Barry Wasserman passes away

Barry Wasserman, legendary music video 1st AD and "film warrior" has passed away. One of the great figures of the British music video industry, Barry died last night (June 30th) in hospital in London, after a long battle with ill health.

Barry was a crucial figure in the making of numerous important music videos for more than two decades, a commanding presence who controlled the set on countless challenging productions by force of his larger-than-life personality. 

He was also a man of letters, and had a way with words, coining numerous memorable sayingsto sum up the often gruelling process of shooting a music video, such as: "Everybody fights, nobody quits".

A New York native, Barry Warren Wasserman arrived in London to study at the London School of Economics in the late 1960s, at a seminal moment of student upheaval. He never left what became his adopted homeland, and found his ideal job working in the burgeoning music video industry in the UK in the early 1980s, as an assistant director.  

Working with most of the top music video directors working in the UK, in the Nineties he developed particularly important relationships with directors such as W.I.Z., John Hardwick, Olly Blackburn and David Slade. He also worked on the debut features of several of these directors, including Slade's Hard Candy and Blackburn's Donkey Punch. 

In 2011, the music video industry showed their appreciation for Barry's contribution to UK music videos by bestowing him with the UK Music Video Awards' Outstanding Achievement Award.