--- name: "Brett Haley" canonical: "https://film.one/person/brett-haley" fi1m_id: "brett-haley" imdb_id: "nm1417640" tmdb_id: 932759 wikidata_id: "Q29588941" roles: ["Director"] born: "17 August 1983" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "director" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-23T11:57:07.836491+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Brett Haley ## Identity Brett Haley - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/brett-haley - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** brett-haley - **IMDb ID:** nm1417640 - **TMDB ID:** 932759 - **Wikidata ID:** Q29588941 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Haley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29588941, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1417640/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/932759 Director. Born 17 August 1983 in Danville, Illinois, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 17 August 1983, Danville, Illinois, USA - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Haley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29588941, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1417640/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/932759 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*People We Meet on Vacation*](https://film.one/film/people-we-meet-on-vacation.md) (62) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Brett Haley > Brett Haley gives actors room to make ordinary relationships appealing, including performers too rarely offered the lead. We like his warmth, but his films can ask their casts to compensate for thin writing. When Emily Bader and Tom Blyth make holiday companionship look easy in *People We Meet on Vacation* (2026), Brett Haley’s appeal is clear. He understands the pleasure of watching two friends edge towards a relationship without needing to disguise where they are heading. We warmed to the pair because their ease together made that prospect appealing, even when the script had given their friendship too little substance. The film is likeable but thin, and its reliance on the leads tells us both what Haley does well and where he needs to be firmer. His interest in ordinary lives and relationships across generations was there in his debut, *The New Year* (2010). *I’ll See You in My Dreams* (2015) brought him wider attention, and his willingness to build films around older actors is worth valuing. Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott are among the performers he has given leading roles when such opportunities were scarce. *The Hero* (2017), written as a vehicle for Elliott, makes ageing and legacy its subjects. Writing has been part of that work from the start, with Marc Basch among his collaborators. He brought music, family and growing up together in *Hearts Beat Loud* (2018). His later adaptations include *All the Bright Places* (2020), which continued his interest in romance. With *People We Meet on Vacation*, the problem is how little the writing gives Bader and Blyth to build on across 116 minutes. Haley’s adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel gets by in patches on their agreeable presence, but friendship needs more substance if we are to enjoy that long a wait. We do not need a romantic comedy to surprise us with its destination. We do need the time spent getting there to deepen our interest in the couple, and here the leads work harder than the script. Choose it for the leads, provided easy company is enough for the evening. ## Biography Brett Haley is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born on 17 August 1983 in Danville, Illinois, and studied directing at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating in 2005. Haley made his feature debut with *The New Year* (2010). His subsequent films include *I'll See You in My Dreams* (2015), which he also wrote and edited, *The Hero* (2017), which he wrote and directed, and *Hearts Beat Loud* (2018), for which he wrote the screenplay. He has directed the Netflix adaptations *All the Bright Places* (2020) and *People We Meet on Vacation* (2026), as well as the miniseries *Looking for Alaska* (2019). Haley is the brother of novelist Joshua Ferris. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, deadline.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *People We Meet on Vacation* (2026), Fi1m 62, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/people-we-meet-on-vacation.md) ## Complete filmography (19) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *People We Meet on Vacation* (2026), Director — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/people-we-meet-on-vacation.md) - *Scrambled* (2024), Producer - *All Together Now* (2020), Director, Screenplay - *All the Bright Places* (2020), Director - *Looking for Alaska* (2019), series, Director - *Hearts Beat Loud* (2018), Director, Writer - *And Then I Go* (2017), Executive Producer, Screenplay - *The Hero* (2017), Writer, Director, Editor - *Curmudgeons* (2016), Editor - *I'll See You in My Dreams* (2015), as Karaoke Singer (uncredited) · Director, Writer, Editor, Producer - *The New Year* (2010), Director - *Reservation Road* (2007), as Brett - *The Poughkeepsie Tapes* (2007), Production Assistant - *The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell* (2006), First Assistant Director, Assistant Editor, Stunt Coordinator - *The Ridge* (2005), as Blake · Director, Writer - *Summer Lovin'*, Director - *36 Questions*, Director, Writer - *You Deserve Each Other*, Writer - *13 Going on 30*, Director ## Gallery - ![Brett Haley](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-d5e74c60a6b1.jpg) Brett Haley — Montclair Film Festival, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Brett_Haley_2017.jpg/1280px-Brett_Haley_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Brett Haley in March 2022](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-19a8948da5e7.jpg) Brett Haley in March 2022 — Nshawpdx, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Brett_2022.jpg/1280px-Brett_2022.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018.](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-8ec58b4dac6d.jpg) Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018. — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Brett_Haley_%2828061317618%29.jpg/1280px-Brett_Haley_%2828061317618%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018.](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-f883a50009a8.jpg) Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018. — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Brett_Haley_%2841033160915%29.jpg/1280px-Brett_Haley_%2841033160915%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Brett Haley](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-772deb2b244e.jpg) Brett Haley — Image via TMDB - ![Brett Haley](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-fbea507a6f27.jpg) Brett Haley — Image via TMDB - ![Brett Haley](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-440c9688f3ea.jpg) Brett Haley — Image via TMDB - ![Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018.](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-e110fb9b6975.jpg) Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018. — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Brett_Haley_%2841214367954%29.jpg/1280px-Brett_Haley_%2841214367954%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018.](https://film.one/media/person/1312036/gallery-adabcefc270e.jpg) Brett Haley at the premiere of Hearts Beat Loud during the Montclair Film Festival 2018. — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Brett_Haley_%2841214368374%29.jpg/1280px-Brett_Haley_%2841214368374%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/brett-haley