Through his company and as an employee of networks and other production companies, Jon works as an EP, showrunner, producer, director, writer, editor, DP and certified drone pilot for television, film and the web, from guided improv to serious documentary to scripted drama, comedy and satire, from concept through post and marketing, on the set, on location, in the sky and in the studio.                                                  

Busy Brandeis Media has also produced corporate and academic content, fundraising events and has            created courses at numerous universities. Jon can work as a one-man band or manage staffs of up to 150.  In person, Jon rarely uses the 3rd person when referring to himself.

The sum of this experience demonstrates mastery of nearly every process required for uniquely tailored storytelling and content creation over all platforms on any scale. No really.

Jon Brandeis
WORK SAMPLES

DOCUMENTARY Features

PBS: DISSONANCE & HARMONY
The Music Business in The Mid-East

Producer/Director/Editor...

There were over 500 applicants for 12 grants being awarded by the CPB as part of the nationally aired PBS series America at a Crossroads. It’s purpose was to examine America’s relationship with the Arab world post 9/11 from numerous perspectives. Ours focused on Middle Eastern culture by chronicling the everyday joys and frustrations of musicians, both legends and struggling artists from a cross-section of Arab countries. My co-producer and the film’s narrator was Miles Copeland, formerly the manager of The Police and then Sting. It was a very difficult film to make, arranging travel and permits and directing shoots in numerous Arab countries during the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon. The real challenge was back in the USA, working with embassies and diplomats to get visas for the 29 Arab musicians we wanted to bring back to LA. All but two Iraqis made it. But the Iraqis, Jordanians, Egyptians and Lebanese who did arrive collaborated with western musicians like Nile Rodgers and RZA to put on a remarkable concert at The Roxy. The ultimate effect was to present a reality that countered the image of all Arabs as terrorists.

PBS Series Website

INDEPENDENT: American Bellydancer
(Official Selection/3 American  Film Fests)

Producer/Director/Editor...

This was a first collaboration with Miles Copeland, who grew up in the Middle East while his father was hatching the CIA. His business had transformed from managing The Police and Sting into importing the Arabic music of his childhood, but after 9/11 it was difficult. Taking Riverdance as his model, he decided to create a Bellydancing Spectacular driven by the compelling modern music of the MIddle East. This would soften the perception that the music suffered on its own. I followed him all over the world for a year, and against all odds, he succeeded in creating the first internationally touring troupe of Bellydancers. Bellydancing, it turns out, is a huge global phenomenon filled with contradictions, but the narrative needed a center and the enigmatic Miles was it. Ultimately, the film touched on the fall of the music business, a man reinventing himself, Arab/American cultural conflicts and transformation through art. American Bellydancer was accepted to 4 film festivals, released theatrically, ran on The Documentary Channel and throughout South America and The Middle East.

Amazon

PADDLERS For HUMANITY/Hamptons DocFest

Producer/Director/Editor

A band of Surfers got together and stand-up paddled from Montauk to Block Island, a challenging 18 mile journey through open ocean, not for the faint of heart. This effort transformed into a uniquely original charity event where money is raised by those who want to participate in the challenge. These funds are then distributed primarily throughout the EastEnd of Long Island for the benefit of local children. This film was commissioned to aid in spreading the word.

Brandeis Media has made films for many other organizations, such as … Pfizer Hazelden The Kaitz Foundation Cable Positive The Marc Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Research Foundation.

VH1: BEHIND THE MUSIC Studio 54

Producer/Director/Editor...
Executive Producer Gay Rosenthal wanted to expand the BTM franchise, so she asked me to create the first episode NOT about a musician or a band, but about a convergence of social forces that spawned a unique phenomenon. Studio 54 defined a moment in American popular culture when the 70’s became the 80’s, when frivolous excess finally reached its thoroughly entertaining limit. In addition to being the first 90 minute version of the show, this was one of the most highly rated and rebroadcast episodes in the series.
People Magazine

VH1 BEHIND THE MUSIC Woodstock

Producer/Director/Editor...

WOR-TV SyndIcation ‘WHAT’S HAPPENING AMERICA?’

Cameraman

My first experience in doc filmmaking, as a cameraman embedded with the Irish Republican Army during the Troubles in Belfast starting the day IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died in prison.

SCRIPTED

AMC - THE MAKING OF THE MOB Season 1

Head Writer

For AMC – Writing and supervision of writing staff for 8 hour docudrama series, The Making of the Mob, about the formation of La Cosa Nostra in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century and up through the 60’s. The drama focuses on the efforts of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese and Bugsy Siegel as they attempt to organize rival gangs and crime families into a highly profitable unified criminal enterprise. Aired Summer 2015 to excellent reception.

