Leah McKendrick was born and raised in San Francisco, California. While studying at Chapman University she wrote, produced, directed, and acted in a number of short films and stage plays and graduated in 2008 with a BFA in theatre performance.

In 2014, McKendrick wrote, produced and starred in the pop musical web series Destroy the Alpha Gammas. The series was critically acclaimed, and she was made a Webby Award honoree and received a Streamy Award nomination. In 2017, she wrote, produced and co-starred in her feature debut, M.F.A., which premiered at South By Southwest. In 2019, she was hired to write Paramount's Grease prequel, Summer Lovin', which was later cancelled. In 2020, she wrote, directed and starred in the short film Pamela & Ivy, a feminist origin story for the supervillain Poison Ivy. The film premiered on Collider. The film was a Webby Award honoree for best writing.

In 2022, McKendrick wrote, directed and starred in the feature film about a broke, single 34-year-old woman that decides to freeze her eggs following a breakup. The film was based on her own experience with egg-retrieval in 2021. The film premiered at South by Southwest in March 2023 and was released theatrically by Lionsgate in 2024. She was named one of IndieWire's "28 Rising Female Filmmakers to Watch" in 2023.

Ali Dee Theodore has over 3 decades of experience in the entertainment industry as a songwriter, producer, composer, artist and Executive Music Producer. In 1989, Dee signed a recording deal with Chrysalis Records for his group The Next School, which was the first African American & White rap duo. Dee would go onto joining the famed Hip Hop production juggernaut, The Bomb Squad, from 1990 to 1993. During the Golden Era of Hip Hop, Dee wrote and produced for Big Daddy Kane, Eric B & Rakim, YBT, Arron Hall, Slick Rick, Dana Dane, Mary J Blige, Natasha Bedingfield, Kool G Rap, andM.O.P, among many others.

In 2002, Dee saw tremendous opportunity in music for film and television and migrated from working with recording artists to creating songs & music for film & television. He has written songs and produced music for over 250 feature films and is ranked the #3 highest grossing Executive Music Producer on Worldwide box office receipts. Songs that Dee has written and produced have garnered in excess of two billion streams on Spotify & two billion views on YouTube.

In 2008, Dee won the American Music Award for his original songwriting and production for the blockbuster franchise film, Alvin & The Chipmunks. Dee went on to Executive Music Produce the second and third films in the franchise, The Squeakquel and Chipwrecked.

Dee has written and produced songs for countless hit Disney franchises and films, including Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, Descendants, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Shake It Up, Kickin’ It, Teen Beach Musical, and Hannah Montana. In 2013, Dee produced the triple-platinum #1 Billboard chart single “Cups”, by Anna Kendrick. In 2015, Dee was brought on by Nick Jr to write and produce 52 original songs for the animated series ALVINNN!!! And the Chipmunks. featured Dee’s 52 original songs for seasons 1 & 2. 

Highlights of Dee’s three-decade career in entertainment include producing the cast of NBC’s RISE in an epic cover of Macklemore’s smash hit “Glorious”, which was a featured commercial in Super Bowl LII; producing Rachen Platten’s single “Wonder” for the feature film Wonder Park; writing and producing JoJo Siwa’s single “D.R.E.A.M.”, which became the title song for her album and first national tour; co-writing and producing the Snoop Dogg / MonstaX single “How We Do” for the latest SpongeBob Squarepants feature film, Sponge On The Run which Dee had the role of Executive Music Producer; writing and producing five songs for the hit Netflix series Julie & The Phantoms; writing and producing the theme song for the new “He-Man: Masters of the Universe” reboot for Mattel/Netflix; writing and producing original music for Nickelodeon’s “Bubble Guppies” and “Noggin”; writing and producing the 2023 basketball playoff season theme songs for the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks; and producing and performing the hit song “Mario Brothers Rap” for Universal Pictures’ The Super Mario Bros. Movie which has garnered over $1 billion at the box office, making it one of the most successful animated franchise films of all time.

