Bob Bryan (Director / Writer / Executive Producer / Director of Photography) understands the notion of the independent filmmaker and revels in it.
By
being persistent and accepting the good will of strangers, Bob managed
to break into "the bizness," initially as an actor turned cameraman,
turned director, turned producer. Some of his freelance
production credits include: Hill Street Blues, Hard Copy, Murphy Brown,
Murder One, The US World Cup / Studio Pele', Up Close and Personal, Mad
City, Deep Impact, The Truman Show, The Goofy Movie and fifty-nine (59)
Interstitial Spots for The Discovery Health Channel etc.
The
next creative step in Bob's
eclectic career was to get his 45 minute Indie documentary entitled
Graffiti Verite'
produced. Looking realistically at his modest budget he decided to hire
himself as the writer, executive producer,director, director of photography,
audio-mixer and finally editor and publicist.
Self producing and financing Graffiti Verite' (1995) was not an easy way to go. It meant making hard choices which impacted the everyday quality of Bryan's family life.
"Everyday
I bounced from Heaven to Hell. Creatively I felt great, but in the real
world we had no extra money for food, gas or bills. Checks were bouncing
all over the place and honestly my life was a living hell... but I still
believed "full-force" in Graffiti
Verite'. Miraculously, 2 days before my "sympathetic bank" was
to foreclose on my home and throw me and my family out into the street (the
day after Xmas), an angel disguised as a video distributor, Fed Ex'ed a
check for a substantial order, purchasing enough VHS copies (remember those)
of Graffiti Verite'
to literally stop the eviction. I was saved from the life-shattering
experience of having to tell my kids that its not that 'Santa Claus
doesn't really exist or love you; it's just that daddy doesn't have any
money'... We immediately went out and bought a wonderful Xmas tree
and celebrated the best Xmas Holiday Season that we've ever had," Bob shared.
Graffiti Verite' and his second filmed documentary about the Graffiti Art movement GV2: Freedom of Expression? (1998) has gone on to win a CINE "Golden Eagle", The Educational Media Network, "Gold Apple", The Colorlab Award "Outstanding Documentary," '97 Telluride IndieFest "Best Documentary", The Honolulu Underground Film Festival "Best Documentary", The AVC Regional "Silver CINDY" award, Texas A&M Film Festival 2001"Audience Choice Award" for documentary, The Communicator Awards "Award of Distinction", the Freaky Film Festival "Best Documentary" and many, many other honors.
Graffiti
Verite' has also been honored by becoming the Official
Selection of the prestigious Telluride Independent
Film festival, Mill Valley, Amascultura VIII Encontros Int'l De Cinema
(Portugal), Honolulu Underground, Sinking Creek, Columbus Ohio Int'l, Napa
Valley Wine Country, Central Florida, Carolina Film, San Jose State, The
Hip Hop Film Festival and the Breckenridge Film Festivals.
Graffiti Verite' and GV2 have both aired on PBS while Bob created a phenomenal independent distribution network including Netflix, Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, Hollywood Video, Sam Goody's, Musicland, Sun Coast Motion Picture Films, Amazon.com, Borders, Global Video, Baker & Taylor, and over 200 major on-line distributors and outlets (see www.graffitiverite.com/c-stores.htm). Today all 7 (seven) films are considered urban classics and are currently in world-wide distribution throughout public libraries, schools, commercial outlets and digital downloads.
The
summer of 2001 has proven a very busy time for Bob. Already this summer
Bob was the Director/ DP/Producer of the indie feature Wash, Dry &
Spin Out. Immediately following WDSO Bob went on the road
and DP'd the Caregivers series for PBS.
Following the Caregivers series,
Bob came back home to Los Angeles Directing/ DP/Producing the indie Hip-Hop
comedy feature Naked Brown Men starring Dante'
Basco and his real life actor/singer brothers Dion, Derek and Darion (Fly
Brown Dragons).Naked
Brown Men was written / produced by Adam G and Derek Basco.
Adam G (LoveChild) was also set to co-star. Production began
on August 15th 2001. The sound track for Naked
Brown Men will be scored by Fly Brown Dragons & LoveChild.Article
on the Basco Brothers.
A real success story, Bob shifted gears and produced his powerful angst-driven narrative drama tentatively titled Rape, which of course he wrote, directed and produced. Rape was completed by the first week of May 2001.
From 2001 to 2008 Bob produced GV3, GV4, GV5 and GV6, all multi award-winners.
Shifting gears, this past year (2009) Bob has released his 7th opus installment, dedicated this time, to the SPOKEN WORD Movement entitled GV7 Random Urban Static. GV7 has already gone on to garner the 2009 Platinum EMPixx Award, 2009 Telly Award and The 2009 Indie Fest Award (with more awards to follow).
Next on the horizon for Bob is GV8 which promises to explore the Hip-hop Movement in a unique and captivating way never attempted before. Look for GV8's release towards the beginning of 2010.
News at Eleven!

