Brandy Finmark
Brandy is seasoned in both Feature and Television. She has sold two features (Paramount, Blumhouse), three feature pitches (Paramount Players, Hulu, and Sony) and two TV shows (to FX and Freeform). She has staffed on Chelsea (Netflix), Crank Yankers (Comedy Central), and Crossing Swords (Hulu).
(Check out Brandy’s tip about Writing Unlikable Protagonists).
In 4th grade, her mom picked her up with a new man in the car and said, “this is your new dad”. But Brandy knew there would be many new dads to come. She’s made a career out of making sad things funny. She grew up in the small meth-filled town of Simi Valley, California, and attended a 2-year college for 5 years because if you’re gonna do something, do it right.
She wrote one act plays and comedic monologues and joined her first improv group. From there, she attended the New York Film Academy in Burbank, studied sketch comedy at UCB and improv at IO West (RIP).
In 2013, she met her writing partner, Jessica Blackwell, whom she still collaborates with today.
In 2016, the writing duo wrote and sold a sketch to Comedy Central called “The Glass Ceiling Board Game for Girls” which went viral. Shortly after, they sold their first spec script to Paramount Studios in 2016, with Paul Feig’s company Feigco attached to produce.
Brandy and Jess sold a comedy feature to Freeform in 2019 and the following year, they sold a comedy pilot, again, to Freeform. Most recently, Brandy and Jess teamed up with another writer, Nora McInerny, and sold an hour-long comedic series to FX, which is currently in development. They currently have a feature in development at Paramount.
Brandy has also recently sold her first solo project, a horror comedy feature, to Blumhouse. She has staffed on Chelsea (Netflix), Crank Yankers (Comedy Central), and Crossing Swords (Hulu).
She currently has one feature with Tiffany Haddish attached, another with Judy Greer and Patrick Wilson, and a third in development with Elizabeth Debicki attached to star.
Testimonials
Brandy was amazing. Her lessons were helpful and clear, and her feedback was consistently thorough and insightful. She obviously has so much knowledge in this area, and spends a lot of time and thought helping students improve their scripts. She’s also so honest and straight-forward, which is such a gift. The lessons were great, but the feedback made the course invaluable. Anybody who is interested in either writing or polishing a feature script should take this class!
Love Brandy and loved the class. Great instructor and really knows her stuff. Has helped me immeasurably with my project. Would definitely take her other classes and would highly recommend her!
No matter if this is your first script or your tenth, Brandy freely shares her infectious enthusiasm for movies and her hard-earned experience to all her students. The feedback I receive from Brandy manages to get me unstuck and out of my own way, enabling me to produce work that I’m proud to sign my name to. She’s one of the few working screenwriters who makes time to teach up-and-coming writers while juggling multiple projects in development.