Live Arts: Bronny Lane of Little Train Creative On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performance Art
An Interview With Savio Clemente
Schedule time out. Turn off your devices, grab a book, lie on a beach or by a pool or in a park, go for walks, exercise, binge shows in bed, do whatever you need to have time out. Having the ‘you’ time is actually so important for the creative process. You need to have life experiences to be able to create stories. I also think it’s really important to not fall down the path of excess, particularly in the entertainment industry you can have all kinds of things thrown at you and that could feel hard to say no from a feeling that if you don’t get involved you might miss out on an opportunity. But maintaining health and a routine are really important. Exercise. Sleep. Drink water. Eat well. Walk. Love yourself. Be with people you love. Make time to remind yourself that you are the most important part of the journey. Without yourself — there is no journey. Practice gratitude and remember life is supposed to be fun.
As a part of our series about creating a successful career in theatre, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Bronny Lane.
Bronny Lane is an award-winning arts professional, entertainment publicist, indie filmmaker, writer and children’s book author.
Beginning her career in the arts and entertainment industry her work was recognised with an Arts Victoria Leadership Award and a Churchill Fellowship. Bronny is a classically trained concert pianist and musicologist. She is a graduate of Melbourne University (B.Mus Honors) and also studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of California, Los Angeles (USA) where she made the ‘Deans Honors List’.
She directed and produced the Australian National Academy of Music short documentary and produced the short film “Pop” which had its worldwide premiere at Dances With Film in Los Angeles (2016). Bronny was also Producer, Writer and Director on the award-winning short films “Meow Bow Wow” and “Bad Dad”. She is also a Writer and Producer on several feature film projects and is currently in production on her debut feature film a comedy mockumentary titled “I Wanna Be Famous”. The feature film she wrote “Homeless Passenger” is currently in development with Price Productions (Los Angeles).
Bronny produced and co-wrote the comedy show FartLab with Frank Hampster for the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this show went on to tour successfully around the country for several years. In 2023 she stepped into the producing role again and worked with Sarah Maree Cameron on her debut Melbourne International Comedy Festival Show One Womb Please.
Popera: Sex, Death & Politics is Bronny’s debut comedy cabaret show as writer, producer and director. Bronny co-wrote the original songs “Sex, Death and Politics”, “Popera Mashup” “Popera Reprise” and “Opera Did The Girls Dirty” with Uma Dobia. Bronny is also the founder and director of the Australian company Little Train Creative well known for supplying entertainment publicity.
As a writer, Bronny has written six children’s books and was the first in Australia to write for diverse families with the groundbreaking books My Super Single Mum, My Two Super Dads and My Two Super Mums. Bronny has written for the Herald Sun, Herald Sun’s Bayside Confidential, MamaMia, Woman, MidLife Slices and currently writes for Scenestr. She was one of the first fashion bloggers with her trailblazing fashion website AskBronny launched in 2004 which ran for over a decade.
Bronny is the director of the Australian company Little Train Creative.
