Prescott Wright was raised in the Bronx, was stationed in the Army at Fort Ord, and went to Monterey Peninsula College. The school had a film series run by Phil Chamberlin and Pres became active with it, running the projectors and helping in other ways. His resume says he was president of the film society and jazz club. In 1963, Chamberlin recommended Prescott, who had recently married, for a job at Brandon Films (also known as Western Cinema Guild) in San Francisco as an assistant and, when the manager left, Prescott became head of the San Francisco office. Brandon was a major 16mm film distributor of American and foreign features and shorts.