Jeb Brien
Jeb Brien is an award winning American director and producer, who has produced and directed television series and specials for many artists.
Career
He started his career as a manager with Tommy Mottola’s Champion Entertainment, where he handled A&R for their roster of artists such as Hall & Oates, John Mellencamp, Mariah Carey and Carly Simon. He moved with Mottola to Sony Music where he created, Automatic Productions their successful television and video division. Today, the two of them head up The Mottola Company, a full-service entertainment company comprising a record label, talent management, music publishing, and television and theatrical production.
He was the executive producer, director and creator of Sessions at West 54th, a public television’s critically acclaimed and award winning weekly music series. Sessions at West 54th debuted in the fall of 1997, garnering rave reviews from coast to coast. As a platform for both new and established artists, the series has included artists as diverse as Beck, Diana Krall, David Byrne, Dixie Chicks, Wynton Marsalis, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Patti Smith, Moby, Yo-Yo Ma, Cesária Évora, Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach, and Rubén Blades.
Thanks to his extensive and diverse experience in music television, he produced and directed programs and video albums for artists such as Mariah Carey, John Mellencamp, Luther Vandross, Gloria Estefan, Sheryl Crow, Celine Dion, Incubus, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Ozzy Osbourne and also an Emmy-nominated special for Harry Connick, Jr.. These productions have been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, Disney Channel, HBO, PBS, MTV and A&E. His production of An All-Star Tribute to Johnny Cash proved not only a ratings bonanza for TNT, but was one of the most critically acclaimed music special of 1999. He produced also The All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell.
Jeb Brien was one of the first multi-camera show directors to create a performance environment outside of the traditional concert setting, as evidenced by Carly Simon’s ground breaking HBO special Coming Around Again. This award-winning and critically acclaimed TV show not only garnered four ACE awards, but it helped bring Simon back into the spotlight, selling millions of albums and becoming HBO’s highest rated concert special at that time. Similarly, Brien’s creative vision has helped bring many artists back into the limelight with such programs as Kenny Loggins' Live at the Grand Canyon and Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night. Each of the above programs has yielded at least a platinum soundtrack and VHS/DVD. Jeb Brien has won international acclaim with his documentary special on six-time Academy Award-winning composer John Barry and a first place at the Midem Film Festival with his documentary Don’t Blame Me on the life of Ozzy Osbourne.
Brien was executive producer of Gloria Estefan's Caribbean Soul for CBS, Marc Anthony's Live from Madison Square Garden for HBO and Jennifer Lopez' Live from San Juan for NBC. He has produced and directed three USA Network's Willie Nelson and Friends specials, as well as the Paramount Pictures feature release The Original Latin Kings of Comedy. The concert special Willie Nelson and Friends: Live & Kickin’ is US highest rated special to date and its soundtrack garnered four Grammy Award nominations. Brien co-created and executive produced the TLC series A Model Life, starring supermodel Petra Němcová, as well as the hit MTV series The Shop.
Presently, through The Mottola Company as well as independently, he is developing both scripted and non-scripted programming for network, cable and pay cable television, as well as Superfly the Musical for Broadway with Dodger Theatricals (Jersey Boys).
Filmography
Movies
- The Secret of My Success (1987) – music advisor
- The Original Latin Kings of Comedy (2002) – director, producer
TV and video
- Carly Simon: Coming Around Again (1987) – director
- Carly Simon: Carly Simon: Live from Martha's Vineyard (1987) – director
- Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988) - technical director
- Harry Connick, Jr.: Singin' & Swingin' (1990) - director
- Ozzy Osbourne: Don't Blame Me (1991) – director
- Motörhead: 1916 Live...Everything Louder than Everything Else (1991) – director
- Kenny Loggins: Live from the Grand Canyon (1992) – director, producer
- Great Performances TV series – episode John Barry: Moviola – director
- Ozzy Osbourne: Live & Loud (1993) – director, producer
- MTV Unplugged TV series – Duran Duran (1993) – director
- Luther Vandross: Always and Forever (1995) – director
- John Denver: The Wildlife Concert (1995) - director
- Swing into Christmas (1995) – director
- LeAnn Rimes : LeAnn Rimes in Concert (1997) - director
- Sessions at West 54th – director, executive producer
- Black Sabbath: The Last Supper (1999) – director, producer
- Britney Spears/Joey McIntyre: Britney Spears and Joey McIntyre in Concert (1999) – director
- Mariah Carey: Number 1's (1999) – director of video "Love Takes Time"
- An All-Star Tribute to Johnny Cash (1999) – executive producer
- The Best of Sessions at West 54th, Volume 2 (2000) – director, executive producer
- 'Keb' Mo': Sessions at West 54th (2000) – executive producer
- An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell (2000) - executive producer
- MTV Unplugged: Ballads (2000) - director
- Ozzy Osbourne: OzzFest (2000) – director, executive producer
- Marc Anthony: The Concert from Madison Square Garden (2000) - co-executive producer
- Jessica Simpson /Jason Raize: Jessica Simpson and Jason Raize in Concert (2000) - director
- Gloria Estefan: Gloria Estefan's Caribbean Soul: The Atlantis Concert (2000) – producer
- Backstreet Boys: Backstreet Boys Live (2000) – director
- 98 Degrees/Hoku: 98 Degrees and Hoku in Concert (2000) – director
- Sammy Hagar and The Waboritas: Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash Tour (2001) - director
- Céline Dion: All the Way... A Decade of Song & Video (2001) – director of video "Love Can Move Mountains"
- Ben Folds Five: Live at Sessions at West 54th (2001) - executive producer
- Willie Nelson & Friends: Stars & Guitars (2002) – director
- Incubus : The Morning View Sessions (2002) - director
- Ozzy Osbourne: Live at Budokan (2002) – director, producer
- Tori Amos: The Scarlet Sessions (2003) – director, executive producer
- Willie Nelson & Friends: Live and Kickin' (2003) – director, producer
- Willie Nelson & Friends: Outlaws & Angels (2004) – director
- Luther Vandross: From Luther with Love - The Videos (2004) – director of video "Always and Forever"
- The Shop TV series (2006) - executive producer
- A Model Life TV series (2007) - executive producer
- Black Sabbath: Live... Gathered in Their Masses (2013) – director, producer
Music videos
- Hall & Oates: "Did It in a Minute" (1982)
- Hall & Oates: "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid" (1985)
- Hall & Oates: "Method of Modern Love" (live) (1985)
- Harry Connick, Jr.: "It Had to Be You" (1989)
- Mariah Carey: "Vision of Love" (1990)
- Mariah Carey: "Love Takes Time" (1990)
- Céline Dion: "Love Can Move Mountains" (1992)
- Nathan Cavaleri: "Workin' on It" (1994)
- Donna Allen: "Real" (1994)
- Luther Vandross: "Always and Forever" (1995)
- Hanson: "I Will Come to You" (1997)
- Thalía: "¿A quién le importa?" (2002)
- Incubus: "Nice to Know You" (2002)
- Tarralyn Ramsey: "Up Against All Odds" (2003)
- Thalía: "Amar sin ser amada / You Know He Never Loved You" (2005)
- Thalía: "Un alma sentenciada" (2005)
- Thalía: "Cantando por un sueño" (2005)
- Thalia: "Seducción (song)" (2006)