Follow Bronny on Social Media
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I’m Gen X, so I suppose that might say a few things immediately! My childhood was full of the luxury of Summers seemingly lasting forever, sunscreen being an option, no distraction of mobile phones or technology beyond the Donkey Kong handset or Atari we wanted for Christmas. My Dad restored pianos and so (before the divorce) our house was always full of classical music and pianos and my Dad working til all hours on piano actions. I grew up watching Elvis, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis movies in the afternoon and John Hughes movies were our religion as a teenager. It was Happy Days and the Fonz straight after school followed by Monkey Magic, The Goodies and Kimba the White Lion. Sixteen Candles is and will always be one of my favorite movies, even if it’s not considered particularly woke these days. I played a lot of basketball and spent my spare time with the kids from the neighborhood, my childhood friends lived close by and my mothers friends had children our age and I had friends from dancing and basketball. We got into a lot of fun and trouble together. For fun as kids, we jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath. I can confirm we did drink from the hose in the garden in anyone’s yard and dodged danger on every corner of the physical and human kind. We rode our bikes without helmets and played games like Murder In the Dark and 1, 2, 3 nick off to amuse ourselves. We climbed on roofs, swam in creeks and also watched out for predators on every corner. We drew, wrote stories and made plays and dances with our friends to present to parents for fun. We made friendship bracelets and danced to Madonna, Prince, Cindy Lauper, Dee Lite and Roxette. My hometown Ballarat is quite well known in Australia as having supposedly way more predators read that as child molesters than anywhere else. My primary school was where convicted peodophiles of the Catholic Church would pick and choose and I knew boys who committed suicide as teenagers. Add to that, I grew up with a single mother, a special needs brother with Klinefelters and a gay father and life was complex to say the least. I often think our entire family was before it’s time. Intersex is quite commonly accepted these days, as is having a gay parent or being raised by a single mum. Back then these things were seen as something that was private and not to be shared and it definitely shaped my view of the world and I think created resilience in me. I was also a gifted pianist and so there was guilt around being the kid with the talent and having a brother who seemed to endlessly struggle with life. I actually kept my talent a secret from my friends at school and it wasn’t until a school concert in Year 9 (around age 13) when I played a complex Beethoven sonata that anyone realised I was a pianist. I remember seeing the look of shock on my school friend’s faces. That was fun. As a teenager we would sing songs on the back of the bus to and from our high school and knew every word to Paradise by the Dashboard light. My friends would ask me to belt out Whitney Houston. Music is and always has been a part of my life.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I always knew I would work in a creative field, my dream was to attend Julliard as a concert pianist. I asked my parents if I could learn piano at age 4 and quickly worked my way through all the grades, I was ready for University level study which we call our letters by age 13. I was on track to achieve my dream until a series of misfortunes in the 90s. I encountered several narcissists both in my academic and personal life and it really affected me. I ended up with PTSD which I have only realised now in later years. I would suffer from cripping anxiety attacks and the most awful stage fright you can imagine. I remember being told by a visiting Russian University Professor after I played a Bach Prelude and Fugue for our class that I couldn’t just ‘sit there and look pretty’. I never heard that kind of comment to the male students (I was one of two female students in the piano stream at that time of 12 students total). After being bullied mercilessly by one of my piano teachers I ended up with horrific stage fright. As a result I ended up behind the scenes rather than on stage. I’ve written stories ever since I was a little kid, and have memories of being around 5 and being sent to the Principal’s office to show off my latest story. When the piano path closed off I knew writing was a passion and something I would pursue. I always had a dream to work in theatre and film and felt writing could be a good path towards this. Rocky Horror and Tommy were obsessions of mine as a teenager and I watched both on repeat daydreaming that I might make something similar one day. I remember writing a short story at around age 14 and showing my mother who showed her friends who cried and told my mother she thought I was gifted. I didn’t really think much about that other than I really loved writing as an outlet. I kept diaries on and off right through my teenager and adult years, wrote, poetry, short stories, tv episodes and song lyrics for fun. Really more as a hobby rather than thinking I could make writing a career. Eventually I ended up writing a lot of copy in my first job in the arts industry. This was right at the time of the first EDMs and I guess I was at the forefront of that marketing technique in the arts and entertainment industry. I actually was awarded a Churchill Fellowship because of this work and travelled to the major arts institutions around the globe sharing what I had learned about writing for youth audiences and using email and the internet to market to them. What I was doing then and sharing with others is standard practice now. Fast forward to writing my radio show, children’s books, scripts for tv presenting, short films, feature films, theatre and songs (and the fact I can’t do one of these interviews without writing a lot) and I think it’s safe to say, writing is where I am supposed to be in any shape or form. I do have most of novel written, but that is sitting on a back burner. I created my company Little Train Creative really as an outlet to be both in the entertainment industry but also to create opportunities for my own creativity to flourish. I actually feel like right now at this moment in my life, that I have achieved what I set out to do.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My mother is and always has been my biggest champion. I could not have done anything in life that I have without her ongoing and unwavering support. She’s my biggest champion. My best friend and also the person I most admire and look up to. She was a proud feminist way before anyone was supposed to say they were. She raised my brother and I the best she could and instilled in me a strong work ethic. As a kid, we had a bit of a tricky driveway that had a wooden bridge to access the property. I remember many an icy morning when the car would come off the little bridge and the car would be stuck, my mother would get out the jack and I would help her jack the car up and manouvre the car back on the bridge. She did everything and anything she could to make money and send my brother to the best schools she could. She cleaned toilets at the local nursing home, she refereed basketball on cold Winter nights while I stayed home looking after my brother, she worked in a milk bar for friends until she was finally given an opportunity to work for the local RSL (returned serviceman’s leagues club) and from that point on her life changed. She put herself through University as an adult, studied in Australia and the UK and now works counseling children and adults. She’s the kind of person who makes other people’s lives better. I love her and she is everything to me.
