Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I've recently become a Vice President at Radar Pictures (The Last Samurai, The Box, Everybody’s Fine and Texas Chainsaw Massacre). We have numerous projects in development with A-list actors, directors and writers. Some of the folks we are set to work with are Tyler Perry, Will Ferrell, Daniel Craig and many others. I'm busy daily with banks, investors, budgets, contracts, reading scripts and trying to discover the next big hit. I'm also extremely busy with Brener Films, my own independent film and TV Company. We are developing numerous titles for all entertainment and media. Asleep At the Wheel starring Donald Sutherland, Rosie Perez and Justin Chatwin is in pre-production. I'm producing and acting in it. I'm also pitching and selling TV shows. Most recently, I'm shopping around a reality Israeli format titled “Champions of Life” to adapt to the US market and under my company we already inked a deal for “Demolition Chef" with SmallWorld IFT. I've also started a lovely relationship with United King Films in Israel whereby I supply them movies that I find in the US to be released in Israel. On the acting front, I just wrapped a series regular role on “The Monica 90404,” a spoof web series on teen dramas, and the film The Chicago 8 opposite Danny Masterson, Gary Cole and Orlando Jones where again I both acted and produced. The film just won the Peach Tree Atlanta Film Festival. I’m about to start shooting a National Lampoon teen horror, titled Cheerleaders Must Die! It’s a total homage to authentic grind house horror. I play the lead, Ms. Hammer, who is the coach to a high school cheerleading squad. We all go to a training camp and bad things start to happen. I love that Ms. Hammer is the mentor that all the girls look up to and turns out to be something quite different.

Q) You're an actress and a film executive. What made you decide to pursue a career in the film industry?

A) My mother was a famous film and theater actress in Israel. I used to ride along with her to all her plays and shoots and recite all her lines and the other actor’s lines. I was fascinated by the whole thing. From an early age, I took piano, dance, art and singing lessons. I always knew I was an artist. I asked my parents early on to get me into the business, but they didn’t want me to become a child actor. My mom and I shot a campaign for the French chocolate “Merci” when I was two years old, the ads and commercials aired all over Europe. Later on, when I was 15 years old, I joined the prestigious theater program at Beverly Hills High School. By the time I was 21 years old, I shot my first major motion film starring Henry Thomas titled Highjacking Hollywood. Growing up in a family of venture capitalists, MBAs and generally folks who respected “academia," I was pretty much an oddball (other than my Mom.), picking a path in entertainment. I've always known I wanted to be an actor. I also always knew I had this other keen business sense that has to be utilized in some form. It’s sort of the idea behind the notion that if your father was an architect, you would know a thing or two about blueprints. Well, my dad was certainly not an architect, but he is an established  businessman. So, its only natural I would know something about business.  Attending college was a “must,” but ironically was again the epitome of the dichotomy which lay within me. I double majored at USC in Art History and Film Critical Studies and then continued to a Master at Pepperdine in Business Administration, always seeking to bridge the gap between business, academics and the arts. I would cut classes and somehow make them up in order to travel to shoot such films as The Gray Zone (with Mira Sorvino and Harvey Keitel) in Eastern Europe, Employee of the Month (with Dane Cook and Andy Dick) in New Mexico and Meet Bill with Aaron Eckhart in  St. Louis. I even took a three year hiatus in order to complete two stints as series regulars on a couple of very popular primetime shows in Israel (my country of origin). Anybody who ever knew me knows I was always very hands on involved in any aspect of my acting career- publicity, marketing, selling, legal, training, etc. Reading legal contracts and finding little things to redline comes naturally to me as I've been doing it for years for my own career, a tool I now lean on daily. I have shot over two dozen films in the years to follow ranging from big studio ones like Righteous Kill where I worked and shared screen time with two of the greatest legends in cinema history - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, to smaller, but lovely nonetheless Indies as the lead in Hit List (with Joey Lawrence) and Touched (which was in the official selection and opened the International film festival in the Dominican Republic) and working as talent in numerous outlets as actress in TV and commercials and even as an entertainment news reporter and in print ads. I started producing independent features, pitching shows and ideas and was able to get five projects off the ground in a couple of years. The entrepreneurial drive within me would not let me sit still. The opportunity to come on board with Radar presented itself shortly after, which I went after it with the fervor and tenacity in which I perused any acting role and any schooling I've ever had.

