Michael C. Hall as… Brennan
| Cinematic Twist | A Killer… Businessman |
|---|
| Sex | Male |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | … |
| Age | 35 |
| Zodiac Sign | … |
| Aliases | Bre, Bren |
| Place of Birth | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Vice-President, Marketing and Development, CDS |
| Relatives | Mother (Mary), Father (William Jr.), Twin Sister (Burgundy) |
| Significant Other | Workplz |
| Pros | Who You Know, Liar Liar, Fight Club, Nominee (dancing) |
| Cons | Snark, Addiction |
| First On-Screen Appearance | TBA |
Background
Once upon a time, stars belonged to studios. Each one paraded its talented line-up, claiming to have more or better than the lot next to it. In this atmosphere of extended contracts, and churning out whatever concept was working (more than right now, even, if you can imagine), there flourished two bright shining points named William Babineaux and Christine Ford. William – or Buster, as he was nicknamed – was a brilliant dancer. He was both natural and hard-worker and no routine was too extravagant. Christine was gorgeous, with voice to match, and such turn of phrases that no camera could resist.
Buster and Christine stared in many identical movies and musicals until they became as close a sweethearts as they always played. It was a match made on the screen.
Their famous wedding inspired true love for audiences everywhere and helped bolster their movies when they displayed such obvious chemistry. Somehow, against all Hollywood odds, they stayed together and from this blessed union came forth William Junior.
We cannot begrudge little Billy that it is difficult growing up faced with two extraordinarily gifted parents, but, well… the truth was that he just couldn’t step up to the challenge. By no lack of trying, Billy was simply just not as talented. He did some acting parts, however – ushered in by the siren song of his famous name – and then turned to producing because he had a lot of money and the whole being in front of the camera thing wasn’t working as well.
During his failing career, Billy met a like soul. Mary Ann Masterson was a spitfire aspiring musician who just needed her big break. Apparently, her first two husbands couldn’t cut it for her. Billy stepped up to the plate, using his producer’s rights to, well, produce her first album.
Things were never meant to be creatively for Billy and Mary, however, and, seeing their shining lights getting dimmer and dimmer, they turned desperate and signed onto a reality show about their life, marriage, and whatever was left of their careers. It was really only a move to keep their names on people’s lips..
It all was slowly dying again when Mary became pregnant. Well, that sure turned up the drama. And then the kids were born – kids, twins. Two precious little babies, a boy and a girl. They were the darlingest things anyone had ever seen, and the Babineauxs became popular again. The kids were given screen-time and photoshoots before they even knew how to speak, though it was that particular event that sent things even higher. See, a little demonstration was planned – boy and girl indulging in an impromptu song and dance at this tender, adorable age.
Of course, ratings rocketed. Talent, it seemed, had skipped a generation. Brennan and Burgundy were like their grandparents reborn. As siblings. Anyway, the comparison was made, prompting producer dad to become manager dad and get his kids their own gig. Guest stars here, talent shows there, — commercials, a TV Show. They were the darlings of every household.
But as they grew up alongside their TV show, as all child stars know, they had to keep up with their changing appeal. They weren’t just cute kids who could get away with a smile anymore because they weren’t just automatically getting kid roles anymore. While both children could’ve easily stepped up to the challenge, neither was meant to be. Burgundy was by now far too used to everything just coming to her and she ignored her vast talent. Brennan, on the other hand, was getting tired of this show life and far more interested with what was going on behind the screen.
So, daddy dearest engineered a come-back. They prepared a song and dance routine to remind people how they had fallen in love with the twins in the first place. It was a riotous hit – all the phone calls coming back in, plans being made…
But it’s also what snapped Brennan. He couldn’t do another round. As the family was prepared head onto stage for a performance and interview that could get them everything they wanted, Brennan ditched. He never showed. His sister was left alone, humiliated. But did Brennan care? No! He was free. After a huge debacle, he got himself a lawyer, separated from the family, and changed his name as soon as it was legal to do so.
After that, Brennan’s climb was only higher. He was very briefly a gopher and agent for another director but his keen ideas brought him out of servitude to better gains. He would learn later that the public disaster of the twins breaking up had caused his mother to blame producer-father for the downfall and a divorce was already well on the way. It hardly seemed to matter, because Brennan was going places the rest of his family wasn’t. He was an assistant to the creative department first and then earned himself a place on the team with bigger and better marketing strategies. He schmoozed his way into the office of every executive but still managed to remain sharp so that, when they stepped aside or made mistakes, there he was.
All of this is seeming to pay off now, as Brennan has stepped up recently to be Vice President in charge of marketing and development at CDS, with influence over the smaller station, Now!. Of course, this isn’t the end. Not until the “vice” is off his title.
Personality
He’s an asshole, Mister Grinch. And yet, somehow, people still flock to him. See, Brennan has one of those rare abilities to be completely smarmy, snarky, and sly at the same time. He’s charming when he absolutely needs to be – which is where the supreme ability to lie comes in – but mostly he’s right on the edge of being a bastard, and he gets along just fine being it, too. The one thing he will never do is make apologies for his behavior.
Brennan is very business. He likes to be clean, presentable, and to get work done. His image is very important to him, and his family is no longer part of that. Somewhere in that dark heart, perhaps he still worries about the wreck Burgundy has become, but then she comes around hassling him for money in front of his coworkers and he feels all that distaste for her again. Not to mention that she reminds him of a time in his life he’d rather forget – that being anything that involved him acting or singing. He’s not an actor. He’s not a singer. And, no, he doesn’t like it when you remember that that little kid from the bubble-bath commercials was him. He will breeze past stories of his past.
See, he’s intelligent, shrewd, and could sell you cancer with the right ad. And he really, really, really doesn’t like stupid people. And basically everyone in the world is stupid. How else can he sell this kinda crap to them? Actually, he likes his job. He likes to work. He just doesn’t always like who he’s forced to work with. Not that they’ll ever know if they’re still in charge of his career in some way.
Anger tends to build up here. It seethes low and invisible for a while until he can find a way to release all that pent-up energy. Brennan doesn’t remember how to have fun, mostly because of all that image-protecting so he’s started taking more and more interest in alternate activities. Namely, violence. He doesn’t get turned on it by it, though, because that would be to suggest he has some kind of other feelings besides hate. This love of violence is actually very convenient for convincing himself it’s why he chases lowlifes out of his sister’s radar instead of any actual, you know, care for her well-being.
Underneath all the cold exterior and hating on Christmas, he still manages to have a set of vaguely moral codes. Lucky for him, they don’t involve all of the covert, sneaky maneuvering he does in the business.
On-Screen Appearances
Date
Name of Scene —> the DL
Quotes
Trivia
- The Babineaux name has been officially, legally, and bindingly changed to Sheppard.
- Once when he got drunk, he sang a rather rousing rendition of “She Bangs” at a public bar. He spent the next two weeks developing an extreme tolerance for alcohol.
Inspiration
I would like to extend all blame to Promax|BDA for making creative directors look sexy to me.
