We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Billy Dunston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Billy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Like many veterans, I struggled with depression and PTSD after separation. I spoke with veterans in the creative space, who expressed how cathartic and illuminating the industry was. For longer than I remember, the depression didn’t allow me an outlet for art. Friends with whom I served in Iraq and Afghanistan shared
this sentiment. My memories haunted me. Taking advice from my veteran friends, I began to write down what I knew
and kept it grounded. “The Call” is my short film about veteran depression and suicide. The film has been
nominated for Best Picture at the Texas Short Film Festival, and for Best Dark Drama at the Oregon Short
Film Festival. I’m proud of the story but it was bittersweet. I had to write the story to change the
public’s views of veterans; I don’t want to paint veterans in that dark place. I wanted to show that
veterans can move from darkness to build fulfilling lives after their service. We aren’t broken.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Billy Dunston, actor, writer, director, and stunt coordinator, originally from Silver Spring, Maryland. I got my start when the pandemic hit. I spent a large portion of my time delving into the craftmanship of acting and filmmaking. My work ethic from the military drove me to become almost obsessive. I wanted to be prepared to hit the ground running when everything opened back up. I took any acting job I could to build a resume. Not all of those were released, but I did gain enough experience to be picked up by my agent Mary Dangerfield, cast in the upcoming fantasy TV show “The Wayfarer” and earn my Screen Actors Guild card.

With my acting experience and background as an Army Ranger, I was cast to perform key art for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”. By far, that has been the highlight of my career. I am eternally grateful to the media company “Tac Gas” and “Activision” for making a dream come true. While there, I was able to connect with other veterans in entertainment. They encouraged me not to settle for the stories I was given but to make my own. Since I’ve written several shorts, and I am currently working on directing and producing an action feature. None of this would have been possible without the tenacity I fostered in the military and the people in my corner.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being a creative for me is seeing the final product come to life. With film, it’s going from ideas and words on a page to something a community believes in and produces. Having every department come together on a unified vision to create something one of a kind. Watching talent fully embody a character, the art department build a world that doesn’t exist or stunt crews perform near-superhuman feats. Even if the product is objectively bad, a completed project is still one hundred times better than an unrealized idea.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I made a hard pivot in my life from the military to the film industry. After I left active duty in 2011, I joined the National Guard as a backup plan while going to college. Towards the end of 2019, I had to make the decision to continue my military career or to separate and pursue acting. There aren’t any guarantees when it comes to being an artist but it comes with freedom. The military was financial security at the expense of that freedom. I used the National Guard as a safety net that eventually began to choke me. I leaned fully into the entertainment industry even during the pandemic. Since I’ve gone on to work on Key art for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, wrote a short nominated for best picture at the Texas film festival and earned my SAG card.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Billydunston .com
• Instagram: Billy_Dunston275
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billy-dunston-7bb99a163/
• Youtube: @billydunston9390