EMILY WRIGHT is a Grammy-nominated vocal producer, engineer and songwriter. She has written a number of top 40 songs and worked with some of the biggest artists in the world. Her production credits include Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, Flo Rida, One Direction, Linkin’ Park and other superstar pop artists. She is a diverse songwriter with additional credits including Britney Spears, Owl City, Cher Lloyd, Ben Rector, COIN and more. Emily graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Playwrights Horizons Theater School and subsequently taught at NYU as an adjunct professor. Her work as a female engineer and producer has been widely recognized in the music business, as only 2% of the industry’s producers are women, only 3% engineers.

Jagwar Twin is an artist who creates beyond music, building worlds that inspire and connect. Shaped by a chaotic childhood, he turned hardship into imagination, finding meaning in the polarity of struggle and peace. Even after losing everything—his home, relationship, and getting dropped from his record label—he refused to give up, using those moments to rebuild stronger. His genre-defying sound blends alt-rock, hip-hop, and haunting melodies, paired with visuals rich in symbolism. Jagwar Twin isn’t chasing trends; he’s paving his own path. His new album is a testament to perseverance and belief, a call to dreamers to see the magic in their own journey.

Eric is a Los Angeles-based music director, award winning music supervisor, creative music producer, songwriter, arranger, and drummer. Over the past 15 years, he has worn many hats: he was the music supervisor at Activision Blizzard (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero Live, Call of Duty League, Overwatch League). He has worked as a creative producer and music supervisor for marketing campaigns with Netflix, Amazon, Warner Brothers, Hasbro, Armani, Ford, Lincoln, and Capital One. He is a published arranger, a composer with music placements on Amazon, Netflix, and CBS, as well as a professional drummer that has performed with artists such as Lindsey Stirling and Speelburg.

Currently, Eric is the Music Director of the popular kids animated franchise CoComelon at Moonbug Entertainment. He oversees the music direction by developing, directing, and executing the entire music portfolio of the brand through various streams of content such as the YouTube channel, the various Netflix series, the albums released on Spotify, and more.

As an established drummer, you can regularly see Eric performing with the world-renowned improvisational group Baby Wants Candy and on the Netflix comedy special, "Todd Glass: Act Happy."

Happy Halloween from The Ben and Bren Show!

This week we are celebrating with just your hosts Benny and Brennan. We get into the Halloween spirit along with some fun new sound effects and Brennan gives us an incredible performance on the piano.

Eric Lee is an American Singer-Songwriter. Raised in South Florida, Lee grew up with eclectic tastes in music. With wide-ranging influences — from Dwight Yoakam, Bob Dylan, Eagles, and Dolly Parton; He emotes a unique voice in country music, creating vocally driven songs with heart and soul.

His debut single “Same Dirt Road” was released in Nov 2020 and quickly garnered millions of streams, hit no. 38 on the Music Row radio chart and obtained a strong international presence. Inspired by the idea that we’re all connected, no matter where we grow up and what “road” we walk, Lee both co-wrote and produced the release.

As a producer and co-writer, Lee’s music has been licensed for TV, film, and ads, most notably the song “Stronger Than I’ve Ever Been,” performed by Kaleena Zanders and featured in Toyota’s 2018 Super Bowl and Winter Olympics campaign.

His forthcoming album, “For Who You Are,” includes several tracks mixed by six-time Grammy-winning engineer Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Jack White), with mastering by Grammy-winner Pete Lyman.

In 2023, iHeartRadio featured Lee’s holiday track “Happy Holidays” across multiple stations and playlists, sharing his heartfelt celebration of unity and the holiday spirit with listeners everywhere.

