Brian Herskowitz shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Brian, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I think the average person thinks of the entertainment industry as glamorous and an easy, breezy life. That is a total misconception. Certainly, it’s not manual labor, but the amount of time and energy that goes into putting a film or TV show together can be overwhelming. The hours tend to be very long, and the rejection and disappointment are much more frequent than the wins and successes.
I work on both the creative and business sides of entertainment. Both can be tough, mentally draining, and difficult, but ultimately, the rewards are well worth the struggle. It’s the magic of Hollywood that creates the illusion of glamor. If we do our jobs right, the audience thinks it was effortless.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a writer, producer, director, teacher, and sometimes actor. I have written for films and TV since the mid-1980s, starting with the TV show Tour of Duty, where I also served as the Associate Producer.. In TV, I have worked on both hour-long dramas and half-hour sitcoms.
I have been a creative executive with a few different companies, but I am currently freelancing as a producer and executive producer. I recently helped finance two films, Robber’s Roost, which was the late Margot Kidder’s final film, and CAPTIVATED, a retelling of the John Paul Getty kidnapping from the perspective of the kidnappers.
I have several other projects keeping me busy. LORD AND MASTIFF is a wonderful, quirky comedy written by and starring Gabe Greenspan, and BEFORE MOONRISE, a psychological suspense/werewolf movie that I have written and plan on directing in early 2026.
I’m also teaching for my 22nd year at Boston University in Los Angeles, where I am the lead faculty for the screenwriter in Hollywood program. I also teach the course on entertainment finance.
In my spare time, I train and teach Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I am a sixth-dan and 2024 Veterans’ World Champion in Judo. Somewhere in there, I find time to be with my wife and my two grown daughters.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
This is a two-part answer. I started judo when I was six years old. My older brother, Steve, was diagnosed with dyslexia, and his eye doctor suggested he do boxing, karate, or judo for eye-hand coordination. We had no idea what judo was, but as luck would have it, there was a competition that weekend, and we went and watched, and it was an instant obsession.
We returned home, laid some pillows on the ground, and proceeded to beat the crap out of each other. That was sixty-one years ago, and I am still competing and learning. But the first time I threw an opponent was a rush that was like magic.
The other was the first time I performed as an actor on stage. I was nine years old and taking classes at Houston’s Alley Theater. The program was called the Alley Merry-go-round. We did a truncated version of Cinderella, and I played a small part. I decided, for some reason that eludes me now, to do a full-on Bela Lugosi from Dracula impression. When people laughed and applauded for me, it was an ego boost and a confidence builder.
That experience led to my first paying job as an actor at a dinner theater. at the age of 11. I knew then that I wanted to be an actor, and while that dream morphed into writing and directing, the actor in me has always played a significant role in my career path.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
By now, you get the idea that I have these two very strong, very distinct paths in my life. There is the creative, cerebral person who works in the world of film and TV, and the martial artist part of me that is purely physical. So, with your kind permission, I will give you two distinct answers.
I moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s to pursue an acting career, and I had some success, but I wasn’t on track to make a living, much less be a star. My lovely girlfriend at the time was getting impatient with me, and I came to a crossroad. Lose her and pursue an acting career that appeared like an uphill battle, or find a different path. That “wound” of giving up the lifelong passion and dream was devastating on many levels, but I traded the dream of acting for the reality of writing and directing. There’s still a bit of a scar, but it’s healed over nicely.
For the judoka in me, that moment came when I was training for the Olympics in 1980. I was in the top three or four in the US and had a decent shot at making the team. I was at a training camp two weeks before the National Championships, where the competitors for the trial would be chosen, when I was injured. During a sparring session, my right knee blew out. It was the last round of the last day of the camp. Less than two minutes left when my training partner stepped across my leg in such a way that it tore my anterior cruciate ligament. There was a loud pop, excruciating pain, and I dropped like I had been shot.
I missed the nationals, attending on crutches and unable to put weight on the knee. I’d have a pretty good year and was given a wild card spot to compete at the Olympic trials, but my knee wasn’t in any shape to compete, and I had to withdraw in the third round. I spent a year trying to avoid surgery, but ultimately, I had to have the ligament reconstructed.
Things are different now, but back then, it was a major ordeal. I spent nine months in a non-weight-bearing cast and almost four years in rehab before being able to compete at an international level again, but in 1985, I was on the US Maccabiah team and won two silver medals for the US. The physical wound is also scarred, but it has healed.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I am not sure that this is a cultural value, but it sure should be – integrity. Hollywood is often characterized as a fake and phony industry. Part of that is true. Actors portray things that they are not… but that spills over onto the other areas. Sometimes that’s warranted, sometimes it isn’t.
I believe that being honest, having a moral compass, and exhibiting integrity are essential. This isn’t an entirely altruistic view. Those values help put the people you deal with, particularly the nervous investors, at ease. If they know that you will always be honest and treat them with respect, they’re more likely to want to work with you. It is a very sad reality that many people have seen opportunities turn sour, and in turn, they sour on the industry.
As an industry, we cannot afford to mistreat the people who finance films. If you do that once, it is the last time that individual or group will ever invest with you.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Wait,… What? It’s not real??? Okay, well, if it were, what would I build? More… I would build more of what I am doing now. I would continue to teach, continue to learn, continue to write and direct, and I hope I would have enough success to continue to give back.
I would revel in seeing my children blossom as adults and my wife continue to grace the airwaves and theaters. I may have failed to mention, my wife is an actress… as are both my children.
I would also hope that I would be building a legacy. I think that artists in our society lead. They shine a light on what’s right and wrong in the world and present those issues in an entertaining package. I would like to think that a hundred years from now, someone will watch a show or film I’ve written, produced, or directed and be moved. Maybe it will provoke them into taking action against an injustice or change their mind about something.
I guess everyone has a legacy, and it’s a matter of perspective if that legacy has much of an impact. I think if some of my work can live on beyond my time then in a way immortality CAN be real.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brianherskowitz.com
- Instagram: brianherskowitz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-herskowitz-6608324/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bherskowitz
- Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC9ZFqJg-OZ_aszU5zkN4CmA/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D
Image Credits
Dante Swaom. Anthony Lau, Gina Hecht, Brian Herskowitz