You probably have a lot of fascinating experiences. Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I have a lot of funny stories, which I think is more relative to what I do now creatively which is write and direct comedy for the screen and stage (in addition to running Little Train Creative). A story I have told many times relates to my first job in the arts and entertainment industry at Arts Centre Melbourne. I was working in the membership department. A lot of the members were senior and we were conducting a luncheon where they would get a tour of the Arts Centre and then receive lunch. The two back of house lifts were notorious for breaking down and I remember the members and staff filled both lifts at the same time whilst I said I would go up the stairs (I have had a lift phobia since I was around 17). Would you believe both the lifts got stuck at the same time with all the members and staff from the event in them. It took over an hour for them to be released and I’ll never forget my boss at the time telling me to do anything to appease the situation as they all rolled into the luncheon like something from The Walking Dead. “Play the piano now” she yelled at me and I sat down and putting aside my stage fright, implemented my years of piano training and ripped into Rachmaninov. It truly set the scene of what could have been a horror film. It was pretty funny and fortunately nobody was hurt, but i’ll never forget that. I think it’s a good story. I have a lot of others that are probably not PG enough to share.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I would agree that our mistakes are what make us and I’ve made plenty. Probably the funniest mistake I have ever made relates to accidentally putting an x rated email into the all staff share email at work. This was also in my first job at Arts Centre Melbourne and back in the day when people thought it was funny to send x rated images to each other. It’s definitely not a very woke thing to do these days and I am guessing it could be cause for an on the spot firing. Anyway it was the 90s, and I had received one with the title “check this out” from my friend. It was an image of an overly pierced private part. You get the picture. Anyway, I then sent it on to the new girl in the team and she then put it in the all staff folder which was where we put emails about selling toasters or looking for a housemate. Needless to say it had my name on the email as the sender and many of the hundred plus staff indeed checked it out. The CEOs secretary rang me and said “Bronwen, did you mean to put THAT email in the all staff folder”. I asked “What email” and then went and saw the x rated email sitting there for everyone to read. I had a total meltdown screaming “Someone’s trying to sabotage me” and “I’m going to get fired”. Everyone was running around trying to get the email out of the folder and then finally the new girl piped up and said “what’s the all staff folder for anyway”. When we told her said said “Oh, i’m so sorry, i put that there, I thought it was where you put emails you received from all staff!”. She quickly removed it and all was okay but for the seven plus years I worked there after that I would always have people give me funny smiles when they walked past me including the CEO! I actually have written this exact scenario into a feature film I have in development, because it really was so hilarious and I think needs to be shared on celluloid!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
Right now, I’m most excited about my own creative projects which includes the comedy cabaret Popera: Sex, Death & Politics and indie sketch comedy feature film I Wanna Be Famous. I co-wrote Popera with Uma Dobia and have also directed and produced the show. We recently finishes seasons at Hollywood Fringe Festival and the Motley Bauhaus and Butterfly Club in Melbourne. We are off to London for Camden Fringe Festival next with this show. I am now going back into a filming schedule for I Wanna Be Famous and actually shot one of the funnist scenes I think I’ve ever written last weekend. I actually thought I might pass out behind the monitor from laughing so much at our actor Aaron Campbell who was bringing 90s washed out male stripper to a room full of screaming female extra’s. These are both debut’s for me, first as writer, producer and director of a comedy cabaret show and then for a comedy feature film. I have made short films, written comedy for comedian’s and produced comedy shows so I bring to these two debuts a lot of experience. It’s exciting to be doing the thing I have dreamed of for so long. In my business Little Train I work with so many wonderful organistaions and people such as Live Nation, Phil McIntyre Entertainments, Laughing Stock Productions and more. This has afforded me wonderful opportunities to work with incredible talent such as the British comedian Sophie McCartney (who is also related to Paul McCartney) who came down to Australia recently. I’ve also worked with John Cena and the Altman Brothers.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of rejection, lack of support, or failure?
