MY BACKSTORY
Hello, I'm Pamela Broady-Andrew, a production designer, art director, and virtual production artist based in Los Angeles. Born and raised on the culturally vibrant South Side of Chicago, I credit the rich tapestry of street scenes, art, architecture, fashion, theater, and nightlife with igniting my sensibility towards the art of visual storytelling. Growing up as the youngest of four daughters, I spent many Friday nights at home, mesmerized by the cinematic allure and melodramatic storytelling of film noir classics like High and Low, On the Waterfront, and The Asphalt Jungle. Iconic films such as A Raisin in the Sun, Cooley High, and Love Jones, which were set in neighborhoods that looked like my own and told stories of people and situations familiar to me, also left an indelible impression on me. Each of these experiences inspired my passion for cinema and planted the seeds for a future career in visual storytelling. I just didn’t have a name for it then!
Being the first generation to attend college, majoring in the arts was not an option. After graduating from Purdue University, I held successful careers in logistics and operations management, middle-school at-risk education, and as owner-operator of a software configuration management consulting firm that secured government contracts across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Outside of work, I remained devoted to the arts by attending international film festivals and fashion events, perusing art galleries and museums, and traveling extensively to explore curiosities and hobbies ranging from horseback riding in Spain to tango dancing in Argentina.
During a government contracting assignment in New Orleans, a neighbor who admired the way I had decorated my Garden District apartment introduced me to her filmmaker friend, Ty Rey. Ty was captivated by the nuanced decor of my home, which I had designed as if I were the protagonist in my own life’s story. After hours of discussing cinema, music, art, architecture, and my design aesthetic, Ty asked if I would design four of his short films, suddenly giving shape and a name to my early affinity towards visual storytelling. With a renewed perspective and a relentless desire to learn the intricacies of the production design craft and cinema production, I kickstarted my journey with an immersive production assistant training workshop at NOVAC and Starlight Studios, which led to my first PA role with the 2019 New Orleans Film Festival. My next government contracting position took me to Los Angeles, where I enrolled part-time at Columbia College Hollywood to further my studies in cinema production and production design. There, I designed several student thesis film shorts and worked in the production and art departments for the Set Decorators Society of America 2021 Television Awards and 2021 Film Awards shows as their 1st and 2nd assistant camera and set dresser. I also served as the art director on four signatory commercials for ETSY brand products.
Accelerating my knowledge, I earned a postgraduate Master of Science degree in Fiction and Entertainment from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), where I was mentored by world-renowned production designers, creative directors, and illustrators in the entertainment industry. There, my intuitive talent for visual storytelling evolved into a sophisticated understanding of virtual world-building, 3D computer animation, previsualization modeling, and rendering for storytelling.
I served as both the production designer and costume designer on my debut independent feature ‘Road to Everywhere,’ directed by Michael Shoob and filmed on an LED stage and various physical locations, including a Navajo reservation in Arizona. I’ve crafted physical sets and props for characters to interact with while seamlessly integrating the scene’s Unreal Engine Volume Stage. Additionally, I have designed several indie film shorts around Los Angeles, music videos on Volume Stages, and built a colorful desert altar on a dry lakebed for a short sci-fi film. The 1970’s period short film “TIGHT,’” that I designed for filmmaker Ty Rey, premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival PAVILLON AFRIQUES in France on May 21, 2024, marking a momentous milestone in my career’s evolution. My passion, resilience, ability to blend my artistic and technical talents, worldly experiences, and pragmatic sensibilities have shaped me into a multifaceted artist with a richly layered and diverse perspective on the craft of production design.