Meet Brandy Brooks in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandy Brooks.

Brandy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was raised by my white mother, a single parent who dedicated her life to being a soldier in the Army.  My black father, also in the military, wasn’t in the picture. They met in Adana, Turkey during the beginning of their military careers.  A few months of romance between the two and a magical night on a balcony overlooking the city ended with a biracial kid born in the 80s — a time when interracial dating was finally being talked about and semi accepted thanks to Spike Lee’s, “Jungle Fever”, a few years later…  Due to my mothers crazy work hours and work trips the little time we had together was spent vegging out on the couch in front of the TV. We watched all of the great television shows that the 90s had to offer at the time. Shows like: “M*A*S*H”, “Fraggle Rock”, and “Ren and Stumpy”, and “Alf” were watched religiously.  I lived for the TGIF ABC lineup every week and became obsessed with “90210” after one summer spent with my favorite aunt when she came to stay with us when we were stationed in Hawaii. My aunt is also the reason why I’m obsessed with 90s alternative music still to this day — her Kurt Cobain, flannel wearing, bleach blonde hair lovin’ self still gives me life every time I look at old pictures of her when she was a teenager.  She was the epitome of 90s grunge gone right… Movies were also a huge part of our household and my mother introduced me to the best classics like, “Never Ending Story”, “The Sound of Music” and my favorite movie of all time, “American in Paris”, which completely shaped my taste as a storyteller. My mom took me to see live theatre as much as she could… And we always had music playing, in the house, in the car, on our walk-mans… No matter what, music was a constant.  All of this creative stimulation IS absolute the reason I’m a creative today and I owe my artistry entirely to my mother and the way she raised me. Growing up, I had huge insecurities being biracial and my black father’s absence didn’t help the matter; it only exacerbated the struggles and issues that I had being raised by my white mother and her white family. I truly lived the “mixed-kid struggle” but found and identity through being the “performer” among my family and friends.  I would put on little productions for my family when my mom and I would visit and I was constantly entertaining my mother by telling jokes, dancing, singing, and acting around the house.

After high school, I moved to Chicago and studied acting at Columbia College Chicago. I auditioned for the fall play specifically to showcase the new talent within the freshman class. The play was Clifford Odets, “Waiting for Lefty”, and the late Sheldon Patinkin (Mandy Patinkin’s cousin) was to direct it — I was cast as Edna. That unbelievable experience within the first few months of starting college, gave me two things: the clarification that pursuing acting wasn’t as crazy of an idea as everyone in my life thought, and, the validation that I needed as a biracial actress.  The only other biracial actress that I knew of at the time was SNL member Maya Rudolph aside from Halle Berry, but that woman is in a league of her own. I was 18 years old but I knew that having the opportunity to be directed by Sheldon Patinkin was one of those “once in a lifetime” opportunities, partly because of his relation to Mandy Patinkin, which was a superficial but valid reason, nonetheless. But more importantly because he was one of the great players who helped put sketch comedy and improv on the map and was a beloved member in the Chicago community. I will always be thankful that he gave me that opportunity and he is dearly missed.

Outside of school, my personal life was tied up in a boy that would later become the father of my child as well as an important player within my personal and professional journey. The relationship was like any other relationship between two young artist. We were EXTREMELY passionate but extremely toxic for one another.  And instead of focusing on school and all of these wonderful opportunities that any young actress would want, my focus was on trying to make a relationship that didn’t work… work. In hindsight, I think my need to feel loved by an emotionally unavailable man was my way of feeling validated by the emotionally unavailable father I never had in my life.  My whole freshman year was spent trying to get by in school and rehearsing for plays while crying myself to sleep most nights with all of the drama that my relationship presented. By the time sophomore year began, I realized that staying in Chicago, unable to get away from the toxic and addictive relationship I was in was a painful existence and I decided to audition for the AMADA New York Acting Program. After my audition I was told by the auditioner that I reminded her of a young Felicia Rashad and I received an almost full scholarship to the Conservatory.  