Jasha Klebe is a composer known for emotive melodies and conceptually unique scores. Because of this, he has become particularly sought after for some of the most prestigious natural history programs today. From co-scoring the BAFTA and Emmy nominated music of BBC’s Planet Earth II, (alongside Hans Zimmer & Jacob Shea), to additionally providing music to the follow up series, Blue Planet II, ITV’s groundbreaking 6-part series, A Year On Planet Earth - narrated by Stephen Fry, to Netflix’s bold nature documentary series, Animal, FOX’s Malika the Lion Queen narrated by Angela Bassett, Plimsoll’s vividly eye-opening Queer Planet, to most recently co-scoring Netflix’s highly acclaimed blue-chip series, Our Planet II narrated by David Attenborough. With each program, Jasha has been praised for bringing a fresh and daringly creative new perspective to the genre.

Beyond natural history, Jasha composed the emotionally moving score to Netflix’s Oscar nominated documentary, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom as well the follow up film Freedom on Fire, for which he received an Emmy nomination. Jasha has also scored the Emmy nominated music of National Geographic’s Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes and Diana: In Her Own Words. His music can be heard in the Robert Zemeckis Netflix series, Medal of Honor, Garrett Bradley’s, Naomi Osaka and the 2019 Emmy-nominated film, The Black Godfather, directed by Reginald Hudlin and produced by Nicole Avant. Jasha also provided the inspired percussive score to Peacock’s reimagining of Queer As Folk, created by Stephen Dunn and exec produced by Russell T Davies.

Outside of film and tv, Jasha has provided music to some of the most exciting podcasts, including Imperative Entertainment’s American Coyote, The Agent, Elizabeth the First, & recently Wavland’s The High Roller Heist. Additionally, Jasha’s 2021 single Hum was featured in the trailer for the BAFTA nominated film, All Of Us Strangers.

Jasha began his musical career at the age of 5, singing at his Grandparents’ opera house, Cinnabar Theater, in Petaluma, CA. He studied classical piano and trombone for over 15 years before he moved to Los Angeles and started working at Remote Control Productions under Hans Zimmer. Over the 4 years with Hans, Jasha wrote on such films as The Dark Knight Rises, Rush, Man of Steel, and several other notable projects. Jasha was also the music arranger for the 84th Academy Awards, as well as keyboard/ synthesizer player within the event’s orchestra. In 2013, Jasha began to serve as one of the headlining composers at Bleeding Fingers Music. Within this role, Jasha contributed countless hours of music to some of the most acclaimed series on television, including shows on ABC, CBS, MTV, Netflix, Lifetime, A&E, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC, and he performed live on The Late Show with Colbert alongside Shea and Zimmer.

Jasha currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Brian Logan Dales is a songwriter, actor and the lead singer for pop/rock band The Summer Set. Since 2007, he has released five albums— selling half a million singles and garnering over 500 million streams on Spotify. In 2013, The Summer Set received the iHeartradio Rising Star Award, and performed alongside Queen, Elton John, Justin Timberlake, and more at The iHeartradio Festival as well as in the coveted Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since then they have sold out venues around the world, and headlined the Vans Warped Tour. Their songs have been heard in TV shows on Netflix, Amazon, The CW and MTV.

David Parks is a native Memphian and an accomplished bassist. After graduating from the University of Memphis, with a degree in jazz performance, Parks auditioned and won 3rd place in MTV’s hit show Making His Band. Parks would go on to tour with pop megastars such as Justin Beiber, Jason Derulo and famed reggae artist Skip Marley.

An accomplished studio musician, Parks’ slick basslines can be heard be heard on Jason Derulo’s hit singles “Slidin”, “From the Island”, Andy Grammar’s “Joy”, and Ledisi’s Grammy Winning smash “Anything for You” to name a few.

In 2021, Parks stepped from behind the bass to star and co-produce the acclaimed short film, Chocolate Galaxy, an afro-futuristic hip hop opera that earned top honors in the Indie Memphis Film Fest, and garnered an honorable mention as one of The Memphis Flyer’s top films of the year.

Currently, Parks is taking his knowledge and experience of over 15 years in the music industry to produce the book and web series “The Tour Life: An artist guide to life on the road”.

“My goal is to help younger musicians take the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.” The Tour Life will serve as a step by step curriculum to help students go from classrooms to arenas.