Today we’d like to introduce you to Troy Breen
Hi Troy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the small town of Norfolk, Massachusetts, about 10 minutes away from Gillette Stadium. When I was in third grade I became a huge Kevin Durant fan after seeing his movie “Thunderstruck”. I fell in love with playing and watching basketball throughout my youth. I eventually grew into a Celtics fan with the arrival of Isaiah Thomas and I am still a huge Celtics fan to this day. I mention this as my love for basketball played a huge role in how I got to where I am today, despite currently working in a completely different sport at a different level. Let me explain: When I was in 6th grade my closest friend, who was also a huge basketball fan, was making short 15 second edits of NBA players on his iPad. I thought his videos were so cool and wanted to learn myself. He was nice enough to teach me everything he knew. I created an Instagram account and posted video edits of NBA players for about two years. The account saw success as I had over 4,000 followers and over 100,000 views at just 12 years old. I eventually went inactive on the account when I was 13 as I fell out of love for making edits for the page. Fast forward to 2020, I was a freshman in high school and the year was cut short due to Covid. Stuck at home for months, I decided to download Adobe After Effects, an advanced editing software, and I began to teach myself how to edit on there through YouTube tutorials and trial and error. Being 15 years old, I had not edited a video in a couple years. Despite this, the passion and eye for it was still there. I did a new After Effects tutorial pretty much everyday during quarantine. I also began researching careers in the sports film and television industry. Pretty much all of my research led me to the same conclusion: I need to go to film school. I did more research and found the best film schools are located in Los Angeles: USC, UCLA, LMU, Chapman, etc. Despite being 15 I fell in love with the idea of going to film school in LA, which did not make any sense as I did not care for movies. I remember telling my parents my ambitious goals of attending film school. They were supportive, as they always are, but they did question why I wanted to go to film school when I did not even watch movies. I understood where they were coming from and took it upon myself to get a small taste of what film school would entail. I signed up for an intro to film class my sophomore year of high school. It quickly became my favorite class and I built a strong bond with the teacher, who I still keep in touch with today. By the end of my sophomore year I was firm on going to film school in Los Angeles after high school. I was already a great editor and had a better overall understanding of filmmaking. The skill that I lacked was behind the camera, as I had only ever owned a GoPro when I was like ten years old. I saw teenagers on social media, the same age as me, traveling around the country doing sports videography. I looked at their videos and thought to myself: I can do that. I already had a ton of experience with a professional editing software, how hard could it be to use a camera? Summer going into my junior year of high school I told my parents about my idea to start doing sports videography. They completely supported me and they even invested in my first camera, which I am so grateful for. That Fall, I began freelancing around the Greater Boston area. I was filming any game I could, some paid and others unpaid, the money did not matter to me. I began filming for my own high school for free and I posted a highlight video I made of the game on my personal Instagram page. It did extremely well and received great feedback. I was overwhelmed by all the local support and I began filming all of their games and making videos after each game. During the last home game of the regular season, I decided to fly DJI Drone over the student section at halftime. Although I had my drone license and it was a fly zone, the athletic director at my high school was not very happy with it and actually banned me from filming home games for the playoffs. Now being 20 years old and experienced in the sports media industry, I completely understand where he was coming from, but my 16 year old self was devastated and confused. I did not let his decision dictate my vision, so I began freelancing for other high school football teams around Massachusetts, and made more of a name for myself. By the end of the season I found myself on the turf at Gillette Stadium filming my high school play in the state championship game. It was a surreal feeling knowing that a year before I had not even owned a camera and now I was on the field of Gillette Stadium. After football season ended, I began freelancing with basketball season and had the unique opportunity to film a couple Harvard Men’s Basketball games. At this point I knew I wanted to work in sports and film for the rest of my life. I continued to polish my portfolio for the rest of the winter basketball season. Around early spring I upgraded to a more professional camera, Panasonic Lumix GH6, I still shoot on this camera today. It was around this time that things really took off for me. I was filming an AAU basketball tournament for one of my really good friends on a random Saturday in March. As I was filming his game I saw a team with really unique vibrant uniforms warming up. After his game ended I went and started getting shots of the team with cool uniforms warming up. The players were doing crazy dunks and looked like professionals. Their