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Meet Brian Drolet and Chris Livingston of Be Like Trees

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Drolet and Chris Livingston.

Brian and Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
B: Wow that’s a loaded question how did I start? …Well, not to go too far back but I suppose I started at three years old as far as being addicted to art and creativity. I loved drawing, animation, sculpture, comedy, you name it… I went to specialized art programs and things like animation camp, in high school there was an advanced art program that not only I majored in, but I was also taking college-level art classes in my spare time for fun..it was and always has been my outlet and way of dealing with life honestly.

And so… fast forward to I’m graduating college… I was an art major of course and my specific focus at the University Of Florida was Electronic Intermedia which was a combination of all things I loved like painting and sculpture but also editing and computer animation etc – I loved my major and I did things for class like made music videos and recreated scenes from my favorite movies like Swingers, and Jim Carrey’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas all while also painting and sculpting and writing even.

And so after I graduated a random door opened, I’d been given cards from modeling recruiters asking me to come in for an interview and I was embarrassed and shy about it initially, but my mother and sister encouraged me to give it a try. I’m from NY, but my family retired to South Florida so at the time I drove down to South Beach Miami and walked into Wilhelmina Models. It said they were number one online after I google searched it and I figured may as well try starting at number one.

I walked in with some photos and met the agents and next thing I knew I was signed to their Media division. Like one week later I was walking in fashion shows and living a dream I couldn’t believe it I felt like there had been some mistake, I was an art geek how’d I end up here? So after a few months I moved up to NY because I didn’t feel going on modeling castings was getting me closer to what I really wanted to do which was act and make movies and so I headed up to NY to go to acting school and audition for theater.

I wanted to immerse myself in the NY acting scene and not only did I get cast in an Off-Broadway play called The Ecstasy In The Light, but I also got my first speaking part on a soap opera One Life To Live by going to a casting workshop with a casting director. It was extra work at first, but I think the director appreciated my committed background acting and offered me a line or two. But I still didn’t have an agent, so I submitted a videotape of myself to talent agencies and not an agent but a secretary at an agency liked my tape and called me in and next thing I knew I had an audition at MTV.

I booked my first audition, and then I started acting. I moved out to California with my best buddy Jordan Eubanks who I’d met in an MTV casting room, we both were cast in like five episodes of a show called Damage Control. He was also into art and on our road trip out to LA we said let’s make our own movies, and we came up with an idea about two dudes that move out to Hollywood to pursue their dreams it was called 2 Dudes And A Dream, and we really made the movie.

We raised over 100,000 dollars and actually made it… we had no clue what we were doing necessarily, but we were determined. I had just lost my mother, so I think I was extra driven it was almost my therapy. And with that film I learned a ton from writing to producing to acting in it, sitting in with the editor, designing the poster, making a website I loved it all I was hooked.

Ever since then, I’ve not only auditioned for things and acted in other people’s productions but I’ve always been working on an art project of my own if you will whether it’s a movie, a web-series, a play, or an art exhibit of acrylic paintings I have always been addicted to multiple artistic mediums and am always trying up the creative ante… I particularly like making movies because movies are a great marriage of many artistic mediums from writing to set design, acting, editing, animation, using art such as paintings or sculpture in scenes, and on and on…

On my latest film, we got to explore so many mediums – comedy, drama, animation, painting, singing, songwriting, to even cartooning and making a children’s book. Be Like Trees my latest project is a culmination of everything that makes me who I am I believe… all while paying tribute to my mother who was my number one fan and who was an unbelievable artist herself, and ridiculously hilarious and silly and full of joy… so she is also one of the main reasons behind who I am and my creative path so far…

My father has also been an amazing influence on me because he has always taught me that I can achieve my goals if I work hard and give it my best and he has supported me always so I’m lucky to have family that always natured my creative spirit and believed in my artistic ambitions and pursuits…

C: I applied to NYU Film School directly out of college. I had mostly been writing songs up to that time, and so when I submitted my creative material, I told NYU that I wanted to do musicals. I didn’t expect NYU to accept me because they were known at the time for an edgier kind of filmmakers– Martin Scorsese was teaching a class there at the time, and Spike Lee was a recent graduate.

NYU was a rude awakening as I was one of the few students who came directly out of college and whatever creative spirit I had, was put to the test with a bunch of other smart and dedicated people who were older and more experienced than I was. It really wasn’t until my second year of NYU that I started to feel like I fit in. What really changed things for me was a little help from the divine.

I was about to produce a short film, and while I liked my story and thought it was funny, I felt the script wasn’t fully realized. And so I got down on my hands and knees one night and prayed for help. I was already auditioning actors, and literally the next day, I received a headshot in the mail of this funny looking character named Jaffe Cohen. I called Jaffe, and we started talking, and it just so happened he was a comedic writer.

