W. David McBrayer

In college, McBrayer developed a keen interest in the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, and in particular, Jung's concept of synchronicity. McBrayer also subscribes to certain tenets of Eastern philosophy. His first screenplay, entitled Synchronicity, delves into this metaphysical phenomenon. McBrayer's feature film, Beat the Drum, explores the interconnectedness of life, chance encounters, and faith. He has written and co-authored several non-fiction books on New Testament Greek and theology including Seven Dynamic Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, The Original Word – Introduction to New Testament Greek, and Granville Sharp's Remarks on the Use of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament. McBrayer was Executive Editor of the Byzantine Majority Textform, often cited as the definitive work on the Majority text of the Greek New Testament.

The movie is represented by Sidney Kimmel International. In 2008 MGM secured the international rights to "Beat the Drum"; Genius/Harvey Weinstein Company acquired the domestic U.S. DVD rights and the DVD was first released in 2008. Showtime/The Movie Channel has contracted for the exclusive North American television rights.

Starring Clive Scott and Owen Sejake, Beat the Drum premiered at the 2003 Mill Valley Film Festival. The feature film has won numerous international awards including the prestigious Montreal Zenith D'Or, which was televised live on Montreal television, and the Monaco International Film Festival Angel Award, the festival's top honor, presented to Mr. McBrayer by Miss France.

In 2002 McBrayer formed Z Productions LLC in Los Angeles, California and moved the post production company, Z Post LLC, to Hollywood.

McBrayer assembled an all South African production team and shot the film in just 26 days during the summer of 2002 on-location in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal. The film is dedicated "to Beatrice," his mother, who died in October 2002, during post production.

In 2000, Z Post produced "Hope For Africa," a hard-hitting, six-part television series highlighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which aired on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The series was shot on location in South Africa and Kenya. It was during this trip that McBrayer got the inspiration for his 2003 film, Beat The Drum. In 2000, SABC aired “Hope for Africa,” in Swaziland and more newspapers were sold that day in the paper's entire history because of the special brochure that was produced to accompany the series.

In 1999, McBrayer created, wrote (along with Touched by an Angel writer Bob Colleary) and executive produced a television pilot entitled Postcards From Heaven, starring Marion Ross and John Haymes Newton Postcards From Heaven won the Global Association of Independent Television Award for Outstanding Drama Programing in 2000. McBrayer was awarded the top prize by famed writer/producer Stephen Cannell.

In 1998, McBrayer sold Digital Solutions for an undisclosed amount.

In 1994, McBrayer won the Birmingham Open in fencing, a regional fencing tournament. He is a cross-country cyclist and has biked BRAG [Bike Riding Across Georgia] from Atlanta to Savannah. In 2005 he completed the Natchez Trace Trail—from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN., an approximately 590-mile trek, with his daughter Lauren Miller. McBrayer is a long-time SCUBA diver, past skydiver, and avid skier. He enjoys yoga, painting, sculpting, and exotic wood bowl turning.

In the mid 1990s, McBrayer also co-founded Z Post, LLC, a television production and post-production company with facilities in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Z Post's clients included Turner Broadcasting, the Cartoon Network, Vanity Fair, Avid Technology, Fox Broadcasting, Channel 36, Warner Bros. Records, the Billy Graham Association and Walk Thru the Bible. Z Post produced "Creating Hollywood Style Special Effects on the Avid Media Composer," the first authorized training CD ROM for Avid Technology, the industry leader in television and film editing and special effects technology.

McBrayer began his advertising career on Madison Avenue in 1976, with Grey Advertising on the Procter & Gamble account, before joining Young & Rubicam/Worldwide, the world's largest advertising agency at the time. McBrayer went client side, at age 27, to become Senior Vice President, Advertising & Brand Management with Culbro's General Cigar Division, the youngest senior executive in the company's 75-year history. McBrayer later founded Ad Associates, Inc., an advertising and communications company and co- founded National Market Measures, a Cleveland, Ohio-based market research. company whose clients included The World Bank. He sold National Market Measures in 1987.

McBrayer attended the University of Tennessee. He was President of the Student Art League and, while an under graduate, was published in Perceptual and Motor Skills, for his research in perception entitled "Effects of Social Influence in a Recognition Task of Auditory Intensity"." His primary interest was the nexus of art/the creative process/psychology. He graduated from UTC in 1973 with a B.S. in Psychology. He received a MA in Advertising/Mass Communications from Michigan State University in 1976 and was recipient of the Graduate Award for advertising. While in graduate school at MSU McBrayer co-founded PACE Marketing Group, a market research company that conducted consumer research on the UPC for a Senate sub-committee.