Rebel with a Clause
One fall day in 2018, Ellen Jovin set up a folding table on a Manhattan sidewalk with a sign that said “Grammar Table.” Right away, passersby began excitedly asking questions, telling stories, and filing complaints. What happened next is the stuff of grammar legend. Ellen and her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, took the table on the road, visiting all 50 US states as Brandt shot the grammar action. But this story transcends grammar. It’s the story of an epic quest to bring us all closer together. In a time of extreme social and political division, the Grammar Table is a place of unity and connection. The conversations at the table help answer the question “How can we all get along?”
About the Director
Rebel with a Clause is Brandt Johnson’s feature film directorial debut. Before this project, Brandt was the writer, director, and star of Brad Advice, a comedy web series. The New York Daily News raved, “Brad Advice is a new web series worth getting tangled in... the writing is sharp and funny... Brad Advice knocks it out of the park.” Brandt has also written and performed in three plays (The New York Times praised his “sharp writing”). He is the author of the book Practical Presentation Skills: Authenticity, Focus & Strength (Hachette, 2019). Brandt is a co-founder of Syntaxis, a New York-based communication skills consulting and training firm. The other co-founder is his wife, Ellen Jovin (the featured subject of Rebel with a Clause). A former investment banker and speechwriter, Brandt has trained executives of major corporations around the world. Also a lifelong athlete, Brandt played professional basketball in Europe and on tour against the Harlem Globetrotters. He graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in mathematics and earned an M.B.A. in finance from the NYU Stern School of Business.