Meet Dylan Brody of Sylmar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Brody

Hi Dylan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1986 mistakenly believing I was already a regular at the Original IMPROVisation and had a deal with a producer at Universal Studios for my first screenplay. I was already in at the IMPROV in New York but did not know that my home club there was not affiliated with the one out here.

It took me a long time to fully internalize the key Hollywood equation: ‘YES’ + ‘TIME’ = ‘NO’

Once I figured that out, I realized I would need to be involved in the production of my own work.

I produced and co-produced some Improv shows and some politically-motivated stand-up shows in L.A. and kept using any money I made on the road as a comic to create these weird independent projects and proof-of-concept pilots.

In 1999 I produced my first full-length story-telling special THE WERESHMUCK: Transformations of a Moron. It streamed on the now defunct AntEye.com and because of the technology at the time it was deliberately produced in segments under nine minutes long. They still froze and buffered for people with anything but the most modern equipment. As I put together my next story-telling shoot, MORE ARTS/LESS MARTIAL (currently streaming at Blonde Medicine) I began developing the outline for Active Voice Productions, and have been producing for stage and screen under that banner ever since.

We consider ourselves an Arts Company and as much as we enjoy our interactions with the entertainment industry, they tend to be few and infrequent. We produce conscience-driven projects that cannot benefit from corporate involvement for the most part.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Building my modest company (https://activevoiceproductions.com) has not been a smooth road nor do I expect it to smooth out in the coming years. The newly re-elected President has not been known for his focus on infrastructure maintenance, nor for his eager support of Truth-Telling in the arts. So, rough roads ahead all the way around, I expect. I don’t imagine, for instance, that under this administration I will get a lot of interest from the Kennedy Center. They’ll be busy commissioning a series of operas based on the paintings of dogs playing poker.

I come from an academic background and my parents looked down on entrepreneurialism in ways that I have needed to expunge from my own psyche. Once I allowed the company to become an organic entity that changes — grows and contracts as necessary and appropriate — a sanguine comfort allowed me bounce along the continuing rough roads happily, knowing that the smooth roads don’t lead to the places I’m generally interested in seeing.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work as a performer and an author has changed significantly over the years. I began in adolescence with adolescent wants. I wanted people to look at me more than I wanted to provide anything for them.

As I transformed from a four-to-one laugh-per-minute political stand-up comic in the 1980s and 90s into a long form story-teller and now a musician and story-teller, the experience of the audience became increasingly valuable to me. In making films and releasing books, I let the work be seen in the world without my presence to experience the immediate adoration I so craved in my early years as a performer.

The more I allow myself the vulnerability of the performer in all that I do, the more it retains my original intent even when I must function as a CEO or as a director or as a Producer.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Once we give up on following internally generated rules about how things are expected to be done and begin doing the things that genuinely matter to us in the world, the obstacles we have perceived as preventing success become part of the ongoing success of creativity. The series I created during Lock Down (https://corona-dialogues.com) and subsequent micro-film (https://activevoiceproductions.com/corona-film), for instance, occurred because I could not go on book tour for Relatively Painless (https://dylanbrody.com/relatively-painless). They wound up winning awards and opening new avenues of exploration but they came out of the need to do something when none of us could leave our houses. The obstacle led directly to the product of wonderful work from everyone on the project.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dylanbrody.com
• Instagram: https://activevoiceproductions.com
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/dylanbrody
• Twitter: activevoiceprod
• Youtube: @activevoiceproductions @dylanbrody
• Yelp: Https://reverbnation.com/dylanbrody

Image Credits
Sara Tate photographer