Creative Director: Film and Video

Born in Napa Valley, California, but raised in Puerto Rico, Bret saw one of his first feature films in Spanish. “It didn’t matter that Star Wars was dubbed, it was the visual story that carried me through the film, and I think at that very moment I started to have an interest in the way films and television shows were produced.”

More than two decades later, with credits ranging from production assistant to executive producer, Bret has built a professional career on the seeds of that inspiration. But, it hasn't been all lights and action. “I found my first experience in the business frustrating, as I got my first real look at an edit suite serving burgers to clients. I absolutely hated it, but it humbled me, mainly because I realized that I really was going to have to pay some dues.”

Bret also quickly got that he would have to adapt to the emerging digital post-production technologies if he had any hope of getting into the business. Always one to think out of the box, while most were heading west to Tinseltown, Bret set his compass to the east, landing at a New York boutique production company, IKA/Spot Shop, as assistant producer/editor. It was there that he developed the editorial skills which would later prove to be the foundation for his nascent aspirations of directing.

With the education he built at the Spot Shop, Bret soon found many freelance opportunities for such clients as Reader’s Digest and San Francisco's Burlington Coat Factory, fine tuning his skills on commercial and corporate video productions. Somewhere between gigs in New York and Tokyo, and honing his talents in broadcast design, he found time to edit a documentary for HBO/Cinemax's Reel Life entitled “All Dressed Up and No Place to Go,” a film about heterosexual cross-dressers produced and directed by Peter Schwartz.

“I enjoyed having the opportunity to switch gears and work on totally different types of projects… it keeps you on your toes.”

The end of the century found him in the role of creative director for the Programming Group, Ltd., a production company specializing in music programming and commercial production. There, Bret designed and developed several retail-based music networks, and led a creative team in the production of commercials and EPK’s for recording artists under the Sony, BMG, Epic, and Loud Records labels. This experience soon led to an opportunity directing a live concert for Ben Folds and several directing projects for clients like EA Sports.

Recognizing at last that the vision which he had encountered in George Lucas' Empire two decades earlier was more than a vocational calling, Bret returned to Napa Valley to form Sparkplug Creative, a production company dedicated to providing cutting edge creative solutions. “I discovered that it was time to strike out and create my own brand identity.”

When ARROW learned Bret was back in town, we were all over ourselves to hook up with him. But, it's more than just connecting with a kindred creative: this particular soulmate rocks and we want to be able to say that we knew him before he got that golden statue...