A few weeks ago, we were fortunate to connect with Atlanta-based writer, director and founder of Lucidity Pictures, Bryan Tan.
Bryan has worked in the Atlanta film and TV community for the past ten years. Prior to that, he obtained his film and television degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He shares, “I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker ever since I was in the seventh grade. During that time, I won a science fair. With the proceeds, I got a gift card to Fry’s Electronics and purchased a $100 camera, which was before cell phones had cameras. The camera I bought wasn't even as good quality. He then goes on to share that purchasing his first camera opened the world of creating in a different way."
Aside from being a writer and director, Bryan works in many aspects of the film industry. He shares,
“My philosophy has been, 'what can we build from the ground up?' My team and I work on trying to build skills from the ground up and try to be responsible in how we use our resources so that it will scale well over time.”
Growing up, Bryan’s dad allowed him to create because he worked in IT with computers.
“My dad would’ve been perfectly fine if I went into computer science, but there was always something in me that said, ‘I want to create things and tell stories,’ which was always there before I found filmmaking explicitly.”
Instead of his dad pushing back on his creativity and saying, ‘You need to do something else because it will be more secure,’ Bryan’s dad recognized his creativity, and supported his pursuit of filmmaking.
“Even if my dad doesn’t quite understand what we’re doing all the time, it’s the fact that he gave me the space to create.”
Bryan’s mother, like his dad, encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.
“My creativity pretty much came from my mother. She always worked as a painter on the side and a graphic designer before Photoshop existed, manually moving images and realigning them with an Exacto blade. I am, however, grateful that my parents supported me even when they didn’t necessarily understand everything that went into filmmaking.”
Bryan takes us on his journey from how he started, to where he is today.
“I got my start making films with my friends which is the way a lot of filmmakers begin. When you are making films in high school, you’re often thought of as being the Stephen Spielberg of the School and everyone knows you as the movie guy. And, then you go to an arts school and realize that you aren’t special because there are other people pursuing filmmaking. Then you begin to realize that filmmaking is a collaborative thing.
I’ve been blessed to make a lot of friends and relationships as a student, which carried over into the present, and working with other filmmakers that have moved forward slowly. What we tried to do was maximize the quality of what we could do in our short films and go into our first feature film with the minimal resources that we have, and try to think about it from the ground up and think ‘we know that we have this interesting location. What can we build around that and what can we build around the things we have? When I moved to Atlanta, the thing that was missing was the relationships with actors and knowing the people who were in front of the cameras. On the other hand, I felt fortunate to get to know actors and upcoming talent and dream and see them in roles and imagine what could be, and then say, ‘I’m going to write stories for these folks who are now my friends’, they’re not just people I know. Getting to write roles for them and working from a ‘what we have perspective, and being able to tailor things to people’s strengths. It’s been to see the community in Atlanta grow overtime, and how excited people are about films here is fantastic!"
Bryan Tan
Atlanta Film and TV: Can you share with us about Lucidity Pictures, and some of the films you produce?
Bryan Tan: "Lucidity Pictures is my production company which I use as my LLC to conduct film work in Atlanta.
In general, I’ve tried to make films that are not just vibes, but films that are important to me. I produce films that are more than just a feeling, and are about something to me. I make films that connect to real world things, not in a direct or propagandistic way, but where people can connect to them emotionally.
One of my earlier short films, The Emissary, is about a woman who travels as an ambassador to a foreign planet where people left earth hundreds of years before. She tries to reconnect with the people she knows are her ancestors. It's a mystery in a sense, because you don’t know why this happened, but it’s obviously a science fiction story. I built a spaceship set for this film in my parent’s basement. It was a learning experience of diving into production design, how to work with sets, and writing a role for a friend of mine, Viviana Chavez. Making this film gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about the process of doing Science Fiction from the ground up."
Bryan then goes on to share about his first feature film, She Watches Blindly, which is streaming on Vudu, Fandango Home amongst several other platforms.
