At age 16, he was kicked out of his home for being gay and spent 10 years being homeless before joining the Marines.

[12][13] In 2016, he directed a short film, Walk for Me, as an assignment in his second year in the filmmaking program at Tisch.

[15] In 2018, Bratton directed the documentary film, Pier Kids, about three LGBTQ homeless youths in New York City; the film was released in 2019,[16] and has been featured in various media outlets, such as the VICE, ABC News, The Huffington Post, OUT Magazine, and GLAAD.

[17][18][19] Bratton's feature film directorial debut, titled The Inspection, was announced in April 2021 with a cast that includes Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Bokeem Woodbine, and Raúl Castillo, with Gamechanger Films set to produce, and A24 set to produce and distribute.

[26] On October 22, 2022, he received the Breakthrough Director & Writer Award at the Montclair Film Festival.