Today we’d like to introduce you to Burt Grinstead and Anna Stromberg.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Our company is all about love. Our love of theatre, movies, and books. Our love of stories, and, most of all, our love of each other. Neither of us imagined we’d ever don producer hats, but when we began collaborating a few years ago, we realized that we loved making art together.
We met ten years ago at an acting conservatory in New York City, but we never hit it off. We were both very different back then. We reconnected at an event in Los Angeles four years ago and fell madly in love. The pieces seem to just fit together. We noticed instantly that we brought out the best in one another. Our strengths played so well together, and it made working together a very smooth transition. We started creating work immediately. In that first year, we co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in an award-winning feature film called THE LOST FOOTAGE OF LEAH SULLIVAN which is scheduled to have a theatrical release later this year.
With the success of that project, we decided to make it official and we co-founded Blanket Fort Entertainment, a company designed to tell those fast-paced, fun, and compelling stories that have been bouncing around in our heads since we were making blanket forts. We then co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the critically acclaimed play, DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, an original comedy adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella. Originally produced at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival, it was picked up by The Soho Playhouse and ran for a six-week off-Broadway run in New York City. It closed at the end of May this year, and a week later, on June 5th, 2019, we decided to get married in Anna’s home town of Wilmington, North Carolina. To say it’s been a dream is an understatement.
Has it been a smooth road?
We have had a very minimal budget for our projects thus far. This has been wonderful for our imaginations, necessity is the mother of invention and all that, but not so great for our sanity. It’s meant that a lot of work that would typically be delegated to others was just done by the two of us. Any time something new would come up, we just had to figure out how to do it.
The smooth part of the road has been due in large part to the amazing people we’ve worked with along the way. Paul Odgren worked with us on THE LOST FOOTAGE OF LEAH SULLIVAN, and his help was instrumental in the pre-production and creation of that movie. He worked tirelessly, and with as much vigor as he would a project of his own. He also hired some incredible people to help us with the shoot. When we put together DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, we had the help of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and all of their employees. Jon Imparato has put together an extremely talented and dedicated team with Patricia Sutherland, Matthew Richter, Adam Martin, Margaret Marx, and Dennis Peraza. We would not have been able to accomplish what we were able to accomplish without their help.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Blanket Fort Entertainment story. Tell us more about the business.
We created Blanket Fort Entertainment to bring people a feeling. That feeling when you were a child and you could build an entire universe from a few ordinary pillows and blankets and create something extraordinary. Somehow along the way a lot of us lose that ability to escape, and, when it’s not being called upon, our imagination can go dormant. We want to bring that back to anyone who has lost it. Blanket Fort Entertainment is about giving yourself permission to be entertained, to be a child again, and lose yourself in a world of imagination.
Our focus is on creating fast-paced, fun, and compelling work that inspires conversation. The plays and films that have touched us the most were the ones that kept us on the edge of our seats and left us chatting long into the night. Our greatest strength as a pair is our ability to laugh through adversity, and with each project we want to be able to ask those big questions with a wink and a smile.
One aspect of our work that we’re most proud of is our dedication to creating work every single day. It’s very easy to judge your work and allow that to prevent you from creating. The element that makes us lucky is that we have each other to motivate us when we’re feeling down about ourselves and our work. We all have those little moments where we think “Well, this is sh**, why would anyone care”? Those moments where the space between where we want to be as an artist and where we are seems so vast that it feels futile to carry on, the other person steps in and says, “it’s worth it, it’s not shit, people care because we create work that we would love to see, and you can do this”. We couldn’t do it without each other, or rather we wouldn’t do it without each other. It was when we first heard Ira Glass say, “It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions” that we realized it is within our power to bridge the gap between our present work and our potential.
We write and produce plays, films, and series. We’re working on a novel and a graphic novel, and we produce two youtube channels. Our goal has been to take action on those moments of inspiration. We wanted to charge ourselves with the responsibility of doing something with those little sparks. So often they just skip around in our heads for ages and nothing comes of them, so we decided that when those moments hit us, we will dedicate ourselves to making them into something. They don’t always see the light of day, but oftentimes they do. Being creative doesn’t just mean that you have ideas, it also means that you have to act on them. You have to create. Once we have a story that we want to tell, then we decide how we want to tell it. After that the medium takes over, and we go into the process of structuring the story for that medium.
Our love of storytelling is only matched by our passion for creating shared experiences. There is a certain kind of magic when you’re sitting in a dark theater with a group of strangers all touched by the same experience. Listening to an audience laugh together, scream together, cry together, there’s nothing quite like it. This is probably what we’re most proud of, and we’re so excited that we get to do it again and again!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The entertainment industry has always been defined by its evolution. Right now, every industry is going through a major, major change. The internet is the wild west, and it feels like everyone is just scrambling to keep up. The elements that seem to remain constant for those companies that have survived are quality, convenience, and fandom. However, only two of those seem to combat the “couch syndrome” as we call it, and those are quality and fandom. People tend to only go to the theater to see movies or plays if there is a recognizable name or if they know that the quality will be great.
It’s really hard to develop a loyal fan base that will come out to see you. In this age of social media celebrity anyone with ambition has the ability to become a recognizable face. This has been an incredible development for giving a voice to people who wouldn’t have been heard before, but it also means that there is an oversaturation of celebrity. Unfortunately, with regards to our industry, creating a following isn’t always based on talent. So, how do we beat that?
This brings us to quality. You can’t beat it! This doesn’t mean that your work has to be deep or profoundly artistic. This just means that all the elements, all the collaborative effort is laced with talent and a unified vision of how a story should be told. As an industry, if we concentrate on putting together a talented team of people, not just names with the biggest draw, we will see people get off their couches and come out in droves to support that work.
Ultimately, Blanket Fort Entertainment will be a one stop shop for books, movies, plays, and series. We don’t have any ambitions for fighting the desire to lounge on the couch in your undies cultivating your own viewing experience, but rather embracing that! We want to invite people to join us in our blanket fort, to share in our stories. Whether that’s in your living room or in the theater. We’re there for those cozy, rainy days, and we’re there for those fun nights out. We hope to see you soon!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BlanketFortEntertainment.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blanketfortentertainment/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blanketfortent/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/blanketfortent
- Other: www.TheLostFootageofLeahSullivan.com
Image Credit:
Main Photo: Heirlume Photography – Loretta Richert, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Photos: Cooper Bates Photography, Other Photos (Poster and Step and Repeat): Courtesy of Blanket Fort Entertainment
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