Brett Claywell | On Changing Hollywood

The Lesson: 

People who don't know how will tell you you need to conform, or let go of indivisible parts of yourself in order to succeed. For Brett Claywell, it was his homely, North Carolina attitude of goodwill and neighborliness towards others which Hollywood men told him had to be left on the cutting room floor. From pursuing basketball, to acting, to gaming and live-streaming, there was never a shortage of people telling him he was making the wrong choice.

Notable Excerpt:

“The word immature has been thrown at me a lot through my life, and now at 44 years of age I'm happy to be immature because it allows me to interact with my children, but that was always kind of like an arrow that was slung at me... Early on in my career, one of my producers said I had to lose the North Carolina in me. I fought really hard to do the opposite—to be successful, but to maintain who I was. I would rather inject NC into Hollywood than lose NC to be successful." 

The Guest:

Brett Claywell has had a two-decade career as a fan favorite on popular television shows like One Tree Hill and One Life to Live. Throughout it, he has been involved in hundreds of film and television, as well as digital content productions, producing and directing major live broadcast events starring some of the biggest names in entertainment.

Brett was an early visionary of the competitive or televised gaming industry, co-founding Tiltify, now the world’s premiere charitable crowdfunding platform for live-streaming. He launched HMBL (pronounced humble) House in 2019 to capitalize on a void in premium livestream content, leading HMBL House to be a major creative force in developing and producing new remote content models throughout the pandemic. In 2021, he co-founded SOLIS to utilize emerging technologies to further amplify his team's ability to build organic communities and generate authentic dialogue between talent and a global audience of content consumers.

Episode Resources:

Brett Claywell | Twitter 

Brett Claywell | Instagram

HMBL House | Website 

Solis | Website