Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brit Phelan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brit, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
When I was 9 years old, my mother encouraged me to audition for a part in the school play. That year they were doing a musical adaptation of Dicken’s classic Oliver Twist, and I was extremely nervous about going out for a part. I was so anxious about auditioning in fact, that when it came time for me to sing for the director, I sang twinkle twinkle little star so quietly that no one could hear it. I had also fidgeted with the staple in my sample script so much that I mistakenly cut myself. So, there I was crying, bleeding, and barely singing on stage in the auditorium. They were doing the casting by grade and I got cast two grades below mine with the first graders. I was fairly mortified to say the least and I eventually dropped out of the play.
Fast forward to 8th grade. I was 14 and I needed to get money for school supplies and clothes. So, I got a job at McDonald’s for $5.75 an hour. The day of the interview, my mom drove me to the mall and bought me a buttoned down shirt, a white leather pockabook and a pair of polished dress shoes. She said, “a woman should always have a nice shirt and professional shoes for an interview and the pockabook adds a touch of class”. I changed into the strangely nice clothes and she drove me to McDonald’s. I was so shy to walk in that she went in with me. She pushed me up towards the front counter before taking a seat in the back of the restaurant to not be seen. As I walked up to the counter I could barely speak. I mumbled something about being there for an interview and the kid at the register got the manager. We sat down in the front of the restaurant. I couldn’t even look at the manager so I sat facing sideways in the booth avoiding eye contact. Improbably, she saw past my initial shyness and hired me.
All this is to say, I didn’t always possess the belief in myself I have now but countless times throughout the years my mom has been there for me, rehearsing or preparing for an interview. I was lucky enough to have a mother that was so extroverted. She showed me how to get out of my shell and open up to the world a little. Bit by bit I have built on this through lots of formative and sometimes uncomfortable moments, and nowadays I’m at the point where when I feel social anxiety I sort of find it to be a fun challenge to overcome. For me, confidence and self-esteem are things that I continuously work on. Skills that need fine tuning, practice, and maintenance. But those skills have led to some of the great successes of my life, both personal and professional.
So! Short answer? My mom. But beyond that just life experience, trial and error, success and failure. Coming through those things, still standing on the other side, is how I gained my confidence.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a filmmaker and photographer, and I’m a curious person with a lot of questions. I love traveling the world with a particular question in mind and searching for answers in the inherent wisdom of the various people that become the subjects of my work. That’s pretty much the formula to how I make things. I have a life question, I go out and ask the world about it, and then I come back with a film.
For example, in my feature length debut, Finding Dad, I essentially asked “How has my childhood with an absentee father affected me? This question had been bubbling up inside me for years and I started to feel very compelled to find an answer. So I flew to my dads last known whereabouts from two decades before in Augsburg, Germany on a quest to speak with him and hopefully get some answers. I made a movie along the way and the process of filming helped me find the truth and ultimately led to a self discovery I could have never imagined. I think this comes through on the screen and I think it is what makes my work impactful and hopefully interesting.
On my YouTube and TikTok channel you can follow me on these journeys as they twist and turn! Currently I’m working on a series called Looking for Love where I’m going to explore a lot of questions about dating and relationships that are hard to get solid answers on.
If you are curious like me, follow the links below!
@britphelan16
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWVI8KFUqykacyOtyKJHbGw
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My curiosity, persistence, and love for what I do. I think a lot of things in the film industry can be learned. But curiosity, dedication, and passion that’s not something you learn on a job. And, I think that those three traits have kept me going. The bottom line is; creative industries have a lot of talent and skills, especially with how accessible technology has become. The demand to keep making is always there. And, I know for me I had a moment in the pandemic where I realized I would keep producing work whether I was paid or not. Creating stories that people resonate with is my true love and I follow where it leads. It’s not something I need motivation for, it’s just something I can’t help but do.
So I guess my advice would be to find something you are truly passionate about, even if it’s a small thing, and just start leaning into that. You will find expertise and discipline along the way, so don’t worry too much if you aren’t fully accomplishing your creative goals right away. It starts with identifying what you find most interesting in life and going for it. Learn to love the process rather than the end result is a good first step.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Fast Forward: Growing up in the Shadow of Hollywood by photographer Lauren Greenfield. The first time I read this book was when I had just moved to LA. It felt like such an accurate blueprint of all the lives to be led in Los Angeles. The preface of the book was written by Carrie Fisher. In it she grapples with having motivation to strive in life despite being raised in a wealthy family in Beverly Hills, essentially being born on third base. She writes that the best she could ever do for herself was end up on the same block that she grew up on. She came up in one of the richest neighborhoods in the world. She had what a lot of people would consider a dream life. And yet she was still dissatisfied. It sets the stage for the book as you go through the photos and stories of all the different Angelinos who in their own way feel the same pressure to pursue their dreams in Los Angeles. I was blown away at Greenfield’s ability to find commonality between such a wide range of people. She effectively displayed a thru line of passion and dreams painted on the canvas of Los Angeles. This was extremely influential in how I portray people in my films.
In my own written series Be The Real, I talk about differences as much as similarities. There is no chance that every person I interviewed would be in the same social circle as every other person in the project. Yet I wouldn’t hesitate to throw a party with all of them invited. In fact, I did in NYC, LA, and Bordeaux. I think most people would hesitate to invite every person they know to the same party. Maybe that isn’t a bad thing, but I do wish there was more of a difference between incompatibility and difference. Maybe similarity is overrated. Be The Real is a reminder of what we collectively experience and that it’s important to be yourself within your community. In this I wanted to draw on Greenfield’s work and show many different roads to Rome, so to speak.
Turns out, after BeThe Real’s initial launch I was up for a job and I was very close to landing it. One day my agent calls and breaks the news that I hadn’t gotten the gig, they had gone with a different photographer. Someone named Lauren Greenfield. I didn’t even care, I had just been in a peer group with a hero of mine. What an honor.
Contact Info:
- Website: britphelan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britphelan/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britphelan/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWVI8KFUqykacyOtyKJHbGw
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@britphelan16
Image Credits
The book, print, and collage image are from my Be The Real Series. The other images are from my Finding Dad feature film.