jerseys read “Run the Citi”, I had never heard of them before. I was then approached by their assistant coach, his name was Flash. He introduced himself and told me that this team is a brand new Boston based team and they are the best team in the city. I laughed a little, but I also believed him. Their squad looked legit. I had nothing planned the for the rest of the day so I said why not network and film this team for free. I filmed a couple games for them and they won both by 50 plus points. I was intrigued to say the least. After the games ended I met with Flash and he asked for my phone number to get the footage. I told him I would not charge him for it, this is arguably one of the best decisions I ever made. As I was driving home, I got a text from Flash saying that the team is playing a national schedule and will be traveling around the country all spring. He appreciated me for not trying to overcharge him for the footage I got and offered me to work as the team videographer for the spring season, all expenses paid for. It felt too good too be true. I told my parents the second I got home. They were not too keen on the idea of me flying around the country at 17 years old with complete strangers. After my parents and Coach Flash had some great conversations my flights were booked. That spring and summer, at just 17 years old, I flew to Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Charlotte, and Augusta to do work for them. It was more than just a job, I felt like I was a part of a second family. The team took me in like I was their younger brother and I had some of my best experiences with that group. I am extremely grateful for Head Coach Slim and Assistant Coach Flash for taking a chance on me and giving me an experience that I will never forget. During that time I grew as a person and as a creator. I was surrounded by Division 1 athletes, each with their own unique backstory. I learned how to adapt to new environments and work on the go, skills I still use today. I worked for them the summer after that and even flew out to Raleigh this past summer to shoot a tournament for them. I created lifelong bonds and memories that will last a lifetime. Moving on from Run the Citi, I was now a senior in high school and it was Fall, meaning football season. I had a better camera, better lenses, better editing skills, and a larger reputation for my work. I was unbanned from filming at my high school, which was nice. I spent that Fall filming some of my best friends lead King Philip Football to another State Championship appearance. It was bittersweet to capture the on field success of the kids I grew up with. Throughout that Fall, I was also filming Harvard Football games. I was not working for the team, rather I was working on one of my proudest projects. I was directing and producing a documentary for Harvard Football star Tight End, Tyler Neville. His story is so unique and inspirational. Tyler suffered Hodgkin Lymphoma, a rare type of cancer, throughout high school. Despite this hardship, he went on to be a star football player and get a degree from Harvard University. He is currently training for the 2025 NFL Draft. It was a privilege to direct, film, and produce the documentary about overcoming his hardships. Truly an inspiration and a phenomenal athlete and person. By January 2023 I was in the midst of the college application process. I had applied to almost 20 schools, only one in Los Angeles, it was USC. There were a ton of schools I did not think I would get accepted to. One of those schools was Texas. It was not until a random Monday night in January 2023 that I got a notification that there was a status update in my UT Austin portal. Long story short I got accepted into the Radio, Television, & Film major at The University of Texas at Austin. I was really shocked and relieved at the same time. I knew how big the Longhorn brand is and how UT is a huge football school. Despite my love for basketball, I knew working for Texas Football would be an opportunity like no other. I remember that same night I did some research and found the Director of Creative Media for Texas Football on Instagram. His name is Derek Ochoa and he is currently my boss today. Before I went to bed that night I followed him and shot him a Direct Message basically just saying who I was, what I do, that I may be attending Texas, and I would love to meet in person to discuss what an internship with him would entail. I did not expect him to respond as I assumed he got messages like that everyday, but to my surprise he responded that same night. We set up a time to meet and a couple weeks later I flew down to Austin and I fell in love with the city, the campus, and the culture of Texas Football. I toured the football facility and had a great talk with Derek and my decision was pretty much made. I put down my deposit and accepted my admission. That summer, I stayed in touch with Derek and kept up with Texas Football. When I arrived on campus, Derek had me working with the team pretty much from day one, which I was really grateful for. I filmed every home game, an away game at Baylor University, Texas vs Oklahoma in Dallas, Texas last ever BIG12 Championship, and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans all during my freshman year. During the spring I got to cover workouts, Pro Day, spring practices, and the NFL Draft. This past fall, now as a sophomore, I filmed all home games, Texas vs Oklahoma in Dallas, and Texas vs Clemson playoff game. I still remember my first time filming a home game at DKR. I stepped out onto the turf and gazed up at 