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Brandon Gates

Brandon Gates

@thebgates.bsky.social

150 followers 85 following 310 posts

journo. director. writer. indie filmmaker. 🌏 traveler. powerlifter. southern gent turned brooklynite. estudiando es 🎧 TODAY WE ALMOST DIED: https://linktr.ee/todaywealmostdied Journalism: https://bit.ly/m/gates Creative: https://linktr.ee/irongatesmedia

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Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jun 27

🚨 The pilot episode of my new narrative podcast is officially out.

TODAY WE ALMOST DIED follows four Brooklyn roommates trapped together in lockdown — and the pandemic is just the beginning of their unraveling.

🎧 Listen: rss.com/podcasts/tod...
💥 Support the fundraiser: igg.me/at/todayweal...

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 16

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month a mis dominicanos, puertorriqueños,
colombianos, ecuatorianos, mexicanos, costarricenses, salvadoreños, guatemaltecos, hondureños, nicaragüenses, panameños, cubanos, argentinos, bolivianos, chilenos, paraguayos, peruanos, uruguayos, venezolanos y ecuatoguineanos. 🙌🏾✊🏿🤌🏾💪🏿

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

MAYOR ADAMS: “#AndrewCuomo is a snake and a liar, I am in this race, and I am the only one that can beat #Mamdani.”

The gloves are off.

@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

I don’t see these pursuits as distractions. They’re part of the same project: finding truth, making meaning, connecting with audiences. That’s what storytellers do. A simple Venn diagram says it all: Journalist + Screenwriter = Storyteller. Do you see similar walls in your own field?

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

The question I keep returning to: has journalism become too rigid to recognize multidimensional storytellers? If so, what are we losing? Perhaps the issue isn’t credibility but control; an insistence that the field remain narrowly defined, even as the world demands broader narratives.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

That’s why “storyteller” resonates with me more than “journalist” or “screenwriter.” Good reporting requires imagination; good fiction requires truth. The skills overlap. The forms inform each other. And yet, our industry still clings to rigid categories that leave little room for hybridity.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

Over the years, I stopped seeing my work as competing lanes. I write, I produce, I direct, I teach. Journalism matters deeply to me, but so does creative writing. Both sharpen the other. At their core, they’re not opposites, they’re extensions of the same impulse: to tell stories.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

When I began screenwriting in 2016, I was warned it could “damage my credibility.” Some editors said fiction would undermine my journalism. This fear reveals something: not about storytelling, but about journalism’s insecurity. Why does the profession resist multidimensional identities?

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

Freelancers live this tension acutely. Hiring managers too often view them as “less serious” than staff reporters. Yet freelancing demands more: self-discipline, business acumen, creativity, and resilience. It’s not a gap in credibility, it’s a test of versatility that rarely gets acknowledged.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Sep 5

In journalism, comparison is a constant. Colleagues measure each other by titles, beats, and bylines. It’s not just ego… it’s survival. The field is shrinking, layoffs are routine, and prestige often substitutes for stability. But does that really define what makes someone a journalist? (🧵)

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Aug 25

Today We Almost Died has hit *12% of our goal! 🙌🏾

Indiegogo is done but the journey continues on Buy Me A Coffee ☕️. Every listen, share, and support helps this indie #audiodrama reach new ears. 🖤

🎧 Listen: linktr.ee/todaywealmos...

💸 Support: buymeacoffee.com/todaywealmos...

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Aug 5

Trump went on @cnbc.com this morning and said this about undocumented farm workers:

“They do it naturally… they don't get a bad back, because if they get a bad back, they die.”

Not a compliment. Just a blunt admission: they exploit the same people they criminalize.

#Trump #Immigration #Labor

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Aug 2

TRUMP on Newsmax, on Karoline Leavitt:

“It’s that face, it’s that brain, it’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”

Real quote. Real broadcast. 2025 journalism is just keeping receipts.

#Trump #Newsmax #KarolineLeavitt #Politics

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 28

I wish I’d read those words back in college. Still, I’m grateful for the reminder to keep writing, producing, directing—and putting my work out into the world. I cringe thinking about how much weight I gave to opinions that never really mattered throughout my 20s and early 30s.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 28

In a 2024 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Donald Glover said, “No one on their deathbed is going to look back and say, ‘Thank God I avoided being cringe.’”

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 24

Gov. #DeSantis was mid-sentence about #HulkHogan when a protester started shouting accusations, including “You bow down to a f–king pedophile.”

The outburst stunned the room before security stepped in. These disruptions are becoming more common—and more pointed.

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 22

Over 30 individual donors and counting! 🙌🏾

Huge thanks to everyone who’s supported us so far. 🙏🏾🔥

Want to contribute? linktr.ee/todaywealmos...

#audiodrama #fictionalnarrative #fictionpodcast #podcastsky #crowdfunding #todaywealmostdied #twad #podcastfundraiser #blackstorytelling

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 21

You know what? They sure didn’t.

Bad #journalism. 🤣
#superman #TheDailyPlanet

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 16

#Trump says the #EpsteinFiles are a hoax.

Yet in Feb 2020, conservative influencers literally walked out of the West Wing carrying DOJ-labeled binders titled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.”

Pam Bondi claimed she had the client list “sitting on my desk.”

But now? Hoax. Blame the Democrats. 🧐

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 10

From the “he said what?” files:

Trump to Liberian President Joseph Boakai:

“Such good English… where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

For context: English is Liberia’s official language. 🇱🇷

#ForeignAffairs #USAfricaRelations #TrumpDiplomacy #Liberia #PostColonialism #InternationalNews

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 5

PRO TIP: Encuentra amigos con una azotea. #july4th

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 5

Feliz Día de la Independencia.

Sin embargo, América, tienes que hacerlo mejor. #july4th

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jul 2

Laura Coates on CNN: “I kid you not, people are pouring baby oil on one another outside this courthouse.” #Diddy #DiddyTrial

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jun 27

When visiting rss.com/podcasts/tod...

click “Listen on” and choose Spotify, Apple, or whatever app you use.

Stream it free. Anywhere. Right now.

#FictionPodcast #AudioDrama #IndieMedia #PodcastLaunch

TODAY WE ALMOST DIED | Podcast on RSS.com

Four Brooklyn roommates. One global pandemic. Zero chance of coming out the same.TODAY WE ALMOST DIED is a raw, fictional audio comedy drama about surviving isolation, secrets, and each other. Set dur...

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jun 27

🚨 The pilot episode of my new narrative podcast is officially out.

TODAY WE ALMOST DIED follows four Brooklyn roommates trapped together in lockdown — and the pandemic is just the beginning of their unraveling.

🎧 Listen: rss.com/podcasts/tod...
💥 Support the fundraiser: igg.me/at/todayweal...

Brandon Gates @thebgates.bsky.social · Jun 19

Happy #Juneteenth everybody.