Les Branson
Les Branson (born Duane Leslie Branson) is a writer and filmmaker born in Chicago, Illinois on February 3, 1959, on the day popularly known as The Day the Music Died. He co-founded Thin Dime Theater Company in Dallas, Texas in 1992 with friends Samuel H. Roden and Stephen Dwayne Moran, and held the position of artistic director until the theater company ceased operations in 1997.[1] He is also the founder and owner of Dilligaf Productions, an independent film company based in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. Branson has also worked in the aerospace industry and in export compliance. He founded Branson Consulting Co. in 2010 where he specializes in export and arms trafficking regulations.
Early life
Branson's father was Hugh L. Branson, born in 1928 in Kingston, Tennessee, and his mother was Sarah Earlene (Broom) Branson, born in 1933 in Delta County, Texas. Branson moved with his parents and siblings in 1968 from Chicago to cities in the Great Southwest, before finally settling near Springtown, Texas in 1971. He graduated from neighboring Poolville High School in 1977[1] and briefly attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He moved to Dallas in 1987 and lived and worked there until his return to the Springtown area in 2010.
Poetry
Branson wrote his first poem at the age of eight. He began writing poetry seriously at the age of 19, writing several volumes of handwritten poems collected in spiral notebooks over the next ten years. Some of the poetry book titles include On Sixties Coattails, Yippy Guinea Pig, The Central Wire, and Selected Poems. Branson cites Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Brautigan, Patti Smith and Arthur Rimbaud as the poets who have had the most influence on his poetry.
Novels
In 1990, Branson wrote the experimental novel, Sinister Biscuits. In 1991 he began writing plays after being heavily influenced by discovering the dramatic works of Sam Shepard.
Theater and plays
As artistic director of Thin Dime Theater Company, Branson wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the play Warboots, which premiered in 1993 at the Hickory Street Annex near Deep Ellum in Dallas. He followed in 1994 with Dead or in Huntsville, a biker drama he wrote and produced for the stage in 1994 at the theater company's new home, the Swiss Avenue Theater Center where they would remain until 1997. In 1996, Branson produced 3 Violent Plays, a vignette of three short plays, including Joey, which he adapted from the biography of the same name of New York mobster, Joey (Crazy Joe) Gallo, written in 1973 by Donald Goddard. Thin Dime Theater Company's final stage production was Hillbilly Karma, which Branson wrote, produced, and directed in 1997.
Movies and screenplays
In 1998 Branson founded the independent film company, Dilligaf Productions, and wrote his first feature-length screenplay, Blood is Thicker, which he directed and co-produced with Samuel H. Roden and David C. Dixon. Blood is Thicker was filmed in the Dallas/Fort Worth area during eighteen consecutive days of summer in 1998 with a 16mm camera. The film editing was never completed and the project was eventually abandoned in 1999.
Afterwards, Branson focused on learning the craft of screenwriting, eventually writing a screen version of Dead or in Huntsville in 1999, followed in 2000 by the love story, Joey & Jeffie, a feature-length adaptation based on Donald Goddard's biography of Joey Gallo.
In 2005, Branson wrote the feature-length drama Having My Baby, which he independently produced alongside executive producer, Samuel H. Roden, and co-producer and director of photography David C. Dixon. Principal photography for Having My Baby began in the fall of 2006 with a digital camera and limited equipment and crew. The production cost approximately $80,000 to complete, and due to various setbacks, was not completed until 2009. Having My Baby premiered in July 2009 in Dallas.[1] It was a selection at the 3rd annual Columbia Gorge International Film Festival in Vancouver, Washington in 2010, and won an award for Most Ambitious Film.[2]
After the success of Having My Baby, Branson turned again to writing original, speculative screenplays. In 2014, he completed King Lear and the Indians, based on a story by actor Dan Burkarth. In 2014 Branson also completed his original screenplay Junkyard Dog.
Other writings
Branson occasionally writes newspaper articles as a guest columnist for the Weatherford Democrat, a newspaper published in Weatherford, Texas, and had a featured article published in The Export Practitioner in the March 2010 issue, Volume 24, Number 3. He recently had an essay published in the 2016 edition of the online magazine, Passing Through.[3] He also has a blog, Dilligaf Productions.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Poolville alumnus' movie has Fort Worth screening". Weatherford Democrat. August 14, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ↑ "3rd annual Columbia Gorge International Film Festival". Angaelica. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ↑ Branson, Les (January 2016). "Roofer Joe". Passing Through Journal. No. 2. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
External links
- Les Branson on IMDb
- "Having My Baby - How far will Blaine go for what he believes?". Havingmybabymovie.com. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- "Having My Baby (2009) Trailer". Trailer Addict. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- Les Branson. "Dilligaf Productions". Dilligafproductions.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- "The Export Practitioner". Exportprac.com. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- "COLUMN: The meth monster cometh | Opinion". weatherforddemocrat.com. 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- "COLUMN: Conan the Barbarian calls Peaster home | Opinion". weatherforddemocrat.com. 2011-09-06. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- "The Ghost of Dusky Hill". Joomag.com. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
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