David Bromstad: From Animation Dreams to Design Stardom

Juggling the roles of fashion designer, decorator and television personality, HGTV star David Bromstad leads a colorful life. Before delivering the commencement address to this year’s Ringling College of Art and Design graduates, the alum talked with SRQ Backlot about his own experiences with Disney, television and movies. Now a world-famous interior designer, Bromstad’s career began with a very different dream. “I actually wanted to be a Disney animator,” he said, “ever since I was five years old.” The Little Mermaid was the first film to spur him to be an artist, hooking him with the music and a new style of animation. “I think I watched it five times in the theater,” he said, confessing he wanted to be a mermaid too. But two months into classes at Ringling College, Bromstad took his first animation course and quickly realized it was not for him. After dreaming about this for 15 years, he had no idea what was next. “So I just rolled through it and said I’m going to be the best drawer and the best painter I can possibly be,” he said. “We’re going to let God figure the rest out and just go with my instinct.” He later followed those instincts, working for Disney in a different way. Crafting everything from window displays to sculptures for the Orlando theme parks, he learned the art of perfection from the happiest place on earth. “Do you ever go into Disney and see a flaw in anything?” he asked. The skills he acquired there led to the chance of a lifetime: to be a contestant on HGTV’s first season of Design Star. “I’d never planned on being on TV – It was not in the cards,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be famous for my craft; I didn’t think I was going to actually be famous.” While the first few days of Design Star were terrifying, Bromstad loved every second of the challenging show. Without their phones, TV, music or magazines, “it was like boot camp for designers on steroids,” he said. Coming from a highly competitive family, he excelled at the competition, knowing he had to reach the final four and once he achieved that goal, win the competition. “I went in a very insecure person and I came out knowing exactly what I was,” he said. “TV doesn’t usually do that to you, it usually tears you down.” After winning, Bromstad launched his own HGTV show, Color Splash, which ran from 2007-2013 as one of channel’s most successful shows. In the 11 seasons based in San Francisco and then Miami, he became known as ‘The Color Guy’ for his bold transformations and original artwork. But when Bromstad has time off, his guilty pleasure is being lazy. With a crazy schedule of television, travel, events and design, he can’t wait to stretch out on the couch and catch up on some TV. “When I come home I just don’t want to move, I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to do anything,” he said. “I just want to watch my shows, my DVR, movies.” Bromstad is obsessed with movies. A self-professed fantasy and science-fiction dork, he loves both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series. Some of his recent favorites include Pitch Perfect and the “deliciously tantalizing” Fifty Shades of Grey, but he also loves animated movies, particularly Disney’s Big Hero Six, which he falls asleep to regularly. Now Bromstad hosts a new HGTV show, My Lottery Dream Home, where he’s responsible for finding the perfect property for recent lottery winners. “We get to find them their dream house of craziness,” Bromstad said. The show feels like the eccentric and wealthy relative of sister show House Hunters. Each episode follows a buyer like the California couple of the pilot, who won $180 million and when they found their dream home, bought the entire mountain it was located on. The first two episodes premiered in March to solid ratings, and it is now being picked up for a full season later this year.

Paradise, FL Crew Wraps Shoot in Southwest Florida

Filming just wrapped for the feature-length Paradise, FL, a movie about a Cortez fisherman dealing with an addiction to pills and a troubled family life, just wrapped production this week. Now filmmakers are looking toward a hefty editing process and bringing the story to viewers.

“We’ve high hopes, as any independent film does,” said writer-producer Tony Stopperan. “Our aim is to hit the film festivals circuit and make a splash. With rich performances, excellent directing, production value realized through superior design and utilization of ‘functioning’ locations, and a strong story we should make waves, waves that belie the relative youthful team at the helm of this picture and the limited budget.”

Ringling Hosting Vin Diesel’s One Race Global Film Foundation

Anyone from Sarasota who wants to get serious about filmmaking in a fast and furious fashion may want to jump on an opportunity coming to the area in June. Actor Vin Diesel’s One Race Global Film Foundation will host a two-week residential film program from June 30 to July 12 at the Ringling College of Art and Design campus.

