Today, we’d like to introduce you to Christian Brunetti.
Hi Christian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey to becoming a filmmaker, and now CEO and co-founder of Round Table Film Productions, is as winding as it is incredible. After serving 8 1/2 years in the US Army, first as an airborne infantryman and then as a member of US Army Special Operations as an expert in psychological operations, I was preparing for a life outside of the military.
My wife at the time had signed the family up to be extras on a show filming in Charleston called Army Wives. As fate would have it, they called me to come do a scene the month I was getting out of the military. My first day on set was incredible and would change the direction of my life. I met the military adviser on the show, who was a former Army Ranger, Chad Gleaton.
He took me under his wing and eventually, I was able to take over his job once he had moved on to other things. The other person I met that day, was Atlanta-local actor (and absolutely amazing human being), Adam Boyer. Adam would also take me under his wing and be a guide in the coming years on how to build a career in film.
Over the next several years, I fell in love with filmmaking and progressed into stunt performing in front of the camera and producing behind the camera. Those two passions would combine to help me create a production company with several fellow veterans in the Atlanta area.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Resilience is a curious thing- it can only be developed through hardship. In some ways, describing someone as resilient is another way of saying you have endured unimaginable challenges, how are you still standing?
I had a challenging upbringing, to put it mildly. I dealt with emotional, physical, and even sexual abuse from a very young age. I grew up poor mostly in upstate New York, but bounced around from school to school and place to place quite often. I wish I could say these formative years helped me develop positive coping mechanisms and made me a stronger person, but in reality, they left me riddled with self-doubt and insecurities.
One of the most tragic days in recent American history would also serve as a catalyst for change and growth in ways I would never expect. As a senior in upstate New York, I witnessed the tragedy of 9/11 unfold in real-time, as many of us did, on live TV. I, like many, felt the call to serve our nation and joined up soon after graduating high school. I spent nearly 9 years in the US Army, first as an airborne infantryman and then as a member of special operations as a Psychological Operations (Psyop) team member.
Over the course of those years and several deployments, I learned that beauty exists, even in places of extreme hardship and suffering. I met some of the most generous and courageous people living in the most dangerous places on the planet, I learned the power of the human spirit is indomitable, and no matter our circumstances, we will always have control over how we respond.
I also learned invaluable lessons from my leaders and teammates. Life. Is. Hard. There is no avoiding it. In that environment, with a high operations tempo, constant stress, and knowing that failure can literally mean the death of the people you serve, it is easy to lose perspective, to lose hope, to feel overwhelmed.
We buried teammates, friends, family members, our sisters- and brothers-in-arms. We missed birthdays and wedding anniversaries, we missed our kid’s first days of school and graduations, and we missed out on so much… but looking back, those moments helped me define what truly mattered.
And, to paraphrase President Lincoln, I became highly resolved that those who gave their lives would not have died in vain. It became my mission to honor them by living a life they would be proud of- by daring to dream big, take chances, work hard, and love everything I have. It isn’t to say life is sunshine and rainbows- I was left with a variety of health issues from my time in the service, including a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, and there have been times when I’ve gotten to very dark places.
The experiences I gained from those 9 years have served me well- especially understanding that I can accomplish so much more with my team than I can as an individual, that with the right tribe surrounding you, you won’t have to carry burdens alone, and that those darkest moments are the most crucial times to reach out.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work primarily as a stunt performer in TV and film. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a variety of jobs in film, starting as a military adviser on a show called Army Wives. From there I branched out and have done a little bit of everything, from writing to directing to producing, but my first love is telling action-oriented stories through stunts.
I am more of a jack of all trades when it comes to work, I’m not sure there is any one skill that helps separate me from others. I have been able to lean on my military career, especially the time spent in Special Operations as a member of Psychological Operations (Psyop), to help carve a niche for myself in the world of film.
During the strikes last year, I joined a small group of veterans, many of them from the various branches of the Special Operations community, to build Round Table Film Productions. Our company is focused on inspiring, encouraging, and empowering veterans and civilians alike and helping them find inroads into the film industry.
We collectively use our experiences and backgrounds (among our core training team we have former Rangers and Green Berets, just to name a few), to teach actors and stunt performers both the how and the why of military operations. The “how”, I’ve noticed, is the focus of many tactical classes or training opportunities, but the “why”…. why do we do things the way we do? That is too often ignored.
Helping actors and stunt performers understand the mental space of what it means to be a warrior, not just what it takes to use the tools, has created so many amazing moments over the last year. Professionally, I hope I’m most known for my work ethic, my heart to help others, and my ability to make any production I’m involved in a little bit better than it was without me.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I don’t know who originally said it, it may have been something I coined or overheard, but during my time in combat I would often say “It’s better to be lucky than good sometimes.” I’ve seen luck, chance, fate, the universe, God, Buddha, Jesus, or whatever you want to call it, come into play in so many situations in my life it is almost a running joke.
Mistakes I’ve made that otherwise could’ve proven fatal result in me walking away without a scratch… I’d patrol a street in Iraq one day and it was quiet as can be, and the next day a different squad would patrol that same street and get ambushed. Things like that. Not all my luck was good, I’ve had some really tough breaks, but overall I can’t look back at my life and give myself sole credit for everything I’ve accomplished. Luck played a strong part in it.
Even with my current career. I fell into film by dumb luck, My ex-wife, while we were still married, signed up the family to be extras on Army Wives, a show filming in Charleston. I went along with it, assuming they would never call me. They did, and the first day on set I met a former Army Ranger, Chad Gleaton, who would take me under his wing and mentor me for the months and years to come.
That single day completely changed the trajectory of my life. Without a little bit of good old-fashioned dumb luck… I have no idea where I’d be. Instead, I’m entering my 11 years of working in film, and my 6 years of living and working in Atlanta. My film career also led me to my wife, Holly, who has become a mother to our two wonderful kids and is such an amazing source of love and support. All because of a little bit of luck, a willingness to try something new, and good friends to support me along the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://roundtablefp.com/
- Instagram: @cbrunettifilm