FOX - LEGENDS & LIES: A Nation Divided

Story Producer/Avid Editor...
The job was to research the story, gather up the original footage, research the story, reorgainize it, request additional scenes to be shot, order up CGI effects, maps, new b roll, write narration and cut it all together in Avid Media Composer. 2 Episodes
AMC: LIZA LIFECOACH Interstitial Series
Executive Producer/Director
An experimental series of 26 four minute ‘intermissions’ between movies in prime time. The goal was to assist in the branding of an evening of movies about women, as well as being a standalone web series. Cheri Oteri, formerly from Saturday Night Live, portrays a Life Coach committed to making the world a better place, one anxious person at a time. Nominated for a Webby Award.
PBS: LIFE PT 2 Lewis Black
Producer/Director/DP
With its series, ‘Life, Part 2’, PBS was attempting to directly address its older audience about being older. The challenge was to keep this sensitive and occasionally dark subject light from time to time. To that end I was assigned to get on a plane with my camera gear, meet Lew at a diner in LA and create a segment out of what he had to say about aging as he at a plateful of fried things.

UNSCRIPTED

fX: LOST & FOUND 22 Episode Series

Exec Producer/Director/Editor

This series was originally pitched and sold by Madelaine Smithberg and Liz Winstead, who bowed out to create The Daily Show. The idea was to reunite people who had been important to each other but had fallen out of touch. I was brought in to find a story, conceptualize, produce, direct and cut it into a segment very quickly. This video is that segment, which greenlit the order for 22 episodes. As the Showrunner I rented a 30,000 sq. foot space, hired private detectives and a staff of 120 consisting of 5 field teams and 11 avid suites. We shot episodes all over the world airing 6 weeks later. Rich Ross, our boss, came by and made a speech thanking us all for getting the show on the air in time. The series ran for 3 years. OTHER UNSCRIPTED SHOWS Bravo AMC Comedy Central Lifetime VH1

AMC: MOVIES AT OUR HOUSE 3 Year Run

Exec Producer/Director/Editor

AMC wanted to bring in viewer engagement and ad sales with a short form series wrapping the breaks. The premise is Jimmy and Rachel (Jimmy Pardo and Rachel Quaintance) have a show on AMC that appears before and after the breaks. Their guests are relevant to the movie somehow (actors playing real people) and during the breaks, they discuss the movie. But behind the scenes of the show, when it’s not “live”, is a fake mini-doc chronicling the intrigue and chaos trying to run a “live” show. I supplied the guests and backstories. The rest was all guided improv, lots of fun. The series ran for nearly three years and noticeably increased the audience share as well as ad sales.

EDUCATIONAL

THE NEW SCHOOL: The Bob Kerrey Decade

Producer/Director/Editor...
Former Senator Bob Kerrey was leaving The New School as it’s president and it had been preordained that the staff would give him the gift of a video at a fundraiser celebrating his decade-long tenure. But Bob’s tenure had been extremely controversial, so there was a long debate about how to approach it. I knew Bob and asked asked him what he wanted. He said, “I rarely watch these things. Just tell the whole truth.” Then he proceeded to give some names of people to interview who might not be his biggest fans. The New School staff felt I had thoroughly succeeded in giving Bob what he’d asked for, but the film was clearly not appropriate to show at a fundraiser. As promised, it was handed to Bob, who to this day claims he never watched it.

STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY The Brain

Producer/Director/Editor...

DEVELOPING

FUTURITY: 6 Part Series PitchSite
Creator/Designer/Editor
An experimental web series based on the premise that a regular hard-working alien gets an assignment to create a video blog in an effort to communicate his questions and observations regarding the remarkable beings of Earth.
Website

AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

.......................................................................

FAA Certified UAV Pilot/DP

Something new and unbelievably fun.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORT

FLY-BY

Cameraman/Editor

Shot 1st person POV during an actual liver transplant, based on the notion that being unconscious doesn't mean you're not experiencing something.

POLITICAL SATIRE

A Glitch in The Sim

DP/Editor

An installment just after Trump took office, when many questions were born.

TEACHING

Adjunct Prof/Mentor/Tutor

Out of all the skills and methods I've learned, passing it all on has become possibly my favorite endeavor of all, almost.

COMMERCIALS

Director/DP/Editor

A quick local spot that required a snowy beach location without the problems of being there, a welcome break from documentaries.

COLLABORATION

Editor

Tuning Fields:  The artist Margaret Garrett makes paintings that seem to move from within, so she asked for an experiment, to see how translating paint to pixels might be imagined.