It might seem obvious but I would say never give up. Even when it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or you’re exhausted and just want to sleep, just have faith that tomorrow is a new day and everything will be okay and nothing bad lasts forever. Believing in yourself is step one. If you don’t believe in yourself and your own abilities how can you expect anyone else to? The first step is to just start. I always remember reading in a book “how do you start writing” and the answer being so simple … “just start writing”. I think that’s very true for any career path, you just have to start and see where things take you and believe in yourself. I would also say stick up for yourself and what you believe in.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in the live performance industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Schedule time out. Turn off your devices, grab a book, lie on a beach or by a pool or in a park, go for walks, exercise, binge shows in bed, do whatever you need to have time out. Having the ‘you’ time is actually so important for the creative process. You need to have life experiences to be able to create stories. I also think it’s really important to not fall down the path of excess, particularly in the entertainment industry you can have all kinds of things thrown at you and that could feel hard to say no from a feeling that if you don’t get involved you might miss out on an opportunity. But maintaining health and a routine are really important. Exercise. Sleep. Drink water. Eat well. Walk. Love yourself. Be with people you love. Make time to remind yourself that you are the most important part of the journey. Without yourself — there is no journey. Practice gratitude and remember life is supposed to be fun.
Thank you for all that. This is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performances” and why? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
Determination: I have had a feature film in development for eight years called Four Girls and a Motorhome, I really believe this film will be made. It’s taking a long time and that’s okay. As a result of being told I wouldn’t be able to direct my own work I went on a path of directing. I wrote short films then produced and directed them which led md to writing, producing and directing my debut feature film I Wanna Be Famous and meeting and working with some incredibly talent people alnog the way. Making films and cabaret shows is hard. Being an indie writer, producer and director is hard. It takes a lot of determination to make creative projects happen and on top of that run a company.
Patience: there really is no such thing as an overnight success, you really need to have patience (like the eight years in development hell for one film) if you want to work in any kind of industry. I think a lot of people want to start at the top, but half of getting to the top and being good when you get there is all the lessons you learn along the way. Plus, when you’re starting you get told no. All. The. Time. Patience is key. Every no leads to a yes. Patience is perseverance.
Persistence: I have a five times rule, this goes for anything I do that relates to relationships and projects in this business. I reach out 5x. If I’m still being ignored by no then I take it as no. But you would be surprised how many times I have gotten a response on contact number 5 with an apology for not getting back sooner. Sometimes I get the fifth no or fifth no reply and decided ‘stuff it, i’ll just do it myself’. That’s how my children’s book series was born. I was one of the first to write about diversity in families fifteen years ago in Australia and the first to write a children’s book for gay families in Australia! Now, diversity is just mainstream. My Super Single Mum and My Two Super Dads are in libraries and read to children all over the world and I am so proud of that. My rule of 5 led to that.
Stamina: I work long hours, you have to be fit, I basically do 3 jobs and have a family. Having stamina means keeping on top of your health so that you can work those long hours, 7 days a week to keep up.