I wound up casting Jaffe and re-writing my script with him. It started a collaboration that lasted eighteen years. We made three movies together, the short I have mentioned, The Travel Agent, a feature film called, Chicken of the Sea, which I shot as my NYU thesis film, and finally, an independent feature called Hit and Runway which was released theatrically and won a number of awards on the festival circuit, including Best Screenplay at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Meanwhile, I was continuing to write songs, and doing some scoring work with another music partner, Frank Piazza. Eventually, I got the chance to direct another feature film, Dumbbells, which is how I met the co-founder of Be Like Trees, LLC, Brian Drolet. Brian and I teamed up and co-directed this latest feature together, Be Like Trees, which brings us to today.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
B: It definitely has not been smooth. I had beginners luck when you hear the beginning of my story it sounds charmed, and I believe it was at first, but when you have quick success, it’s usually as stable as a house of cards.

Pretty soon the luck wears out, and you get exposed. I don’t think I’ve ever been awful or bad necessarily but there is a huge learning curve and when you are tackling something as huge as trying to make your own films, and you’re wearing multiple hats, writing, acting, producing, directing, etc. it can be a long time before you figure out the formula and for me it took fifteen years.

I got lucky I’d say my first four years in the business, but then suddenly it all stopped. I found myself at age thirty delivering pizza for Dominos and depressed. I wasn’t getting any work or opportunities all of a sudden. Paying rent and bills simply became the hardest thing especially living in Los Angeles. And so I started writing more than ever as an outlet and I wrote a script called Dumbbells with my friend Hoyt Richards.

As fate would have it, my friend, Jordan Eubanks gave it to an investor that loved it and wanted to make it. Unreal. And what I thought was the answer to all my dreams ultimately did nothing for my career. The movie wasn’t well received and not only did I not get more opportunities out of it, my current acting agency dropped me. I felt like everything I did was a failure in my eyes and I wasn’t making any money, and I was down and out.

Being a busboy, a waiter, an Uber driver you name it I’ve done it. Then at some point my back started having problems, and I couldn’t bartend or waiter anymore, and that became a huge challenge because those jobs allow you to make a decent living while still pursuing your passion but once my back became bad I could only Uber which pays like 1/4 the amount of money as say bartending. But it’s been in the hard years I’ve dug deepest and evolved the most as a person and as an artist.

The bottom is where I started hitting open mics and putting myself in creative situations that really scared me… and I heard somewhere that when everything is the most in doubt, the best thing you can do if you’re an artist is make good art. And so that’s what I’ve tried to do when facing my biggest obstacles because trust me, obstacles are everywhere and never go away.

C: I think the only people in Hollywood who have smooth roads, are the people who need to learn lessons about having too much too quickly and having to discover that who they really are, has nothing to do with success.

My road hasn’t been easy, nor has it been traditional in the Hollywood sense. Chasing name talent to get a project financed seems to be the way things are done in this town, but I have always preferred to find my own way to get a project financed, and find wonderful, undiscovered talent to collaborate within the process.

Some people I have worked with before they became success stories, include Academy award winner, J.K. Simmons, and singer and Academy Award nominee, Lady Gaga. The biggest struggles I have faced have been involving raising funds for projects.

I’ve had to get creative to figure out ways to produce things inexpensively and still compete, and there have been many sleepless nights, wondering how it was all going to turn out.

Please tell us about Be Like Trees.
B: I specify in comedy – I want my company to be associated with fun movies that make you laugh and feel better about life. I want people to know they are going to have a great time and feel inspired from films myself and the people I collaborate with make. I am most proud of my most recent film Be Like Trees not only because it’s my best film to date but because it also incorporates all the other mediums I love as well.

C: Be Like Trees, LLC was started to create the feature film, Be Like Trees. This movie comes completely out of the left field, not to mention from outside the box thinking. Be Like Trees was shot on an iPhone for a budget of $7,500. We had a crew of three people who were also acting in the film.

Our only production equipment was an anamorphic lens, a gimbal, and some wireless mics, which enabled us to shoot in restaurants, bars, malls, amusement parks, airports, airplanes, and even a sports arena, while nobody knew what we were doing.

As a result, Be Like Trees feels huge in scope like we had a budget to shut down city blocks. It was truly eye-opening what is possible with today’s technology.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
B: Success is health, great relationships with friends and family, and getting to create art for a living… and hopefully someday help others achieve their dreams as well… that to me is success.

C: For me, true success is meeting your own artistic aspirations and having other people respond to it. The cherry on top is any money and success that comes with it. I would rather feel really good about something I’m proud of than make money off of something I don’t really care for or believe in.

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