That summer, two months before I was to move and start the program I found out that I was pregnant. I went back and forth between keeping the baby and having an abortion.  There were so many dreams and goals I had set for myself that I wanted to accomplish and the fear of having a baby ran very deep within me. I hated kids — I had always said that I would never have children…  But when you’re on your way to an abortion clinic sometimes things click before you make the final call. My daughter is now 11 years old and she likes to make at least 10 Musical.ly videos a day — kids are weird.  She’s the best decision I ever made and she reminds of that every single day in big and small ways. The one thing I never did was allow my pregnancy and having a baby effect me my from finishing school or continuing my journey as an artist.  When I was 8 months pregnant with her I was on stage, big as hell, rolling around on the floor in David Saar’s, “The Yellow Boat”. The experience of being a 20 year old single mom, still dealing with the drama of my toxic relationship with her father, finishing school, and being an artist was tough… like… really TOUGH. But I had a great support system of dear college friends and a wonderful family who picked up the slack when I couldn’t along the way.  

Then one night, before I was about to perform in one of the shows I got cast in at The Profit Theatre, I bumped into a mutual friend of mine and my ex’s who told me that my ex had just moved to Los Angeles.  My ex and I had been estranged for some time and the news hit me hard. I was devastated. To this day, I still don’t know how I was able to go on stage and perform. I was devastated for many reasons: One, I felt left behind as an artist… because as the mother, I was anchored by my duties as a parent to stay, unable to pursue my dreams in a city that provided more opportunities.  The main reason I never wanted to become a mother in the first place was being rubbed in my face completely. I also felt left behind as a parent and as a lover… the man that I thought I so desperately needed, left. He left without a phone call, a text, or an email. A sane person would had written him off as a deadbeat dad, a terrible person. But not I — Oh no! I suddenly became fixated on the idea that our love was never-ending, that our story wasn’t over and I had to fix it and this is the moment my journey as writer began.  I started writing about this tragic love story that I allowed to drive my life from the moment I had met him. Writing my story that had caused me so much pain for so many years enabled me to take back the control in a situation I had no control over. I was able to write my story the way I saw it. The way I felt it. AND I could end it the way I had always dreamt it would end. For the first time in my life, I felt my own power through my words and experiences. I felt that by sharing my story, I was able to help so many young women who had felt betrayed by a lover like I had.  

Because I was a stage actress I was well versed in reading plays and knew the format like the back of my hand.  The very first thing I wrote was a play called, “Nobody Else”. It would be the basis of my TV series “The Misadventures of Abby in Portland” that I have been in the process of selling for the last two years.  “Nobody Else” was about two lovers who realize they’re still deeply in love with one another after years have passed and are now questioning their entire existence without each other… There was a LOT of sex and a lot of “I love you’s” said by the two characters in the first draft.  But, I was 23 years old, a single mom, heartbroken, and horny, so I give my 23 year old self a pass.

After reading Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, I started rewriting it as a screenplay as a way to challenge myself in writing within a different format. Around this time, my ex and I had started communicating again. I went to visit him in LA for about a week and after I got back to Chicago I knew there was nothing left there for me and my daughter.  About 5 months later, my daughter and I drove across country with the help of my mother with a U-Haul wagon attached to the back of my car, filled to the brim. I was on a MISSION! A mission to get my man back and to pursue my dreams but mostly just to get my man back. I got everything I was yearning for… my ex and I got back together and we gave it a real go at being a family and good parents to our child and I was able to get signed quickly to my exes commercial agent to start getting “out there”.  But truth be told, the minute I got everything I wanted it wasn’t that fulfilling… Sometimes, the fantasies that we have in our heads aren’t as shiny and awesome in real life. I think this is a hard lesson that we all learn at some point in their lives. Relationships don’t magically make you happy… You make you happy. The end.