Brad Battersby Explains how Tradition, Location and Collaboration were Key in The Lucky 6

I had the opportunity to speak with director Brad Battersby about his film The Lucky 6, the first collaborative feature film by students at Ringling College and the Florida State Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Battersby revealed how the film developed from an idea into the first project of its kind.

Alexia King pulls heartstrings in Jeffrey Boos’ Woodland Dance

Director Jeffrey Boos speaks with actress Alexia King during the filming of Woodland Dance.

‘Never work with children or animals.’ It’s a lesson repeated so often in the film world it’s cliche. Film schools reiterate it. But all the warnings just made Jeffrey Boos determined to break the rule. And when he met Alexia King, he knew he could get away with it.

Now Boos and Alexia are preparing for a screening of the short film Woodland Dance at the Sarasota Film Festival. And there’s a good bet plenty of filmmakers are going to want to work with this child in the future.

Ringling Classmates both accepted into Film Festival program

The Sarasota Film Festival is a time to welcome established names of the film industry, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to meet relative newcomers to the field of filmmaking, and Sarasota has plenty of young talent showcased in this year’s festival, including these Ringling College film students, Andrew Halley and Jeffrey Boos.

The Bigger Picture

2014 marks a big year for SRQ Backlot.

This website for three years now has provided all the behind-the-scenes news on the happenings of the Sarasota Film Festival, including the stars, screenings and celebrations that bring Hollywood to our doorstep every year. And we will continue providing the best coverage bar none of this exciting event.

In those three years, though, we and the rest of the cinema-loving world have seen the accelerated growth of an entire film industry and filmmaking community within Southwest Florida. Ringling College of Art and Design each year attracts a slew of stars and industry professions to teach film majors secrets of the trade. Movies like Spring Breakers and Free Ride have chosen the Sarasota area as a backdrop for major parts of the film. The Sarasota County Film and Entertainment Office continuously expands its role in assisting both filmmakers and investors to find success on the Suncoast.

SRQ Media Group, of course, has followed the excitement along the way. Whether through posts on our popular newsletter SRQ Daily or in the pages of SRQ Magazine, we have recorded the evolution of an industry. But the coverage has never been concentrated in a single location for our readers both to zero in on those film-related stories or to absorb the bigger picture of cinema’s impact on the Suncoast.

Since its debut, SRQ Backlot has seen more than 50,000 hits from readers anxious to see not only the stars visiting the region but to spot the locals engaging with the film world. As of today, this site will cover all aspects of the filmmaking industry and its presence in paradise. Whether that means tracking the success of computer animators who graduate from Ringling to create Oscar-winning films, keeping up with the efforts of Jeanne Corcoran’s team as they attract TV crews here or the creation of important cinema by Sarasota filmmakers, count on us to give you the news you need.

And still count on Backlot to provide you the best live coverage of every development with the Sarasota Film Festival. We’ll be there in March when the full list of programming is released and will continue to provide you access to the filmmakers, celebrities and industry heavyweights who come here each year.

Stay tuned.

Ringling Motion Design Students

On the Red Carpet

These Ringling College students are walking the red carpet and I find out why! Not only do I find out why, but I find out where they plan on going after graduation and what the best lesson they learned thanks to Ringling.

Ringling Motion and Design College Students (L) Virage, Robin, Brooke and ? (let us know)– with me.

Ringling Students Make SFF Trailer

College officials today announced that a trailer made by Motion Design students Audrey Aquino and Jason Beale has been picked as the official television commercial promoting the Sarasota Film Festival this year. If you want to see the trailer, go to the Motion Design department’s Facebook page.

Of course, if you are in the Sarasota market and have Comcast, you likely will see in on your TV set soon. Congrats to the Ringling sophomores on this one.

Awesome Trailer Animations!

One of the true film gems in this community is the student body at Ringling College of Art and Design, so of course the SFF turned to the school to find a good trailer to run on opening and closing night promoting the festival.

It seems the festival couldn’t pick a favorite work, though, and has put up eight different student-produced clips for an online vote. While these short clips only offer a taste of what the Ringling kids can produce, they are still a treat to watch.

So go and watch them all here, then vote for your favorite.

Of course, I already voted, and just because SFF doesn’t want to show favoritism doesn’t mean I won’t. Here is the one I like the best. If you agree, vote here.