We were lucky to catch up with Ashton Dundas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ashton thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
I had a vision. A vision to begin the new era of cinema, but first I had to prove what I was capable of, so that would allow me to not only gain the experience I needed but to also have the “key” to opening new doors within the movie industry. I decided it was now or never, so I dropped down to part-time at my “day job”, and started bringing in fellow professionals to help bring everything to life, from the story, music, and also figuring out where, and how I was going to film this with such a small budget of my own money.
After a few favors, and a hard year of planning, and preparing, I was having trouble locking down a location to film. Luckily for the previous 6 years, I was a respected photographer and videographer in the Charleston, SC area. I reached out to a realtor of mine, whom I completed work for over the years, and told him what I had planned and if he would be kind enough to let me film in one of his houses. He said yes.
That being the last piece to my puzzle, I was ready to film, but I only had a 3-day window with the location, and that was the only amount of time I was financially capable of taking off, so I had to make it work. We successfully completed filming, on time, and had a beautiful premiere at the American Theatre in downtown Charleston. The movie is now on Amazon Prime Video, and that 1 movie has opened up an endless amount of opportunities for me to choose from. Now, the New Era of cinema can finally begin. I have my 1st entry into phase one already written, tested, edited, and printed. When someone finds me, I will be ready, with one in the chamber, ready to go, and an entire phase one of 9 movies already named, and lined up right behind.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Who is Ashton? Well, for most of my life I was a hot mess who had no meaning, or purpose because I was always listening to what others said about who THEY thought I should be, or what I should be doing. When I finally started listening to myself I realized it was always right in front of me. I grew up at a young age, watching movies with my family as if it was part of our religion. My first memories of really getting into cinema were in my early childhood. My mom took me to see Man In The Iron Mask before I was even in grade school, and I sat there and watched the entire movie as if it was the best episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, to being in 1st grade and watching The Ring in theaters, getting my first taste of horror, and then in 4th grade watching Apocalypto and being mesmerized by the storytelling, and the history behind it.
It was engraved into me my whole life, my language literally was movies, to the point when I was a kid, I would tell time with movie titles. For example, If I knew I had a long car ride somewhere, I couldn’t grasp the idea of what a 3-hour car ride would feel like, so my mom would say “It’s the length of one of the Lord Of The Rings movies”. Then I knew exactly how long that would be, and I was able to prepare myself for the wait. I have dedicated my whole life for the past few years to set out on this journey to being the new era of cinema, and I know I will stop at nothing to attain it. Patience is key, discipline is and has been the hardest to get a hold of.
While all of my friends are moving on, getting high-paying jobs, traveling, and going out every weekend, I am at home, writing, and teaching myself every aspect I need to know in order to be as ready as humanly possible for what’s ahead. I didn’t even know how to properly write, until I hid away for 3 years, creating a 120-page script that is completed, and never would have been what it is today without the hard discipline it took to create it.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
When I first began writing my first full feature screenplay, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and how hard it is to build a world and characters from nothing. I had this image in my head of the screenplay being top secret and not allowing anyone to read it, thinking that I was done after a few months of diving into it. Then, I came across an incredible book that literally changed my life: “Your Screenplay Sucks!”. It wasn’t until after I read it, that I fully understood that you not only have to let people read it, but you need to sit there, and take all the criticism you can, because at the end of the day you, as a writer have to put the story before yourself. Push all of your pride aside, take the information people are getting from what you have written, and make the STORY better than it could have ever been compared to if you were to done it alone.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect for me is seeing/hearing people’s reactions to my work, how they underestimated me, and how powerful my content is. It fills me with so much inspiration knowing that my stories are changing the way people experience their life, love, beliefs, etc. I feel as an artist our most powerful tool is to create a change within someone’s mind or inspiration that completely flips their whole world upside down in the best way possible. Powerful art should change you, should make you question things in your life, and how you have been fulling living it, or not at all.
Contact Info:
- Website: vantablackmedia.com
- Instagram: sadboiiashton
- Linkedin: Ashton Dundas
Image Credits
Nicholas Brausch