The Immersive 5 with Brett Jackson of Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells

Live Action Attractions’ founder brings the fun to LA’s immersive creative scene

The Immersive 5 with Brett Jackson of Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells
Brett Jackson (center, standing) runs the table at Live Action Attractions’ Blackbird Pie. (Courtesy of Brett Jackson)

Brett Jackson has long been on NoPro’s radar, first for his work with Two Bit Circus in the Before Times and then for whipping up one of the High Pandemic’s more fun diversions in the form of Bowling Night under his Live Action Attractions shingle.

An immersive artist and designer of interactive attractions for folks like Disney, Netflix, Universal, Google, the United Nations and Meow Wolf, Brett also serves on the Themed Entertainment Association’s western division board of directors.

In 2022 he spun up Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells “the kooky concepts club for creators of experience.” Once a month the event invites creatives “to play at inventing a new attraction based on a surprise creative prompt and laugh with other weirdos as they attempt to do the same.” These days the event takes place at Two Bit Circus, where legends have it that the peels of laughter emanating from Club 101 have been known to drown out the sounds of the arcade on the other side of its doors.

The Immersive 5 series asks creators across the various immersive disciplines the same five questions in search of both their approach to crafting work, and the elusive nature of immersive work itself.

NO PROSCENIUM: What does “immersive” mean to you, and what terms do you use when talking about your own work?

BRETT JACKSON: I love playing trade jargon magnet poetry! Personally, I organize all these terms around story. “Experiential” means embodied story — storytelling through sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. “Themed” means the environment tells that story too. “Immersive” means the story’s about you.

When speaking about our client work, Live Action Attractions says we design “live games, interactive shows & playable environments,” and that nicely covers it.

NP: What should every creator be thinking about first and foremost when designing for the audience?

BJ: I think the baseline of design hierarchy starts with a creator’s responsibility to “do no harm.” That’s many considerations and it touches every part of the design. The ultimate goal is to lavish the audience with loving respect, but always start with, “how do we want to be treated?”

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To me, as mainstream content grows ever more transactional, caretaking in experience design feels wild, anarchic and punk. I love that.

‘The Call Came From Inside The Country’ took a narrative approach to training political phone banking. (Source: Brett Jackson)

NP: What did you wish you knew when you were starting out and what’s the one thing you’d tell a creator starting out today?

B.J.: Find the others. Connect with your creative community because that’s where all the best fun comes from and also the best opportunities.

We call Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells “unprofessional networking,” because you’re not there to hand out business cards. You’re invited to make something bizarre, and strangers tasked with the same outlandish assignment get to come tell you what they love about your solution. Bam! You’ve made a real connection based on mutual creative appreciation. Only later do you find out your new weirdo pal is an immersive director or a food scientist or a Disney executive. How much calmer and richer is that than asking, “so what do you do?”

NP: Why do this kind of work and not craft something for a more traditional medium, be it a novel, play, film, or game?

B.J.: Experiential design gets all the coolest creator tools — vivid sensory experience, direct human interaction, collaborative co-creation, player agency and high-octane make-believe.

There’s this great line from the movie State & Main, “everyone makes their own fun, otherwise it’s just entertainment.” Experiential is the premium fun.

NP: What inspirations — and anything is fair game here — are currently shaping your creative practice?

B.J.: Tons! I’m constantly inspired by the community of creative weirdos at Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells. Each month invariably there’s this wonderful moment where somebody’s idea that starts out half a joke gets an awed ripple of “ooh” passing through the audience, as everyone realizes “THAT SHOULD EXIST.” Because all submissions are voluntary (and anonymous) there’s a fearlessness to share bolder ideas. And of course you also get an excuse for monthly updates on what folks are making outside the club. We charge each other up.

As we say at the club, “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If it’s original you’ll have to ram it down their throats.”


Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, new home of NoPro’s show listings.

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