Meet Brooke Purdy

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brooke Purdy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brooke below.

Hi Brooke, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

As a teen Gen X, “wild child”- my main stability and security was from books and writing. I felt safe there. In the stories both consumed and created. My heroes were my English and writing teachers who fostered this and it became my safe haven and greatest source of comfort and self-esteem. So, when I was young, just out of film school and filled with optimism and hubris I quickly learned that being an artist is a hard road. I was “crushed” many times. I was refused. I was told no, not good enough and “not for us” so many times. But never by my (typewriter, then) computer. My greatest defense against defeat was always my own creations. I’ve written many a “revenge” script because of it. I learned, over the years that in spite of all the industry let downs and disappointments, I still had stories to tell and NO ONE could stop me from that. With time I had enough successes to find temporary validation but I’m a restless type. So, I moved into making our own films independently, again. Though everyone will say, “You can’t do that.” I had just enough people in my Village who said, “Hell yeah, let’s go.” And we did. The resilience comes from having that voice inside being just a tiny bit louder than that late-at-night voice that said, “You’re no good.” Once I started doing what I wanted, making these stories come to life, writing what I wanted to see, it became my armor. With enough armor and a strong, equally delusional Village, you’re unstoppable.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am an “old punk rocker” who lives in her head. In order to make room up there, I often jot down my stories and make movies from them. Though writing since middle school, my first film, “Quality Problems”, a comedy about my own breast Cancer journey set myself and my family on a course to start “Doing it ourselves”. As we do this, I keep writing, taking rewrite and side jobs when I can as well as being a personal trainer and bootcamp instructor. My husband and two kids are all writer/directors and all work on each others stuff when we can. Kind of like “A24 meets The Partridges”. If the Partridges swore a lot more, had tattoos and caffeine addictions. I am constantly up to something because it’s my therapy but it can all be seen at www.brookepurdy.com

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First and foremost, a sense of humor. If you can’t laugh at what life throws you PLEASE have folks around you that can, and bring you to that absurdity and joy of it all. Next, mentors, schools and remaining teachable. If you think your creations are perfect and no one else does, then there may be improvement. (Hint: there is always room for improvement.) You can learn amazing, mind blowing things from watching, listening and asking questions. Finally, find something that brings you joy that is unconnected to your art. Mine is my family, dogs and mud runs. Yep, nothing like crawling in the mud for a while to reset your battery.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

Currently, my main obstacle – like most artists, is money. But as a filmmaker it’s the changing landscape. The avenues of access and distribution are run by corporations, streamers and money crunchers. I live and breathe independent film and our resources to get our scripts seen, our work funded and then DISTRIBUTED (OMG- please someone unlock the new Distribution model!) is nearly impossible unless you have some golden keys or lotto number kind of luck. As it stands now, we work our “Side gigs” until we have just enough to make our own stuff but it sure would be nice to have someone else pick up that tab or provide avenues to access those that do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brookepurdy.com
• Instagram: @brookeapurdy
• Facebook: @Brookepurdy
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07BZCT2FJ/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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