Meet Jordan Brady | Father. Filmmaker. Founder.

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

Hi Jordan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ll start by saying being of service to others is it’s own reward. I’m lucky to have founded two companies for the exact same reason: to help others realize their vision.

My production company, True Gent, focuses exclusively on making commercials for advertising agencies, so our function is to turn their script into a spot (we’re screen-agnostic, by the way.) Our filmmakers collaborate directly with the agency copywriter art director that ideated the spot and their producer. After directing commercials myself for 25 years, I’ve got a specific way of running not just the film set, but also the production itself, holistically. Filmmaking is a team sport, so fostering collaboration while supporting the director’s vision can be tricky. We’ve really found our niche giving our agency partners our full attention. At other production companies when I was on a roster, sometimes the bottom line outweighed the creativity and that mindset limited creativity. I’m not the most business savvy, but owning my own shoppe means putting more on the screen.

My views of how to direct commercials are narrow, but correct. I founded Commercial Directing Film School to teach the next generation of filmmakers tricks, tips and processes it took me a while to learn. My goal is to give these filmmakers a head start.

True Gent and CDFS cross-pollenate because True Gent has a filmmaker “shadow” the director on every shoot. We pull from talented directors that have completed the CDFS Shadow Course. And we actual pay them. A majority of these “shadows” are LGBTQ+, BIPOC directors, so we can expose them to working sets. Rising tides lift all ships. Selfishly, I hope to develop filmmakers I can add to the roster.

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’m a comedy director, almost exclusively comedy dialogue. I’ve done visuals effects, hundreds of car spots and work with kids… but the cartilage to my work is comedy. I want to be known as a filmmaker with a distinct, funny point of view, that’s also a creative problem solver.

To me, commercials are an art form that’s always serving commerce. And there’s a sliding scale ranging from a gorgeous film with just a logo to in your face selling. I want to get laughs and have you remember the product or service. If you don’t, its a flop.

My greatest joy, professionally speaking, is when an agency calls and says, “we have a script with you DNA all over it.” Or another filmmakers says “you did that spot didn’t you? I can tell.”

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?
Day One. We hit In N Out after we leave LAX.

Day Two. We hike up the hill at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. You can do the stairs but I’ll take the easy path. The views go from downtown to the ocean. Insane. It’s also one of the more multicultural spots in the city. Afterwards, we’re eating fresh fruit from the street vendors, covered in Tajin and lime.

Dinner. “I’m taking you to the best fish taco you’ve ever tasted” and we head to Le Cevicheria. Goes without saying we’re going to have some Guatemalan ceviche.

Day Three. Beach day in Santa Monica, rent bikes to cruise to Venice.

Dinner. Uovo for fresh pasta, likely on Mid Wilshire cuz there’s never a wait.

Day Four. I politely tell you to stay with another friend. If you want lunch before you go, we’ll hit the Cloverfield at the Santa Monica Airport cuz it’s great burgers, outside and it’s next door to my office and I can walk.

I’ll send you to downtown to the Broad Museum, Little Tokyo and then the Arts District for Wurstküche sausages.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My son, Jake Brady, edits our podcast, “Respect The Process” and I has taken over the bulk of the responsibilities producing the show. As a neurodivergent creative person, it’s been inspiring watching Jake branch out to edit other podcasts. His love and dedication to the show keeps me going. We’ll hit our tenth year and 500th episode this Fall.

Working with one’s family is a true gift.

Website: https://truegent.tv/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatjordanbrady

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/thatjordanbrady/

Other: https://commercialdirectingfilmschool.com/