Q) Both require a lot of time and dedication. How do you balance both?

A) I'm really excited about all the stuff I'm doing, juggling being a wife, mother, actress and producer. I'm a totally workaholic, if I could I would work nonstop seven days a week, I like it better than going on vacations and sitting on a beach sipping some fruity drink. There is a saying in the film world “why take a vacation - go on location." It's so true! I love making movies, every aspect of it is totally appealing to me, from the early rise at five in the morning when its still dark or going all night on a night shoot. I love reading scripts and analyzing them, finding my voice in this creative process, breaking apart the days and schedule, looking for investors and financing, finding the right director and the right actors and selling the projects and distributing them. Acting, producing and making movies are a communal activity - you cannot do it on your own, your interdependent sometimes on fifty to one hundred other people. I love being a piece of the puzzle and I love putting the puzzle together. My advice is stick to a routine a tight schedule, plan in advance. To me, its all about the planning and the structure. I make reminder notes in several places and I plan my months and weeks ahead. I get a bit OCD about it, but its probably better to not be rigid about it. Be flexible and eat right. It will give you energy and vitality. Sleep enough to function, but don’t waste your life in sleep. I'm also lucky I have an amazing nanny named Sandra. She has been with us since Mila (my 5 year old) was 3 weeks old. She helps a lot. Mila is very attached to her, she is like family. Indeed it’s a lot to juggle, but I love juggling; I’m a master multitasker. My favorite thing is waking up super early, answering all emails, making conference calls to Israel, taking Mila to school, making my full gym or yoga workout and being ready to start the day at the office and/or shoots and auditions and all of this before 9am. I also enjoy wrapping up a production meeting by 4:30pm because I have to go pick Mila up from school and take her to musical theater class. Bruce, my hubby, is really great like that, too. He is an amazing dad, caring, nurturing and helps me at every turn, knowing how important my career is to me.

Q) As a film executive, how do you choose the projects you work on?

A) Under Brener Films , which is my own company, I'm the owner and CEO. I have full creative freedom to pick projects. I have always been a movie fan and buff. I double majored at USC part Art History part film Critical Studies. There were years that I watched a film per day. I like that movies or TV provide a sort of escape for people, whether on the humorous or the dark sides. I also really enjoy the social, political and artistic affects that you can make with great projects, send messages etc. I enjoy the spectrum of Film, TV, Reality TV, the whole new realm of media of Web and apps. The sky is the limit! I have a love for various genres from romantic comedies to action to epic to human dramas. At Radar, we have a more specific formula. We are a studio based film company that does mostly A-list films with A-list talent that is super commercial, but also high end quality under Studios such as Universal, Fox, Warner Brothers and others. We work in conjunction to the studios and that includes big releases, large P & A (publicity and advertising), etc. In the current market, what is working is superheroes, big romantic comedies, adaptation of video games and adaptations of best selling novels. Our budgets are much higher than the budgets I deal with in the indie film world. I read lots of scripts, surf the net, talk to numerous writers I know, agents, managers, actors and I try to come up with innovative material and ideas. I present them to the company and if everybody likes them then we continue in developing them. I am also responsible to help develop and bring to fruition the titles that have already been developing in the company. At Radar, we are also expanding into TV episodics, reality and web content. It’s a team effort of all us executives who try to find the next hit and the next critically acclaimed feature film, TV series etc.

Q) Social networks are a new area film studios and television executives are using for promotion. Why is that such an important avenue to pursue?

A) Our generation is the one that experienced the Internet boom, social networks and going viral. It’s the present and it’s the future. The future for the film and TV industry is also looking like more and more each day that perhaps movies and TV will become antiquated at some point and a thing of the past, with more and more TVs having built in Internet and vice versa. The world has become a microcosm with social networks. It’s the new way to connect, promote, seek and be sought. Its the Generation Y way of advertising. Look at careers such as Justin Beiber or Suzanne Boyle, all created jumbo due to social networks. Film and TV execs would be foolish not to jump on the bandwagon and go along with the times. The entirety of the world is on Facebook, MySapce and YouTube. Many are now hopping on the Twitter craze and all the other networks that are popping. How else can you reach millions of people simultaneously globally with the press of a button? In my opinion , its not an important avenue to pursue. It IS the avenue to peruse.

