We caught up with the brilliant and insightful BRENTON METZLER a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

BRENTON, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We are all about inclusivity. When producing reality tv, and really anything in the industry, there is always a power grab for money and control. While that is understandable and probably expected by most, my partners and I have found a common ground in treating everyone that brings ideas to us with the same respect and courtesy, regardless of name and experience. From the top down, we run our company with the simple belief in “want” and “need”. Do the people that you’re working with need to do something for you, because that gets the minimum amount of effort. If they want to do it for you, you get everything they have.

BRENTON, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I went to Los Angeles at the age of 19 to become an actor. I realized quickly that I don’t like that course and shifted to writing. Like many non-successful writers, I kind of fell into reality tv as a way to make a living on my way to my ultimate goal. Now, 20 years later, ifs my career and something I am very proud of.

I bounced around many genres of reality tv as I learned who I was and where I fit in. I worked in dating tv (Elimidate), talk shows (Tyra) and live tv (G4) before landing a career altering opportunity when I landed a producing gig on the original Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Three years of that amazing show lead to a show that won myself and HGtv its first Emmy called Elbow Room. Which eventually lead to doing almost the entire run of Tiny House Nation. While I develop and work on many genres, home renovation has subsequently made up a good portion of my résumé.

As an executive producer, my role is much like a foreman on a construction crew. The entire show, from Casting through editing, is my responsibility. And I answer to the production company involved, whether that be my partners, and I or another entity, and to the network itself.

The difficulties and problems with my job arise from every direction. They each have unique circumstances and areas of concern, but I handle all of them with a fundamental truth. Stay calm. Stay in control. I try to remind myself, when inevitable problems arise whil trying to do a remodel and a tv show in two weeks, something my old boss and always mentor said to me. I was in charge of my first show and everything was going wrong. I closed my door, closed my blinds and called him in a complete blubbering cry. He calmly told me, “no matter what is going wrong, no matter how bad it gets, it’s better off in your hands than someone else’s.” That’s not an ego thing, it’s a leader thing. I strive to always get advice from the cast and crew, because great ideas come from everywhere, but when hell breaks loose, all eyes go somewhere, and on a show, that is to the Executive Producer. Be calm. Be in control.

While it would be easy to say my proudest moment was winning the Daytime Emmy for Lifestyle Programming, I think the thing I’m proudest of is the longevity and family we built on Tiny House Nation. We called ourselves a band of pirates. We saw our families less than we saw each other. While you would think this would breed closeness on o set, it’s very often not the case, but we were a family. We had each others backs and I am proud of all that we did.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Very early on, I realized that trying to make a success of yourself in the entertainment industry by playing by the rules was next to impossible. So I played by my own rules, which just made it highly improbable.

At 19, I was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I thought I wanted to be an actor, but it’s only because I was enamored with the scripts that they acted out. Screenwriter/Director Aaron Sorkin was a God to me. I knew there was no way for me to be able to meet with somebody as successful as Aaron Sorkin. I knew absolutely nothing anbout the business and was as young and naïve as you can imagine a kid from a farm town of 3500 people would be in his first months in Los Angeles.

I found out where Mr. Sorkin went to college. I called Syracuse drama University. I call around until I am finally able to talk to a teacher that knows him well. (I won’t mention her name, out of respect.) I then call Disney studios, talk to Sorkin‘s assistant, and the next day receive a call from the man himself. I asked if we could meet. And I find myself a week later, driving onto the lot at Disney and being escorted to his office. We walk into his giant office, where there are two giant leather couches, a giant granite coffee table in the middle with a giant granite ashtray on top. He asked if it’s OK if he smokes.

“Of course.”

Sorkin, “So, how do you know (said teacher)?

“I called her and talked to her for a half hour.”

Sorkin, “Wow, you did some cold calling and. Is your in my office. What do you want to talk about?”

He talk to me for 45 minutes. About how he had written A Few Good Men, about his first play. It went nowhere for my career, but made me realize that I had to make my own path. I’m still a fan of his to this day!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There is a massive amount of manipulation used in reality TV. And if you were psychologically, dissecting my brain, you would probably come to the realization that I use my own kind of manipulation. But when I started in this business, the manipulation was almost mean-spirited, and felt ugly at times.

I had to learn the idea that fear was a good motivator of your team. I had to unlearn that fear was a good motivator was the best path to my goal. You need to surround yourself with people that share your ideals and your empathy for the rest of their team, and that was something I learned a couple of years into my career. It was life affirming, because that’s who I like to be as a person, and realizing that I could still be that person in my business, and be successful, was a real epiphany.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2135982/?fbclid=PAAaZfwYBtf8uCdLrHVxFsWCgHREMrEq3gDe_5uhMppynB7wie3igZIjGbhPU_aem_AcUGPo2RiNkD2HdHORvax91kgx7nk-fu4DTaj_Cwuv6jriEXDh1Q59dKa30T0cQSxPk
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