CONTACT

3 + 15 =

FULL CREDITS

FULL CREDITS

Editor
Promotional Film
Macklowe Properties
NYC

Co-Director
Social Impact Filmmaking
Stony Brook University

Writer/Producer/Director/Editor
(partially funded)
"Ads Eat World": A documentary project concerning Advertising’s awkward struggle to remain relevant over the last century, starting as a public utility to inform consumers of never-seen products, up to its present impact as an engine for surveillance, conflict and division, fake news, and the excesses of unchecked capitalism. The film will also explore a growing movement based on the idea that consumers have more potential undivided power than citizens, to demand that corporations prove their value to society. So, rather than using big data and A.I. for profit-only driven manipulation of consumer identities toward product usage, corporations will be compelled by a movement of organized consumer groups, to adjust their identities toward being promoters for the common good.

Director/Editor
Independent Documentary: “Street Beat: Drumming Below Sea Level”
Since the dawn of mankind, the beating of drums has created connections between people, a way for entire communities to move in unison to express joy or fear or rage, or to communicate across distances beyond the reach of the human voice. The urge to drum is primal. It inhabits the human spirit down deep, a precise yet mysterious language of the heart, mind and soul. This film attempts to hold the legacy of drumming where it most matters, from Congo Square where slaves drummed their pain, to now and beyond.

Director/Producer/DP/Editor
“Stand Up”: A chronicle of how a group of ex-surfers from Montauk created a uniquely challenging method of fundraising for their own community, a place where most people don’t expect to find people in need, the Hamptons.  Screened at The Hamptons DocFest summer of ’18.  'Stand Up'

Producer/Director/Writer
PBS: “Dissonance and Harmony: Arabic Music Goes West”: Part of a high profile CPB initiative, America at a Crossroads. This hour explores the struggle facing the musical artists of the Middle East, as well as the unique process imposed by the music industry there.  We also follow a journey by a diverse group of Arab musicians to LA, where they collaborate and a perform with American musicians at The Roxy, offering insights into the culture of the Middle East. PBS Website

Producer/Director/DP/Editor
“American Bellydancer”: Released theatrically & on DVD with music impresario Miles Copeland, former manager of The Police and Sting, a documentary about the music business in the Middle East and the unlikely formation of the 1st ever touring American Belly Dance Troupe. 3 American film festivals.

Prod/Director/Writer/Editor
VH-1: Behind The Music: “Studio 54”: 2nd season premiere – The rise and fall of the infamous nightspot, and the 70’s. 1st BTM 90 min documentary (People Magazine "Show of the Week.") People Magazine Article

Prod/Director/Writer/Editor
VH-1: Behind The Music: “Woodstock”: 3rd season premiere: 90 min. documentary on original Woodstock - about the joys and horrors of producing an unanticipated cultural phenomenon.

UNSCRIPTED/HYBRID

Writer/Designer/Editor
Futurity: TV Science Docu-drama Series Pitch (as website): Dramatic extrapolations based on the work and ideas of current eminent scientists. Characters are built as beneficiaries or victims of advances in AI, robotics, bionics, genetics, nanotech, VR, AR and space colonization over the next 40 years.  Website

Consulting Producer
Asylum Entertainment: Research, collaboration, conceptualizing and writing of a treatment for a series presented to AMC (title and premise under non-disclosure).

Development Consultant
Jupiter Entertainment: Research, collaboration, conceptualizing and writing of a treatment for a series presented to National Geographic (title and premise under non-disclosure).

Head Writer
AMC: ‘The Making of The Mob’ (Season 1). Stephen David Entertainment: Supervision of writing team and rewrite of 400 page, 8 episode hybrid docu-drama series, on AMC.

Story Producer/Editor (Avid)
Fox: “Legends & Lies: The Patriots”
Rewrite script, gather interviews, b-roll and edit (Avid) 2 hybrid 1 hour doc-drama episodes.

Producer/Director/Editor
PBS :Life, Part 2 – Two pieces-series pilot.: Examination of aging, by Lewis Black and the curious persistence of a terrible rock bank made up of writers Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Dave Berry, Matt Groenig and Stephen King.

Showrunner/Director
Bravo: “Citizen Reno”: 4 Episode non-fiction sitcom chronicling the unintendedly hilarious dysfunction of a seasoned political performance artist trying to live in the world, specifically, Tribeca. (Entertainment Weekly and NY Mag picks.)

Showrunner/Director/Editor
AMC: “Action Pack”: A series of shorts following Matt McCarthy and Nick Stevens as they haplessly drift through locations off the streets of New York City, engaged in a passionate, non-stop argument about nothing other than movies.

