A Journey from the Military to Film & Television: Meet Brian McLaughlin

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Brian McLaughlin earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration from Boston University. He was also an Army major who commanded a paratrooper unit, served in Afghanistan in special operations, and later returned as the media production advisor to General Petraeus and produced documentary short films with an Afghan crew around Afghanistan.

Today, he is a producer and co-president of Emerald Elephant Entertainment where he’s produced four feature films – all acquired for distribution – and have eight in development. Two of his films are also on Amazon Prime Video. Brian is also on the PGA’s Education, Mentoring, and One Guild committees and recently completed a role for The Walt Disney Company as a program manager for health and safety. In this role, he oversaw the COVID compliance department on various TV series, including American Horror Stories and The Other Black Girl.

As a writer, Brian has written two feature film screenplays, one of which was a PAGE Awards quarter-finalist and selected for the Producers Guild’s Diversity Workshop. He was subsequently invited to be a mentor in that phenomenal program as well. As a member of Imagine Entertainment’s invitation-only Impact Community, he’s one of 500 writers accepted from 20,000 applicants who applied to join this exclusive community. Brian is an alumnus of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project and has continued as a volunteer in that training. He’s also been published in The Hollywood Reporter and Produced By magazine.

In this episode, he shares:

•  How a hobby led him from working as a business analyst to a new career in film & television

• The importance of building relationships and being engaged in professional organizations specific to your field

• His journey in finding the space he wanted to inhabit in the film & television industry as a producer and writer

• The challenge of balancing working for hire with making progress on one’s own projects

• How having a business background has worked to his advantage in the film & television industry

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 Check out Brian's media mentions and projects:

Brian mentioned in articles:

• Produced By magazine feature (the trade magazine of the Producers Guild of America)

• The Hollywood Reporter - Oscars’ Diversity Dilemma

• Produced By - Hire a Vet

• Produced By - Navigating COVID in the Post-lockdown Era

Films Produced by Brian:

• Good Boy

• D*I*Y

• Red 71 

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