Daily Inspiration: Meet Beverly Hell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Beverly Hell.

Hi Beverly, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in the Valley in a household with a lot of creative software on the family computer, which is most likely the main culprit for basically my entire career trajectory. I spent my K-12 days messing around in Photoshop, Final Cut, and Ableton instead of joining a sports team or paying attention in class. I was kind of a mess. After high school, I dropped out of community college after 1 semester and got my first staff job as a video editor, then got bored with being on staff and went freelance – way more lucrative if you work in entertainment.

Then my mom passed away at the end of 2022, and I realized life is too short to not at least try and do all the things I want to. I’d actually played classical cello for 10 years growing up, and had been in a band songwriting and playing bass guitar for 6 years, so I started taking music more seriously. I released my first track last year, and things have gone quite well since then. I still work in post, but I’ve gone from just chasing money with it to prioritizing projects I find really compelling, regardless of pay. Now my paths with music and film are starting to intertwine. I’ve been commissioned to write a few original songs and score pieces for films, and I’ve also been cutting a lot of music videos for other artists. Never my own though. I can’t stand being on camera and having to look at the footage is even worse.

Being an artist is embarrassing, but I don’t have any other skills so I may as well commit to the bit.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not a smooth path at all. I would say one of my biggest personal obstacles was having a sick parent for most of my life, which is obviously nobody’s fault, but dealing with disability and illness in a working class family definitely makes your prospects more challenging. My focus was really on money for most of my early career.. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to properly invest in what I’m most enthusiastic about, because often times the coolest projects pay the least.

I’ve also personally found that the culture in LA, especially in creative communities, can be very exclusionary. Even though I experienced a really great run of things here as a commercial editor, I found that nobody really wanted to welcome me into their more creative, artistic communities until I made opportunities for myself. I think the city is just oversaturated with people who talk about what they want to do and don’t actually do it. Folks needed proof of concept from me first, which meant I had to learn how to do a lot of things alone before people with better skills than mine wanted to lend a hand.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I guess between my work in music and film and the overlap between them, what is most distinct is a focus on story and world building. I truly want to make people feel something, even if that feeling is uncomfortable – or actually, especially if that feeling is uncomfortable! In music it can be as simple as using textures in my production that feel unexpected, or throwing out the traditional song structure altogether. In post that can look like holding on a certain shot or an awkward moment for what feels like an unreasonable amount of time. Over all, I think embracing the multimedia aspect of what I do helps people to immerse themselves in the little universe I’m creating. I want people to be able to step inside an alternate reality for a while and experience something new.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Integrity and consistency, and no sucking up. Why force a relationship with someone you don’t actually click with? I think it’s more about doing your work on a regular basis in a way that fulfills you, and then when you find a real connection with someone who sees what you’re doing and wants to help, or wants to find out how you can create that collaborative alchemy together, everyone is genuinely invested and enthusiastic about it and it makes better art. People can feel it when you had fun making something as opposed to when you did it to try and be impressive. Fun for the artist makes it fun for the audience too!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://visionsound.studio
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/beverlyhelll
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@beverlyhell
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/beverlyhellmusic

Image Credits
Saul Ryers, Syd Christopher, Jarius Fabian