With more than 40 years in the business, Film Connection mentor Sebastian Triscari represents the consummate professional when it comes to production. His experience ranges from working for New York’s CBS affiliate station atop the World Trade Center to launching a new TV station in Juneau, Alaska, and in his time he’s produced more than 4000 television commercials alone. Since settling in central Pennsylvania in 1993, Sebastian has built his production company Triscari into the region’s leading go-to company for film and video production.
Needless to say, Sebastian brings a wealth of wisdom to the Film Connection students he teaches, so it should come as no surprise that during a recent conversation with RRFC, he shared some key insights as to his own success, and what he tries to impart to others—including the acronym PLACES he coined to help his team recall the core values of his company. The best nuggets of that conversation have been mined for you below.
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ON WHY HE CHOSE TO SET UP HIS FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INSTEAD OF NEW YORK OR LOS ANGELES:
“I decided early on what was important to me was family. And I at that point could have gone to New York or L.A. or a lot of different places, but I was smart enough, and because my roots are in technology and engineering, I understood that in the very near future, it wouldn’t matter where you are in the world—that you would be able to, if you’re talented and you have the right goals and the right skill set, you could work anywhere in the country and develop programs and things that people would pay you for, and you’d be able to have a good living…I settled on a piece of property here in Central Pennsylvania, and I must be successful because I bought the building next to me there, so I own the block right now.”
ON WHAT HIS COMPANY OFFERS TO CLIENTS:
“It’s all about helping people tell their stories…My main passion is in video production, telling stories, creating emotions. We’re visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learners, and I happened to be dyslexic and have ADD, so the visual medium is one I really love because I learn and I process information that way…As visual creatures, this is a very powerful way to help people.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH A GOOD TEAM:
“The success, I think, in building any company, particularly in this industry, is finding the right people. I’m very fortunate, my wife, Dr. Jacqueline Triscari, has a Ph.D. in Adult Education. So what we do is we hire the right people. We surround ourselves with people who complement my skill set in particular and don’t have a lot of redundancy. In a small company, you can’t afford to have too much redundancy, you really need different skill sets. But that’s the secret sauce, find the right people, be passionate about what you’re doing.
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF MENTORING:
“The idea of working with a mentor…I wish when I started my career, I would have been able to access somebody like myself who has 40 years of experience in the industry and who could help me to navigate through ‘Don’t waste your time on this’ or ‘This is really important.’ You don’t know what you don’t know, and you think with what you know. So…the Film Connection certainly is a great framework to learn.”
Film apprentice Michelina Friss
“She’s doing a fantastic job. I’m really proud…we’re working on her project right now. She came up with an idea which is around boardwalk communities and the communities that stand there on a year round basis…I thought that that was an interesting project, and actually her birthday is January the 3rd, and we hope to have the world premiere in the studio to show her project that I’ve been working with her on.”
ON WHAT HE LOOKS FOR IN AN APPRENTICE:
“One thing: attitude. I can teach you anything, but I cannot teach you attitude. And your attitude equates to altitude in this business. And if you have attitude and a feeling of appreciation and attitude of gratitude, you can go anywhere. If you feel entitled and that you’re due something, I’m afraid that you’re destined to fail. You won’t make it here.”
ON THE CORE VALUES HE IMPARTS TO THE PEOPLE HE HIRES:
“I’ve gone to a lot of different places in my life. So I made an acronym out of the word PLACES so that everybody understands what is important. Number one is P, is ‘Positive’ in the word PLACES. P is ‘Positively Passionate.’ You need to be passionate about what you do. And L is for ‘Lifelong Learner.’ Things are always changing, especially in this. Number three…is A, ‘Always Accountable.’ I take out the trash, nobody says, ‘That’s not my job.’ You really need to be accountable to yourself, to your fellow employees, workers, and to the customers. And C is ‘Courage.’ We’re in a very a frightening time in the world, where terrorism, people hate us or they’re envious of us, so you need to have a courage of your convictions. E, ‘Exceptional customer service.’ We every day roll out a red carpet for our clients….And finally is S, which is for ‘Success.’ And success to us is, we’re a for-profit company, so actually give a very big value for a very reasonable investment, and that’s what makes them come back. So in order for us to be here next year to serve their needs, we need to make sure that we meet or exceed their expectations and help them reach their goals.”
ON WHY HE LIKES THE FILM CONNECTION PROGRAM:
“I was not a very good student. I hated school. And I do think had online and this sort of thing been available, I probably would have been a much better student…It was really working with the Film Connection…that I really gravitated to the way they put the information together and link via YouTube to some information. And generally when you watch a video, there are several other things that the channel serves up and says, oh, that’s interesting, and you can really almost design your own educational path using the track to run on here. It’s an outline of things. So I really loved the way that they served up things, and I think that is the way of the future…The Film Connection can help and give you a road map to be successful, and connect you with mentors who are already successful in the industry and who can give you some additional guidance that you can’t get out of a book or reading something or even watching a video…
“I think at the end of the day, what makes me happy is being able to add value, to feel as if I’ve made a difference. And you definitely can make a difference in this industry, and getting the right education will help to make that even more efficient…You can’t lead where you haven’t been. And I think the Film Connection has kind of been there and has created this road map that certainly young people, even older people who want a new career, want to make a difference can do.”
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