Welcome to My Page
Hi, I’m Brien and this is my home page. For forty years in Milwaukee, I ran a number of multi-media and and video production companies for who I worked with many people on staff who made me look good to our clients.
I was born in New York City 73 yers ago, and spent my first eight years soking up the 1950’s atmosphere of Washington Heights. Then I got sick with rheumatic fever and my parents moved us (my brother, sister, me, them) to a nice house in East Brunswick, New Jersey. I went to Marquettte University in Milwaukee and stayed. Eventually I got married, had a son, and started my businesses.
I moved back to New Jersey 12 years ago to be closer to family, including my son who lives in Brooklyn. I finished out my production career herewith many major meeting and video efforts for long-standing clients, including Walgreens corporate in Chicago.
Nearly two years ago, I was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a blood disease that kills red blood cells and was recommended a bone marrow transplant. I had that last October and have been recovering well.
In these pages I will focus on three things:
- My path to recovery
- My love of gadgets
- My history in the communications business.
Some of the stories are nuts, but you’ll have to read to believe. If more people would read, this world would be a better place.
Thanks for reading!
PS: If you’re interested in my illustrated speech, “Tales from an Audio-Visual Life, contact me at my personal email, brienlee@brienlee.com.
Get The Video Production Books!
Amy Hansmann, Wisconsin Department of Labor
Brien is the master when is comes to storytelling. He knows what a client needs before the client knows they need it. It was a privilege to work with him and learn from the best. No matter the medium, a good story is a good story – and Brien can go right to the heart of it to make you laugh, make you cry, make you laugh until you cry, make you think, make you open your wallet, make you change your mind, whatever you want your story to do.
Nancy Serwin, Producer
Great beginnings and memories started with Brien Lee for many production people in Milwaukee…what a great teacher and mentor even if he did not realize that he was all of that in addition to being an amazing story teller, creative genius and a pioneer in everything new in the industry…being a part of the Brien Lee family was a life changing experience!
Blogs
10 Years, Over and Out With our renewed concentration on slides and multi-image, things began to take off.We moved into subsets of the slide show, including speaker support and staging.
Our Logo Had a Hole in It (50–50!) Our stationary had a die-cut hole in it. The one on the bottom right. We always got asked, “Which one of you
Drowning in the Sorrow of Eugene O’Neill For years, we had produced work for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Through the auspices of PR Director Mike Krawczyk, and his successor, Richard
We Move Audiences! In 1979, Rob Riordan joined the Milwaukee Chapter of SME — Sales and Marketing Executives. One of their welcoming benefits to new members was “The
From Multi-Media to Multi-Image We built our business on slides. We matured it on video and film. We broke it wide open on multi-image.If you said “multi-image” to a client in
Early Markets: Arts and Charities, and Public Service Announcements My friend and client Mike Krawczyk from the Milwaukee Repertory Theater called it “Clubbing Your Way Up.” Early on, word of
Fire can be Good for Business. Ric, Brien, Linda, and Rob with custom merch and a solemn oath to protect the 16mm Bell & Howell! The fire should have been
Something’s BURNING! Metro Block 1971, courtesy Milwaukee Public Library The Metropolitan Block Building Fire was a dramatic blaze that started on a Saturday morning in December and continued throughout the
Iron Workers, Linda D., and El Robbo’s Arena! The Metropolitan Block Building, 1012 N. Third Street, was built in 1890. It was next to Usingers, kitty-corner to the Milwaukee Journal
What Came First, the Demo or the Sale? Ric and Brien vie for the “Elvis Ain’t Dead Yet” sideburn contest prior to going out on a sales call (826 N.
And What do YOU do for a Living? By the time of the publication above, even a magazine with “Audio-Visual” in its name knew that those it catered to had
Sorgel-Lee, Part 1: Call Us SLI Multimedia Industries. Reprinting and repurposing “Some Thoughts on 25 Years in the “A-V” Industry”, circa 1998 (as published). Ric Sorgel and Brien Lee, Sorgel-Lee “Baseball
