Introduce Yourself : Producer, Writer, Paratrooper, Bulldog Lover, Math Geek by Brian McLaughlin

First, the light stuff. I love life, laughter, friendship, and family. I’m a native Angeleno, but lived abroad for 11 years, and my mother’s side of the family is Thai. I enjoy math, crosswords, bulldogs, and gymnastics. My adventurous nature has been expressed through being a paratrooper commander and making documentary shorts in Afghanistan with Afghan crews. Fine food is wasted on me, yet I like craft beers. One bite of dessert is enough. I’m an ENTJ and am Team Cap all day long. Meeting new people feeds my soul. Mentoring others feeds my brain. Helping a friend feeds my heart. My love for TV has roots on Gilligan’s Island and my love for films came from the Planet of the Apes. Retelling a story for the tenth time can still choke me up and many YouTube videos can make me cry in Starbucks. My greatest fear is abandonment, not clowns nor public speaking. Animals like me, kids find me funny, and beautiful women feel comfortable with me. My greatest flaw and strength is being an eternal optimist. I have a grown son, Collin – a good guy.

Now for street cred.

As a producer and co-president of Emerald Elephant Entertainment, I have produced four feature films – all acquired for distribution – and have eight in development, three of which we’re currently shopping around. Two of my films are on Amazon Prime Video, Good Boy by Patrick Roddy and DIY by Derek Griffith. I am on the PGA’s Education, Mentoring, and One Guild committees. There was an article about me in the Produced By magazine October/November 2018 issue.

As a writer, I’ve written two feature film screenplays, one of which was a PAGE Awards quarter-finalist and selected for the Producers Guild’s Power of Diversity Master Workshop. I was subsequently invited to be a mentor in that phenomenal program. I’m a member of Imagine Entertainment’s invitation-only Impact Community, 600 writers out of 11,000 applicants. I’m an alumnus of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project and have continued as a volunteer in that training. I’ve written a memoir and edited another. I’ve been published in The Hollywood Reporter (“Oscars' Diversity Dilemma: A Mathematical Solution to Parity in Voting”), Produced By (“The Case for Hiring Veterans”), Small Wars Journal (“Afghanistan – The Sun is Rising”), and Notre Dame Business magazine (“Leadership”).

An active member of Veterans in Media and Entertainment, I’m a former Army major who commanded a paratrooper unit, served in Afghanistan in special operations, and later returned as the media production advisor to General Petraeus. I was a visiting film producer at the University of Notre Dame and taught at the Los Angeles Film School for four years. I have an undergrad business degree from Notre Dame and an MBA from Boston University. Notre Dame honored me with an Exemplary Asian Pacific Alumni Award.