Informational Interview of Brett Levisohn of Universal Pictures
By Liz Kislik

From the desk of Liz Kislik, Career Center Advocate Email: advocate@career.ucla.edu

I am a first year UCLA student and work as an intern at the UCLA Career Center. This is part of a series of informational interviews I have conducted with prominent professionals in a wide range of interesting career fields. I have chosen to do this series in order to inform the UCLA student body about the advantages and disadvantages of certain careers. People who work in these professions will give their personal advice as to how to succeed in their fields. The purpose of this series is both to help you explore careers and to demonstrate informational interviewing. The interviews will detail the “pluses” and “minuses” of particular careers and what they entail. Hopefully, this will help you decide whether a particular career is the right one for you. I want students to know what is out there, in terms of career opportunities, and frequently, students do not consider job options that are out of the ordinary. I plan to raise awareness about non-mainstream professions. All the people interviewed are UCLA alumni.

Also, one of my goals is to inform you about the importance and benefits of informational interviewing and how to go about doing it. I received a great list of possible questions from Shari Cohen, a career counselor at the UCLA Career Center, and one of the advisors for the Career Center advocates. Tips for informational interviewing are listed on the Center’s web site starting at career.ucla.edu/OnlineInterviewWorkshop. I hope my informational interviews series are helpful and instructive. Good luck in your career searches!

Informational Interview of Brett Levisohn of Universal Pictures
Previous Major at UCLA: Communication Studies
Job Title: Marketing/Branding Consultant – Managing and overseeing the production and marketing of ancillary products (DVDs, Video Games, Consumer Products, etc.) to maintain the integrity of a specific theatrical brand. Currently working on “The Chronicles of Riddick” with Universal Pictures.

LK: Explain your position.

BL: I have a fun job. I am marketing so many different things related to the movie I’m working on – anime, toys, trading cards, video games, and books. I am on contract and thus not a corporate employee. I get to work with awesome talent. For “The Chronicles of Riddick,” I interact with Vin Diesel and Judi Dench. I am passionate about making movies and the artistic component to that. Life is great! [He has so much enthusiasm!]

LK: How do you spend a typical day?

BL: There is probably no such thing as a typical day for me. Things just have a way of happening. I normally have meetings scheduled. I run between the production office and visual effects. Sometimes I spend half a day in the office and the other half of the day on the set of a movie. There is a significant difference between being in the office and being on the set. On the set, it’s all about just getting it done. It’s not as bureaucratic as working in the office.

LK: What skills and education are needed to enter your field?

BL: A “strategic instinct” is necessary. You need to know how to talk to people. You need to know when to say something and when not to. Creativity is also important. A practical communications background helps a lot. I use my communications major from UCLA all the time. I find myself flipping back to books I used in college to get ideas for marketing our products. Unlike some of my friends who never use their majors, I use mine constantly.

In addition to the other attributes needed, humility is a big one. As I say, check your pride at the door. Especially starting out, you need to do this. You are going to have to do a lot of menial work in the beginning.

LK: What are the challenges of your career?

BL: I always have to adapt to the situation. I can’t always reach certain people immediately to talk to them when I want to talk to them, so I have to plan ahead. Also, I have experienced my fair share of backstabbing. The business is cut-throat.

"Swimming with Sharks" is a movie that provides a good example of the difficulties of being an assistant and working with a boss. I find much of it true to life. It reminds me of my early days in the business.

LK: What are the rewards?

BL: Marketing cool products, traveling, working with talented stars. I am creating a shared culture that is making the world a little smaller. The entertainment industry is great. It is a make-believe BS world, and it is so much fun! It is the most ridiculous business, but I love it!!

LK: Do you spend most of your time at your desk? Moving around the company? Outside?

BL: I can do work over email, IM, and phone from home, but I prefer to come into the office when I can. I have lots of meetings, so I’m running around the company. One awesome part of my job is that sometimes I get to play the video games we are marketing in connection with our movies. I get paid to play video games!!

LK: What hours do you normally work? Is there much travel involved?

BL: It really depends. A day on the set is at least 13 hours, possibly 19 hours. In the office, I typically work from 9 am to 7 pm or 7:30 pm , although I can have those days when I’m working until midnight or 2 am.

In terms of travel, I have had the wonderful opportunity of going to Korea to work on anime that we were doing for a movie. In Korea , I visited a Buddhist temple, which was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I spent three and a half months living in Vancouver and visited New York . My work has allowed me to experience these other cities. I want to take advantage of every opportunity I get. Travel is on a case by case basis, and I have been lucky to travel.

LK: Would you trace your own career path? Is this typical, and if not, what might a beginner expect today?

BL: I did a lot of interning. I started interning my sophomore year at UCLA. I went to the Expo Center [Internship and Study Abroad Office at the Career Center] to find an internship. In the beginning, I got abused a lot, which unfortunately is a somewhat of a right of passage in the entertainment business. I have had bosses come to me and ask for ridiculous things and say, “I don’t care how you do it, just make it happen.” In my first internship at Columbia Tri-Star Pictures, I was running errands and doing stupid chores, and I was intimidated by my boss. I worked for this same boss for a year. My job basically consisted of filing and taking out the trash. However, as time passed, I started advising on certain marketing decisions. For example, my boss would ask my opinion of a design for a movie poster. Even though I was starting to participate in the marketing process, I was still walking the boss’s dog. Wherever you start, you will probably be doing uninteresting tasks, but hopefully the longer you are there the more responsibilities you will be given.

I have worked in both the marketing end and the production end of the entertainment industry, and along the way I have picked up many of the skills I use today. I used my personal contacts a lot. They were so important in getting me where I am today. My career has gone in so many different directions. In fact, I had a job managing a belly dancing phenomenon. My colleague and I guided her career and helped launch it, and she appeared on Regis and Kathy Lee and on various magazine covers. Smoozing has landed me jobs sometimes. Networking is crucial. There is no set pattern. There is only one way to succeed in the business, and it’s your way! Forget about conventions and the way it’s supposed to be.

LK: Can you give students advice on how to break into this field?

BL: Intern, and intern early! Network! Use your contacts! You never know when you are going to make a contact. As I say, smooze it or lose it!

LK: What trends and developments do you see affecting career opportunities?

BL: I think the internet will be used as a marketing tool more and more for movies. There will be more niche programming in the future. I also see two things happening in the entertainment industry. First, technological improvements will play a huge role, and we will see the convergence of TV and the internet, and the convergence of video games and the internet. There will be more of a focus on getting entertainment on demand and making it interactive. There will be an emphasis on the immediacy of entertainment. However, there will be a limit to the interactive quality of entertainment, because the more interactive it is, the less shared experience we have. Nevertheless, everything will be much more digital. The second thing I see happening is that consolidation of big companies will continue. We have seen that in many mergers, such as the Disney-ABC empire. These entertainment empires lead to entertainment packaging.

Regardless of all the trends and developments I see occurring in the future, nothing will replace the experience of going to the movies. The movie industry will continue to thrive, and there should continue to be career opportunities in the field.