Laurel Brady is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, and emerging director who is passionate about telling diverse female-driven stories that balance the hilarious and the heartbreaking. Brendan Brady is a Canadian Screen Award-nominated producer, writer, and director selected as one of five residents at the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) Producers’ Lab. After the lab, Brendan wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film, Black Rock or Bust, which premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival. The award-winning filmmaking duo delivers humor and heart in the new short film Chronic, a candid exploration of life after a brain injury. We’re excited to catch up with this duo to discuss their latest project.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. For readers unfamiliar with your background, what drew you to a career in the arts?
Laurel: Thanks for having us. So, I have written in some capacity since I was six years old. I worked in theater for a very long time and eventually moved to screenwriting, TV writing, sketch writing, and story editing, so I have been passionate about the arts since I could write. The other thing is our parents are in the arts, so we grew up in a very creative household. However, our parents never pushed us into any of this. In fact, they hoped I would be a doctor since I had a passion for it as a kid but was TERRIBLE AT MATH. Ha. Sorry, Mom and Dad!
Brendan: It’s our pleasure! Our parents are both in the entertainment industry, so we come by this honestly as nepo-babies. Our dad, David Brady, is a TV producer, and our mom, Deborah Kimmett, is a performer, writer, and author. Some of my earliest memories are playing backstage at the Second City where our mom often worked as kids.
Who were your early influences and how did they impact your career?
Brendan: Truly, our parents are probably two of my biggest influences. Our parents were middle-class folks and didn’t have a budget for childcare, so we would go with our mom to a lot of her performances and would get to visit our Dad’s sets. It’s exciting to see your parents at 6, 7, and 8 years old in these mystifying environments. It intrigued me. From a very early age, our Mom was bouncing her writing off Laurel and me, which, in hindsight, gave us an excellent base for storytelling, giving notes, and working with performers… nothing like trying to give your mom notes to prepare you for the intricate dance of dealing with creative folks.
Laurel: In terms of work ethic and creativity, both of our parents are huge influences on us as people and creatives. They are incredibly hard-working and incredibly creative, and they have always been honest about the realities of being an artist and an entrepreneur and what it means to be in this business. So, I’d say that they are both an inspiration for how we want to show up in the world and be of service.
I have been deeply influenced by films, filmmakers, and writers who blend genre and tone. It’s something that shows up in a lot of my work. For example, Practical Magic, a 1999 film with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, is one of my favorite movies because it blends comedy, magic, family drama, and witch sisters in a small New England town. What more can you ask for?
Brendan, is it fair to say your break began when you were selected as one of five residents at the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) Producers’ Lab? Please tell us more about the initiative and the impact it had on your career.
Absolutely! I had wanted to go to the CFC since I made my first short film as a producer in 2009 when I was a wee 19-year-old. After learning my craft for a few years and a brief stint in BC, I returned to Toronto and started volunteering on CFC productions. I actually went to my interview to get into the CFC right from an overnight shoot on a CFC short I was production managing, which I think helped prove that I was dedicated to the program.
I can trace every job I have had to my time at the Canadian Film Centre, and I still collaborate with many friends I met there. Ultimately, it allowed me to meet people and make connections, which is everything in this business. My main takeaway from the program and something I try to live by is, “You get out of this situation what you put in.”
Brendan, you’ve gone on to direct several short films for the Canadian Film Centre and have also been selected for the Whistler Film Festival’s Screenwriter’s Lab for your adaptation of the Governor General’s Award-nominated play, ‘Miracle Mother’. Of your many achievements, what are you most proud of, and why?
Oh dear… this feels like answering which of my children I love most! I am very proud of my time at both of these institutions and of getting to develop, produce, and direct all the projects. If I had to pick one, I think the first short I directed for the CFC, an actor’s showcase piece entitled “Vivienne” for an excellent actor, Libby Olser is the one I’m most proud of as it gave me the confidence to direct and ask for directing opportunities.
Laurel, congratulations on your career to date. We’ve read that you’re passionate about telling diverse female-driven stories that balance the hilarious and the heartbreaking. Whilst most will argue the industry has made some progress over the last decade or so, what would you like to see more evidence of, with regard to productions from a female perspective?
I think you’re absolutely right. There has been a lot of progress in this area. At the same time, there’s room for more nuanced, flawed, contradictory female characters to be seen on screen. We often see male characters get to be flawed, temperamental, and capable all at the same time, and yet the same fully human portrayals aren’t always afforded to women and other diverse characters. I would love to see more contradictions in female and diverse roles rather than only having angels or devils portrayed.
I also think there’s still room for more versions of complex queer characters, characters living with disability, people of color, trans, and older women to be seen onscreen without that being revolutionary or being siloed into only being lead characters of stories about identity. Identity stories are amazing, and we need them! But I would love it if we could push the envelope and have a level of diversity and specificity of characters where a main character can be, let’s say, queer, or of a person of color, or a woman, or a person living with a disability, and the main plot of the story is allowed to be focused on a different storytelling element. Identity can exist and inform that story and character. But other stories can be told! Finally, there is still more room in key roles on set and in the writer’s room to be held by women and diverse folks.
