Wendy Braun stars in Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, playing Elizabeth, the private equity director of Triukas, aka the villain. I spoke with her recently to talk about the unique series, learning about behind the scenes, making of, and so much more.
Tara Jabbari
Thank you so much for being here! So, how is this a scripted comedy?
Wendy Braun
Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat follows a new temp, Anthony, as he comes to work for a small business and head out on their company retreat. So he does not know that everyone around him is an actor and the entire thing is meticulously staged. It is scripted. It has story beats, story arc and all of that. And then obviously it’s a lot of improv because you have one guy who doesn’t know he’s on a TV show.
In the center of the story is a retiring CEO and he’s deciding whether or not to pass the family business off to his unqualified son or to sell to private equity. And so it becomes a battle of David versus Goliath and I am team Goliath basically.
Tara Jabbari
I always felt like it’s more of a character study.
Wendy Braun
We want to be really clear with the viewers, the intention behind it is always to shine a light on the goodness in humanity. And so it’s never mean spirited, it’s never putting him in a place making fun of him. What’s so beautiful about it is it has so much humor, obviously, but so much heart. And so I think what people are loving is to watch this amazing man who just has so much character and integrity and generosity to be brand new as a temp in this company and watch him over time get to know everyone and champion them and the way he stands up for them and what he does inside of really a week on a company retreat. It’s shining the light on how good people can be and I think that is really at the core of what this show is about. And that’s why people love it is that it’s unlike any other shows that sort of do the opposite, you know?
Tara Jabbari
I was wondering if we’ve seen parts in season one and in season two where they’re like, if this happens, if Hero reacts to this way, we’ll do it this way. If Hero acts this way, then we’ll do it that way or something like that. With you being with the writers, were you able to kind of see how they, did you guys have to readjust the script or was it always planned?
Wendy Braun
What people also don’t realize is every day they’d send Anthony and another person who was with him like on a run at the end of the day and about a hundred cast and crew would come out of the woodwork and all meet in the yurt. We’d have a debrief on what was he responding today? What did he react to? What do we have to sort of up the ante on? What do we have to turn down the volume on? So it definitely is a daily assessment of how he’s feeling and what’s going on and the storyline. So often we would adjust things, but we have things to get to and beats and story arcs and all the things that you see in the show. He’s got to go up and down the hill and I got to get knocked out and get a bloody nose. All of that is scripted. But within that world, you have to be able to improv as your character for hours if need be, because what you see on the screen is a 30 minute thing, but we’re at a company retreat and it’s all day. And so it really required everyone’s, know, precision and commitment and collaboration at the top of their game in every single department. So we would sometimes adjust, of course, on the fly. But luckily he was almost a step ahead of us. Like he would ask in the very beginning, he asks Kevin, you know, do I get a hat? And he doesn’t realize like he’s going to get the hat later. So he was in it.
Tara Jabbari
Did you enjoy being the bad the baddie?
Wendy Braun
It is fabulous playing the villain, especially when she pulls up in a cyber truck and all the things. At times, it was challenging because I am the fish out of water, and I am very much, you know, having to come in composed and confident and in control, and no one likes me. So the actor who wants people to like her is like, okay, but this is a role, and this is an amazing role. I had to just go for it. It’s like, not everyone’s gonna like you on screen or off, so let’s go. It really felt like walking a high wire without a net doing the show and playing the villain. I had to learn the logic and the language and vernacular of private equity. And it took a lot of research and then collaboration with the writers. And I felt ready, but you, we had a lot of rehearsal as well. And I also feel like this, no villain thinks they’re the villain. I think I’m there to just elevate and offer up opportunity and access and all the things. So I didn’t see her as this horrible person while playing her.
She’s just trying to get what she needs and she goes about it a lot of different ways. But it was a fun challenge and to rise to the occasion, you walk away feeling like you can do anything after doing jury duty, presents company retreat. Yeah.
Tara Jabbari
Do you think there’s a reason why so far in these two seasons it’s been a male that has been because I feel a female would be highly suspicious. We always have to have our guard up.
Wendy Braun
Yeah, it’s funny. I don’t know if they’ll ever do a female that hasn’t been talked about yet. I mean, in rooms I’ve been in, but I haven’t been in all the rooms. That would be interesting. I think as a mom and as a woman, you know, as a female growing up in the world, what people don’t realize and maybe even male producers is like,
We watch everything. I walk in a restaurant and notice people. I walk to my car and notice. We probably live a more high alert life being a woman, right? And yeah, and our intuition of, maybe we question things. I don’t know. I just wanna highlight the goodness of the guys they have picked that actually someone had said, can they please start a dating service with the jury duty picks?
