We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabriele Maria Bussetti. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabriele Maria below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Gabriele Maria with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I grew up artistically watching Sergio Leone’s films. The way he built tension stuck with me – you could feel so much in just a look. Now when I’m working, I find myself asking: ‘Am I giving this story everything it deserves?’ It’s not always comfortable – sometimes that means staying late or starting over when something feels off – but that’s how you put in the work.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m a screenwriter, director and editor based in LA, originally from Italy. After completing my Master’s at NYFA, I started working professionally in 2024 with projects like the music video ‘Leaving New York’, and ‘Coffee,’ which reached millions of viewers. Working on international productions like ‘El Camino’ showed me how much I love the collaborative side of filmmaking.
This year I founded BGM Films with Eve Alas Morán and Abhinav Joshi. We’re a production company focused on films and music videos. Our approach is simple: we believe every project deserves the same level of care and attention to detail.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, I’d say three skills really shaped my journey. First is visual storytelling fluency – the ability to think in images and understand how every visual choice serves the narrative. This skill allowed me to communicate effectively with cinematographers and editors from day one. For people starting out, I’d suggest studying films frame by frame and watching movies with the sound off to focus purely on visual storytelling. Shoot constantly, even with your phone.
The second is technical versatility. Being hands-on with editing, sound design, and post-production means understanding every step of the process, which makes you a better director and invaluable on smaller projects. My advice here is simple: learn the tools. Download editing software, start cutting footage together, and take on small projects where you wear multiple hats.
Third is what I call emotional architecture – the ability to construct the emotional journey of a story, understanding how each scene builds to create cumulative emotional impact. Whether I’m writing, directing, or editing, I’m always thinking about the emotional rhythm of the piece. For developing this skill, study how your favorite films make you feel, not just what happens in them. Pay attention to pacing and trust your emotional instincts, even when logic suggests something different.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
For directors, I really believe you need to be well-rounded. You can’t make good decisions about different parts of a production if you don’t understand how they work. You don’t need to be the best at cinematography or sound design, but you need to be curious and know how to talk with every department head.
I learned this early in my career during pre-production meetings. Instead of just nodding when department heads talked about technical stuff I didn’t fully grasp, I started asking questions to really get their workflows. That curiosity led to much better conversations about what we could do creatively.
Of course, everyone has areas they want to dig deeper into – maybe you love working with actors or you’re really into post-production. But you can’t ignore any department. When department heads see that you’ve taken time to understand what they do, even at a basic level, they trust you more and that opens up creative possibilities you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bgmfilm.com/about
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriele.bussetti/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriele-m-bussetti-19787830b
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