6 Insights from Paige Irene Bruns ~ Director, Writer

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Paige Irene Bruns with a collection of cameras

Up and coming director and screenwriter Paige Irene Bruns and I talked about her life and career. Here are 6 insights selected from our conversation. No matter who you are, or what you do, you may well find these really helpful…

The interesting thing too is that when I first went in I had a few mentors that told me “It’s great that you are going to film school but I don’t know that it’s necessary.” I am so glad that I did because I was exposed to every element of the industry versus if I would have just jumped in I would have been as a writer-director with very little experience and I wouldn’t understand how to talk to my crew, or what a gaffer does, who the sound mixer is or the script supervisor. Because I had gone through the process and I have served in every single one of those roles I understand how to communicate with my team and I understand how important each role is.
Yes, having trust in your team and your team having trust in you is what makes or breaks a film. I put a real value on making my team feel more like a family than coworkers. I have been on sets where it doesn’t feel like that and when you see the end product, there’s a noticeable difference.
Anchor was my way of working through those emotions with the hope that we could shift those conversations from “Did it really happen, and if it did I need all the details to prove that it did happen,”
For me, film has always been my way of processing what I am feeling and my emotions, so on a personal level that’s huge for me. I also think that it is such a powerful art form because we are so receptive to what we see on our screens that it gives us an opportunity to be exposed to things that we would not be exposed to normally in our day to day lives. It has given me a whole other understanding of what people go through and a different level empathy for people that I would not have without being a part of it.
My parents are the first that come to mind because from an early age they have always preached to me to follow my dreams, no matter how big they are. Do something you enjoy and that you love. I would not be doing what I am doing without them. I think without that early encouragement I would have thought that it was not possible.
Network all the time. It is never too early to network. I started networking… probably long before I should have… but that’s good because it takes a while to figure out how to go about it. And surround yourself with people who are more experienced than you are because you are going to learn a lot very quickly just from being around them and watching what they are doing. Even if you are on a set and just watching you are going to start hearing common language and jargon that you wouldn’t know.