as a PA on Amazing Love Stories. When the show lost its funding, Wilson
landed a job as a PA on the television movie Long Shadows. When
Amazing Love Stories got picked up, he returned as a coordinator.
Wilson connected with some
music video makers and
worked as a PA on a Prince
video. On the shoot he met
some craft services people and
began working craft services
on various commercials, films,
and television programs when
not working as a PA or coordi-
nator. He worked again with
Prince on a multimedia rock
opera, beginning as a PA and
moving up to stage manager.
Realizing he did not want
to PA--"I was older and had
been an executive at a
company. To go back and PA
was really demeaning and
demoralizing"--Wilson com-
bined his skills in business and
cooking to form Ala Carte Craft Services, one of the first to offer cappuc-
cino and smoothies. "We really took craft services to a whole different
level, doing it very high end." The company catered to music video and
commercial productions, which have more money to spend.
When not providing craft services, Wilson continued to work as a
coordinator on various projects. Along the way he produced a commer-
cial for Mattel, which led to another 75 commercials. While working on
Masked Rider for Saban, he was approached to start up a commercial pro-
duction company. With two partners, Wilson formed Right Brain Films in
1995. One partner quit after three months and the other left the business
two years later, leaving Wilson as sole owner of the company.
"We didn't have letterhead, we didn't have business cards, and we
didn't have labels. Yet right out of the gate we landed a $250,000 Petco
job." On his own, Wilson has grown the company from jobs averaging
$50,000 to 60,000, to projects in the $250,000 to $750,000 bracket, by pro-
ducing commercials for N. Saatchi & Saatchi (Toyota), Campbel-Ewald,
Grey (Kaiser Permanente), and J. Walter Thompson (Ford Motor
Company). Wilson is currently developing a new division of his
company to produce independent feature films.
"Commit your life
to the work. Make it
everything that you do,
so that your personal
life doesn't exist. The
only life that you have is production, because
otherwise it's not going to happen. You have
to absolutely commit 110% to it and in the
end it pays off really well."--Stuart Wilson
"Relationships are very important.
Meet everybody you can and maintain rela-
tionships forever. Everybody is an opportu-
nity. You never know when somebody that
was a PA is going to be in a position to
help you. I don't ever step on anybody."
--Stuart Wilson
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