The most important part of my personal journey started in Los Angeles.  Chicago shaped me. Los Angeles tested me. This beautiful, dreamy, and sometimes dark place has tested me to see what I’m actually made of and what I stand for. It was here that I realized that I didn’t want to be an actress which is a mind-blowing epiphany for an actor if you’ve ever experienced it.  I realized that I wanted to continue to write my story and other stories that I had inside of me. And the thought of sharing them with the world made me excited! I was introduced to Lena Waithe by her mentor, Michael Fry, who has had his own incredible journey within this industry. I remember him saying, “She’s the next LENA. She’s amazing. She’s doing something really great with this project called, “Dear White People”.”  And turns out, he was right! She was the first writer I met in Los Angeles and her wisdom about writing and her continued support is a huge reason why I continued to write and never give up. Lena used to hold these roundtable readings for writers. Where her team of writer friends would read your script and then give their feedback. If you got all passes, which I did the first few times, you would need to do a rewrite and then send it back for another round of feedback.  If you were able to get “the OK” on your script by all the readers, you’d have the opportunity for your script to be picked for a roundtable reading. It was brilliant! Truly a testament to her leadership skills even then.

At this time my, my boyfriend, had gained success and recognition as a TV actor.  He already had one TV series under his belt and was cast in another quickly after the cancelation of that series. After reading a ton of pilots that he auditioned for I realized that the story I had been writing for years had no ending: There were MANY stories to tell within the larger story.  I changed the name to “The Misadventures of Abby in Portland” because essentially the storyline of “love lost” was only one of many misadventures within my story but not necessarily the most pressing one. However, the themes of: internal struggle, issues with self-identity from being biracial girl turned woman in America, addiction and mental health disease, being a single parent, and trying to pursue dreams despite all of these struggles needed to be discussed.  Now, “The Misadventures of Abby in Portland” would be a story about a biracial single mom addicted to living a “Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll” life style, completely flailing in life, who impulsively moves back home to Portland to get her man back but instead begins her long journey towards self discovery. Basically, my life in a nutshell. I sent my pilot to Lena and her team and after receiving positive feedback I asked my boyfriend to read it. I also asked him to send it to his literary agent if he thought it was good enough. The agent loved the story and my voice and she jumped on board with the project.  This is where David Bowie’s “The Golden Years” starts to play as the theme song.

We began the process of honing in on the story of the anti-heroine, Abby.  After months of rewrites we had a story that included the theme of “love and heartbreak” from the “Nobody Else” script along with the new themes of “identity issues and struggles” and “motherhood” that created a rich and unique story worth reading and watching.  I also incorporated all of the fantastical and surrealist elements that I had been drawn to as a kid which made it fun and magical. We sent it out and got great feedback and began the process of pitching to wonderful producers and production companies like Annapurna, Shondaland, and Carousel Productions. The experience of pitching a tv series can be long and uninspiring but it’s a rite of passage that you only hope to get as a creator/writer in this industry.  You learn that persistence is key and so is PATIENCE. I think it’s something like, 500 pitches are heard by execs and studios, only 70 pilots get ordered out of those pitches, and between 12-15 of those pilots get picked up to series. Understanding the statistics by the numbers seems crazy to want to keep going as a creator/writer. But I believe that if you are deeply invested in YOUR story and YOUR voice, those numbers become exactly what they are… NUMBERS. Numbers don’t dictate your worth as a creator and writer.  Numbers don’t write the stuff that dreams are made of. And numbers certainly don’t suggest that you can’t make your own sh*t… Which is exactly what I did after hearing about 20 – 40 passes after a years time. I’m completely bullheaded and really don’t like hearing “no” when I personally feel that I should be hearing a “yes”. It’s the Aquarius in me. I’m a fixed sign and usually dig my heels in and stay on course until whatever the thing is that I’m doing is seen through completely. My professional life as a creator and writer really began to take shape within a short period of time.  For the first time in my life, I began to feel empowered, worthy, and validated as a creative and individual and those feelings came from within — not from some man. Which is all we could ever hope for as human beings.

