Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Floss.
Hi Ben, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in the small town of Honeoye Falls, near Rochester, New York.
My mother was a news anchor and my father was a photojournalist. Media parents = Media child.
Loved horror movies and messing around with my friends, making movies of our own. That turned into a passion, and eventually, an application to art school.
Went to Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Learned a lot about how I like to make movies and how to work with no resources. Good people, under-funded film program, AMAZING drugs.
After that, went into freelancing – did a lot of traveling, a lot of jobs, a lot of personal projects.
Also did some other stuff in that time – Dinner theater, janitor work, some volunteering.
Wound up wanting to land someplace – either NYC or LA – settle for a bit and establish myself.
Me and a buddy wound up winning some cash in the Crash the Superbowl Doritos contest. That buddy had an internship in LA in the summer.
I put everything I could need for one summer into a single small plastic tub.
Then I never left.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh no. Definitely not smooth.
In terms of struggles, I’m going to split them into physical and non-physical hurdles.
The physical hurdles I feel are easier to list: Money, resources, location – it’s hard to make movies when you can’t afford to get a camera and you live out of a tent in rural Idaho.
The non-physical ones are the more nebulous ones.
There’s uncertainty, that’s the big one. For me anyways. Self-doubt, uncertainty, burn-out.
Having a mental illness is a big one.
I don’t want to go too much into personal detail, but mental illness mixed with a predatory industry can really wear someone down, to a dangerous point.
It’s hard to pinpoint any one struggle per say or to make a grand statement about persevering despite prejudice or injustice. I can’t do that. I’ve been incredibly lucky and been supported by amazing people and still had to claw my way to where I am.
I guess – here’s a better example.
If you are rich, established, well-connected, and depressed – you still can make art. You can scratch that itch and get fulfillment.
If you are poor, in a new city, know nobody, and depressed – getting by day-to-day is a struggle itself, and adding creative fulfillment on top of that can crumble the whole house of cards.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Myself and several others run a production company/ creative collective called Badlands Scuba Squad.
We are a small group of folks who just want to make weird movies.
I write, direct, edit, and serve as the group’s special effects/ digital effects/ gore guy.
A lot of folks know me as a horror guy. I’m a huge fan of genre films, especially horror.
I have no idea if my movies can be set apart from any others. I don’t really care about that. I try to make movies around things I feel and things I would like to see in movies.
I’ve been told that my films revolve around normal people trying their best and failing, that they very rarely have happy endings, that I’ve made human skin do new and awful things – Maybe that’s different.
What makes me feel different is that every time we start a new project, it feels like when I was a kid, making movies with my friends and having fun. I hope I never lose that. I hope that comes through to people who see them.
Any big plans?
We’re hoping to grow our collective – maybe not in numbers but absolutely in ambition. I want to see Badlands Scuba Squad start to reach out and go for bigger and bigger projects, really flex our skills to fit our ambitions. This year is already looking to be the start of that.
With that, I am currently finishing shooting on my first feature film. Can’t say anything about it right now. Mostly because I like to be a lil’ flirty and keep secrets.
We may also have a second feature coming down the pipe this year as well. It’s still in development but it’s something I’m very excited about.
More, more, more – always more.
Big shoutout to the whole Badlands team – Michael Lipton, Zach Heintz, Brian Nolte, Michelangelo Musciarello, Joel Ruiz, Ashton Glover, and Cory Herman – y’all are the best collaborators and some of the most talented folks I’ve had the pleasure to work with.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.benfloss.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badlandsscubasquad/
- Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/that_awful_floss_boy/
- Twitter: http://www.youtube.com/user/FlossStudios
- Youtube: https://vimeo.com/thatawfulflossboy
- Other: https://www.badlandsscubasquad.com/
Image Credits
Zach Heintz, Brian Nolte, Michael Lipton, Lane McFaddin
