Today we’d like to introduce you to Yves Beneche.
Hi Yves, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Yes! I’m a first generation Haitian-American writer born and raised on Long Island, New York. Growing up I spent a lot of my time watching TV and movies. My earliest TV influences were Norman Lear shows like The Jeffersons and Good Times, and my earliest film influences were Alfred Hitchcock movies. I started my career as a child actor, and my credits include roles in National Treasure and Law and Order, as well as dozens of national TV commercials. My time as an actor made me realize that many roles available to Black actors perpetuate negative stereotypes. As a result, I stopped acting by the time I started high school to focus on storytelling from behind the camera. I graduated from George Mason University in the Washington DC metro area with a degree in Film and TV Production and a minor in Criminology. I also received my MFA in Film and TV Production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts here in LA. And I’ve been here ever since.
While at USC, I wrote and directed award-winning short films that have screened at quite a few film festivals here in LA. My short films touch on topics such as police brutality, mental illness, and the challenges Black soldiers face when returning home to the US from overseas. Outside of my film studies at USC, I interned at different production companies including Gaumont Television and MACRO.
I currently work as the Writers Assistant on Ava Duvernay’s critically acclaimed TV series “Queen Sugar”. I previously worked as a Director’s Assistant to Pete Chatmon on Kenya Barris’ hit comedies “Blackish” and “Grownish”, and as the Office PA on Chuck Lorre’s “Bob Hearts Abishola”. Most of my own writing are episodic dramedies focusing on family dysfunction, coming of age stories, and stories with social significance.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth road at all, but it has taught me the importance of persistence and hard work. From securing funding for my independent short films to working a second job in addition to being a full-time TV assistant to make ends meet, it’s been quite difficult to stay motivated in following my dreams in an expensive city like LA. Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve followed in my grandfather and my mother’s footsteps of becoming a lawyer. A “safer” option. However, after getting both my degrees in Film and TV, and living here for almost six years, I could never see myself living anywhere else or doing anything else. Being a storyteller is something I’ve wanted to do since I first discovered TV and films as a little kid.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Outside of my work as a Writers’ Assistant in a TV Writers room, I write and direct short films. My work has landed my representation at one of the top management companies here in Los Angeles. The two short films I’m most proud of are “The Acquittal” and “Fortunate Son”. “The Acquittal” is a psychological thriller about a white police officer who was acquitted of killing an unarmed Black teenager during a traffic stop. The guilt of getting away with murder leads this former cop down a dark path of self-destruction. “Fortunate Son” is a period piece set during the tumultuous year of 1968 about a young Black soldier returning home from Vietnam and struggling with the onset of mental illness after his experiences in war. Besides for being known as the little kid in National Treasure who gave Nicholas Cage and Justin Bartha the codes to steal the Declaration of Independence, I’m most known for writing and directing socially relevant shorts. I’ve also produced over a dozen short films, ranging from a movie about Black cowboys that we filmed in Oklahoma called “Redbird” to an all Black superhero movie called “Iman and the Light Warriors”.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Besides for the great weather and close proximity to beaches, I love LA because it’s a city full of artists. No matter what kind of art you do, you have a place here in LA. I feel blessed to have moved to LA to attend film school at USC, where I was able to form a network of dozens of fellow starving artists ready for a career in entertainment. Many of the people I met at USC have become lifelong friends. And most importantly, I met my fiancee at USC, another storyteller who is currently a writer on a network TV sitcom. What I least like about this city is the traffic and the allergies. I need to always have allergy medicine on deck when I go hiking. But I can get over that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1635110/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
- Instagram: instagram.com/yvesbeneche
- Twitter: twitter.com/YvesBeneche
- Other: https://vimeo.com/294259412
