{"id":18268,"date":"2021-09-06T13:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T05:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/?p=18268"},"modified":"2025-07-25T11:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:09:19","slug":"curtin-commons-wa-writer-turned-global-director-ben-young-on-making-it-in-the-film-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/curtin-commons-wa-writer-turned-global-director-ben-young-on-making-it-in-the-film-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"WA writer-turned-global-director Ben Young on making it in the film industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em><em>Illustration of Ben Young by Curtin graduate Ophelia Roberts (BA Graphic Design and Illustration, 2018).<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-sm-font-size\"><strong>Author &#8211; Luisa Mitchell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Ben Young (BA Screen Arts, 2003) is many things: a Perth-born local, a film student who started out making music videos for his mates, and now a rising star who became a success story overnight after years struggling in the industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In one of those strange coincidences of the universe, I had met Ben a decade earlier on the sets of Australian kid\u2019s television series\u2019 <em>Trapped <\/em>and <em>Castaway<\/em> as an 11-year-old child actor. Ben was a young man testing his directing on the Screenwest-funded shows. Now a Curtin Screen Arts graduate myself, sitting down to interview the acclaimed director feels like coming full-circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The West Australian filmmaker was happy to fill me in on his journey, how his internationally acclaimed feature film <em>Hounds of Love<\/em> changed his life, upcoming projects and what it takes to \u2018make it\u2019 in film\u2026 whatever that means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben\u2019s music videos started to garner national attention and praise during his time at Curtin, years which he attributes as providing the leaping pad needed to launch himself into the Perth filmmaking stratosphere.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Only One - John Butler Trio - Official Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nEANuKC9mWg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em>Ben Young directed the music video for John Butler Trio&#8217;s &#8216;Only One&#8217;.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cCurtin gave me my start,\u201d Ben says. \u201cThey opened the door and I\u2019ve been working with people to this day that I studied with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I spoke with him, Ben had just come from lunch with Louise Bertoncini, a post-producer on <em>Hounds of Love<\/em> and an old friend from uni. Similarly, Ben still works with his friend Zak Hilditch, another Curtin graduate, who directed the sci-fi apocalyptic thriller <em>These Final Hours<\/em> and the Netflix-acquired horror drama <em>1922<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Professional Film Makers, Grant Sputore, Alison James and Zak Hilditch | Curtin Alumni Innovators\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D1DrlNn1iWw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em>Curtin graduates-turned-filmmakers, featuring Zak Hilditch, Alison James, and Grant Sputore.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having returned to Australia from Serbia in 2018 after filming his own sci-fi thriller <em>Extinction,<\/em> Ben has been happy to be back in his home state after years working interstate and internationally. He\u2019s adamant that aspiring filmmakers don\u2019t have to travel to Sydney or the eastern states (as is often the advice) to climb the ladder to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think it is a really bad idea, to be perfectly honest. The most successful people who I studied with have stayed in Western Australia. It\u2019s a smaller place and so everyone seems to band together a little bit more, plus there\u2019s less competition but the same amount of grants. I think that if you run away without the experience, you\u2019re likely to get lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explains that he gained some local recognition in WA first before using these achievements as his \u201cpassport to bigger cities and bigger markets.\u201d Making the small indie feature <em>Hounds of Love <\/em>had been a passion project of Ben\u2019s for years. Shot around the Perth suburbs, it centres on the story of a young teenage girl, Vicki Maloney, who is abducted from a suburban street by a murderous couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hounds of Love Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Ashleigh Cummings Movie\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uWZFHEz37Jc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em>&#8216;Hounds of Love&#8217; trailer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film showcases Ben\u2019s directorial style, which he describes as being cold in some instances, but mostly \u201cslow, considered and character-driven.\u201d The psychological thriller received rave reviews, cited by Rotten Tomatoes as \u201csmartly constructed and powerfully acted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like to keep the camera back and I don\u2019t like a lot of edits and cuts,\u201d says Ben. \u201cI only do a cut when I absolutely have to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For any editors working in the suites with Ben, it\u2019s standard that if they want to make a cut, they must justify it to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow is that moving the story forward?\u201d Ben demands, as if we\u2019re standing there in the editing booths right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t that long ago, however, that Ben wasn\u2019t being taken as seriously as he is now. <em>Hounds of Love <\/em>truly was his big break and the film that changed his life and career overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Ben recalls being refused entry to the festival tent on the first day because no one knew him or believed he was one of the directors\u2026 \u201cor at least, a director worth knowing,\u201d Ben says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But after the film screened and received numerous positive reviews from recognised Hollywood publications, he claims his experience entering that same tent the next day was completely changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was mobbed by everybody,\u201d he says. \u201cI woke up to 96 missed calls on my phone the next morning. Every agent in Hollywood was calling me up and I started getting movie scripts from all over the world. So, it literally took me 15 years to become an overnight success. Suddenly, I was riding a tidal wave that I didn\u2019t know how to control. It\u2019s absolutely terrifying going from being an unknown to being that in demand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/20210906_BenYoung_1000x700.