John Brownell left a career in finance to pursue filmmaking full time and started his own film production company two and a half years ago in Los Angeles.
The Glastonbury native has now released his first narrative feature film, “Coin,” in June.
It’s a buddy-thriller and the plot involves a very current issues: cryptocurrency and campaigns.
Brownell said his movie has a blend of comedy, conspiracy, mystery and drama
“The film is about two friends who misappropriate campaign funds to launch a cryptocurrency, which sets a ruthless political hitman after them to get the campaign funds and they don’t have them because they’ve redirected those funds into the cryptocurrency, which tanks almost instantly,” he said. “They’re left in this predicament, and this guy is after them and they don’t have any of this money… It’s very much a buddy comedy film with some air of political conspiracy and some drama mixed in as well.”
Brownell’s roots are deep in Connecticut and his education set the stage for knowing a thing or two about the world of big money. The 32-year-old graduated from East Catholic High School. He earned his undergraduate degree in economics at Sacred Heart University and master’s degree in finance at University of Connecticut before spending eight years working in public and private equity and consulting.
Moving to Hollywood
Brownell departed that life in Connecticut for Los Angeles about seven years ago, initially for a job in finance. However, he had been screenwriting as a hobby since he was 21 years old. That passion eventually turned into his current career on the big screen.
“When I got to Los Angeles, I started taking it more seriously,” Brownell said. “I started to meet other screenwriters and got into some screenwriting groups. I started to take the craft more seriously, eventually started directing short films.”
He said he focused on writing more during the COVID pandemic, when there was time while working from home.
Brownell said he started his own production company two and a half years ago,, Odd Number Film Company. He produced three short films before Coin was released this year.
Brownell is the writer, director and producer of Coin, his first feature-length film. He began shooting the buddy comedy-thriller in May 2025. The film premiered in June at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and will be streaming later this month.
“Film and finance are radically different career paths and I walk in both,” Brownell said. “It’s definitely not an ordinary route. When I meet people in Hollywood, they are surprised. At the same time, I always loved math growing up. Finance in Connecticut was a path I could travel down, and it wasn’t until I got to Los Angeles that I could dive deeper in the more artistic side of myself. I gave that pursuit a chance.”
Brownell said it was appropriate that his first feature-length film touched on the subject of finance.
“‘Coin’ is really a story that’s centered around cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is an alternative digital asset, and it doesn’t fall typically in the old forms of structured finance by any means, but it does kind of marry the two paths that I’ve been on in a way. It is kind of interesting that the first subject matter that we explored here in the narrative feature film is kind of touching on that old world of finance that I came from,” Brownell said.
“I had written a bunch of screenplays for narrative feature films, but they all required a budget that was just a little bit bigger than what we were probably able to pull together,” Brownell said. “I wrote ‘Coin’ in a sprint.”
Brownell said he wrote the first draft in 10 days in Feb. 2025 and that was his thesis heading into the screenwriting process. He said the idea had been percolating in his mind. The film was shot in May in South Bay and Long Beach in Los Angeles.
“It’s a small budget film. In our production company, we financed it ourselves. We didn’t go to outside finance financiers. We were able to shoot this film in more of a constrained, old school independent film. It came together really quick,” Brownell said. “The entire production was shot, and postproduction was completed in February.”
Brownell said the quick timeline was a “whirlwind” but was a lot of fun. It was in production before the premier this June.
“We had a tight cast and crew and many of them I worked on in previous films,” Brownell said.
Brownell said the one-hour-and-20-minute film features “talented, up-and-coming actors” and it is coming to streaming on Aug. 20.
“The film will stream exclusively for a limited time with coin-movie.com with Vimeo for an early access purchase. Then it will be expanding to Amazon Prime and other leading streaming platforms later this year,” Brownell said.
One reviewer, Liz Whittemore wrote, “The entire script is much more than an indictment of crypto and corruption. It plays into the massive ignorance of the average voter, but specifically, to an overconfident generation raised on the internet. Brownell leans into the technology gap but cleverly illustrates the impact of influencers and the internet as a true learning tool, without it getting preachy for those who couldn’t care less about crypto.”
The review noted, “Brownell skillfully tackles the dark side of politics and the very real power imbalance we are currently experiencing in this wonky timeline. COIN is undeniably entertaining. I look forward to seeing what comes next from Brownell.”
Another reviewer noted, “The basic premise of “Coin” makes it timely — combining cryptocurrency and politics. A concept that should feel outlandish in the real world, but it’s not.”
Mom gets a role
The “Coin” cast features about seven main characters with about 10 speaking parts. Brownell said more than 4,000 actors submitted for the film and he auditioned over 100. Brownell said Roy Abramsohn is the most tenured actor cast in “Coin”. Abramsohn plays the political fixer in the film.
Brownell’s mother Mimi has a voice-only part in the film. She is a political aid to the mayor and is an antagonist figure in the film.
“She makes a few phone calls to the political fixer. Her character comes in as a voice actor. She’s never on screen. We auditioned a few people, and it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. In the back of my mind, I was like, I’m pretty sure my mom could do this because I had listened to her speak on the phone. Growing up, she was always a very professional and intelligent woman – but I’m quite sure she could do this. So, I just asked her. She thought that was very funny because she has not acted in anything in her entire life. We gave it a shot, and we had a great time with it. It was incredibly fun, and we got what we needed.”
Parents Mimi and Dave Brownell, who still live in Glastonbury, were at the premier and walked the red carpet.
“It was really, really special to share that with her and she’s great in the movie too,” Brownell said.
Brownell said his brother Robert helped with post-production and editing.
“It was great to have support from my family. My parents are in Glastonbury, and my brother is in Boston and even though I’m out here pursuing filmmaking in Los Angeles. It’s nice to have their support even from afar. It was special to get my mom in the movie too,” he said. “She did the voiceover work from home in Glastonbury.”
Brownell said filmmaking is challenging but also rewarding.
“As hard as you’re pushing yourself to keep the whole production moving forward and to shoot, get everything and keep everything organized to get every single day completed as efficiently and as effectively as you can,” Brownell said.
“Every single day you’re exhausted at the end, but you’re also hopefully thrilled because you got what you needed to get. There’s a ton of challenges in independent filmmaking, but it’s incredibly rewarding especially when the production. It’s been a total thrill. There’s a lot of adrenaline and it’s exhausting, but then after you put the movie together, it becomes really special to see the movie that you wrote and then envisioned and then actually went out and shot – come to life.”
“We’re excited to get the movie out and for people to watch it and hopefully enjoy it,” he added.
Brownell said he has two more feature scripts he has written and ready to shoot, but right now is focused and enjoying the roll out of Coin.
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