Daily Inspiration: Meet Brady Berryhill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brady Berryhill.

Brady, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I was a kid I was obsessed with the pirates of the Caribbean movies. I’d play on the playground and pretend I was Captain Jack and treat the structure as my pirate ship. Those movies immersed me more than any book or bedtime story could. . Then when I was 9 I secretly watched Alien (1979) while my parents were asleep and I was blown away by the sheer craftsmanship that went into that film. I was scared shiftless of course but for some reason, at that age, I had a deep appreciation for the atmosphere and visuals that the classic had. Being the only movie buff in my family, there were never opportunities to be around actual filmmakers in Colorado. When my family moved to Napa it was something, I had never even met someone who worked on Film, let alone video media, until College.

In High School, I was attending AP history classes where we had this super kooky history professor who wanted us to film narrative sketches for our projects. My best buds and I took this as an opportunity to incorporate our home-video skills we were already curating. We’d make these drunk wizard videos and ridiculous quest type sketches with old Halloween costumes and the woods down the street. So when we got to apply these skills to a school project we knew we were ahead of the curb. I took on the majority of the work; writing, directing, filming and editing. That was more of a me thing than anything, I was obsessed with the process of making these videos. The comedic filmmaking was an absolute treat to show our teacher in which he matched our enthusiasm.

By senior year it was between becoming a lawyer or full send filmmaking. There were zero filmmaking classes at Napa High School, except one called “Film and Literature” where you compared books to the movie adaptations. However, despite my parents continuous disapproval, I decided to apply to only film schools. After months of applications, rejections, acceptances followed by lots of “nopes” when looking at the tuitions, I finally settled on UCSB being the practical and affordable choice. Close enough to LA to make sense and seemed like a upgrade in quality of life compared to the bitter drunk wine moms of Napa.

There is a lot to say about my film journey through UCSB’s film program, or I should say film theory program with production classes on the side, but main thing I will say is the students there are some of the hardest working, scrappiest, creative, and genuine colleges I’ve ever met. One of these exemplary people I met there was Justin Usami. By sophomore, COVID was full tilt and I had maybe only spent one day on a film set. I was idiling through the program distracting myself with the Rugby club and social life. However, I found myself taking over the Film Co-Op club as the new president just by honest to goodness BS’ing and my Co-President was Justin. With only briefly knowing him at this point via the club he asked me to come be a G&E swing on a feature proof-of concept. First thing I did was go home and google “what is a G&E swing”. I was extremely excited but in actual reality I was shitting my pants.

On that set, he and the other G&E crew members showed me the sheer basic ropes of how to work on lighting and grip on a film set. I was instantly enchanted by the combination of manual labor and technical knowledge required for such a job. On top of all of that it was in a wide array effort to make one singular piece of art. I learned of all the complex positions a film set has to offer. Like every other schmuck in film school I wanted to be a film director. I thought my vague horror script ideas were enough to take me to the stars. After working on this very mind-changing set, which retrospectively was another horrible script and passion project that I’ve come to realize is now oversaturating the narrative world, I quickly changed my entire career path. I admired gaffing but I instantly saw it as a great stepping point to the newly focused goal: Cinematography.

I had a lot of catching up to do before I hit LA after graduation. I quickly enrolled in a year long Davinci Resolve coloring class, spent all of my savings on a Blackmagic 6k Pro, and purchased the Set Lighting Technician’s handbook. Going full tilt into learning all of the tricks and tools to be a cinematographer quickly became my only focus, much dismay for my film theory professors who noticed my 180 turn around of effort towards classes. My only advice for anyone currently in film school and who wants to work on set is forget about only becoming a director, become very good at a bottom line position to earn an income, and use that to hone in and maneuver to your actual career goal. But most importantly, you will never be asked your film school GPA when interviewing to work on a feature film. These are the few things I learned from a series of mentors like Justin Usami and Leigh Mierke, a Union Best Boy Electric, former UCSB alum and founder of Cam Con.

Other major achievements I had in College was being the President of Cam Con for 2 consecutive years and being the Cinematic Affairs Officer in Delta Kappa Alpha (Film Fraternity). Cam Con allowed me to run an annual convention in which I had a master contact list of major film professionals ranging from ASC cinematographers to Union crews working under the likes of Christopher Nolan and Hoyte Van Hoytema. I was able to wrangle in a good number of these master filmmakers to come in person and teach workshops to UCSB students. Being the Cinematic affairs officer of DKA, I was able to organize film pitches to the Co-Ed film fraternity and allow students to pitch their ideas in order to get funding/crew. While doing all of this I was DPing a good number of films and Gaffing others. The multi-tasking of these clubs, prepping for shoots, and trying to have a passing average in school was a vein-pulsing stress I do not miss but looking back it was a very molding time and im very grateful to have had that much opportunity in such a limited program where some of the teachers were actively working against your filmmaking pursuits.

