Meet Andrea Weinbrecht | Costume Designer and Mom

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrea Weinbrecht and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I don’t think it’s a secret that the film industry is incredibly demanding. Our standard work week is a 60-hour week, so when you are working, there is really no time for anything but work. When I had my first son, I decided it was time to slow down a bit and pursue shows with better schedules for family life, so I began working more on sitcoms and children’s shows. Children are such a catalyst for all kinds of change, right? I had finally gotten my break as the costume designer on the beloved children’s show, Just Add Magic. We had settled into a routine as a family of three. The show was a hit, and the producers and crew were the absolute best! I really felt like I had cracked the code with the industry of how to work and still have time for my life. Between the last two seasons of the show, I found out I was pregnant with our second son, James. It was a bit harder to juggle the work-life balance with a toddler and a baby, but the JAM fam was so supportive, and I would bring the baby to work from time to time. Again, I really felt like I had this work-life balance stuff all figured out. But, when James was about 6 months old, he started missing his milestones. When he was 8 months old and still missing the marks, we knew this was something more than just being a “late bloomer”. The Just Add Magic spin-off had completed filming, and I was interviewing for other jobs. Maybe it was divine intervention or the universe trying to tell me something because I didn’t get any of the jobs I went out for. And then one morning, while heading out the door to drop my older son at school, James had a seizure. He was 9 months old. We were admitted to CHLA, and after a battery of testing, we received the most absolutely devastating news a parent could get: our child had a rare and terminal genetic disease, Tay-Sachs disease. He was given a lifespan of about 2 and a half years. This is the part where we throw the whole life balance thing out of the window!
Our lives were completely turned upside down. Over the course of the next 18 months, we would watch our son’s health steadily decline. So, as a family and me as a mom with a busy career that was just getting started, we had to figure out how to rebalance our lives, continue to work to keep our health insurance, and be present for our older son, who was going to lose his only sibling, and care for our terminally ill baby. It sounds overwhelming, and it was at first. We learned how to accept help from our friends and colleagues. We also learned that you have to have blind faith and just believe that it’s going to work out. Blind faith was a big part of staying balanced and grounded for me. As a family, we learned how to adapt our routines and appreciate the time we had together as a family of four because we knew the days were numbered.
For me, this experience has really made me understand that work is important, but it’s not everything. It wasn’t until I was in the trenches advocating for my child that I realized my career in the industry, where you are often dealing with last-minute changes and constantly figuring out how you are going to make it happen in the time you have, had cultivated the skills in me to keep pushing forward and get the job done for my child, no matter how hard or how exhausting it was. It made me really understand the resilience of the human spirit and see the goodness in people around us. It made me know that you don’t really know what you are capable of until you are put to the test; you can actually do a lot more than you think!
I believe it takes a lot of courage and vulnerability to talk about a loss like this. I don’t think we talk about death enough in our society/culture; people don’t want to think about it. Death is part of life; it’s part of the balance. Without one, you don’t have the other. Does that make it easier or make me miss my son less? No, but it does help me understand the delicate balance of life and how important it is to find the balance in your life, however that may be. It’s different for everyone. I love working and being busy, and when I’m not working, I love volunteering at my older son’s school and finding ways to stay busy by taking ceramics and drawing classes, gardening, reading, and hanging out with people I love. These are the things that make me feel full and balanced in my life. I truly hope this message resonates with the people who need it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I work as a costume designer for television and commercials, promos, and branded content. I wouldn’t say it was easy to get here, but it has been fun and an endless learning process. For me, working in the entertainment industry is so creatively fulfilling. I don’t think people realize how much care and effort go into every detail that is seen on screen. It’s a tremendous collaborative effort to make the imaginary come to life. So many people say, “Wow! I would love to shop all day for my job.” And while I do appreciate that sentiment, it’s not as easy as you think. Believe me when I tell you, shopping is not all that fun when you cannot find that specific piece that works on camera at 6 am the next morning and you and your team are fanned out all over town combing the malls looking for a needle in a haystack and then the producer calls and says we are going to need 6 of them! Thankfully, that doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. And, honestly, I love the challenge! It keeps me on my toes.

Every piece of clothing is considered – even the things you don’t see on camera like socks or undergarments because it helps the actor become the character at a very organic level. It’s a constant learning process because every job is different and every director has a different approach as well, so you are constantly merging your creative processes with other’s processes. You learn so much as you go. As a costume designer, research is a big part of the job so that you have a deep understanding of the characters and the story. Even on contemporary projects, you have to understand the trends, the demographic of your intended audience, and the color palette of the project.

I’ve learned so much over the years and continue to learn new things on every job I do. One of the more important things I have learned is that you have to be adaptable and resourceful. There’s always a solution! You can’t be afraid to pivot if an idea isn’t working, even under the tight deadlines of a production. Because it’s such a collaborative effort of creative departments, studio executives, actors, directors it can sometimes feel overwhelming to come up with outfits that everyone can agree on, but you learn quickly to always have a back up option so you are covered.
It’s kind of like working on a painting with several different painters and you are all painting on the same canvas to create one collective masterpiece. It’s really quite amazing when it comes together.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We love to go see live music so some kind of concert would be on the docket. It could be anything from seeing a band at the Lodge Room or road tripping out to Pappy and Harriets or a show at the iconic Hollywood Bowl. We also can’t miss seeing the LA Phil at the Disney Concert Hall (a must do recommendation from my son).
The Broad Museum is always a favorite. We would have to do some shopping at the Rose Bowl Flea Market for great vintage finds and a stroll down Figueroa in Highland Park for some boutique shopping and lunch at Kitchen Mouse.
The Huntington Gardens is always a beautiful way to spend a day walking through the gardens and visiting the library and tea room.
There are so many amazing restaurants in Los Angeles and the surrounding area you can really have any type of food from any part of the world at nearly any hour of the day or night! Some of my favorite spots are Blair’s and Checker Hall for dinner, Homestate and Mason’s Dumplings for easy lunch or dinner with the kids and Tartine and Little Flower Candy Co. for sweet treats.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Anyone who works in the film industry, knows it that it really takes a village to thrive. It’s a truly collaborative community. There are so many people who helped me along the way and continue to support me. Christina Reynolds has been pivotal in my career recommending me for my first big show on my own as the costume designer. We still love working together all these years later and for that I am eternally grateful. I also want to shout out to the costume designers who took the time to mentor me over the years and still play a roll in my career like Julie Rae Engelsman, Alison Freer, and Laura Jean Shannon.

Website: Andreaweinbrecht.com

Instagram: ar_sweet

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-sweet-5832087/

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0842235/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1