"A Mayne and His Razor"

Executive Producer of the independent film "Grassroots"

MATTHEW BRADY
executive producer

Emmy Award-winning Matthew Brady founded MRB Productions in 2001. MRB produces content across all media channels and specializes in independent features, television shows, sports promos and commercials.

Early on, the company found success with short comedic features for ESPN and ABC. MRB Productions’ success continued with the NFL Draft Open on ESPN and Super Bowl XXVIII Open with Arnold Schwarzenegger. MRB Productions has garnered numerous awards and nominations for the NBA Finals Open on ABC and for its renowned celebrity spots with such notables as Barack Obama, Samuel L. Jackson, Justin Timberlake and LeBron James.

Over the last decade, Matthew transformed his company from a business best known for award-winning sports promos to a company producing innovative content in both traditional and emerging media platforms. MRB has worked with Leo Burnett, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, Periera O’Dell, Team Detroit, Goody Silverstein & Partners for clients like Geico, Kellogg’s, Ford, Sprint, Mattel, Corona, Miller Lite, Smirnoff, Sony, NBC, Walmart, Hyundai and the University of Phoenix.

Last year, MRB produced their first 3-D film, X GAMES 3D: THE MOVIE, which opened in 1600 theaters nationwide followed by a run in Australia, South America and Africa. This was the company’s first theatrical release since Kiefer Sutherland’s I TRUST YOU TO KILL ME. In addition, MRB produced two seasons of VH1’s hit show Free Radio, which also aired on Comedy Central. MRB is currently in production on the 2010 ESPY Awards and the independent feature, GRASSROOTS.

http://www.grassrootsthefilm.com/

Catching Up with Matt Brady

Posted on grassrootsthefilm.com by Sara Lynne Wright

Matt Brady, the Emmy-winning executive producer of Grassroots, not only makes a living at film production but also continually expands the scale on which he does it.  What gave him the courage to launch his company, MRB Productions?

“Primarily because ABC was slow to pay,” says Matt, sitting with me across from the production office in the currently empty extras holding area, which, unlike the office, is air-conditioned.  “For example, sometimes it would take six months to pay production assistants for a shoot, which was unacceptable.”  So he streamlined the payment process. “I’d ask for a single invoice and then pay our employees.”

His problem solving has paid off.  MRB has had nine Emmy nominations and two wins.

Matt’s efficiency is especially valuable on independent film shoots, which he says are “harder work than any other type of project. “  Having produced Dahmer, starring The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner and the documentary I Trust You to Kill Me with Kiefer Sutherland, he explains this is mainly because “if you run out of money, there’s really no money left.”

For television segments and commercials, says Matt, a producer can call network officials or company executives to supplement funding if necessary.  But on an independent film, there is no one to call.

An additional challenge with Grassroots has been working in the small film market of Seattle.  Matt acknowledges that small markets afford more bargaining power when it comes to locations and more eager background actors.  Seattleites are not as used to having films shot around them as people in Hollywood, so they’re “non-bitter,” to use the word Matt made up with a chuckle.

A disadvantage of Seattle’s small market is that it does not have a large number of vendors who provide services needed on set.  Matt came face-to-face with this fact when issues emerged with a local honeywagon vendor the day before the shoot.  He had to hustle to find another vendor in Los Angeles in the span of twelve hours; Hollywood Honeywagons rolled in to the rescue.

So what attracts Matt to such a difficult process?  More specifically, what attracted him to Grassroots? “I was drawn in by Stephen’s vision,” he says.  “And the script, of course – the script is great.  We actually had a table read starring MRB staffers in my office when we were deciding whether we wanted to produce it.”
Matt’s been involved with the project since March and sat in on the casting sessions.  “It was exciting seeing well-known actors auditioning for this indie project.  For instance, we had four CW actors came in to read.”

Straddling pre-production and post-production in his Los Angeles office with the shoot up in Seattle has been an additional challenge. “We have six MRB staff members working on this down in LA who don’t know the crew up here.”  Next week, the shoot will be done, post-production will launch down in Los Angeles, and Matt will localize operations as much as he can for his burgeoning, multi-platform production company.

http://www.grassrootsthefilm.com/

Promo produced in part by MRB Productions for the new action film "The Expendables"

"The Dark Side" produced in part by MRB Productions for the 2010 ESPY Awards