Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Bradley.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in North Carolina and produced my first play in high school when my school didn’t have access to an auditorium. This experience led me to New York City where I trained, performed and produced dozens of new works for almost a decade. The simultaneous Writers strike and Broadway Stagehands strike sent me West to explore the potential of “new media” initiatives for independent storytelling and I serendipitously found myself collaborating with some of the biggest names in early YouTube culture.
Today, I am a full-time performer with over 100 IMDb film and television credits, over 50 commercials and continued collaborations in emerging digital media including virtual reality, performance capture, and social streaming.
This summer, I became concerned with my fellow creator’s lack of access to resources and audiences during the quarantine, so I designed a released a free virtual toolbox to perform live: https://www.playbill.com/article/a-game-changing-innovation-that-will-get-live-theatre-back-before-this-pandemic-ends.
Has it been a smooth road?
Would we call it a “road”? Knowing how difficult my own journey has been, I cannot fathom how anyone, especially marginalized voices, find their way in the current entertainment ecosystem. I am humbled to have spent the past few months continuing to listening and learn about my own systemic privilege that perpetuates unfair advantages. Frankly, if my career is “3rd base,” we need to re-design the playing field.
The majority of my opportunities have been the direct result of putting my own skin in the game or working for free for other collaborators doing the same. This year marks my 20-Year Anniversary of creating what I affectionately refer to as my ‘fiascos.’ A term I borrowed from Italian glass blowing when a wine bottle with any flaws is salvaged into a flask. I’ve learned to accept the inherent impossibility of creating art without the necessary budget or resources and to instead celebrate the imperfection and resourcefulness of exploring new tools for new audiences.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I work in every aspect and medium of narrative storytelling. When I was a teenager licensing the rights to my first play, I was told I needed a company name “just for the form, kid.” I made up the name The Jigsaw Ensemble to reflect the puzzle of figuring out how to make art with a small, passionate team of collaborators. As an adult forming my own entertainment company, I maintained this name to illustrate my continued creative culture and my journey to working in almost every narrative medium and format.
Ultimately, The Jigsaw Ensemble is “me” and my team on any given project. Over time, I have cultivated a community of like-minded professionals who are equally curious and invested in scrappy storytelling. I consider myself an advocate for micro-budget storytelling and new-media formats. I’m proud of “our” integrity to always work in service of story and people by empowering artists with authority over their creative vision and direct participation in the fruits of that labor.
I got my start producing and developing over a dozen new and reimagined works for off-broadway and off-off-broadway stages. My first series, Squatters, was named “the best indie comedy on the web” by Tubefilter News, leading to a “live internet radio show” out of The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club. Our first feature film, Non-Transferable, was sponsored across three continents by cold-calling tourism boards. We hand-built a spaceship in a one-bedroom apartment to create an original sci-fi series, Sona, which premiered on Legendary Digital, with a VR Escape Room at San Diego Comic Con. We supported and produced Criminal Minds’ Kirsten Vangsness’ directorial debut in the animated short, Curtains. Our upcomming film, A Tale Told By An Idiot, is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth inside the world of a VR video game, featuring DIY motion capture and 3D animation. I have a Lab at New York University to explore integrating technology in live performance. And I’m currently using the shutdown to develop new case-studies for virtual theatre and decentralized releases and royalty payments for independent film.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
One of my former teachers, Joseph Pearlman refers to Hollywood as “the Olympics of entertainment.” You can be an athlete anywhere, but this is where you go to *compete* in once in a lifetime opportunity at the top of your craft (traditionally for film and television). It’s a thriving city with incredible culture and opportunity, but I’m personally very grateful to have begun my journey with community-based theatre in the Southeast and the incubation environment of non-Broadway theatre. Los Angeles has provided me a wonderful home, but I personally recommend starting your career in the geography where you have the strongest support network and identity outside of the industry.
Especially in the current pandemic, the city has lost its most valuable resource: an active, hands-on, creative network and community. We all have to do better about working to check on and support the individuals and businesses we hope can weather this disruptive time. The global health event has revealed unsustainable systems in our communities and we should all feel empowered to listen and rethink how we nurture inclusivity, humanity, and dignity for our colleagues and neighbors as an industry, city, state, country, and world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jigsawensemble.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: /brendanAbradley
- Facebook: brendanbradleyofficial
- Twitter: /brendanAbradley
Image Credit:
bettina niedermann photography (the gold jacket photo)
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