And then, after 5 years of my ex and I trying to make it work, we separated in May of 2017.  It was and still is one of the most heartbreaking experiences that I’ll probably ever have — I lost my family and the love of my life who had been my muse for the past 14 years… But I bucked the fu*k up and exactly one month after we signed the papers with our attorneys, I hired an all female cast and crew and we went into production to shoot a sizzle for my pilot.  A sizzle is an industry term and it’s usually used to help sell an idea or project. It’s a 1 – 3-minute visual creative that showcases the characters, story, and tone of the project. I personally funded the project with the money I had received from the separation. My ex and I were never legally married but I received a “Thanks for everything-Now be on your way- Will always love you-But you gotta go” settlement.  I remember my ex calling me crazy, he said that I was acting impulsively, that I shouldn’t be shooting a sizzle for my pilot just yet, much less funding one. But a little passion and a lot of, “…I need this, I’m reeling from the breakup and my meeting with an exec from SuperDeluxe makes me feel that making a visual creative is necessary…” talks will go a long way. The process of producing my own project from, the hiring of an all female crew (which was/is extremely important for me as a female creator in this industry) to renting out the theatre at Lyric Cafe on Hyperion in Silver Lake, to auditioning women and literally one little girl who I knew was the character based on my daughter the moment I saw her picture, to rehearsals, to the morning of shoot day when I cried the entire car ride to location/set because I was so nervous and scared, to working with the amazingly talented actresses (specifically Katie Taylor who played Abby) that brought my words to life, to now… I now have a completed sizzle of my pilot, the invaluable experience I gained through producing my own work, the unyielding faith that I have within my story, my voice and myself, the understanding of what it takes to become an established creator writer in this industry, and a fantastic support system and community that has been rooting for me and the story of Abby since I started this journey.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think it’s been both: it’s been smooth but it’s also been a struggle. Personally, my whole life has been a series of struggles and mishaps but those very struggles are the reason my voice and stories are unique. I’m a writer so I thrive off of sharing my pains and hardships as a way to connect with others… to show them… hey, #metoo and there is light at the end of the tunnel depending on what you learn and how you choose to grow on your journey. Storytelling is truly the human connector and it’s what makes me excited and impassioned to get out of bed every morning.

The biggest hurdle that I had to overcome professionally was losing my representation on Abby after losing my relationship. And even though it happened 6 months into our separation, I think in the back of my mind, I was always waiting for the ball to drop.  If I could relate this to any other artistic endeavor I would say, read about the making of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” album and that’s exactly what it felt like. It was nuts. I don’t think I anticipate how incredibly naked and lonely I would feel without the proverbial “safety net” that a literary agent can mentally provide a writer. I also realized that the system within our industry, not unlike most systems is set up for the people in power to stay in power. And if you’re not the person in power you get fuc*ed sometimes.  People rarely want to rock the boat or interfere with the money machine. In this case, because of my ex’s status and established career, he was both the power AND the money machine. Sure, I was a good writer and had a strong and specific voice but he was the one who got me through the door. And that was a hard “ego” pill for me to swallow. Everything had been so easy from the moment his representation jumped on board with my project. There weren’t any hoops I had to jump through or doors I had to knock down and the experiences I had while being represented by his people were experiences “baby writers” in this town would kill for.  But I think, “easy”, made me a bit out of touch with how the process ACTUALLY works for getting literary representation AND it made me somewhat arrogant. Which, doesn’t serve you as a creative or your work. It more or less just makes your peers question how good you actually are without nepotism coming into play. The mental and emotional process I had to go through to understand that his reps we’re just that, HIS REPS was a huge learning curve. Regardless of how talented they thought I was as a writer and how much they believed in my story, at the end of the day business is business and in this case, the “male power” won again.

But also, I SURVIVED.  In fact, losing representation put the POWER back into my hands.  I actually started doing the dirty work, something I hadn’t had to do before, and I grew from it.  I got back into stand up to put my face and voice out there. I applied to different festivals and writers programs to get my work seen by higher-ups.  But most importantly, I started reaching out to my support system, to people that I had built personal and professional connections with over the years.  I also began to reach to new people, people that I had never met before, but was inspired by their creative work and personal journey. I learned to fall back and trust that the people who really believed in me and cared for me, would catch me. Point blank — I asked for help and as a creative and especially a woman of color, this was EXTREMELY hard for me to do — I feared rejection.  I feared that people would say “no” or just not respond at all which is even more heartbreaking than hearing “no”. I feared that I was going to look like I had no control over my “ship” so to speak. I feared that I was going to look like a failure. No one wants to ask for help. NO ONE. But it’s necessary and I realized the importance of community, especially the community of women in this industry and the POWER of asking for help.

