Today we’d like to introduce you to Dahson Arave.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Since I was in 4th grade, when I watched the Oscars, I always knew what I wanted to do with my life… Film. After a small journey in sports after high school, I finally started taking this as seriously as possible in January of 2018 after speaking with a writer from the 2000s TV series “Smallville”, in L.A.
Since then I have written over 10 scripts, had a chance to write for a big-time production company but didn’t quite make it, auditioned for a bunch of roles, got some, didn’t get others, and around 2020 during the spring an idea came to me. Why do I keep waiting on others for my “chance” to come, so I picked up a camera after writing a short film and got to work.
After just under 2 years I wrote and filmed 5 short films, with the last one (“Orenda”) being nominated in places like Paris, L.A., and other parts of the world, and shown in multiple places as well.
Now, going back, in February of 2019 I had come up with a production company idea for down the line, but once I started filming the short films I used it. The name of the company was “Marlon Dean Productions”. After the 5th short film (“Orenda”) I knew that was my last, and now it was on to feature films.
So, since January of 2022, we as “Marlon Dean Productions” have been working on a project called “3 Left Turns”.
This feature film will be getting shown on October 13th of this year (2023) in Salt Lake City, Utah, and this will be the only place and time to see it until our ultimate plan with this film occurs. Once we’re finished filming “3 Left Turns”, which is this April, we will begin on more projects.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road to building “Marlon Dean Productions” has been nothing but rocky, and I’ve loved it.
The reason we started this company was due to us being “almost there”, “not quite it”, and realizing by going down this route we won’t get to where we wanted to be. So, we picked a camera up and did it ourselves.
By going this route we had used it as if it was our schooling, getting all the experience we needed while growing and getting better in the process. Even during this process, it was difficult though, finding our way to film, understanding what we need to get better at, and finding the right people to build this company around.
We are now preparing for our feature film, “3 Left Turns”, and it wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for this rocky process of non-stop learning. If you’re afraid to fail then you’ll never learn, and without doing so you will never see what you’re truly capable of.
As you know, we’re big fans of Marlon Dean Productions. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Marlon Dean Productions is a film company based in Utah, that was officially started in 2022. We film movies as of now, and will eventually film series, music videos, and more. Our company will not stop there though, as we have plans in place that will help us grow outside of this as well.
However, with our filming, we do a film in a way that is very different, it saves an extreme amount of time and money without ever hurting the film. Our preparation is key to this process, among other things, but it is our way of filming and if you’re interested in working with us we can explain the process more.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that our city and state have a look that is only Utah, and I also enjoy the untapped potential because of where we live. Not only with people, but locations as well.
I do not like how our city and the state of Utah support one another, specifically in the film world. Supporting people in what they want to do is an amazing thing, to be able to see them enjoy their passion should be a good thing.
However, I don’t believe a lot of people that live here do this. I would love to explain this more, but I’ll wait for another day.
Contact Info:
- Website: marlondeanproductions.com
- Instagram: @marlondean
- Facebook: Marlon Dean
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marlondean/featured
Image Credits
Dahson Arave, Bastian Hill, Dominic Jordon, DeadFox, Tyler Critchlow, and Marlon Dean Productions