Showrunner/Director/Editor
Comedy Central: "Comics On Delivery": Comic series that enlisted the debatable interpersonal skills of comedians to help regular people with their legitimate everyday personal problems. Also developed and directed the pilot episode. Supervised 5 field teams and 9 edit bays. Staff of 85.

Showrunner/Director/Editor
MTV: “The 24 Hour Show”: Unscripted pilot tracking the 24 hours given to Richard LaGravenese to write a 4 minute script and then for Peter Berg to cast, direct and edit it.

Showrunner//Director/Editor
fX: "Lost & Found": 22 episode unscripted series- tales of friends and lovers reunions. 3 year run. Supervised 7 field teams and 13 edit bays. Staff of 120

Creator/Exec Prod/Director
AMC: “Movies at Our House”: 52 episode comic doc/drama interstitial series concerning odd gatherings of people watching and discussing movies “live” on AMC.

Creator/Director/Host/Editor
VH-1: "Street Talk": 100 plus 1-minute "shows" as on-camera host discussing one particular topic with people-on-the-street over the course of an hour between music videos.

Writer/Director/Editor
Showtime: "The Funniest Person In America".: Docu-comedy series on the road with Ellen DeGeneres.

Creator/Executive Producer/Director
Lifetime: “Three Blind Dates”: Comic dating-doc series (Originally for PSN syndication.)

Producer/Director/Editor
“In The Kitty”: Pilot with Caroline Rhea of long-lived weekly Hollywood celebrity poker game.

SCRIPTED/GUIDED IMPROV

Executive Producer/Director/Editor
AMC: “Liza Life Coach”: Cheri Oteri, formerly from SNL, portrays a determined Life Coach committed to making the world a better place, one anxious person at a time in a short-form on-air intermission.

Creator/Writer/Director/Editor
New Line Television: "True Tales of Romance": Filmed narrative pilot developed for a series.

Producer/Director/Co-Host
VH-1: “Fools For Love”: 13 episodes narrative/stand-up hybrid w/co-host Caroline Rhea.

Writer/Director (field pieces)
Lifetime: "Way Off Broadway": Variety/Comedy series with Joy Behar & Larry David (25 shows).

Writer/Director/Editor
Comedy Central: 7 original 16mm short comedy films pertaining to romance and eating.

Writer
Jean Doumanian Productions: 1/2 hour comedy pilot.

EDUCATIONAL

Production

Producer/Director/DP/Editor
The New School: “The Bob Kerrey Decade”: 22 minute documentary tracking the achievements and controversy surrounding the tenure of Bob Kerrey as president of The New School.

Producer/Director/DP/Editor
Stony Brook University: “The Brain”: 45 minute documentary chronicling advances in research and in applied Neuroscience at Stony Brook.

Producer/Director/DP/Editor
New York Institute of Technology: 40 minute documentary investigating the history and practice of Osteopathic Medicine.

Teaching

  • Finalist - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Professor of Practice at Arizona State U. Went through intensive interview process on site as one of two candidates. Placed second out of dozens.

  • Workshop Director: New School for Social Research - 8 credit video workshop.

  • Instructor: New York University - Grad. program/ Communications in Education.

  • Instructor: Stony Brook University - Workshop on Writing Non-Fiction for the Screen.

  • Mentor: ReelWorks - Brooklyn-based film school for underprivileged kids.

  • Teacher: Private lessons in Avid Media Composer

FUNDRAISERS

Various charitable initiatives by a diverse group of organizations. Clients include…

  • Pfizer

  • Cablevision

  • Hazelden (with Judy Collins)

  • Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research

  • Cable Positive

  • NYC Catholic School Archdiocese

  • Paddlers for Humanity

EDUCATION

BFA: NYU Institute of Film and Television. Also studied Film and Fine Arts at USC & Cal Arts.

SPECIAL SKILLS

  • Documentary Shooter

  • Certified UAV Drone Pilot

  • Adjunct Professor: Film Production/History/Theory

  • Avid Editor/Instructor

  • Story Editor

  • Graphic Design

  • On-Camera Interviews

  • Voice-Over

  • Wordpress designer

  • Certified Diver

  • Motorcycle License

MEMBERSHIP

Producers Guild of America/Producer’s Council

REPRESENTATION

ICM Partners

AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS

  • ‘Stand Up’ Official Selection - Hamptons DocFes

  • ’American Bellydancer’ Official Selection - 3 American Film Festival

  • Chicago Film Festival National Certificate of Merit

  • ITVA Bronze Award

  • Published with byline. Front page photo Arts & Leisure NY Time

  • Published: 2 short stories in Minetta Review

  • Barkas Award in Creative Writing - NYU.