As a filmmaker, Bart Fisher is an emerging artist with a distinguished style of bringing original content to the screen. Inspired by his love of music and interest in telling stories rooted in personal experience, Fisher is a unique and refreshing voice in entertainment.
Born and raised in Indiana, Fisher spent much of his childhood studying and performing music. In his youth, Fisher performed extensively in school-organized choirs and orchestras. Although watching movies was a large part of his growing-up experience, it was not until college that filmmaking took center stage as a career interest.
Planning on pursuing a career in biology, Fisher entered Indiana University, Bloomington as a science major. After taking a film studies class in the Comparative Literature department, he instantly fell in love with studying cinema. “Suddenly the curtain was drawn, and I started looking at making movies as a way of life. I was also introduced to new ways of appreciating cinema. Film studies opened my eyes to a whole new world." Upon graduating, Fisher was accepted into the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts and continued his studies as a burgeoning filmmaker.
While at USC, Fisher began developing his own style of writing and directing movies. “For the longest time, I felt a need to weave music and film together. Music was my first creative love, and it kept coming back to me as an inspirational force. Music instantly inspires imagery completely unrelated to the songs. Those visions often times become the skeletons of my film concepts.”
Creating poetic, musically-inspired films characterized his work at USC. Witch, one of Fisher’s early student films, explored a woman’s fears of growing old and dying alone. The film blended lyrical voice over, melodic sound effects, and a tapestry of song-like imagery. The film showcased Fisher’s developing style and earned him an official awards selection in the Cinequest Maverick Film Competition. Fisher’s thesis project at USC, a narratively-driven music video for Euro pop/dance artist Jimmy Somerville (former lead singer of Bronski Beat and The Communards) won the Special Grand Jury Prize at the Worldfest International Film Festival in 2005.
After graduating from USC with a Master of Fine Arts degree in film production, Fisher immersed himself in many different projects. He studied as an apprentice filmmaker in post-production and picture editing. Fisher expanded his creative and technical experience on such feature films as Freddy vs. Jason, The Alamo, and Blade Trinity. Writing also became a creative focal point. One of his original screenplays was honored in the Outfest 2008 Screenwriting Lab Fellowship in Los Angeles.
Another of Fisher’s original screenplays was produced by Hallmark Channel as one of the cable network’s original movies in 2012. How to Fall in Love stars Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty, The L Word), Brooke D’Orsay (Royal Pains) and Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Hocus Pocus). The film tells the story of Harold White (Mabius), a young accountant who still suffers from the ugly-duckling syndrome that branded his youth. Harold hires Annie Hayes (D’Orsay), the girl he had a crush on in high school, to teach him the ins and outs of dating. Staying true to Fisher’s musical muse, a love song becomes a major player in Harold’s transformation and a connective bridge between him discovering self-confidence and finding love in his life. The film also demonstrates Fisher’s interest in telling personally-inspired stories. “The best stories come out of an honest space. It’s counterintuitive. The more personal you make the story, the more universal it becomes because it is relatable through the conduit of genuine experience.”
Most recently, cable net Hallmark Movies & Mysteries produced Fisher’s original screenplay A Gift of Miracles, slated for a 2015 premiere. The movie stars Rachel Boston (Witches of East End), Jesse Moss (Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove), and Grammy®, Tony®, Emmy®, and Oscar® winner Rita Moreno (West Side Story).
Fisher is a member of the Writers Guild of America and Writers Guild of Canada.