conversation below.
Bryan, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Yes! I finally can say I earn a full-time living from creative work, but it took years to be able to do so. I started filming and editing in High School and continued making short films through my college career. I got into multiple schools, but was rejected from the film programs I applied to. I was accepted into the University of Florida (which does not have a film program) where I majored in Business and put my film dreams on the back burner. During that time, I started filming weddings and events and got an internship in the video department with the local city government and stayed creative with student film club projects. After graduation I worked for the news station in Gainesville for a year, making $7/hr! Likewise during grad school, I kept filming weddings and had the opportunity to film some promotional material for Clemson University. When I moved out to Los Angeles 13 years ago, I worked as a Grip/Electric on indie sets, but the $50/day paychecks didn’t pay the bills, so I accepted a part time job outside of the industry. Over the next 10 years, I kept a foot in the wedding industry and another foot in independent film, writing a dozen scripts and producing 3 features with my filmmaking partner and wife, Melissa Vitello. After Covid, I was finally able to leave my day job and the wedding industry behind and now earn a living as a freelance DP and editor.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an all-around filmmaker, but earn a living mostly as a cinematographer and in post-production, both as an editor and sound re-mixer for indie projects. I’ve had the pleasure of serving as the cinematographer for six feature films, and although I love the challenge of working in any genre, I feel like I really found my home in the comedy (or comedy/drama or comedy/horror) space. My style is more of a “hightened realism” that focuses on creating a pleasing image and making sure actors look their best. I prefer a more subtle style that allows the story and performances to take center-stage.
In post-production, I’ve been able to edit several features films and probably over one hundred shorts. Each one has it’s own joys and challenges and I’ve been able to learn something from every experience. I love finding the story, fixing problems with creative solutions, and love the opportunity to re-work a scene with the director and find little treasures in the footage that may not have been planned. More recently, I’ve also been able to work in post-production as the sound re-mixer on two features and about a dozen short films. This can include everything from dialogue clean up, world-building through sound effects, foley, and ambience, and mixing the score/music in to create the mood. This is a great role for me to be able to use my ears, attention to detail, and ability to zone in on something for hours and hours. It might sound crazy, but I love it – it’s a great way for a creative to balance the extraverted needs of being on set for 12 hour days.
Any advice for managing a team?
Find your leadership style. Every leader is different and I think it’s important to find a leadership style that works for you and naturally fits with your own personality. Part of this is planning ahead of time with how you want to communicate your vision and fix problems and part of it is organizing the right team to fit your leadership style. Showing appreciation is also important and can make an enormous difference! Nothing gets done alone, so whether it’s your strong suit or not, leadership is a critical skill.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During elementary school, I had to wear leg braces to correct a hip problem (Legg-Perthes disease) that I was born with. Even though, I do enjoy watching sports, I’ve never been a particularly athletic person. Five years ago, I made a conscious effort to exercise more and have promised myself that I will participate in at least one competitive athletic event once a year, even though I know I won’t finish near the top. I’ve now finished a olympic triathlon, a half marathon, and several smaller obstacle course races – all of these are way more fun when done with friends. It’s not always convenient to train for these, but I’m proud of the consistency I’ve been able to stick to it, especially on those days where I really don’t feel like working out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bryanricke.com
- Instagram: @bryanricke
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanricke/
Image Credits
Cameron Thrower