Rising Stars: Meet Aaron Wilson of Tempe, AZ

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Wilson.

Hi Aaron, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up, I was incredibly shy, but I have wanted to make movies ever since I saw Star Wars when I was five years old. I didn’t just love it, I saw the magic behind it. I wanted to make spaceships. That led me to learn After Effects and eventually make my first short film at 14, a Star Wars spoof for the cinematography merit badge in Boy Scouts.

I later attended the Scottsdale School of Film + Theater at Scottsdale Community College, where I focused on production and editing. While I was there, I did something most film students don’t do and made a feature film outside of school with my non-filmmaker friends, a zombie mockumentary called Surviving the Zombie Plague. That experience taught me more than any class ever could.

Even though I was shy and believed I “couldn’t write people,” I found myself drawn to writing. Near the end of film school, I was assigned to write a short script for a lighting class. My friend Cristian Macias had an idea about a girl battling her own darker self, where the darker side wins. We brainstormed together, grounding it in Dissociative Identity Disorder, which I researched deeply. At a certain point, something clicked and I felt like I truly understood the character. Cristian was having trouble getting started and trusted me with his idea. He let me write what I consider my first professional quality script, ME or HER.

Around this same time, I was facing intense personal struggles. I have dealt with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder, though I did not have names for them at first. After returning early from an LDS mission and later experiencing multiple hospitalizations, I reached a point where I could barely function. I could not read, watch films, or create. For someone who wanted to tell stories, that was devastating.

In that place, an old idea resurfaced from years earlier while I was working at a thrift store. I imagined seeing an echo of my past self and thinking it was a ghost. That became the foundation for my feature screenplay TIME HAUNT, about a boy who feels left behind by time and begins experiencing a haunting.

Writing that script felt like a miracle. Instead of stopping there, I pushed further and took an acting class, something I had always believed I could not do. Every class challenged that belief, and by the end I realized there was nothing I could not attempt. More importantly, I found a community.

Through that class, I met collaborators who became close friends and creative partners. Together, we brought TIME HAUNT to life as a short film and went on to create additional projects including MAN of the GUN and Do You Validate?

Most recently, we completed my first feature film, The Artist’s Hands, a story about accepting the work of your hands and your heart, including your flaws. In many ways, it reflects the journey that brought me here.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every aspect of filmmaking is hard, mainly I think of the “making” aspect of it. It’s like magic. Every time you are bringing something into reality that did not exist before and that comes with “birthing pains”. As fun as filmmaking is, it is just as much, if not more, hard!

Especially in the filming of my most recent film (wrapped 3 days ago as of writing this), It was tougher than I could have anticipated, for both me and the crew. For the first time the struggle outweighed the enjoyment and I was faced with a question I had not encountered till now: “Do I keep filmmaking?” “Is it worth it?” “Is this what I want to do with the rest of my life?”

Though I am at this moment still reeling from the struggle of this shoot, I still feel that though I may not recover for another few days at least, the struggle was worth it. Of course there are things I would do differently in hind-sight, but the joy of the process outweighs any trauma I may have collected in the process, and I hope has made for stronger bonds with my collaborators. They do great work, we’ve been through something together and have something beautiful to show for it.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Anything to do with story, I’m there! I’m A Writer, Director, and Editor and I love every stage of that process and would love to do it for the rest of my life. Though I often like to wear all 3 hats, I would love to be just 1, hopefully Editor for someone else’s feature at some point.

I also love to build things from the ground up which had led me reluctantly into the world of producing which surprisingly fun! I am a strong proponent of the best way to get something made is to make it yourself!

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
“Networking” is a big scary word, and I hate to talk about it that way. I prefer to think of it as connection. Every genuine moment you have with another human being is more valuable than 1000 resumes sent out. First of all it’s real, and secondly you’re not even trying, and what’s more it works. People remember you and you remember them if you are genuinely friends and not trying to “Hustle”.

Contact Info:

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