Brett Simon
Encyclopedia
Brett Simon is an American
commercial
, music video
and film director
.
summa cum laude in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Comparative Literature
and Creative Writing
, and later graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
in 2002 with a Master of Fine Arts
degree in Art Practice. He is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at UC Berkeley. In 2001, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the short film Counterfeit Film, which showed at the Telluride Film Festival
, South by Southwest
and RESFest
and has been archived at the Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley, as well as winning numerous awards. In 2005, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the short film The Sailor's Girl, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival
and Toronto International Film Festival
. After making a number of short films, he became an accomplished music video
director, working on the videos for The Killers' "Somebody Told Me
", Polar Bear
's "Belly", The Joggers
' "Hot Autism", Unwritten Law
's "Save Me", Good Charlotte
's "The Chronicles of Life and Death
", Lostprophets
' "A Town Called Hypocrisy
", Sugarcult
's "Do It Alone", Queens of the Stone Age
's "Sick, Sick, Sick
and Rise Against
's "Audience of One
".
In 2008, Simon directed his first feature film, the Catholic school
noir
Assassination of a High School President
, from Tim Calpin
and Kevin Jakubowski's script. Assassination of a High School President has premiered at the South by Southwest
and Sundance Film Festival
s.
Between 1998 and 2003, Simon taught film history, film theory
and video production
at UC Berkeley. He has also had journalism
stints at the Kitchen Sink, Speak and Fabula magazines.
Simon worked with Rob Nilsson and David Herrera on the feature film Security at the Pacific Film Archive.
in 1992. His mother is Joan Simon and his father is Jack Simon, a Los Altos, California
psychiatrist
. He currently lives in Venice, Los Angeles
. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society
, through which he became friends with Donald Sutherland
's son Roeg Sutherland.
Simon became engaged to Katie Flynn, daughter of actress Jane Seymour, in May 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
commercial
Commercial director
A commercial director is a someone who specializes in creating visual advertising. These are called commercials and are then used as promotional tools for a client's product....
, music video
Music video director
A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Career
Simon graduated from Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
summa cum laude in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
and Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
, and later graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 2002 with a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree in Art Practice. He is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at UC Berkeley. In 2001, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the short film Counterfeit Film, which showed at the Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
, South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
and RESFest
RESFest
RESFEST was by the 2000s the most prominent digital film festival in North America. It was a leading global showcase of new digital filmmakers alongside England's Onedotzero festival. The festival toured the world and in 2005 travelled to 35 cities in the USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Australia,...
and has been archived at the Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley, as well as winning numerous awards. In 2005, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the short film The Sailor's Girl, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
. After making a number of short films, he became an accomplished music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
director, working on the videos for The Killers' "Somebody Told Me
Somebody Told Me
"Somebody Told Me" is the debut single by American rock band The Killers. The song is featured on the group's debut album Hot Fuss and was written by Dave Keuning, Ronnie Vannucci Jr., Mark Stoermer and Brandon Flowers....
", Polar Bear
Polar Bear (rock)
For other uses of the term 'Polar Bear', see Polar Bear Polarbear was a Los Angeles-based band led by former Jane's Addiction bassist, Eric Avery, who formed the band with Biff Sanders, formerly of Ethyl Meatplow, as a side project. They recorded most of their music in downtown Los Angeles, at...
's "Belly", The Joggers
The Joggers
The Joggers, formerly known as Stateside, are a four-piece band from Portland, Oregon. They play complex songs with elements of math rock which retain a pop sensibility. The guitar style of Ben Whitesides and the second guitarist rejects a traditional rhythm & lead style for more scale exploration...
' "Hot Autism", Unwritten Law
Unwritten Law
Unwritten Law is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Poway, California and currently recording for Suburban Noize Records. They have released seven full-length studio albums and have toured internationally, including performances on the Warped Tour...
's "Save Me", Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...
's "The Chronicles of Life and Death
The Chronicles of Life and Death (song)
“The Chronicles of Life and Death” is the third single from Good Charlotte’s third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death. This was the band’s first single after Chris Wilson left the band — this is noticeable when the band are seen playing in the video because there is no drummer present.-Track...
", Lostprophets
Lostprophets
Lostprophets is a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997. Founded by vocalist Ian Watkins, bassist Mike Lewis, drummer Mike Chiplin and guitarist Lee Gaze, they were originally a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance. To date, Lostprophets have released four studio...
' "A Town Called Hypocrisy
A Town Called Hypocrisy
"A Town Called Hypocrisy" is the second single taken from Liberation Transmission, the third album by the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets.The single was released on 11 September 2006 in the United Kingdom...
", Sugarcult
Sugarcult
Sugarcult is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California formed in 1998. The band currently consists of Tim Pagnotta , Airin Older , Marko DeSantis , and Kenny Livingston .-Formation :Tim Pagnotta met ex-drummer Ben Davis during a cigarette break at school...
's "Do It Alone", Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
's "Sick, Sick, Sick
Sick, Sick, Sick
"Sick, Sick, Sick" is a Grammy nominated single released by Queens of the Stone Age from their 2007 album Era Vulgaris. It was released on May 8, 2007 as a digital download only from the U.S. iTunes Store...
and Rise Against
Rise Against
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...
's "Audience of One
Audience of One (Rise Against song)
"Audience of One" is a song by the American punk rock band Rise Against, written by the band's frontman Tim McIlrath. It is the second single from their 2008 album Appeal to Reason...
".
In 2008, Simon directed his first feature film, the Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
Assassination of a High School President
Assassination of a High School President
Assassination of a High School President is a 2008 American neo noir comedy film, directed by Brett Simon, written by Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski, and starring Reece Thompson, Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton and Michael Rapaport...
, from Tim Calpin
Tim Calpin
Timothy Calpin, Jr. is an American screenwriter best known for writing the 2009 film Assassination of a High School President.-Biography:...
and Kevin Jakubowski's script. Assassination of a High School President has premiered at the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
and Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
s.
Between 1998 and 2003, Simon taught film history, film theory
Film theory
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large...
and video production
Video production
Video production is videography, the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media. The term includes methods of production and post-production...
at UC Berkeley. He has also had journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
stints at the Kitchen Sink, Speak and Fabula magazines.
Simon worked with Rob Nilsson and David Herrera on the feature film Security at the Pacific Film Archive.
Personal life
Simon graduated from Gunn High SchoolGunn High School
Henry M. Gunn High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California. Gunn High School is a four-year high school with a current enrollment of just over 1,900 students. The Class of 1966 was the first class to graduate from Gunn High School. The academic year has two semesters with...
in 1992. His mother is Joan Simon and his father is Jack Simon, a Los Altos, California
Los Altos, California
Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....
psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
. He currently lives in Venice, Los Angeles
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...
. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
, through which he became friends with Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
's son Roeg Sutherland.
Simon became engaged to Katie Flynn, daughter of actress Jane Seymour, in May 2011.