The Brakefield Company is an independent production and marketing boutique uniquely structured with two separate creative teams - one for production, the other for marketing.
The Brakefield Company has the ability to deliver both high quality productions and comprehensive marketing campaigns. Our PRODUCE & PROMOTE Divisions work in synergy or independently based on the specific needs of the project or client.
PRODUCE DIVISION develops and produces motion pictures, television, documentaries, special features and web content.
PROMOTE DIVISION known for its innovative and tailored independent film marketing campaigns - provides a full range of marketing services to a wide range of entertainment clientele.
CEO | PRESIDENT
Shawna Brakefield is a 20-year veteran of the entertainment business and a member of the Producers Guild of America. She began her career as an assistant at MTM Entertainment in television distribution, and quickly rose in the ranks to run the day-to-day operations for the studio at the age of 23.
She began her production career as assistant to producer Gilbert Cates on the 65th Annual Academy Awards and went on to work for New Line Cinema Productions during the largest expansion in the company’s history in the mid- nineties. In addition, she served as production coordinator on the 3rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was the Supervising Producer on The Disney Channel network special Earth Day at Walt Disney World.
Brakefield successfully produced and directed several award-winning independent films and documentaries including Super Fans (Finalist SXSW Film Festival), The Piece (Winner Gold Prize Award Houston World Fest, Winner Audience Award The New York Film Festival), the documentary SAG Goes Indie (Finalist at New York Festivals) and the behind the scenes documentary of Masked & Anonymous directed by Larry Charles and co-written with and starring iconic rock legend Bob Dylan.
She made industry history by conceiving and implementing the largest independent film outreach campaign of any entertainment union. Responsible for branding SAG Indie for Screen Actors Guild, she saw the need to bring Screen Actors Guild’s low budget contracts current with the needs of the industry and then aggressively promoted those contracts directly to filmmakers.
In just four years Brakefield delivered an unprecedented 89% increase in low budget contract signatories, resulting in over $90 million dollars in income to performers.
Noticed for her hands on results based track record, Brakefield served as marketing consultant on the Warner Bros. International release campaigns for The Last Samurai, Troy and Constantine before being named VP of Public Relations and Marketing for Cruise/Wagner Productions at Paramount Pictures. There she oversaw all aspects of marketing and publicity on behalf of the producers for The Last Samurai (director Edward Zwick), Collateral (director Michael Mann), Ask the Dust (director Robert Towne), Suspect Zero (director E. Elias Merhige)and Elizabeth Town (director Cameron Crowe) as well as supported Mr. Cruise on his humanitarian efforts.
In 2009 Brakefield founded The Brakefield Company | PRODUCE & PROMOTE, an independent production and marketing boutique.
Since its inception, she has provided production, marketing and distribution services to a wide range of award-winning films including the pioneering of strategic plans for self-distribution.