Now two and a half years into LA, through an egregious amount of coffees, instagram DM’s and cold-call emails, I’ve been able to establish a consistent career as a Cinematographer in LA. I came here right when the strikes started which was a major discouraging blow to freelance ambitions but I’m proud to say I haven’t taken a 9-5 job since coming here. Now I have supporting agencies such as Interwoven Agency to rep me as a Cinematographer along with a series of clients that trust me to produce a consistent product. I used gaffing as a way to network with directors and producers and earn a living on the side. There are still people I meet who are 5 years out of school or in the industry and have no clue what they want to do. If it wasn’t for that set Justin got me on all those years ago, I would be one of those people struggling to understand how to tame the behemoth and chaos that is the Los Angeles Film Industry. I still feel so far behind compared to some colleagues I meet but I take that self-doubt and turn it into a driving force of betterment. Now I’m gearing up to shoot a feature next February and have nothing but love and appreciation for my friends who’ve stuck with me the entire way.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the biggest challenges I faced was graduation and moving to LA right when the Writer’s strike. The first thing I did coming here was text and DM every working LA professional I knew asking for work but the issue was they were all doing the same thing. The town was dead. Jobs quickly became a commodity and I watched jealousy and rage scourge across film industry workers. It was a very disheartening time for everyone involved. Strangely there was an opportunity in this absence of creative work. People wanted to work regardless if there was money or not. I was able to collaborate with other out-of-work filmmakers to create spec commercials, short films, music videos, etc. All these projects people had on the backburner and never got around making because of work had no more excuse. Filmmakers started to make. From that I was able to build a semi-decent portfolio through collaborations and get my running start once the work started rolling in again.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My body of work as a Cinematography majorly consists of Stylized Commercials, Music Videos, Fashion pieces shot on Film, and Narrative projects. Some of my proudest pieces of work were shooting Super 8 Film for the likes of Kesha, Camilia Monore, Kathryn Newton for magazines such as Vogue, PAPER, and Glamour. Commercials I have done on a wide budget range from Robot arm table top to Docu-style branding. This is my main source of work which I honestly really enjoy. I’ve been able to develop a work flow that keeps the commercial client happy while maintaining the director’s creativity that ends in me getting the call back continuously. I have shot music videos for artists whose genres range from Death Metal to Hyperpop. Utilizing many different styles based on director artist and songs experimenting with different cinematography techniques so each project feels like it has its own unique approach. I don’t believe I have a certain “style” unlike how a lot of cinematographers may claim. I believe the job of the cinematographer is to translate the vision of the director through technical and creative means onto the screen. By translating the director’s vision to your Gaffer, Key Grip, AC’s and others on your team. You fill the technical knowledge gap some directors have and implement what you think is best for them, the story and the project as whole. Coming from a Gaffing background too allows me to better handle my leadership skills on larger projects and be able to make decisions that protect your crew and keep the integrity of the creative. I feel like a lot of DP’s who come through AC’s are more individualistic in their thinking which is not always a bad thing but when it comes down to being a DP i feel like leadership supersedes all. I treat my crew right and in return I gain their respect and passion for the project which allows them to do their best.

What makes you happy?
Two things primarily make me happy. My friends and the attempt to see the same childlike wonder, the one I had on my face watching movies as a kid, on the faces of crew and audience members seeing something I shot.

Without my support system of friends I would not be in LA, at least not for long. This city can be very clicky and harsh. For a highly populated area there is a strange loneliness that can overcome you. I am extremely lucky to have such a support group of caring people on and off set. It’s what allowed me to fall in love with this city.

Film sets can be a stressful and nonstop environment. But whenever I am DPing and the camera is rolling, sometimes I don’t even look at the frame, I look at the faces of the crew who all came together to make the project. To see their reactions and the gradual amazement creep across their face. Being able to light, frame and shoot something that invokes that reaction is why I do this job.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.berryhillfilm.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brady.berryhill_dp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brady.berryhill
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brady-berryhill-9616221a1/