Q) You're going to be starring in the movie The Hit List. Please tell us the premise for the film and about your character.

A)  I’m super excited about Hit List with Joey Lawrence ("Blossom") and John Savage (The Dear Hunter) directed by Minh Collins. I play the romantic comedy lead- Charlotte. She starts of as a sort of Bridgett Jones kind of gal, a lovable loser. I have issues with hostility that, instead of expressing them, I introvert and end up hating lots of people. I start a diary listing all those folks who wronged me and that I wished were dead. One day, the love of my life tries to make my juvenile wishes come true. I created a girl that’s sort of clumsy, wears glasses the majority of the film, untill she blossoms (then the specs come off - a sort of a metaphor). Charlotte is very different than me, but very the same. Shirly is a lot more “together” and I don't recall ever being dumped by a guy! Ha!  It’s a quirky dark comedy about a girl that falls in love with a guy who is a hit man in a very unusual way. It’s very witty, the premise, writing and the execution.

Q) What did you find challenging about the role?

I got to play the character from ages 18 years old to 30 years old. That was a challenge bringing something new to every age. I enjoy immensely doing comedies. The genre gives you the freedom to explore all sorts of things and added some improvisation, things that sometime tend to be more constrained in drama. Minh did a great job. He was very focused, but also very laid back on set. He let me do my thing and a lot of people are going to be positively surprised when they see Joey Lawrence in this. He is channeling Bruce Willis in Die-Hard. What was really exciting is that it just got a theatrical distribution in my homeland, Israel, and, the director, producers  and I traveled to open the film with the grand premiere at the prestigious Tel Aviv Cinematheque. It’s always heartwarming when the material I labor on here, makes it to my little country nestled in the Middle East.

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) Who has spare time? All kidding aside, I like to keep myself cultured and multifaceted. In my spare time, I take classes at The Beverly Hills Playhouse (where George Clooney and Alec Baldwin studied), at The Second City in LA (home to Tina Fay and Steve Carrel) and I perform on their stage with my group “The Lower Back Tattoo.” I read books and I go to museums, art shows, the movies and plays. I hang out with my delicious five year old, Mila. We go to the park and to farmer markets to buy fresh produce. I'm very into gastronomy and culinary experiences so I cook a lot and learn new recipes. My big dinners with various yummy fusion middle eastern meets the world cuisines have become quite famous amongst our friends crowds in LA. We occasionally like to travel. Some of my more special trips were to Africa, Jamaica and in California I really think that Big Sur and Carmel are unbelievably gorgeous, soothing and delightful. I’m very big on fitness so I spend a lot of my free time moving my body and and keeping really active. I'm  a Bikram Yoga girl (that’s the sweaty one you do in the sauna). I've been practicing it for over four years and I do it three to four times per week. I also love running. Running releases endorphins and endorphins make you happy. I run four to six miles per time about three times per week. I do a lot of circuit training and calisthenics. People don’t understand that they spend years at the gym and don’t get the right results because they are not training properly. They push equipment around instead of pushing their own body weight, which is way more beneficial. I occasionally play tennis and when warm outside I swim laps in the pool. I'm also an avid snow skier and try to go several times in the winter. When I'm at a summer beach resort, you will always find me water skiing, jet skiing or even wind surfing. Exercise and working out are an integral part of my life. There hardly ever goes a day that I'm not doing it. I need it like food and sleep. My body craves it and it makes me energized, invigorated and motivated. I'm a very competitive person (mostly with myself, I try to outdo myself in life) and sports encourages that. It’s a mirror to pushing yourself to the limit and trying to outdo yourself every single time

Q) Where can people go online to learn more about you?

A) They can go to the following sites: http://www.shirlybrener.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirly_Brener, http://www.twitter.com/shirlybrener and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shirly-Brener/351288754034?ref=sgm.