Daily Inspiration: Meet Hunter Hopewell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Hopewell.

Hi Hunter, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Before I ever moved to LA or worked at Disney, I was a nine-year-old kid growing up in Vegas, making stop-motion movies on my mom’s MacBook. As an only child, I learned video editing by cloning myself on screen, which eventually turned a solitary hobby into something I loved sharing with friends and family.

That love of filmmaking carried me through high school and into college at UNLV, with a lot of support from my parents and mentors. While there, I wrote a feature screenplay called ‘Shellfish’, which won the Johnny Brenden Filmmaker Grant. With the help of faculty, friends, and a group of fellow students who believed in our project, we turned it into a full-length feature film. ‘Shellfish’ premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, won over 30 awards on the festival circuit, and was picked up for distribution. Now streaming on Prime Video, it’s a coming-of-age comedy about filmmaking with a stop-motion twist; very much a love letter to what got me into film in the first place.

I took what I learned on ‘Shellfish’ to Disney, where I started as a Videography and Editing Intern and eventually became a Senior Video Producer, working primarily with D23: The Official Disney Fan Club. At D23, I’ve had the opportunity to create and produce two of their most popular series: Five Facts, where I narrate Disney history behind iconic films, and D23 Propped Up, which reunites talent with iconic props from their careers, featuring guests like Elle Fanning and Corbin Bleu. Capturing the genuine joy of those reunions and sharing them with fans is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. With Five Facts now available in every Disney hotel room domestically, it’s the kind of content I grew up loving as a Disney fan, so getting to create it now feels incredibly full circle.

Along the way, I’ve also co-hosted D23’s behind-the-scenes series Inside Disney, which has given me the chance to sit down with actors I grew up watching and talk with them about their upcoming films, from Zach Galifianakis to Daisy Ridley. Nearly a decade into my time at the company, my long-term goal is to direct a feature for Disney, and I’ve been lucky to take steps in that direction, including working as Assistant Director on the feature-length Disney+ documentary ‘Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives’. Through directing content for D23 and building relationships across the company, I hope to eventually transition to the Studios or Animation side.

Aside from work at Disney, I’ve kept making short films with friends, returning to the kind of collaborative filmmaking that first pulled me in. I’ve written and directed ten shorts over the years, which have collectively won more than 60 awards. Most recently, I co-wrote and directed ‘Skip Intro’, a dark comedy about attending a watch party for a wildly popular series you’ve never seen. It screened at 11 festivals and picked up three awards. Now, I’m working on getting funding and traction for my next feature.

Outside of film, music has always been just as big a part of my creative life. My dad’s a drummer, so I grew up jamming on guitar with him in the garage. I’d always dreamed of being in a band, and over the past year I’ve been the frontman for an alternative rock group called The Need to Know. We’ve played venues across Los Angeles, from the House of Blues to Whisky a Go Go, and it’s been some of the most fun, collaborative work I’ve ever done with a group of really talented musicians. The band has become some of my closest friends, and we’re releasing our debut single, Mess With Me, this Valentine’s Day.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Freshman year of high school, I was bullied for the videos I made. What began as something creative and joyful quickly became a source of harassment when I received online comments from some classmates that, at their worst, encouraged me to end it all. At that age, those words landed heavily. I felt isolated, embarrassed, and deeply alone.

That experience directly inspired my short film ‘Alone’, which explores what it feels like to be bullied and emotionally cut off at a time when you’re still figuring out who you are and where you belong. Making it at 13 was a way of giving shape to feelings I didn’t know how to articulate yet.

Before graduating high school, I pushed myself to explore those themes further with another short film, ‘Numbskull’. That short looks at how the effects of bullying can linger long after the bully is gone, how those voices can become internalized, and how a single act of kindness can interrupt that cycle. Even now, I still catch myself being my own harshest critic, but through therapy, the bond with my family, and the friendships I’ve built over time, I’ve learned to recognize those patterns and move through them with more self compassion.

After graduating college, leaving Las Vegas meant stepping away from the community that carried me through some of my most formative years, and moving to Los Angeles was especially challenging. I arrived knowing almost no one and with no family nearby, which at times felt overwhelming. When I first needed a place to stay for my Disney interview, the only friend I knew in LA, Perry, offered me his couch (and socks and shirt…long story). Today, he’s my roommate, bandmate, filmmaking collaborator, and the other half of our comedy duo, Mustachio Pistachio. All to say, I get by with a little help from my friends.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I enjoy being involved across the full creative process, from shaping an idea early on to figuring out how it actually comes to life. Over time, I’ve found myself moving between creative and practical roles, whether that’s in film or music, always trying to keep the emotional core of a project front and center.

One project that really represents that is my feature film Shellfish, along with the original score I wrote for it. At its heart, Shellfish explores the balance between pursuing your own creative interests and showing up as a support system for the people around you. What I’m most proud of isn’t just the finished film, but the experience of bringing people together around a shared idea and sticking with it over several years. That process shaped how I think about collaboration and patience, and it still influences how I approach new work.

That same mindset carries into my professional work at Disney. I’m fortunate to work on projects that are fan-focused, creating content that helps people connect more deeply with stories they already love, whether that’s through Disney history or more unscripted, human moments.

Music is another place where all of this comes together for me. As a musician, I’m often thinking about how sound, visuals, rhythm, and storytelling work together. Being able to produce music and film in tandem, and letting each inform the other, has become an important part of my creative voice. At the core of everything I do is a genuine love of collaboration and building something together that feels bigger and more meaningful than the sum of its parts. More of my work can be found at HunterHopewell.com.

How do you think about happiness?
What makes me happiest is performing with others and creating things that bring people joy. I’ve been at the Groundlings School of Improv for a couple of years now, and I recently passed the third round of their program. There’s something incredibly energizing about being in a room with other performers, taking creative swings together and seeing what lands in real time.

I’m also part of a comedy duo called Mustachio Pistachio, and we’ve performed around LA doing live sketch and character work. Some of my favorite nights are spent doing comedy with friends, making each other laugh, and discovering live onstage which ideas work and those that should probably never be attempted again. That feeling of collaboration, of building something live with people you trust, is simply the best. It’s the same reason I love performing in a band or working on films. Making things together and sharing them with an audience is where I feel most at home.

That’s also why Saturday Night Live has always meant so much to me. The show sits right at the intersection of performance, filmmaking, and collaboration, especially in its pre taped digital shorts. It feels like a larger scale version of the same thing I’ve always loved doing, creating sketches and videos with friends, just on a much bigger stage. Since I could talk, I’ve dreamt of yelling “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” into a camera, whether as a cast member, host, or even musical guest.

I wouldn’t be where I am without the high school arts programs that encouraged me and gave me space to explore creatively. Being able to support programs like that and pay it forward, especially for students who might not otherwise see a clear path for their creative dreams, would be incredibly meaningful to me. At the end of the day, what makes me happiest is creating with people, making others happy, and helping open doors the same way they were opened for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://hunterhopewell.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/hunterhopewell
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterhopewell
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/rockcomedyfilm
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4F8rTMl87dLDU9VwU8pov9

Image Credits
Main headshot – Ashley St. George