Meet Brinna Kelly | Filmmaker, Screenwriter, and Actor

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

Hi Brinna, why did you pursue a creative career?
I started out in the entertainment industry as an actor at 11 years old. When it was time for me to go to college, I had to make a decision: do I continue pursuing the arts, or do I go into one of the fields my parents wanted me to study. I decided that artistic pursuit was my passion and I was not going to give it up. So I went to film school at UCLA and studied to not just be an actor, but a screenwriter and filmmaker as well.
Now, I am grateful every day that I made that choice, because not only am I a filmmaker, I run my own production company, 501 Pictures, and am currently prepping my 5th feature film under its banner.
People often say a career in the arts is too risky to pursue, but the reality I’ve realized is, anything can be risky to pursue. If risk is inherent in life, then our responsibility to ourselves is simply to follow our passions.

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.
I am a producer, screenwriter, and actor. Together with my creative partner, DC Hamilton, I own and manage the production company 501 Pictures, where we produce and distribute independent feature films. Each of our films have been sold globally and can be seen on various VOD, AVOD, and SVOD platforms.

I started out in the entertainment industry as a child actor. Then, I attended and graduated from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television. I spend the next few years freelance writing for various comedians and animated shows before meeting DC and launching our own production company.

When you’re starting out as a filmmaker, the most important thing is to not only believe in yourself, but bet on yourself. Put your money where your art is. That’s what we did, we financed and crowd-funded our own short films, showcasing our abilities as filmmakers, and that let to meeting the right people, which let to getting our first feature film off the ground. But the hard part didn’t stop there. We repeated the process again and again with each following film. Until now, after 10+ years of hard work and on the verge of our 5th feature film, we are still here.

What I want people to know about my films is that it is always the result of deep passion, hard work, and mining the depths of my creativity.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Haha, what a great question! As it just so happens, some friends of mine are about to visit LA for the first time! Here’s what I told them:

One of the best parts of living in LA is how expansive and multicultural it is. Because of that, you can really cater your own experience to your interests. But if I were you, and I had a week to spend in LA, I would focus on doing one cool thing in one part of town every day, instead of driving all over the place and risk spending large portions of my day in mind-numbing traffic!

Day 1: visit the Griffith Park Observatory and LA Zoo. They are next to each other.

Day 2: (this one is personal for me) visit the 626 area! Arcadia, Alhambra, Pasadena and all the surrounding areas for the best Chinese food in the states. Especially check out Newport Seafood and Kim Tar, Chinese food institutions where 90% of the clientele are Chinese speaking. (A must order at both places is the Shaking Beef!)

Day 3: Burbank and Magnolia street. You can spend an entire afternoon walking up and down Magnolia and checking out all the unique and awesome shops there for a taste of LA’s charm! Then at night, it’s a short drive to the Laugh Factory in Burbank!

Day 4: Long Beach, The Pike Pier and a tour of the Queen Mary is in store! It’s just the most whimsical and romantic stop in LA! Try some food in the Thai district, it’s so good!

Day 5: Santa Monica Pier, okay, another pier, but LA is a beach town! Try the smash burger at Heavy Handed, it’s famous! Then, drive up Pacific Coast Highway to Paradise Cove for dinner. Watch out for traffic!

Day 6-7: Go to a theme park. Universal Studios, Disneyland, Knott’s, Six Flags, pick one and go. Yes, it’s not a hidden gem, but did you really come to LA if you didn’t go to at least one big, loud, commercial theme park?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I definitely wouldn’t be here to day without the support of my collaborators on every film I’ve produced. Especially DC Hamilton, my creative partner and co-owner of my production company. For the past 10+ years, DC has been my creative counterpoint and anchor, allowing me to explore numerous creative pursuits, and the films we’ve produced together are the results of that!

Instagram: @brinnakelly

Twitter: @brinnakelly

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