Meet Brandon Miree: Storyteller for Screen

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

Hi Brandon, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?

“Don’t give up what you want most for what you want at the moment.”

In the triple-digit Alabama heat, where the sun seemed like it was sitting 10-feet above you, those words would echo through the earholes of our helmets. Usually, at times we didn’t want to hear it while running sprints in full football gear. The sprints were aptly named, ‘gassers,’ where we’d run the width of the football field (53 yards) and back TWICE for one full-gasser. We had to execute this under a specified time, at the mercy of a stopwatch that allowed for abrupt 40-second breaks.

Gassers turned strong and healthy young men into pouty kids or momentary medical patients. Guys would lay prostrate on the ground, hurl last night’s meals into garbage cans or cuss at the sun.

We were college football players at the University of Alabama, where EVERY year the goal was a national championship.

 Right at the moment the whistle was about to blow and you’d need to gather every ounce of energy possible for that next sprint, you had to decide whether you wanted it or not.

Those football days are long gone, but that quote stays with me.

What do you want most?

Will it bring out the best of you to achieve it? Will it make lives better for other people?

If so, running into obstacles can be a situation where you change your methods rather than your goals.

Conversely, if it’s something you want but brings out the worst in you and society, ie soul-sucking relationships, selfish motivations, etc. then it’s also good to know when to walk away.

Walking away can require more strength than enduring torment.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Filmmaking is a truly challenging career. I recently heard someone say we’re in a position of privilege and we are. Being able to tell stories for a living is amazing.

My journey is a circuitous one, where I didn’t arrive in Los Angeles until I was 35 years old. My first project was supposed to be released when I was 36, it didn’t happen.

So my first projects were released when I was 39. I just turned 40 years old with my projects finishing up on the festival circuit.

However, I’m in this for the long run. My desire is to tell stories for the screen for the next 40 years. During the Covid crisis, I really dug in and tried to expose myself to much more aspects of the filmmaking craft and it has paid off.

My head is down and I’m taking it one step at a time.

Here’s a succinct quote I feel about my journey from Zen Master Hakuin

“It’s like chopping down a huge tree of immense girth. You won’t accomplish it with one swing of your axe. But if the woodcutter stopped after one or two strokes of his axe to ask the third son of Mr. Chang, “Why doesn’t this tree fall?” And after three or four more strokes stopped again to ask the fourth son of Mr. Li, “Why doesn’t this tree fall?” he would never succeed in felling the tree. If you keep chopping away at it, though, and do not let up, eventually, whether it wants to or not, it will suddenly topple down. When that time comes, you could round up everyone you could find and pay them to hold the tree up, but they wouldn’t be able to do it. It would still come crashing to the ground…. It is no different for someone who is practicing the Way.”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Ooh, good question! I’ve really been into hiking which is AMAZING in Los Angeles, and I never been a hiker in my life.

So hiking I like Vasquez Canyon. Food-wise, they have to try Randy’s Donuts! Depending on their other food preferences is where I’d take them next….one pizza place I like is Toppers in Santa Clarita.

Oh gosh, I think California invented the food trucks so they are ridiculously good out here, too many to name.

There are a few Birria trucks and restaurants that go so hard!

There’s this place in Pasadena or Glendale I want to try out — it has donuts with strawberries in it.

I recently tried a Korean corndog place that was amazing…and I love PHO. I wish I can name more names, but you can google and find them out!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My wife is my high school sweetheart and number 1 teammate. I’m pretty fortunate I get to wake up next to my best friend every day.

When I decided to move out to Los Angeles to tell stories for the screen when we got married, she said, ‘let’s go!’

She’s someone I can come to when I’m excited about something I wrote and keep me humble by saying, “hmm…maybe that’s not it,” and when I feel like I can’t put a sentence together and wrote some trash, she’s encouraging me saying, “it’s not that bad.”

She prays for me, with me, and is at the height of decisions I make every day.

She’s always with me, even when she’s not because she doesn’t care for being in the public eye. I might hear it from her for including her in this story, lol.

I don’t have any representation, but there are a few people who mention my name in a room when I’m not around, and I consider them priceless. I have friends who support and encourage me in my endeavors and an amazing family. This includes the people who give me feedback on a project, the talent and crew that do everything from attending a reading or callback, to working on my productions. I love all y’all. 

Website: www.moviefield.com

Instagram: @themagicalroot

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-miree-3bb11710/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoviefieldEnt

Image Credits
Zarian Hadley BJ the Photographer