×
Get 5% off in-app
400k+ download
Open app

What Drives You: Legendary Producer Brad Bessey Reveals the Keys to his Success

  • Cars Explained
  • Jeannie Assimos
  • 7 minutes

Share

Legendary TV producer Brad BesseyLegendary TV producer Brad Bessey has achieved levels of success many dream about. His storied career includes a role as Executive Producer for The Talk, and his shelves are lined with Emmy awards from his work leading the team as EP for Entertainment Tonight.  A longtime Hollywood insider, he is now using all he has learned to raise awareness and funds as the Head of Communications and Talent Relations for the Los Angeles charity Project Angel Food, a non-profit organization that provides meals and support for those dealing with life-threatening illnesses. How has he achieved all of this, and what drives him to get out of bed every day and have such an impact? We sat down with Bessey to learn what drives him.

Q: So clearly you have achieved monumental success as a producer in Hollywood, a winner of Emmy awards, an advocate, activist, a philanthropist, I could go on. I am wondering what you were like as a kid. Were you driven to achieve from your earliest days?

Brad Bessey: I think that as a kid I was always really wired for success, but not in a productive way.  It was almost a double edge sword for me. I was always taught that I couldn’t be average, I had to be excellent. When I was in 5th grade, I called my dad hysterically crying because I didn’t get an A on a history test. I couldn’t be consoled. I remember I was in a fetal position on a chord telephone, lying on the kitchen floor. He asked me if I got a D, or a C, to which I cried, “Noooo!” I got an A- … seriously, that was the 5th grade me. So that’s how driven I was.

When I think about it retrospectively, it wasn’t the grade so much, but history was something I was passionate about. The fact that I had not achieved the best that I could really was upsetting to me. But I was really always driven. Growing up in Fresno, I got involved with Future Farmers of America as a kid. I always loved theater and entertainment as well but was told that wasn’t a career, that I had to do something practical. So, I succeeded as a Future Farmer of America.

By high school, I was speaking with our state representatives and the governor about water rights in California. I was really into it and was looking into water rights and activism around water rights. I saw that my voice was making a difference, so I thought I would be a lobbyist for agricultural concerns around the world or the state. So, when I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I continued along this road of success and studied agricultural business management.

A girlfriend of mine in the dorms was auditioning to be in a play, and she asked me to come with her since she was nervous. I was sitting there doing my homework, and the stage manager asked me to audition. I did, and sadly my friend barely spoke to me after this, as I got a role in the play and she didn’t. But it did reawaken something in me – the ideas that I loved acting, theater, and entertainment. That summer I went down to LA and became a tour guide for Universal Studios.

I saw myself as a farm guy, so I applied to be a parking attendant, but the secretary there told me to put down that I wanted to be a tour guide. It didn’t occur to me that a big part of the job would be speaking, something I had already had success in. It was a great experience. I met some of my dearest friends there, who are now heads of casting, or directors, or well-known actors. It was really an interesting journey. Number one, wanting to be successful, and number two, fearing that I wasn’t good enough.

Q: Despite all that you have achieved, do you still ever have that sense of not being good enough?

BB: I think that the worthiness conversation is always something I will, and I would say most people, are always looking at in their lives. I feel I have recognized now, because of my spiritual work, that I am worthy and open to success and to receive an acknowledgment.

The other thing I recognize is that I chase it less. The more secure I am as a person, the less validation I need from outside of myself. I move through the world less encumbered now.

Being at Project Angel Food, I am working with people who want to be of service like Jamie Lee Curtis, or Meghan and (Prince) Harry. I get to executive produce a yearly telethon, overseeing and shaping a conversation about what this agency does.

Having a huge impact on people, I recognize that this is the sweet spot where I am supposed to be right now. I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.

Q: What does success mean to you now?

BB: When I think about what success means, I think about all the things I have done in my life and there’s a common thread there. Whether I am producing a daily talk show or heading communications for PAF, I think my greater purpose in life is to uplift the world by reminding other people that we are actually vehicles of love. When I’m successful, I’m engaging people in conversations that actually make them shine and lifts them up. That’s success to me.

Even when I’m volunteering and delivering meals to a client (through Project Angel Food),  for those moments that we interact I’m able to remind them of a version of themselves who isn’t homebound and dealing with a life-threatening illness as we connect, talk about family, and laugh together.

When I was at Entertainment Tonight, it became more and more focused on celebrity gossip. The gossip drove ratings, which was cool, but it certainly wasn’t enlightened. Despite this, my goal was still always to find a deeper conversation with an important and diverse group of people.

So while I would provide the sort of light, candy, escape content, I would also provide an opportunity for someone like Viola Davis, where she could talk about when she was homeless as a teen and was dumpster diving to eat. Driving more compassion for people, and providing different points of view, was success to me.

Q: I love that this is the definition of your success. It’s nothing to do with your house, or what you have.

BB: I’m really blessed and grateful that I worked a long time and it’s given me the flexibility to pick and choose what I do. I’m not driven by money. If I look back at the last three or four decades working in the industry, when I made decisions based on money, prestige, or power, those are the ones that haven’t worked out. Because I think those attributes are only temporary.

Q: So what advice would you give to someone who wants to achieve a lot in life? Is there a secret sauce?

BB: I think the question needs to be, what is it you want to achieve? If your goal is to achieve money and prestige, then I would say that even if you attain those things, it is an empty promise. If prestige and money are your drivers, even if you get to a certain point, you are constantly looking at and comparing what she or he has, and then there’s a bigger fish to compare against, and it’s a never-ending cycle. I don’t think that is the path.

When I have made missteps, it’s been because I listened to other people tell me what should make me happy. I have is a clear vision of what I’m passionate about, and I put myself in opportunities to be able to express that passion. I have created a life where I can express myself honestly, live with passion, build up people, live a life of integrity, care about people and have that reflected in work. So that’s what I really have.

Follow Brad on Twitter, and learn more about his amazing work at Project Angel Food.

Related Posts

wave

Press ESC to close