Brini Maxwell

The pilot for the original Brini Maxwell Show debuted on Manhattan Neighborhood Network on January 1, 1998. The show aired for five years featuring tips, recipes, entertaining ideas, craft projects, home renovation and interior design schemes. It was produced by Sander's production company, V.R.U.S.P. Inc., and directed by Sander's mother, Mary Jane Wells. The show had a diverse, cult following: "Brini (rhymes with teeny) has received hundreds of letters and e-mail messages since the show began ... Brini has a wide following that extends beyond gay viewers. Many of those who write in are straight fans who say they tape the show for friends around the country."[2]

In 2001 Sander was contacted by Amy Briamonte, east coast director of development for west coast based Termite Art Productions, a division of Lionsgate Television.[3] Briamonte and Sander developed a pitch for the show for the Bravo network and received an order for a pilot. The pilot was produced in the summer of 2002 for a show titled Charming, Needs Work.

The premise for the show was Maxwell lived in an apartment that she redecorated every week. This concept was difficult to show in a pilot because it's based on the cumulative experience of seeing the changes each week. The pilot showed the transformation from un-remodeled apartment to finished and decorated space with segments about painting a super-graphic, having a piece of furniture reupholstered, making a stuffed dog using a new crafting technique featuring old concert T-shirts and an location segment with Kim Cattrall in her apartment.

After Bravo passed on the show Briamonte, Sander, and Termite Art pitched it to Stephen Schwartz and Heather Moran, newly named VP's of programming for the Style network,[4] then a sister network to E! Entertainment Television. The pitch resulted in an order for a 13-episode season.

The first season of The Brini Maxwell Show for the Style network was taped in the summer of 2003 with studio production taking place on the main stage at Unitel Studios on west 57th St. in New York City. Location shoots for the season were taped over a period of six months in New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The Brini Maxwell Show debuted on the Style network on Thursday, January 1, 2004[5] at 10pm.

The second season went into production in the summer of 2004 and debuted in November of 2005.

The show was cancelled after two seasons[6] when Comcast hired Ted Harbert to helm the E! family of networks.[7]

In 2004, Ben was contacted by Ron Longe, then a publicist at Stewart, Tabori & Chang, a division of Abrams Books about publishing a Brini Maxwell book. The resulting book, Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living is divided into four sections - Daily Life, dealing with the basics of life, including eating well, creating a nice environment for yourself and defining your personal style; Entertaining, preparing for hosting parties and events and menus for them; Travel, making your forays into the world smoother and more organized and Life's Happy Milestones, how to mark the important moments in your life with style and panache.

Production on the book commenced in late 2004 with dedicated photo shoots done by photographer, Bradford Noble. The design was done by Tamar Cohen with original illustrations done by Karen Hsu. The book was published on October 1st 2005, with an initial printing of 15,000 copies. It was promoted with a book tour of the east and west coasts, including book launch parties at Phyllis Morris in Los Angeles and Trina Turk in Palm Springs.

The book was featured in the New York Magazine approval matrix for November 14th, 2005 with the blurb "Buy it for the irony, keep it for the truly good advice" in the position of just below the midline between highbrow and lowbrow and almost half way past the midline between brilliant and despicable. The_Advocate_(LGBT_magazine) said "You'll flip your wig over this indispensable guidebook from the Style network's fiercest hostess"[8]