“She Watches Blindly is a psychological - thriller about a mother who believes she can read minds. It’s not a gift, but an illness which destroys her life. When people think about reading minds, they think about it as being a superpower where you can manipulate people. But, I thought, what if you’re subjected to people’s thoughts so you know what people are thinking about you? Knowing all these things could paralyze and make you feel cynical about human nature amongst other things. This film was shot during the pandemic with a small crew of about eight.
In 2023, She Watches Blindly premiered at The Atlanta Film Festival. I am grateful to learn about the distribution side of filmmaking, to now have it stream on a few major platforms."
Atlanta Film and TV: What is one thing no one knows about you? For example, do you have a hidden talent that no one knows about?
Bryan Tan: "Something I do on the side is play the piano and the guitar (playing the guitar is more of a secret). I, however, do not claim to be good at either instrument. Music has been a rewarding side hobby for many years. Filmmaking is complicated and is like having a wedding every single day! Yet with an instrument, it’s just you and the music, learning how to play, working slowly, and getting in touch with the music. Playing music has been a rewarding side hobby for many years."
Atlanta Film and TV: If I could travel back in time and speak to 18 year old Bryan, and tell him about all the wonderful things he would become, what would you least likely believe to be true?
Bryan Tan: "When you’re 18, you want everything to be an immediate success because you want the world to be like ‘right now.’ Everything’s here. Everyone can see your talent when you’re in this nascent phase. I would tell my 18-year-old self to keep learning. You have talent, but let yourself keep learning. You don’t have to feel like everything has to happen for you right now. Everything you do, one step at a time, will all be worth it. If someone gave you everything you wanted right now, you’d probably stop learning, which would be less helpful for you than going through the process of building relationships, developing skills, and learning more about the world. I would encourage my younger self that, in the end, it will all be worth it!"
Bryan shares, “a piece of advice for someone coming out of highschool, looking to pursue a career in filmmaker or becoming a director would be that it’s important for people to fall in love with the actual, and physical process of filmmaking. The technical stuff in filmmaking can be intimidating. I would, however, encourage people to jump into filmmaking because there’s a lot of pressure to automate everything within the process No matter if it’s through AI or through things to hire it out. If you approach filmmaking with the mindset of ‘I don’t know about this. I’ll have to hire someone,’ you won’t know the specifics of their decisions.
He also shares
"If you're going to be a director, you’ll want to understand every aspect of what you’re doing and you will have to start somewhere. You might not be 18 and think ‘I’m going direct now!’ However, if you start by learning the specifics of filmmaking, it will help you overtime. No matter if it’s working with the camera, or if you’re coming from stage background and working with actors, which is an advantage because you know about actors and being in front of the camera. I think sometimes people are afraid to step out of their comfort zones because they may know one of the fields I mentioned but say, ‘I don’t know about this. So, I need other people to step in for me.’ And, of course, filmmaking and directing is ultimately collaborative and you will be sharing the load while making a film. But, it’s still good for people to know as much as they can and as much as they have the ability to learn and to keep learning the different aspects of filmmaking and directing so they can be a good leader and know what decisions are happening."
Towards the end of our conversation, Bryan shares a few G.E.M.S. (Great Educational Moments with Movers and Shakers) with our readers and viewers. He says, “ I would say to filmmakers to keep writing and never regret writing another draft. It’s painful to keep writing and learning how to write multiple drafts. However, writing multiple drafts is when something becomes good when you take the time to and the discipline to refine something in that process. It's also good to see mistakes before they end up being mistakes you’ll have to fix in editing later.
Secondly, if what you write doesn’t work on the page it probably won’t work on the screen, so make sure you solve those problems within the screenplay. If you write something that doesn’t make sense to someone because there’s always an escape valve. You could say, ‘I’m a visual, and it will come through when I show them what I’m thinking. It may, but don’t take that chance. Make sure you at least write what you’re thinking, so people will understand. If you’re not able to explain what you’ve written means that people probably won’t understand what you wrote. Allow the screenplay and the reaction of others teach you which will go far."
Click below for our full conversation.
You can connect to Bryan Tan on by following his Substack Lucid Themes. You can find his film The Emissary, on YouTube at Bryan Tan. You can also connect with him on Instagram @action_tan.
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