A poster for the June 12 reading of Joey Bragg’s screenplay. Courtesy Logo text Some former child stars become Zendaya. Others become Britney Spears. Still others, like Joey Bragg, who spent four teenage years starring opposite Dove Cameron on Disney’s Liv and Maddie, end up stuck in fame’s purgatory, underemployed in Hollywood but still recognizable enough to draw attention while, say, applying for a gig as a door-to-door solar salesman.
“What are you doing here?” he recalls being asked during the job interview, “Weren’t you on Liv and Maddie?”
But Bragg, now 29, may have finally found a way to reboot his career — with a screenplay about a former child actor trying to reboot his career. Bragg and two other Liv and Maddie alums — creators John Beck and Ron Hart — have penned a screenplay about a grown-up kid star who realizes that his best shot at reclaiming his fame is through a series of orchestrated public meltdowns. Its title, aptly, is Dumpster Fire.
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“It’s really about, ‘I peaked at 13 and now I’m trying to figure it out,’ ” Bragg tells Rambling. “When you’re a kid actor, you just do whatever the adults tell you to do. Then, when the show is done, you’re put in the regular industry, and you’re forced to make your own career.”
The idea was initially developed as a TV series, but after a few pitch meetings, the trio decided to reframe it as a feature. Earlier this spring, they workshopped their script with a reading at Silver Lake’s Lyric Hyperion Theater, dragooning fellow kid TV veterans like Full House’s Jodie Sweetin and On My Block’s Jessica Marie Garcia to help onstage. It was such a smash, the Lyric invited them back for a second reading on May 16. A third is scheduled for June 12.
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Also in Rambling Reporter:
Ryan Murphy’s Love Story has given Calvin Klein briefs a bump in sales; David Geffen reunites with ex-husband David Armstrong on a yacht.
This story appeared in the June 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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