Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny Brillantes.
Hi Johnny, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
As a born and raised Burbank kid, it’s no surprise that I grew up in an entertainment industry family, everything from stunt driving to casting and on-camera talent to post-production. My family members that were educators or in medical field scheduled my summers with John Williams concerts and trips to Disneyland. So inspiration and imagination were important factors in my upbringing. I kept my feet wet when I worked for my cousin’s casting agency a couple of years after high school. During the late 2000’s I had made friends with tons of LA transplants who were working as production assistants on reality tv productions. Being in my 20s before they called my neighborhood “NoHo” was the best, but long nights as a PA and all the entertainment-adjacent gigs really burned me out. So as a change of scenery, I decided to go to school in the San Francisco. I love the Bay Area. YouTube and Netflix made us all see that digital media was a giant kaiju juggernaut that broadcast media would soon have to reckon with.
So amidst paying the bills and working to pay off the student loans in the East Bay, I would develop and self-produce web-series and shareable content with my classmates and other professionals. When I came back home in 2014, I got back into entertainment-adjacent gigs. I had met a lot of extremely gifted working actors, podcast engineers, content creators and hilarious comedians while working in Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. It was like this shimmering well of fresh faces and inclusive millennials that thoroughly revived what I loved about the art that makes me feel alive and sometimes a celebrity or two might pop up like a rare Pokemon- to buy Pokemon cards for themselves! I had day jobs with some really astonishing stunt actors and hosted tours on a historic movie lot in my hometown. At that time, I so badly just wanted to add to other creatives’ career! If a stunt actor or comedian wanted to get more dramatic work, let’s write them a film where they get showcase their many other talents! Over the last decade or so, especially with the boom in handheld digital media, it’s been made abundantly clear that we have to create our own opportunities and are the sculptors of our own success. Then the Covid-19 Lockdown hits. The industry was at a standstill. Theaters are still taking a catastrophic death blow. Productions got flung into hiatus. No way was that going to stop me. There had to be a way we all could showcase our all of our talents AND stay safe at home.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life wouldn’t be as rich as it is at all if it were a smooth road with nothing to overcome. Needless to say, it’s never a smooth road. Changing cities, replanting roots, reestablishing one’s self, mending tenuous relationships with family and friends, it’s always a part of the package. College is still crazy expensive in this country too, my goodness! We all do what we gotta do to keep going; sometimes that means living out of a duffle bag while sleeping on couches, other times it’s spending a month or so living out of a car we can’t afford.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Right now, I’m most proud of QuarantineScenes which began as a way to stay connected during the Covid19 Pandemic. Allowing actors and creatives to stay busy and active during quarantine. It has since grown to 30+ shorts including over 50 collaborators globally. All working together. Amongst the deafening cacophony of shareable content that is out there, what sets me apart is the time it takes to curate and cast and take that extra step of fine-tuning a scene that when you watch it, you think more of the craft than someone whipped this together for their followers or because they were just trying to pass the time.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
So hard to pin down! What a question! Summers with my Grandparents in the early to mid-nineties. When I found my grandparents Minolta Master v1400. Going to Disneyland and watching movies with my Uncles, taking walks and jamming out to pop music with my Aunts.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.pisanopictures.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pisanopictures/channel/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnbrillantes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ16fDUTuUJ3UOo7iE1DKKA
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRQiOXZXODucGKjESzdLpxg
Image Credits
Red “Good Samaritan” Poster: Maddie Saunders Blue “Sophie/Jerzy” Poster: Joseph Cardoze Black and White: Kent Nichols
