Quick take:

Tim Breitbach is the founder of Optimal Entertainment. The word “optimal” was chosen because of his optimistic nature as well his name being smack dab in the middle of it. In many ways it tells a lot about Tim and his approach. There’s always more to the story and he likes to be in the thick of it. Trained as a journalist and a former copywriter/creative director, he brings strong storytelling discipline combined with insatiable curiosity, practical insight, and instinct into consumer behavior. In a world where film and television continually need to find their audience, those traits are critical. 

Origin Story:

As far as original entertainment, it started in earnest when he and his advertising business partner, in Asylum, Mark Decena, co-wrote the feature script Dopamine and it was selected into the Sundance Institute Writer’s and Director’s Labs. Decena had earned the respect of Sundance with a number of short films in the Sundance Film Festival and was eager to take the next step. Tim tagged along and found the world he was made for…long format storytelling. The Sundance Labs are all about learning and even today, Tim feels indebted to the selection of their script Dopamine, which took his career in a completely different direction.

Dopamine became an official selection of the Dramatic Competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Award for narrative feature that best combined art and science. The award was selected by judge Darren Aronofsky and presented by Stanley Tucci.

High Gear:

Tim moved to Saint Louis and joined Jeff Keane at Coolfire Media where they, along with Steve Luebbert Lindsey (Naumann) Grove, started Coolfire Originals. The goal was to take a first class commercial production into original entertainment. This wasn’t new to Coolfire as it had forays into local and regional programming, but the group dove head first into the burgeoning category of docu-series. 

Over the next 10 years, the team—which grew beyond its original crew—created close to 30 projects that went to series, pilot, or proof of concept paid by networks. The projects spanned the Discovery, NBCU, AETV and HGTV universes. See projects in Credit list. 

Optimal Changes:

Breitbach parted ways with his partners because that shit happens and started Optimal Entertainment in 2017. He has been creating feature docs, television series, and developing franchise properties ever since. His office is every room in the house and every hotel room on production or development. He is a hands on writer, director, producer, and songwriter and head bottle washer. He has coined a new title in the industry, a hybrid role: EPA…Executive Producer meets Production Assistant. Big cheese on a little cracker!