by MATTHEW HAYS

Brandi-Ann Milbradt says her beginnings in the film and TV business had a natural launching point: romance. When Milbradt, a Ryerson fashion design and marketing graduate, worked a fashion show in Montreal, she met aspiring filmmaker Phil Price. The two hit it off and eventually got married.

But as well as finding Mr. Right, Milbradt says she found herself very intrigued by the business of producing and marketing film and TV projects. “I’ve always been enamoured of films,” she says. “I have always enjoyed the smaller, quieter, independent films that have managed to say a lot with a little.”

And given Milbradt’s track record, that quote could appear on her business cards. It’s been but seven years since she and her husband, Price, created their company, Philms Pictures. In that time, Milbradt has produced four feature films and 24 TV episodes (and she hasn’t even hit the 30-year mark yet). Her second feature, Hatley High (2004), won two awards at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2005. The series Price concocted out of his own experiences in the film business, The Festival and The Business, were picked up the Independent Film Channel (IFC) for broadcast in the U.S. (Milbradt notes the irony that they managed to sell their series to an American broadcaster before a Canadian one would screen the shows.)

Milbradt has just produced two feature film projects, both of which are to open in 2007. Prom Wars, also directed by Price, is what Bradt calls “a very funny teen comedy.” The film has two boys’ schools squaring off in competition for the attention of the student population at a nearby girls’ school.

Milbradt also co-produced the first feature film of Montreal comedy troupe Kidnapper Films, Who Is KK Downey? This film, which includes appearances by Scott Thompson and Paul Spence (FUBAR), tells the story of two hapless losers who call a book of fiction an autobiography and suddenly find themselves steeped in success and fame.

“I am really drawn to different projects,” says Milbradt. “Movies and TV shows that are funny, but also thoughtful and creative. When those things meet, that’s where I’d like the projects I’m producing to be.”