NYU Alumnus Has Some Advice for Creative Types
By his account, Brandon Salerno (GAL ’16) had a rather normal childhood. He grew up in the NYC suburb of Eastchester (ironically located in Westchester) and seemingly did normal kid things, riding bikes, going to public school, the like. However, everything changed for Brandon in the 7th grade, when he discovered his passion for acting as a part of the Eastchester High School Player’s Club. He found himself hooked and went on to take part in the school’s “Fall Comedy” every year. He also began to audition professionally in NYC on weeknights and weekends. Brandon then went on to NYU but decided not to pursue a formal performance degree in order to “focus more of [his] time on auditioning…and building a resume”. Since he had already taken formal acting classes throughout high school, he wanted to take a more business-approach. He ended up in Gallatin, studying a combination of acting, entertainment business, and educational theatre.
In Brandon’s opinion, current students in artistic and creative programs, such as those in Tisch, should start approaching their projects with a business/marketing perspective. He also recommends “figuring out your brand” and going from there. He describes his brand as “the quirky, nerdy Big Bang Theory/Silicon Valley comedic type” and he has used this to get industry professionals (such as agents and casting directors) to help get him roles. He feels that knowing your brand and aligning your marketing materials (headshots, resume, acting reel, website, social media etc.) with it “signals to potential employers or collaborators in the industry” that you know who you are and you’re ready to work.
This has clearly worked out well for Brandon. He has already written and produced his own short film Half Empty, alongside his best friend Peter Ryan (CAS ’16), and is currently starring in OutliciousTV’s Flying High with Charlie. Half Empty was made with the help of NYU Grants, such as the NYU Gallatin Dean’s Award for Graduating Seniors and the NYU Gallatin Film Alliance Grant. While the Dean’s Award is Gallatin specific, Brandon says the Film Alliance is open to all students (as long as Gallatin student is attached to the project) and something that should be taken advantage of. He recommends “that students reach out to their individual schools for grant opportunities” (each college has different policies) and says that “there are SO many opportunities for financial aid for creative projects — you just have to do the work in finding them, applying for them and justifying why your idea needs to be made” (maybe NYU’s actual financial aid works like this too and they just never told us).
While Brandon didn’t create Flying High with Charlie, he’s still been with the project since the beginning, after finding the audition notice on Backstage back in 2015. He says that there were so many actors in consideration that he “didn’t think [he’d] actually get it”. Brandon describes the series as an “LGBT comedy”, and the show does indeed follow the life of Charlie, a gay flight attendant. The show was created by and for the LGBT community and he refers to the show as a “simply another stitch in quilt of LGBT representation in media”. Brandon believes that the show’s success (250,000 views through Youtube and Amazon Prime) shows the power of what he calls “new media” in delivering LGBT narratives. While he acknowledges that “old media” (movies and network TV) is catching up, he thinks that “the independence of “new media” on the Internet, like a web series, allows for great creativity and more diversity than what you might see on TV”. He also points out the rise of web series being brought to TV, such as Awkward Black Girl moving to HBO, now better known as Insecure, a trend he believes will continue.
Take Brandon’s story and advice as you want, but there seems to be quite a bit of merit in thinking of your projects from a business side first, instead of trying to remain a “pure artist” and only working on the artistic aspect of your project. Being a starving artist may sound romantic but you know what’s even better? Being an artist who actually knows how to get their work seen. That’s this writer’s opinion anyway.