105,000 fans screaming Texas Fight. I remember it was almost 110 degrees during that game and I still got chills when I first stepped onto the turf, I don’t think I will ever forget that moment. It has been a surreal experience so far and I want to thank Derek Ochoa for taking a chance on me and presenting me with this unique opportunity. I also want to thank my parents and my two older brothers, Mitch and Cole, for always supporting my work and goals. This brings us to the present day. I have about two months left of my sophomore year and two seasons left with Texas Football. I feel like those two seasons went by in the blink of an eye, which is why it is important to never take the opportunity for granted. I have built strong bonds with the creative staff and fellow interns at Texas Football. I am excited to head into year three with them and see what we can accomplish as a team. Looking back, I am extremely grateful for all the opportunities and experiences I have been given through my passion for cinematography and editing. When I got my first camera at 16 years old, I never envisioned myself moving to Austin, Texas, attending a top film school, and working for one of the biggest brands in college sports. I feel that it is pretty full circle that my love for sports came from Kevin Durant, who played college basketball at The University of Texas at Austin. My main message to anyone reading this is that it is important to chase your goals and try new things. You never know how much one decision can change your life in a positive way. Excited for what the future has in store.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have been very fortunate to have had a pretty smooth road to get to where I am today. A lot of things fell in to place at the right time and I am very grateful for that. I definitely have had minor struggles and I want to use this section to speak on my personal struggles and common struggles aspiring creatives and artists face and how to overcome those. As I previously mentioned, when I was 16 years old and only 2 months into my journey as a sports videographer, I was banned from filming at my own high school for the rest for the football season. I was upset, but I took this as an opportunity to venture outside my comfort zone and film for other schools and athletes. I began freelancing and through this I met other creatives around Massachusetts. I would never have met these people had I stayed filming at my high school. There are creatives I met then who I still keep in touch with today. One even attends UT Austin and interns at Texas Football with me, his name is Sebastian Gaines. I consider him one of my closest friends. It was during this time that I also learned how important it was to network and learn from other creatives. Doing this will help you evolve as a creator and bring new connections. My point is that it is so important to take something bad that happened to you and find a way to benefit from it. This does not even just apply in the creative world, rather just something to live by. Had I not filmed for those other teams and met those other creatives, I very well may not be where I am today. It is very cliche, but rejection is redirection and anyone trying to make it far in this field needs to know that from the day they pick up a camera. The next topic I want to speak on is finding opportunity and getting seen. So many creatives lose their love for what they do due to not getting enough opportunity and reach on social media. The first thing I will say is forget social media analytics. Nobody cares how many likes and views your personal projects get. The only time social media reach matters is when you are creating content for a brand, a team, or anything else where the goal is to draw attention. So for personal projects, social media statistics should not dictate your passion and work ethic. Now to discuss opportunity, something I lacked when I first started out. The thing about opportunity is that it does not just come to you, you create it for yourself in this field. I dislike when people mention success as luck in the content creation world. I do agree that luck is extremely important to anyone in a creative field, but without hard work, luck means nothing. For example, it was sheer luck that I ran into Coach Flash of Run the Citi at that AAU tournament, but it was my years building my editing skills and portfolio that gave him the trust and confidence to hire me to travel with them. So my advice to any creatives out there is to work and build your portfolio everyday as you never know when you will get lucky and run into the right person at the right time. All it takes is for one person of importance to see your work and you can find yourself working for something bigger and better than you ever imagined. The gist is you have to create your own luck. In order to do this, get out and shoot whatever possible. When I was in high school I would research the best athletes in Massachusetts and would go film them for free to grow my portfolio and make new connections. I would even research AAU tournaments and would see some of the top high school basketball players in the country were playing in tournaments in the Boston area. I made sure to film them too. I never cared about the money as it was my passion and I knew the money would come eventually, but the opportunity was only available now. My advice to aspiring creatives is to get out and film whatever you can. Paid or unpaid, it should not matter if you are a beginner. If you are buying a camera to make money right away, then I would not recommend