We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Terrance Brashun a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Terrance, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I wish I had started things sooner. If it were up to me, I would exchange those two years that I spent being in school and doing dental assisting for going to school to get my degree in Visual Communications sooner. However, I think we all have a path and the way things worked out for me have lead me right to where I am supposed to be at this moment in my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Navy vet from Oak Cliff, a community in Dallas, Texas. When I got out of the Navy, I went to school to get my BS in Visual Communication. Originally, I wanted to learn how to do everything from graphic design to videography so that I could be a one-stop shop when it came to promoting my music. I always wanted to be a writer so music transitioned to becoming a published poet and poetry transitioned into writing my own short films. The first script that I ever completed was for a film called Thugnificent, based on the character from The Boondocks. That fan film got canned due to Covid and not wanting to put the cast and crew in danger. By that time, however, I was in film mode. I created a docu-series called Black Veteran where I interviewed 4 Army Veterans and let them tell how in the military we experience racism, sexism and favoritism but we can’t really speak on it while enlisted. I tried to put that content out on Amazon Prime but for some reason, they wouldn’t allow me to put it out and threatened to ban me from their platform. I didn’t like not being able to put out the content that I wanted to put out so I started my own streaming platform called Villainwood (www.villainwood.com). I used my first short film, Ridge Run, to premiere the whole platform. Villainwood is now where you can find all of the content that I have ever directed in one place instead of skipping through other platforms like YouTube, Facebook and IGTV. I think the thing that sets me apart from my peers is that I’m able to take a story from an idea to a script to an actual visual. Some people are only able to do one or the other. I’m most proud of my latest film, Ridge Run II: Familiar Places and the selections that it is currently racking up on the film fest circuit.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding part of being a creative is when someone actually gets the art that you are putting out. When you’re creating, a lot of the time, you’re not sure if there are others who will connect with what you’re doing because we all feel alone in the journey sometimes. Sometimes it feels like people don’t want to support you until there is a growing crowd already supporting your art. However, when people actually get your art before the train leaves the station, that’s the dopest part of the process.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best thing that society can do is to stop making fun of creatives because we are different. Most of the creatives I know are highly intelligent individuals but because they go against the grain people look at them as radicals or call them weirdos. Its not weird to be intelligent. being a creative comes with a hint of insanity which allows us to creative the amazing pieces of art that the masses love. I think society should stop bullying creatives and brushing it off as us being oversensitive and realize that without us, society as a whole would stop moving forward. Without creatives, the world would be a very dull and boring place.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.villainwood.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classicvillainbrand/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classicvillainbrand
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj6xS0jtQZL0k67nX9_jxsA
• Other: www.classicvillain.com

Image Credits
Hollywood Shots Photography