We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephen Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
Becoming a movie critic has been a lifelong journey. Prior to founding and managing www.SilverScreenCapture.com, it was a process of writing hundreds of articles for dozens of publications in several decades of media – from faxing articles to magazines to entering text on green screens on old newsrooms to emailing stories to media outlets to writing capsule critiques on my iPhone straight to WordPress, it’s been a journey of knowing what formats my editors wish and keeping up with the tastes of readers. Finding my voice as a film reviewer meant learning from the masters. I did my college thesis on the topic, writing in the styles of greats in the field such as Roger Ebert, Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael. Seeing lots of movies in various styles was crucial. I used to travel from my hometown of Greenville, SC to the likes of Atlanta and Charlotte to see screenings of more art house fare and to interview celebrities such as George Clooney. Nowadays, it’s possible to watch many movies via streaming and to catch up on classics via various services. Knowing you central proposition – mine is appraising films by genre and by director – is an important step in assuring success in one’s chosen field.
Stephen, 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?
As a side hustle to my full-time job as president of Cookerly PR, I run my film review blog Silver Screen Capture and this spring am launching a podcast called Cinema Spice with entertainment journalist Lexi Lewis. I was a journalism major at University of South Carolina, and all the while as a student, I published articles and reviews for any publications I could (some of the outlets were Creative Loafing, Prevue, Reel Time, TheaterMania and many others). People know my Silver Screen Capture blog for regular news reviews and features about new films on streaming and in theatres. I’m proud that work on the blog has taken me to events such as the Oscars and that my critiques have helped lift the profiles of several narrative and documentary films on the festival circuit. I love movies so much and have moved to the Town at Trilith (part of the ecosystem of Trilith Studios) and am even taking classes at the Georgia Film Academy and helping on short film projects to continue to hone my love of the craft as both an observer and an active participant.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
One of my passions has been service to boards celebrating education and the arts. Here in Atlanta I currently serve on boards of Aurora Theatre, producing entertaining and diverse works, and The Ron Clark Academy, training the world’s greatest educators. I have led boards for Actor’s Express and Jerusalem House and have served as head of the marketing committee of the Center for Puppetry Arts board as we brought the Jim Henson collection to the city and expanded the museum’s offerings. These arts boards have opened up connections. For instance, through work on the advisory board of Alliance Theatre, I met folks who invited me to be an influencer at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Atlanta is a city that very much affirms community involvement and invites all sorts of volunteers to actively participate. I have loved producing and sponsoring live performances and being a part of mounting productions of rock operas such as Rent, Bare and Murder Ballad. Supporting artists means doing so with your time, your talents and your treasure. My friends in the arts will tell you I try to support their shows, their day jobs and their aspirations as they do mine!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.silverscreencapture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenatlanta/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephen.m.brown2
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbrownatlanta/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenatl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClh1sii6q7YiQCiof0McHvg
- Other: www.cookerly.com
Image Credits
Photos by Jason Jones, Greg Mooney