Melanie McLean Brooks

Melanie McLean Brooks

  • 1st year in Industry: 2003

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Melanie McLean Brooks is a director, director of photography, sushi connoisseur and effervescent optimist.  

Melanie began her career behind the lens as a media relations officer in the US Air Force and then a freelance photographer in New York. She worked just about every role on a photo set, until her career charged towards film production.  Melanie spends most of her time as a director of photography on documentaries, documentary series and docu-style branded content and commercials. This sort of camera work really aligns her love of light, her need to explore and her interest in making the world a kinder place. You get the gist…capturing “authenticity” and working with real people is her love language.

A few of her most recent works include documentary series “Herstory” (releasing in late 2022), “The Secrets of Playboy” on A&E, “Portrait of a Queen,” featuring Ru Paul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 cast.  Her work has been seen on PBS, Discovery, MTV, Vh1, The History Channel, A&E, The New York Times, The Atlantic and NPR. She is also the director of photography of two Emmy nominated series, “Portrait of a Queen” (2019) and “Out of the Closet” (2019) and the 2020 PSA, “We the Artists.” She directed “Seat Belt Stories,” a Colorado-centric PSA series, which was awarded “The 50” by the Colorado Ad Club and is Emmy nominated (2022).

She and her husband co-own and operate Flying Giant Productions, a nimble docu-style production company based in Denver, Colorado and focused on storytelling that skews towards sustainability and social good.

She received her Bachelors in Journalism from Rutgers University and a Master of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in social documentary film.