Meet Brian Ulrich | Director, Writer, & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Ulrich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, we’d love to hear about a book that’s had an impact on you.
I recently read Zachary Levi’s “Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others.” Aside from being a talented actor, Levi is someone who shares a lot of my beliefs and values while working in the same industry.

I wanted to learn from the experience of someone who’s been in this game a lot longer than me. Reading about his own triumphs and pitfalls, and his mental and spiritual health journey along the way, I began to see destructive patterns in my own way of thinking and behaving. This matters so deeply to me, because I am so much more than what I do.

One of the key points of Levi’s book is the worth and value we have as humans.
In a world full of people lost in their own scramble for meaning and value, especially in an industry that puts a price tag on your looks, skills, etc, it’s important to be reminded that you matter and you have value simply because you are here.

In the opening of the book, Levi says that “You belong here because you are here. God created every single one of us with our own inherent worth and value and dignity.”

This is a conviction my wife and I have always held, and tried to show on our sets. People matter more than projects. Dimitris Birbilis, our veteran Production Manager, affirmed this on our first feature. “No movie is worth someone’s life. It’s just a movie.”

As non controversial as that idea is, our industry still struggles to put people ahead of profits. Levi’s book documents his own journey in shifting his identity and worth from a dollar sign, and what he is able to accomplish, to his value and purpose as a human being, and not putting himself in areas and situations that push him back into negative and destructive ways of thinking.

I teach film classes at Biola from time to time, and one thing I always tell my students is it is more important how you make something than what you make. By that, I mean this… as artists, we want to imbue our work with meaning, and purpose, and really say something important to our audience, but a lot of times, you don’t actually have control over that. Sometimes you’re hired to make a toy commercial, or direct a sword fight on a pirate boat, and you’re hired to achieve someone else’s meaning and purpose, but what you can control is how you treat the people on set, and the relationships you build in the process.

I highly recommend “Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others” to anyone but specifically also to anyone who is struggling with worth, value, or mental health in general, in a fast paced industry that attaches value more to what we do than who we are.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My wife, Julianna, and I, are both writers, producers, and directors and run a production company called Brotherhood Studios. At our company, we do everything from edit reality cooking shows, to budgeting animated shorts, and have worked on hundreds of videos, but our true passion is narrative storytelling. Together, we’ve made one feature film (Last Three Days, streaming on Paramount +) and over twenty short films.

Earlier in the interview I said it matters more how you make something than what you make, but we still really care about the types of stories we get to tell! When talking with a friend and analyzing what attracts us to a story, Julianna and I had different, but thematically similar answers. Julianna loves telling stories about family, either found family, like the camaraderie of a group of adventurers united on a common quest, or a biological family, and the common bond of blood relatives. Either way, she loves telling stories about people making it through trials and hardships because of the relationships with the community around them. In a similar vein, my focus is more on the journey the characters go on, emotional, or physical, and watching a character’s descent into darkness, and then watching them find their way back to the light. I love creating a character that steps into a bigger world, sees a darker side,could be of themselves, or of the world, or someone else around them, but then to choose to fight that darkness, to rise above, that’s inspiring to me. If there’s a narrative story we had a hand in writing, directing, or producing, you’ll usually find these themes present throughout.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Depending on the time of year, I always love getting down to the beach. If you’re up north, Malibu is a favorite. If you’re more near OC, Newport or Crystal Cove.

There’s a ton of good coffee places around! Aroma Coffee is a favorite. Stereoscope is another, and if you find yourself in Uptown Whittier, Lift Coffee is the best!

Then for dinner, if you’re near OC, make sure you plan ahead and get a reservation at Strong Water Anaheim! Amazing tiki restaurant and bar design! Won best burger in OC with their Loco Moco Burger, and have won awards for their original cocktails. Amazing local business! Our personal favorite!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As a middle child, I always wanted to forge my own way, and never be stuck in the shadows of my older brothers, but looking back now, I do owe a lot to my older brother, Kevin.

Even though he works in the industry as well, we have taken vastly different paths. But go back a decade and we were doing everything together. We roomed together at film school. He produced, DP’d, and edited my senior thesis project. He braved the world of finding employment in the film industry first, and was able to get me a job at the same post house as an assistant editor. I even have a credit in The LEGO Movie because of his animation skills.

Over a decade after starting our filmmaking careers together, Kevin is a full time stop motion animator, with a popular YouTube Channel, Brotherhood Workshop, while my wife and I run a production company, Brotherhood Studios, that specializes in live action narrative content. We still collaborate from time to time, but are successful in our own mediums, and continue to support each other in both professional and personal lives.

Kevin is a wildly creative animator, and you’ve probably seen his work featured on LEGO Master Builders, The Today Show, The Late Late Show with James Corden, or one of his many other stop motion featurettes.

You should definitely check out his YouTube Channel or TikTok and give him a follow!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyrannus/ AND https://www.instagram.com/bhstudiospro/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-ulrich-83b2a083/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrotherhoodStudiosPro

Image Credits
First 3 BTS photos are from the behind the scenes of Zach King’s Stranded 2 and are used with permission from King Studios The LEGO Movie Photo is a picture of Brian and Kevin Ulrich that belongs to Brian Ulrich The shot of the couple is used with permission and is from the short film, Zombie King of Balacombe, written, directed, and produced by Brian Ulrich for Strong Water Anaheim The one of the guy with the sword is from Zach King’s Stranded 2 The one with the ship is used with permission and is from the short film, Zombie King of Balacombe, written, directed, and produced by Brian Ulrich for Strong Water Anaheim The last three are from the Cast and Crew Premiere of Last Three Days. Family photos are taken by Jen Alvarez.