Brett Wagner is a former professional wrestler and reality TV star, which is unfortunate for the Brett Wagner you’re interested in, because it dilutes his search results. The Brett Wagner you’re interested in is a director based in Los Angeles and Honolulu, with many industry awards crowding the mantle he will have when he gets a bigger house, one with a mantle.
He has helmed projects for Road Runner, McDonalds, American Savings Bank, Lexus, Toyota, Hawaiian Airlines, Starwood Resorts, Burger King, United Way and Mobi PCS. While he was helming them, he also directed them.
When he’s not making commercials, Brett is often sleeping. When not sleeping, he writes and directs award-winning films such as CHIEF, which premiered at Sundance and was declared “a must-see” by IndieWIRE. CHIEF—and his latest film, CARE—both won the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, earning them Oscar-Award qualification and Lucite statuettes, which will one day go on that mantle.
Brett’s adaptation of the New York Times bestselling memoir, THE DEVIL’S TEETH, for executive producer Terrence Malick, received a Sloan Foundation Development Grant from the Tribeca Film Festival. His first feature film, FIVE YEARS, was distributed internationally (under the release title THE HIDDEN) after a 30-festival tour that included awards for Best Feature Film at the Victoria Film Festival and Best Screenplay at Avignon. Check it out in Turkish!
Brett grew up in beautiful Cleveland, OH, which is adjacent to the regular Cleveland, OH. He earned an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has dived with great white sharks, organized Martin Scorsese’s film collection, sipped kava with the village elders, traded on the black market in Soviet Leningrad, worked concessions at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, poked lava with a stick, and recently squished a Suzuki with a backhoe. His intentions were honorable.