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/20210906_BenYoung_1000x700.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/20210906_BenYoung_1000x700-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em>WA-based director Ben Young.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the sudden attention was no doubt validating in some ways, Ben says that those who seek only red carpets, fame and money through filmmaking will never be successful. It is those who love making art for the sake of art who will find success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have made so much stuff that sucked over the years and got highly criticised\u2014I even got kind of bullied for it\u2014and it didn\u2019t matter to me because I wasn\u2019t trying to be successful, I was just trying to be Ben Young. And I was always going to be a filmmaker, whether I found success or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben believes everyone\u2019s first feature script or project is likely to fail, but that this is a good thing, as it provides necessary lessons to make the next story even better. In fact, his best advice for other writers and filmmakers is to \u201churry up and fail! Embrace failure. And do any little thing you can to make films. No one\u2019s going to give success to you. You must take it and earn it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOh, and stick around for the networking drinks afterwards,\u201d he adds with a knowing smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After his overnight leap to worldwide acclaim with <em>Hounds of Love<\/em>, Ben jumped immediately onto a very different project: directing the $20 million-budget sci-fi action flick, <em>Extinction.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although making this Hollywood production was a great learning curve, Ben says directing the film was like working on a 2-hour television commercial, and that he wasn\u2019t allowed the same creative freedom he had with his first film. He believes the film suffered as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that Ben\u2019s current goal is to find a balance between receiving the funding and \u201cbig shiny toys\u201d that come with Hollywood productions and being given the freedom to tell stories that are still creatively and essentially \u201cBen Young.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, there\u2019s been no shortage of work. Ben has directed two episodes of the US-Australian drama TV series <em>Clickbait,<\/em> which premiered on Netflix in August and rose to the number one trending TV show in its first week of release. The show explores the dangerous impulses fuelled by social media and false online personas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Clickbait | Official Teaser | Netflix\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JZJo0BFZDQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-sm-font-size\"><em>&#8216;Clickbait&#8217; trailer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is also currently in post-production for an episode of Season 2 of Amazon\u2019s <em>The Wilds<\/em>, which centres around a group of teenage girls stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash but are unaware they are the subjects of a social experiment. In September, he begins production on &#8216;Where All Lights Tend To Go&#8217;, which will be shot in the United States and star Billy Bob Thornton and Robin Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I ask Ben whether he thinks he has \u201cmade it\u201d in the film industry, he chews around the words with slight distaste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf by \u2018making it\u2019 you mean reaching a point where I get paid to do what I love every day, which is making films, then yes, I suppose I have \u2018made it\u2019. But one thing I really do believe firmly is that I\u2019m completely talentless. I just work harder than everybody else. If you walk 10 kilometres every day, eventually you\u2019re going to get to your destination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article has been repurposed for <\/em>Curtin Commons<em> and was originally published in <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/grokonline.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grok Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-sm-font-size\"><strong>Author &#8211; Luisa Mitchell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>___<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<mimas-block \n        block-name=\"accordion\"\n        role=\"complementary\"\n        aria-label=\"Accordion content\"\n        data-segment=\"all\">\n\n                \n\n                    <div class=\"accordion\" aria-labelledby=\"accordion-title-Share-your-thoughts-with-us\">\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"accordion__heading\" aria-controls=\"Share-your-thoughts-with-us\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n            <div class=\"title\" id=\"accordion-title-Share-your-thoughts-with-us\">Share your thoughts with us<\/div>\n            <div class=\"icon\"><\/div>\n        <\/button>\n        <div class=\"accordion__content\" id=\"Share-your-thoughts-with-us\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n                    <div class=\"forminator-ui forminator-custom-form forminator-custom-form-8546   forminator_ajax\" data-forminator-render=\"0\" data-form=\"forminator-module-8546\" data-uid=\"69d6d78dd7e00\"><br\/><\/div><form\r\n\t\t\t\tid=\"forminator-module-8546\"\r\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"forminator-ui forminator-custom-form forminator-custom-form-8546   forminator_ajax\"\r\n\t\t\t\tmethod=\"post\"\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-forminator-render=\"0\"\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-form-id=\"8546\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-design=\"none\"\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-color-option=\"default\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-grid=\"open\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tstyle=\"display: none;\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-uid=\"69d6d78dd7e00\"\r\n\t\t\t><div role=\"alert\" aria-live=\"polite\" class=\"forminator-response-message forminator-error\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div><div class=\"forminator-row\"><div id=\"name-1\" class=\"forminator-field-name forminator-col forminator-col-12 \"><div class=\"forminator-field\"><label for=\"forminator-field-name-1_69d6d78dd7e00\" id=\"forminator-field-name-1_69d6d78dd7e00-label\" class=\"forminator-label\">Name <span class=\"forminator-required\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"text\" name=\"name-1\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"E.g. 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music videos for his mates, and now a rising star who became a success story overnight after years struggling in the 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