buying one. The passion should be your main motive and with that money and opportunity will reveal itself in the end. My final piece of advice in terms of opportunity is make sure to always post your work on social media. Even if you are a beginner and your work is not the best, still post. A weak portfolio is better than no portfolio at all. When it comes to social media, forget views and engagements and just share your work. Also try to maintain a professional looking profile. Even if you are not doing “professional” work, you can still make you profile look professional by having simple things like where you are based, what you are (videographer, photographer, editor, etc), good thumbnails on each post, and a good profile photo / logo. Staying consistent when posting is something I still struggle with, but it will bring success. When it comes to working at the next level, my main piece of advice would be to attend college and work for the sports team at the school. Pretty much all colleges offer internships or at least let their students help out with creative. One thing I struggled with is finding the right school for me. I was stressed the whole Fall of my senior year of high school as I was worried I would end up somewhere I would not be happy with. My advice to any creatives currently in high school is to apply to as many schools as possible. Even if your grades are not the best, still apply. My academic successes were far from exceptional and I still managed to get in to an academic heavy university as an out of state applicant with mainly my portfolio and unique experiences. So utilize your portfolio and experiences and apply as you never know what admissions officer is going to resonate with your experiences and appreciate your talents. I would also reach out to all the creative directors at the schools you are accepted to and hear what each has to offer. Like I said earlier rejection is redirection. My dream school all throughout high school was USC, and I got rejected. I am not ashamed of it, as I realize now that my opportunity at Texas is hard to compete with. I have seen the work USC social puts out, it is great. This does not mean it would have been a great fit for me. I struggled with accepting that when I first got rejected, but it all makes sense to me now. I also understand that college is not for everyone. Which is perfectly fine. You can still work at a professional level without a college degree. YouTube can teach you any technical skill that film school can. The only difference is college makes networking and opportunity easier to access. Becoming successful in the creative world without college has been done countless times, it is all dependent on how hard you work toward your goals. The last struggle I will touch on is imposter syndrome in this saturated industry. I feel that there are more sports videographers now than ever. Which is really cool to see. The downside of it is that there are a ton of great creators out there and limited jobs. I have definitely found myself questioning my own work in comparison to other creatives and have struggled to find a style that does not feel like I am copying someone else. I feel that these past few months I have been able to find my own style and create work that I am genuinely proud of. I owe a lot of this to my fellow interns, especially my good friends Dylan Waguespack and Aric Shah. They intern as graphic designers, photographers, and 3d designers at Texas Football and they have pushed me to try new styles and be more creative. I advise all creatives to find their own style and visually tell stories in a unique way. Collaborate with your peers and do not be scared to ask for help and be open to constructive criticism. Also do not be afraid to take a break here and there if you ever get burnt out. Working while burnt out can bring more harm than good at times, so be sure to recognize when you need a break. Navigating a creative industry can be tough and draining, so it is important to have a good supporting cast to lean on.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In high school I really wanted to be a professional cinematographer one day. When I got to Texas and started working for the football team I revisited my love for editing. I still love cinematography. I am taking cinematography classes at UT and I film all the Texas Football games. It is just that at Texas Football I kind of assumed the role of an editor. I consider myself to be a pretty good editor with over 6 years working in Adobe After Effects. I feel like I have really taken the editing of my videos to another level at Texas, especially this past season. I have also fell in love with creative direction and storytelling through effects and 3d animation. An intern I work with, Aric Shah, is a 3d animator and works in Blender. He is without a doubt one of the most talented people I know. Before the Lone Star Showdown this year, I had an idea that I wanted to collab with him on a video. I thought it would be cool to add 3d elements with my effects and shots and we could put together a hype video like never seen before. We sat down for about an hour or so and I told him my ideas and we just bounced ideas off each other until we had a legit storyboard. I was really excited for the project and he began working right away. We both spent the majority of our Thanksgiving break doing the hype video for this game. When we finally finished, it was my favorite project ever. Our boss, Derek Ochoa, really liked it and had it posted a few hours before the kickoff of Texas vs Texas A&M. The video did extremely