Meet Bradley Bredeweg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bradley Bredeweg.

Bradley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was a dreamer in Orange County having grown up on Speilberg and Zemeckis. I knew from a very young age that I somehow wanted to figure out how to tell stories the way they did.

So I schooled myself on their films, their movies, their everything. I did a ton of theatre as a teenager and learned the discipline on how to be a storyteller through that intense training at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA.

Eventually, I started writing my own plays and material which eventually turned into writing, my own pilot. It eventually got into the hands of Madonna herself – who bought the pilot from me – I was 23 years old and had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I knew that I loved what I was going. The pilot was eventually bought by ABC, and I thought I had “made it.” As we all know, just because you sold a pilot doesn’t mean that you’ve made it.

Eventually, I began writing and producing music videos back in the day in which music videos had budgets. I worked with all different types of artists and directors until I met my writing and producing partner, Peter Paige. Together we wrote and sold many pilots for a period of seven or eight years to networks like The CW, USA, Showtime, etc.

Eventually leading us to write the pilot of THE FOSTERS which got into the hands of Jennifer Lopez. We sold that show to ABC family (now Freeform), and it went all the way! 104 episodes and five seasons in fact. This has led to our new series GOOD TROUBLE which just premiered on January 8th on Hulu and Freeform.

I also moonlight in theatre – my great love, producing Broadway and local LA theatre as well, including my new show SCISSORHANDS a musical tribute to the film EDWARD SCISSORHANDS now playing at Rockwell in Los Angeles. I will continue to dream and maybe one day work with the Spielberg or the Zemeckis. I say “the” because they are THE reason I find myself here today.

Great, 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?
Oh god no. So many struggles. Moving to LA and trying to figure out how to pay my bills as a struggling artist and writers were challenge number one. I waited tables and took a shower many side jobs as I could. So many disappointments once you landed here in town and started to meet people.

Just getting in the door and getting noticed was always the first struggle. Even then when you make a sale, you still have fifty other “sales” ahead of you. And usually, only five of those make it a pilot. Then the chances of going from pilot to series are even more tedious and nearly impossible.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I’m a partner in Blazing Elm entertainment. I’m most proud of THE FOSTERS – a story about two lesbian moms raising a family of foster, adopted, and biological kids in the very modern world.

And now I’m even just as proud of our new series GOOD TROUBLE. I’m a creator/exec producer and Showrunner. And now I’m incredibly proud of our live musical tribute SCISSORHANDS now playing at Rockwell in Los Angeles.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Going to the drive-in with my mom every single weekend to watch ET on the big screen. I was obsessed. It was our escape. And I made my mom take me nearly twenty times.

Contact Info:

• Website: tickets.rockwell-la.com
• Instagram: @bradleybredeweg
• Twitter: @bradleybredeweg

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.