Brian Lillie epitomizes the term “renaissance man.”

An aspiring filmmaker, writer and musician, Lillie’s creativity is never at rest. Though his career allowed him to fully realize his creative passions, it is clear they have infiltrated all aspects of his life, whether he is using the music he creates to score his films, writing the scripts for those films or creating films for work. 

Lillie joined the Department of Surgery 10 years ago as a graphic designer. During his first year, the department asked if he would like to train in video as well, so he took filmmaking classes at Washtenaw Community College. What began as an additional skill, however, soon became Lillie’s passion. 

Lillie next joined the School of Public Health’s marketing and communications department in a multimedia services position. The self-proclaimed “video guy” of the department, he makes films that include feature stories about the school and the work that the faculty and students are doing, as well as marketing pieces. 

But his passion for filmmaking soon moved into his personal life, as well. Collaborating with others, he has made several short films, ranging from comedies to horror and thriller films. 

Lillie’s films have competed in a variety of festivals. One took second place at the 48-Hour Film Festival in Detroit. The last short film he completed made it into several festivals, and enabled Lillie to travel to California to see it screened in front of 500 people. 

Creating a film is a collaborative process, Lillie says, and it’s important to find people who are equally passionate for the project to pull it off. It takes a variety of skills and positions, including shooting, directing, and editing.

“I like the writing and the editing the best,” Lillie says. “But I’ll do whatever it takes to get something out there.”

Lillie also enjoys writing, and he often writes the screenplays for his films. A recent work of his won best screenplay at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival in Los Angeles. He also has begun to make a name for himself as a short-story writer, with two short stories published this year. 

In addition to filmmaking and writing, Lillie has creative roots as a semi-professional musician.  A singer and guitarist, he notes that music was originally his main goal in life. Though he dedicates most of his time to filmmaking, writing and his family, he still loves to work with music, and now primarily helps produce other artists’ recordings in the studio, working on one or two album projects each year.  

“It’s interesting how editing video or mixing a song or writing a song … it’s all so similar,” Lillie says. “In one, you’re working with sound, and in one you’re working with sound and light, but it’s almost exactly the same.”

Stepping off the stage and into the recording studio, along with writing and film editing, allows him to stay out of the spotlight, but still stay creative. “I kind of like to stay behind the scenes,” he says. 

Lillie has no plans to slow down anytime soon. His ultimate goal would be to do a feature length film. The challenge, he notes, is waiting for the right script in order to have something worth shooting, rather than shooting it for the sake of doing so. For now, he plans to continue working on short films and writing.

“They always say that all you’ve got to do is get that first one in the festival, or get your first thing published, and then it will snowball from there. I’m hoping that’s true.”

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