well as it got over 1,000,000 views on Texas Football Instagram alone and a ton of comments. It was super rewarding to see this and know that Aric and I directed and produced this. The thing that makes our creative team so successful is that we have some great cinematographers, great storytellers, great photographers, great designers, and great editors. So when we all collab as a team special things come from that and we can all learn from each other. I am pretty much known for my effects and hype video ideas. I am happy with this role as I strive to create things that grab peoples attention and make them speculate how the effects were done. When people see my work I want them to feel the need to stop what they are doing and be invested enough to watch the whole thing through. By the end I want the audience to feel as if they were at the game or are about to suit up for Texas Football. In short, I want to evoke emotion and inspire others. I always want my next project to be better than the last, which is why I choose to work on larger and longer projects rather than short quick content. My boss really trusts me with that and lets me have creative freedom with it, which I am grateful for. I like to compare the videos Aric and I make to a movie trailer. In the sense that we grab the best parts from a football game and put it all together with effects, 3d animations, music, and sound design and it only takes a little over a minute of your time to watch. The goal is to bring attention to Texas Football on social media and show the fans something they may have never seen before in the sports media world. Aric and I went on to put out two more hype videos last season: One for Texas vs Clemson and one for Texas vs Ohio State at the Cotton Bowl. Both of the videos saw massive success on Texas Football Instagram with over 2,500,000 views total. The videos were also featured on Bleacher Report and the one vs Clemson was played on the jumbotron before the game. Having my video played live to 105,000 fans was definitely a surreal feeling and it will not be the last time. Aric and I have already started discussing ideas for a hype video for the home opener next season. I think it will be one to remember. I am most proud of finding a home away from home in Austin, Texas. Coming from a small town in Massachusetts to a city like Austin was not the easiest, but the creative staff and my fellow interns welcomed me in like family. I am just proud to be a Longhorn and represent one of the best college football programs in the country. What sets me apart from others, in my opinion, is just my passion and creativity during the whole process. Whether I am shooting, creative directing, or editing, I always enjoy it and make sure to think outside of the box. A lot of people ask me what I want to do in the creative world after college, and to be honest I do not fully know. I really enjoy where I am at right now and I am creatively trying new things both with Texas Football and in my studies as a film student. I obviously want to stay in a creative field, I just do not fully know if that field is cinematography, directing, producing, or editing. I think it is important for young creatives to work in as many creative fields as they can before entering the real world. This will ensure that you do not end up in a field or job that you are not happy with. Regardless of what profession I end up in, a lifelong goal of mine is to win an Emmy Award, and that is something I will continue to work towards in my career.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The Covid-19 Crisis was the first time I really learned to take a negative in life and turn it in to a positive. Obviously, the crisis was tragic and inconvenient for the whole world. Being stuck at home all day away from friends was definitely hard to adjust to, especially being a freshman in high school trying to find my way. Looking back, I think the pandemic played a huge role in getting me to where I am now. As I mentioned earlier, I revisited my passion for video editing during Covid. I taught myself an advanced editing software and I would just sit in my room for hours on end day after day. My parents probably thought I was wasting my time on social media or playing video games, but I was investing in myself without even realizing. This time period allowed me to find my true passions and take a break from the repetitiveness of high school. I was able to research film schools and this was when my passion for videography and filmmaking sparked. It was also good to spend time with my family and two older brothers. They were and still are my biggest role models so I enjoyed hanging out with them, whether it was playing 1v1 in the driveway or getting fast food late at night. I feel that by the time quarantine ended and I was starting my sophomore year of high school that I had changed a lot. In the sense that I had new career goals and college aspirations out in Los Angeles. I tried harder in school and took different classes like intro to filmmaking, which I do not know I would have taken had I not revisited my passion for editing over quarantine. The pandemic taught me to do with what you have and sometimes bad things happen in order to bring good things later.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://troybreen.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troybreen_/?hl=en
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-breen-891915302/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TroyBreen
Image Credits
Dylan Waguespack, Praiya Smith, Henry Houghton, and Troy Breen