Relationships: you really are only as good as the people you surround yourself with, nurture the people around you, provide opportunities for talent, work with people you love, create projects for talent and of course the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself, remind yourself that you’re awesome and doing the best you can, sometimes you’ll be the only one telling you that! Invest in people, even if you don’t have the cash. Find it. Figure it out. It’s so worth it to then reap the rewards. I recently watched Chris Hemsworth’s National Geographic series Limitless and one of the episodes discussed stress. The expert said that if you just tell yourself positive things such as ‘you’re doing great’ or ‘you’re doing the best you can’, it immediately decreases your bodies reaction to a stressful situation. I loved that, because it’s the one relationship you can control and a way to nurture yourself.
For the benefit of our readers, could you describe how the skill-sets you need in a theater performance are different than the skill-sets you need for TV or Film?
I think there is a lot of crossover in terms of writing, producing and directing for theatre and TV and film. It probably depends on the role that you’re doing as I know for example that technical roles in theatre can be quite different to on a film or television set. For me as writer, director, producer, I think there’s a lot of the same skills. I am considered an actor’s director, so because I am very hands on and collaborative this approach works equally as well for theatre and film and television. Having created both film and theatre I think the main difference is time. You can write a theatre show and get it up and in front of an audience quite quickly and you can implement notes from show to show to make it better along the eason. The journey to presenting a film is quite different and once you’re done, well that’s it! Unless you want to do an entirely new cut. I am very hands on in all my projects from lighting to sound to wardrobe to set design both in theatre and film and TV. This might change when I get my hands on a bigger budget but I think even so I would still be very involved in every element as it’s bringing a vision to life that you have.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I don’t actually think I am that influential, but I guess it’s all about levels. I’m a big fan of Ricky Gervais, who in my mind is of enormous influence. He just tweeted that there were 50,000 ticket requests to his 800 seater show in the UK! WOW! As people would know Ricky is an advocate for animals and coined the hashtag #kindnessismagic. I think he’s onto something there — the world really does need more kindness. To our planet, to each other. I think if we were to just place being kind at the start of every intention that would go a long way towards tolerance, acceptance and just generally treated other people in a way that we like to be treated. I also think we need to laugh more as a planet. Laughter truly is the best medicine. My intention with everything I create is that people feel better, happier and lighter after they have experienced it.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I like the Wilson Mizner quote “Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet them on your way down.” Having been in this industry for a while it’s been wonderful watching friends and colleagues grow in their careers and being able to support them. Equally, it’s really great to be there for people when they really need you. I also like the H. Jackson Brown Jr quote “Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the river.” I think forgiveness is a much needed quality to work in this industry. Sometimes you really just have to forgive, forget and move on. Because … quote number one.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them?
Ricky Gervais. My comedy idol. He’s a genius. Hilarious. Kind. Real. He created I think one of the most incredible pieces of TV to ever be made in After Life. It’s genius. Just like him. The final scene in this series is sublime. It doesn’t get any better than that.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
I’m pretty active on social media on Instagram and this then gets shared across all platforms. Super easy to find me as I’m @bronnylane on all platforms. My Facebook and website LittleTrain.com.au are also very up to date with my work as an entertainment publicist and writer, producer, director. Although sometimes we play catchup on the blog when we get super busy!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you so much for the interview. It actually took me a few days to complete because I wanted to think about my answers!
About The Interviewer: Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker and Stage 3 cancer survivor, infuses transformative insights into every article. His journey battling cancer fuels a mission to empower survivors and industry leaders towards living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle. As a Board-Certified Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), Savio guides readers to embrace self-discovery and rewrite narratives by loving their inner stranger, as outlined in his acclaimed TEDx talk: “7 Minutes to Wellness: How to Love Your Inner Stranger.” From his best-selling book to his impactful work as a media journalist covering resilience and wellness trends with notable celebrities and TV personalities, Savio’s words touch countless lives. His philosophy, “to know thyself is to heal thyself,” resonates in every piece.