And then, through my wonderful actress Hilary Powers that had I cast as Abby’s drug induced Fairy Godmother in the sizzle (also the voice of Sally Brown from the Peanuts movies — which still blows my mind) I was introduced to producer, Jil Hardin. Our first conversation was over the phone and it lasted for 2 hours. From personal life to professional life to our connection as two biracial women (her mother, white and father, black as well), I found a producer who was not only excited about my voice and vision for “The Misadventures of Abby in Portland” but most importantly, personally understood my story. Truth be told, every producer I had pitched to was female but they were also white. The empowerment that I felt as a biracial female creator and writer speaking to another biracial woman in this industry was needed for me. For the first time, I could speak freely, without holding back or feeling like I needed to be PC about my issues with both the black and white communities as a biracial person, and specifically, how I, a biracial woman, wanted to tell our story to the world.

When you’re a creator and writer in the TV and Film industry, you will always struggle with other people’s opinions and ideas of your work and the best course of action to make it “sellable”.   My experience as a creator and writer thus far has brought me to one conclusion: Everyone is going to have an opinion on your work. A lot of it will be based on their taste. Some of it will be based on their knowledge and experience working in this industry. But only a small percentage of it is based on what actually sells. NO ONE in this industry knows what’s going to resonate with the audience and become the next best hit. So it’s up to you to keep up that excitement for the stories you want to tell and the minute you lose excitement for your work means you probably need to move on.  So move on — And focus on the creative work that gets you out of bed every morning.

Brandy Brooks – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a Screenwriter, Producer, and Comedian. The material I write and talk about is socially and politically conscious dramedy and involves my personal follies leading to self-inflicted tragedies, identity struggles and issues and the short/long term effects it can create, first hand experience with generational mental health disease and addiction, being a single parent, and love lost and dating. My purpose is to showcase the human struggle through my own personal experiences in life as a biracial woman who’s a single mom, now just figuring out and understanding who I truly am. My hope is to provide some clarity to my audience and show them that we are all connected because we all have pain and struggles, and that we’re not alone in this journey together.

My most recent personal and professional success was personally funding and producing my sizzle for my Pilot/TV series The Misadventures of Abby in Portland. I purposely hired an all-female production team and crew to acknowledge the deficit that we have in women working behind the scenes in TV and film and to help continue the change we need to see within industry standards.  It was a beautiful 12 hours on set and a first time experience for most of the women involved. My pilot is inspired by the deeply complicated relationship with my on-again, off again relationship with the father of my child. Originally written as a stage play almost 10 years ago while I was still living in Chicago. It’s been a hard but beautiful development process with this project and I feel that it is a testament to my abilities in patience, letting go of what I think my script has to be, but most importantly, never giving up on something I passionately believe in.

I continue to independently create creative content for all media platforms. My dear friend Summer Allen, the woman behind online retail shop, Gimme Flair, and I will be recording the first episode of our podcast called “None Given” at the end of April. “None Given” is a no hold barred podcast, hosted by she and I, as we dive into what its like to be women who run their own businesses, motherhood, marriage/divorce/dating, sexuality, mental health disease and addiction and much, much more.  We’re looking forward to having a podcast that isn’t fluffy or PC but super fun, a bit shocking that feels open and honest and authentically US.

I perform Stand-up comedy regularly at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank.

… But I’m ALWAYS a writer first.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I’m always looking for the next story within me that I’m excited to share with the world and how that story can change the world for the better.  It’s important for me to share stories that other people only wish they could say out loud. My hope, is that through sharing my struggles and heartbreaks, my viewers can feel confident enough to share their own stories… And that’s success to me.  Being able to change the world in which we live in little by little through connecting in a real way. We live in a world where so many things are “tabu” to talk about. So many people keep their stories of pain and struggle to themselves. But how is a person to ever heal if they don’t feel supported to let out that pain?  If I can be successful at anything I wish to be successful in being that one person that gave someone the courage to talk about their pains and struggles without fear so they can begin their process of healing, acceptance, and self-love… like writing has done for me.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brandybrookswrites
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/brandywould
• Other: www.instagram.com/themisadventuresofabby

Image Credit:
John D Starling, Pacific Hill Studio

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