Brian S. Hawkins

Contributor, Reviews

Brian is a documentary producer, director, and cameraman on feature films and docu-series, and has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist. He enjoys covering pop-culture, tech, and the conflation of the two. 

Highlights

  • 25 years journalism experience with a focus on pop-culture, technology, music, and breaking news
  • Producer, director, director of photography, and camera op on docu-series, feature documentaries, daily news stories, and live-event coverage 
  • Writer and editor on national music magazines

 

Experience

Brian began his career in print, helping to launch the music magazine Revolver and working as an editor and writer at Guitar World and Guitar World Acoustic magazines, as well as a contributor to Future Music, NY Press, and other publications. He’s profiled hundreds of bands, while also covering music and recording technology, reviews, and trends within the industry.

Beginning in the early 2000s, Brian produced breaking and daily local news packages for the New York Post and other media outlets, often working as a “one-man-band” to report, shoot, write, and edit his stories. In 2014, he produced, directed, and shot the feature documentary Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys (X-Ray Films/Gravitas Ventures), and dropped his second film, Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons in 2018 (X-Ray Films/Cavegirl Productions/The Nacelle Co.). He’s a producer on the hit Netflix series The Toys That Made Us, a unit director of photography and cameraman on The Movies That Made Us, and a cameraman on The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek for History Channel. As of 2022, he’s in production or postproduction on two more feature documentaries. (All credited as Brian Stillman.)

Brian spent four years as a producer covering the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where he interviewed manufacturers and creators, and reviewed emerging technology. He also provided coverage of NAB New York, covering the professional side of the broadcast equipment industry. He’s a total gearhead and particularly loves camera and filmmaking technology, recording gear, synthesizers, and, oddly enough, kitchen appliances and power tools.

Brian has appeared on panels at New York Comic Con, the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, the Gen Con Film Festival, and other pop-culture conventions. He has been interviewed by Gizmodo and io9 and numerous blogs and podcast series, and somehow popped up in an extra feature on the 4K Blu-ray re-release of David Lynch’s Dune to talk about the movie’s merchandising.

Education

Brian holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in print and broadcast journalism from New York University.

Favorite weird science fact

Human bones fully regenerate every seven or so years. The skeleton you die with isn’t the one you were born with … so maybe don’t get too attached to it. (But try not to lose sight of it, either.)

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