Meet Brian Follmer of Echo Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Follmer.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a normal suburban childhood. Since around the age of eight I was compelled to write stories. I’m not sure why. I studied literature at UC Berkeley and began writing screenplays in addition to literary fiction. At first I felt like my personal life stories should be saved for literature, and my screenplays should be more commercial genre stories, but later I changed my mind. Now I just make whatever I want, independently.

I started producing my own feature films at the end of college. And ever since then I have spent my entire life consumed by one feature film project after another. I have made all of my films independently, financing them out of my own pocket or with the help of close collaborators like Adam Leotta. I’ve been making films for over ten years now and I have seen the death of DVD sales and the shrinkage of Amazon streaming payouts down to one penny per hour streamed. It doesn’t look like independent filmmakers will be able to make money from movies anymore. Not real money. Maybe horror movies still make money. Or if you are very good at marketing to a niche, or have lots of connections. But that’s not me.

I never liked posting on social media. I’m not sure why. I guess I thought it was weird to tell people my whereabouts and happenings. I don’t know why anyone cares about that. Also, the current algorithm on social media only promotes content that is intentionally made as viral content (hook in first second, over-stimulation via fast editing, text popping up on screen, etc.) Slow-paced stuff can’t be shown to a wider audience on social media by definition. Unfortunate times. (Though I do consume this media and enjoy it. But I also still like watching movies.) I’ll probably start making fast-paced “content” soon, to keep up. For now, indie films 🙂

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?
The struggles of an independent filmmaker are many. Getting a feature film made without major studio financing is really hard, but for some reason I keep doing it. And then it’s even harder to get people to care about your movie enough to watch it, even if it’s streaming for free. I still don’t know how to find my audience. There is a small audience of like-minded individuals out there who want to see my work, but it’s hard to target such a small audience with marketing/social media.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My movies often have dark comedy, ironic dialog, and realistic acting. The stories usually focus on un-sympathetic characters, which is more interesting to me, but for some reason most people dislike that. I’m most proud of my movie Out of Sight, Out of Mind, which was originally an 8-hour limited series. It took me most of my 20s to make and it’s my most personal film. We released a heavily-abridged version (on Amazon now). I want to continue to satirize the cultural moment (specifically interpersonal social relationships), but I also want to make more commercial films too, for the money.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
No, thanks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bullishproductions.com
• Instagram: @bullishproductions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.follmer.1/