Laurel, as a screenwriter and playwright can you walk us through how you approach a project, from what inspires a story and the methodology you adopt for producing work for stage or screen?
What a good question. I often find that an idea or character will come into my head and won’t leave me alone. And then I have a choice whether I want to explore that person or idea further, which, usually, if it’s interesting, I can’t help myself. I try to leave room for the process to be different every time, but generally, what happens is that I have an idea that I play around with. Then, I explore who the main character is, what they want, etc. If I “play through” the movie or TV show in my head and I’m still intrigued, I go through the process of either starting to write or starting to outline and explore from there. Then, it’s just a matter of writing, rewriting, getting notes, wondering if I’ll ever figure it out, drinking too much caffeine, and then; eventually, a version of it is finished. Eventually, it gets pitched and/or made.
Laurel, please tell us more about your initiative, the Prosperous Writers Circle.
The Prosperous Writer Circle is a 4-week Writers Circle designed to help writers work on projects that they haven’t gotten around to finishing, to start writing a new project, or it’s for people who just want to carve out space to show up with their creativity in a fun, ease-filled way. It’s process-driven, relaxing, peaceful, and designed to be counterintuitive to very intense writing courses that promise you a sold screenplay in x amount of time.
There are also 5 minutes of meditation and 5 minutes of journaling at the start of class, which my students and I love. I created this offering a few months ago, and it has been an absolute joy of my life. I have several writing workshops and types of story editing that I do, and this one has just made such a wonderful addition.
Congratulations on your recent project Chronic, making its YouTube premiere this month after a successful festival run. Please tell us more about the origins of this film and what audiences can expect.
Laurel: I wrote this project initially as a half-hour television pilot. When I showed it to Brendan, he quickly said, “You know, I think this could be made into a great short to prove that we can execute something funny and heartbreaking about brain injuries and chronic pain. Then I wrote the short, and Brendan and I got to work finding funding, casting, etc.
The inspiration behind the film is that I had a brain injury and whiplash from a work-related accident back in 2019 and was sadly off work for a very long time. I had to go on social assistance because I’m a contract worker, and basically, it was an incredibly terrible experience. As I lay in my dark room on bed rest, I thought about how so many people in a similar position, whether they had a brain injury, chronic illness, chronic pain, or were living with some sort of disability, that many of us feel so lonely and invisible, and hopeless some days. I wondered how I could show this experience to people who had no idea what any of this felt like. Is there a story here?
My hope with this project was to bring people’s nuanced stories to life that aren’t necessarily told. Ideally told from a place of humor because that’s another thing. There are a lot of tragedies out there about this kind of subject matter, which is fair because elements can be heavy, but many people I know who live with chronic pain, chronic illness, etc., are some of the most hilarious people I know. Even though they deal with a lot of pain, sadness, and challenging aspects of life. That goes back to the nuance of what appeals to me as a writer. We can have lives with incredibly hard moments that can also be filled with hilarity and joy and a balance of the light and dark of life.
People can expect to watch a darkly funny story about a young woman coming to terms with her changed body and mind and having to reevaluate the relationships in her life. People can expect to feel uncomfortable, to feel sad, laugh, and/or perhaps be called to look at their behavior towards themselves or a loved one. We’ve had audiences react quite strongly to the project. Some love it and think it’s hilarious; some find it incredibly painful and activating to watch; others think it’s a great representation of life with a disability or chronic pain. So, in a really cool way, everyone feels something, which is what you want as a writer!
What other projects are in the pipeline?
Laurel: I have several shows in development with different production companies, so we’re working away pitching those, and we’ll see what happens! Anyone who has pitched knows you’re taking your babies to market and hoping someone will love them as much as you do. I’m enjoying the ride and the company of the bad-ass people I work with.
I’m always joy-writing one to two projects because writing is my happy place. I have a couple of short-form projects I’d like to direct. I’m also facilitating my writing workshops, doing story editing, and consulting for clients. So, a mixture of fun things!
Brendan: I started a production company with my good friend Jacob Tierney called Accent Aigu Entertainment. We’re focused on 1/2-hour comedy television shows. There is lots of stuff in the hopper, but there is nothing I can say just yet!
Where can our readers find out more about you?
Chronic The Film
Facebook: chronic:thefilm
Brendan: You can check out my website, www.brendanjamesbrady.com, to watch my shorts, and if you want to follow me on Instagram, I’m @brendanjamesbrady. FYI, I only post about various pizzas I’ve made.
Laurel: You can find me at
Instagram: @laurellajay
Facebook: @laurelbradycreations
Twitter: @laurel_brady
Website: www.laurelbradycreations.com
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