Megan Brotherton: ‘Improv Taught Me the Comedic Formula; Acting Grounded it in Truth’

Megan Brotherton first gained momentum with online sketches for Funny Or Die, and has since directed, written and starred in her own short films, (‘Buttercup’, ‘Everybody Does It’) and comedic commercials for the likes of Microsoft, Walmart, Nintendo, and Maybelline.

The Thinking Machine director’s comedy roots run deep, not only behind the camera but as an actor, too. “I loved plays and making movies with my dad’s camcorder. I’d cast my neighbours and my little brothers and dress them up in whatever I could cobble together. The scripts were usually from Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

She adds that her work today also has “remnants of a recovering Catholic”, hypothesising that attending Catholic school and the religious culture and community she grew up in acted as a catalyst for developing comedic instincts early on.

^{Above: Megan's work for the NC Education Lottery}

However, despite falling in love with filmmaking and comedy at an early age, she didn’t foresee a practical career in the industry. At first, she studied international relations at college, beginning her professional life in risk analysis. “Taking a job at [professional services firm] Marsh McLennan was my attempt at being pragmatic,” she says, “but I hated it. It was so corporate and really not for me, so I quit and started pursuing acting in LA.”

Megan went on to study acting at Harvard’s A.R.T. Institute, including a residence at The Moscow Art Theatre, where “every day was like a dream come true”. In Russia, she trained six days a week, performed at night, and was exposed to “amazing theatre” by inspirational, hard-working teachers. “I don’t think I slept much the whole time I was there,” she says. “In fact, on our last week, I finally crashed and accidentally slept through our farewell party. I really loved my time there and didn’t want to leave.”

Megan explains that being a trained actor with a grounding in the Stanislavski method and improvisation has helped to inform her comedic voice as a director. “Improv taught me the formula in comedy, and grounding that comedy in truth came from my acting training.”

“I discovered I was a director while I was in Russia,” she adds. “We had this ongoing daily assignment from our acting teacher and we kept failing at it every day. Everybody was pretty discouraged. I got an idea inspired by a Flight of the Conchords song and took charge. I made everybody do my vision, which really wasn’t very easy, but it turned out great. Our teacher applauded us after and asked who was responsible, and my classmates all pointed to me.

“When I got back from Russia and grad school, I started writing comedy sketches and quickly realised I wanted to direct everything I wrote. I really love directing what I write because then it really feels like your baby – you make something from your own imagination and it feels kind of magical.”

Megan started to compile a catalogue of sketches and branded content for both UCB Theatre LA and Funny or Die, including ‘Going to the Bathroom in a Romper’, which remains Funny or Die’s most popular video, with over 37 million views on Megan’s YouTube channel alone.

“It was pretty scrappy filmmaking,” she recollects. “I had to wear a lot of hats and make the most out of tight budgets, but it was fun and exciting. I learned the most from FoD during the writing process – getting scripts greenlit – and in the edit. They were used to churning out sketches and knew all about performance and algorithms so they had helpful notes throughout the process.”

While proud of all her Funny or Die sketches, Megan sees her short film ‘Buttercup’ as a real turning point for her career. “It was a very personal story and was made by a wonderful group of people who came together in a very supportive way, even though we had the tiniest budget,” she says.

“We all stayed in a farmhouse in Idaho, where we shot, and it was just so magical. That film was also really impactful with audiences. I toured the country with it, and it was very gratifying to hear the sniffles in the audience and have people approach me afterwards and say how the film resonated with them.”

In 2017, Megan was introduced to commercial filmmaking via a Women in Film LA mentorship programme, which gave her the opportunity to direct a PSA for the Access Books charity. The spot went on to win a Bronze Telly Award and a Platinum Best of Show at the Aurora Awards.

By 2023, Megan’s CDDP fellowship mentor, hungryman EP and managing partner Caleb Dewart, had helped further open the pathway into Adland by connecting Megan with production company Thinking Machine, where she is still represented today.

^{Above: Megan's spot 'Stealing' for Oikos}

Her first campaign produced by Thinking Machine was for NBCU Creative Partnerships, commemorating SNL’s 50th anniversary season, followed up by spots for NC Education Lottery, MN Lottery x ‘Back to the Future 4’, and another campaign for NBCU Creative Partnerships and ‘Love Island’ with Maybelline and CeraVe.

Discussing this transition to commercial filmmaking, Megan says that there’s a logical bridge between sketch comedy and the tight turnarounds of 30-second ads. “You have to get to the joke quickly in sketch [comedy] so you’re sort of primed for the even shorter format in commercials. And in sketch, the audience has a short attention span; if it doesn’t contribute to the joke, it gets cut, which is similar to commercials.”

Regardless of the medium, a through-line in Megan’s work is her sense of awkward humour, which shines through in every project, from ‘Pickled’ – the sports comedy she wrote and directed for Roku – to her personal favourite short film, ‘Everybody Does It’.​

“It’s bold in a personal kind of way but ultimately pretty relatable to a broader audience,” she says, discussing the project; the first she wrote, directed, acted in and produced. “I raised $9,000 on a crowdfunding platform and hired everybody. It was a harrowing experience filled with highs and lows but in the end, the movie turned out great and it really found its audience on YouTube with 11 million views.”

^{Above: Megan on set}

Looking ahead, now with two children of her own, Megan is also hoping to venture beyond the boundaries of comedy to tell more bold, personal stories like ‘Everybody Does It’. Not to mention her ambitions in the world of long-form. Currently, this manifests in two feature films that she is developing, though the comedic thread is never far away. “[The features] are way more dramatic,” she says. “They’re still comedic but more dramedy.”

With her children now starting school, Megan also has more time to pursue these goals and, as a successful multi-hyphenate, is looking forward to being able to express the full range of her abilities and interests with Thinking Machine, from directing to acting and beyond.

“I’d like to get back to more writing,” she says. “Balancing directing and having two little kids has been a lot, so I’m looking forward to having more balance in my life.”