They probably have like 100 guys who are amazing and it’s like they should start a dating app, know, because these are like good amazing guys and I’m so happy they found them. a woman, you know, there’s a lot of people on the interweb, you know, who would say like a woman would notice it and all that. So who knows? Maybe they’ll do it and we’ll see.
Tara Jabbari
I know, it really would be tricky, because I’d be like, no, see, I feel like we would, probably a woman would be like, no, let’s double check if the car is locked. Do you have your key?
Tara Jabbari
And I was wondering if you can kind of share about it because I feel like what we are talking about with Jury Duty, this scripted show, which I would still say is a human case study, kind of goes, if I’m understanding it correctly, to what you have done. So you started the Success Breakthrough Workshop in 2015 that has now served over 1,000 clients in 25 countries. Can you kind of explain what the purpose of these were and what is it about?
Wendy Braun
I really help people move through fear and doubt and uncertainty to live their biggest creative dream and their creative life. And what started really in one studio in LA with 12 people, I taught my success breakthrough workshop live in a room and they would come back every week. It was like a six week program and they come back every week with the most amazing stories and development deals and all these things that were happening. One girl had to go off and do a job and I when I gave her my I would come in with my keynote and I gave her that and my guided meditations that I made and she went off and was able to do it not in the room and that and still have breakthroughs.
That’s when I realized maybe I could share this with more people than live in a room and so I took it online in 2017 and now thousands of people all over the world have done this program. I love doing it and it’s just been a labor of love when I’m on set and then to have a student anywhere in the world from London to Singapore to Brazil to LA email me and say, “I did this exercise and I had this breakthrough” or “I booked this job” or “I did a Ted talk or I’m on Broadway now.” My students are series regulars on the West End and writing books, all the creative dreams and to really use my success and help other people and to let them know they can do it and to show them the path has just been so rewarding.
Tara Jabbari
That’s beautiful because that was when I was like, if it’s an actor’s workshop, but it says creative.
Wendy Braun
Yeah, so it’s morphed. Yeah, it’s morphed over time because so many actors were coming in, but they were also like, well, I’m a writer. Will this work for me as a writer? I was like, yes, I’m a director. Well, I want to write a book. I want to do Ted talk. want to, you know, and so it expanded as over the years to be real. And they all would tell me, Wendy, I use this in how I deal with my kids. I use all of your tools and teachings in my life. It’s helped me create an amazing life. And so what started out as maybe just for actors in a room definitely expanded to, you know, anyone with a creative dream who wants to live their best life. This workshop and everything I do inside my business is to help lead the way from a place of joy and love and fulfillment. So it’s less about the hustle and it’s more about the flow, I guess you could say. Yeah.
Tara Jabbari
Yeah, to hear it from this idea that you started this workshop and you’re like, it doesn’t matter about any of that stuff, like what is it that you wanna do or how can you, is so inspiring.
Wendy Braun
I always tell my students that success is mastering the fine art, and it is an art, of dealing with rejection and setbacks and failure and disappointment without letting it define you, derail you, or defeat you. And that, at the core of what I do, is I help people to navigate the messy middle on the way to their biggest dreams.
There’s a guided meditation I created that people are loving and it’s totally free. It’s called Creating Success While You Sleep. It helps people in the last five minutes of your day is the most powerful part of your day. And whatever you’re thinking about and sort of ruminating on, your subconscious mind will marinate on it through the entire night. So this guided meditation, you just put it on and go to sleep and you will be reprogramming yourself for success. People said who had anxiety and had trouble sleeping or just wanted to not be worrying late at night, they listen to this and love it. So anyone can get it at wendbraun.com slash sleep. And you can just enjoy a free guided meditation for me and hopefully it will help you to have good sleep and wake up feeling confident, ready to pursue your big dreams, whatever they are.
Tara Jabbari
Thank you so much. And right now, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat is out on Prime Video.
Wendy Braun
It’s a pleasure to talk to you. I love how passionate you are about the show and all of the things. And we’re just delighted that it’s landed in the way it has. And I hope people love it. And thank you.
