“THE BOY WHO SOLD THE WORLD is a coming-of-age story set inside the pressure cooker of the modern tech industry. Ben Pasternak dropped out of high school in Australia at age 15 to start his first company using funding from several of the top VC firms in Silicon Valley. By age 20, Ben has had more successes and failures than many people have in a lifetime. This film takes the viewer inside a world that is notoriously private and secretive, shedding light on what it takes to build a startup from scratch and the emotional and physical toll that effort can have on such a young founder.” Director Adam Barton on THE BOY WHO SOLD THE WORLD which screens at SxSW Film, 2020 edition.
Editor’s Note: While SxSW was officially cancelled on March 6th, 2020, the below interview was one of many that already took place prior to the festival. To respect the creators, all already performed interviews are presented in their unedited entirety below. All of the below works WILL make their way out into the world in one way or another, and we will update this article with updated information when we have it. — JW
Welcome to SxSW! Is your first time here and are you planning to attend your screenings?
This is my first film I am bringing to SXSW as a director, though it is the fourth film I have been a part of that premiered at SXSW. I will be at all the screenings.
Tell me about your favourite aspects of Austin!
I really love the city of Austin, especially all the open public space around the Long Center and along the waterfront. The food scene is deep and sophisticated. For street food/tacos I like Veracruz All Natural in East Austin at the school bus food truck! And for top-end dining I am a huge fan of Comedor, which is right downtown. Eating there is like living inside an episode of Chef’s Table. For drinks I like Midnight Cowboy on 6th and Garage Cocktails, which is right next to Comedor and is set inside an actual parking garage.
So let’s hear more about you and how you got started in the business and what you have worked on in the past?
One of my SXSW highlights is also a career highlight. I edited and co-produced a film in 2011 called KUMARE, which premiered in competition and won the audience award. I started out in filmmaking as an editor, and KUMARE was a real milestone for that part of my career. Two years later I was back at SXSW with a film I co-produced called WE CAUSE SCENES, which was an irreverent look at the rise of Improv Everywhere. I ultimately wanted to continue to pursue producing and directing, so around that time I started my own production company, Resonant Pictures. It’s been an incredibly difficult and rewarding journey to build up Resonant from scratch, and today we are extremely proud to bring not only my own film but also a narrative feature, THE SURROGATE, to this year’s festival.
How did this doc come together?
Filmmaker Chris Smith (AMERICAN MOVIE, JIM & ANDY, FYRE) was making apps in 2015 and met the subject of our film, Ben Pasternak, when they were both in LA. He was really impressed by Ben and helped connect him to some big time investors. He also thought Ben had a really cool story and told his friend and producer Jack Turner (WIG, GIVE ME FUTURE, LOVING) about him. Jack introduced me and I started filming Ben when he was 15 and had just arrived in NYC from Australia. I was blown away by Ben’s ambition and drive, but I also just loved his easy sense of humor. Early on the plan was to make a teen-focused web series, which we did. We retained the rights to that early footage and then I just kept filming off and on for the next four years, tracking Ben as he went on to start two more companies. In 2019 Ben really turned a corner as a founder, but more importantly as a person. He grew up. It was then that I started to see a classic three-act structure for his journey, and that it could really be a true coming-of-age story, set inside this crazy world of the tech business. We started editing the documentary in summer of 2019, and have continued shooting up until February 2020. We submitted to SXSW as a work-in-progress and since we got accepted have continued to add new material to fully flush out the story. The film has been five years in the making, and yet we are still grinding hard in the days leading up to the premiere to make it as good as it can be.
That’s such a long process. So what keeps you going while following a story like this? What drives you?
I think Ben’s story is both inspirational and is also a cautionary tale that I really hope inspires people who want to pursue their own dreams, while also preparing them for the hardships that can come along with taking on big goals. Without giving away the end of the film, I can say that Ben’s current focus is very mission driven, and he is motivated to help work on the issue of climate change. I’d like other young people to be like Ben and put their talents and efforts to use in a way that can help us deal with some of these big, existential issues of the modern era. We need all the energetic, young talent we can get! Making films is really hard, but the idea of inspiring other young people has consistently been a source of motivation.
What was your biggest challenge with this project, and the moment that was the most rewarding to you?
The biggest challenge has really been staying connected to the story over five years. There were times when Ben’s journey was going in directions that made it hard for me to follow. There is a generational gap between Ben and I and at times, I was very much out of place in his world. But seeing Ben learn from his mistakes and seeing him grow up was incredibly cool. I’m really proud of him and how far he has come, and being able to tell this latest chapter of his story is the most rewarding part for me.
I am about to get technical, but I would love to know about the the visual design of the movie and how the movie was photographed.
Because it is so hard to schedule shoots with a teenage CEO, I was not only the director but also the DP. There was basically no way to effectively book crew for 90% of the shooting required for this film. I needed to stay flexible and ready. Fortunately I have a background working for filmmakers who specialize in this kind of production, and I was pretty comfortable as a one-man-band for many of the shoots. As time went on I started bringing along help, most notably Sam Mink, who later became the editor of the film. He and I did so much of the work on this film together. I shot the primary materials of the film on a Sony FS7 with Canon cine and l-series lenses. Much of it is handheld, and for those parts of the film my goal visually is to make it feel incredibly organic like a beautiful home movie. We also shot more formal sitdown interviews, which are more traditional. In the color grade I am trying to make it all feel a bit timeless, and of one piece. While the story is centered inside the modern tech world, I think at its core it is a coming-of-age story, which is a timeless theme. So visually I want the film to feel somewhat timeless.
What are you looking forward to the most about showing your movie here in Austin?
I am most excited to just share this film with the SXSW audience, which I think is the ideal audience for the premiere. We didn’t apply anywhere else. I think that this story just fits with SXSW and Austin, and I really can’t wait to get feedback from people who see it on the big screen at the Alamo Drafthouse for the first time.
After the film screens at SxSW, where is the film going to show next? Theatrical, online, more festivals?
We are currently in talks for distribution so I don’t have any answers at this time.
If you could show your movie in any theatre outside of Austin, where would you screen it and why?
I would like to screen it in NYC because I live in Brooklyn and most of the film is set in Manhattan. Many of the people who worked on it or are in it would then have a chance to see it on a big screen.
What would you say to someone who was being disruptive through a movie?
People work really hard to make movies and interrupting a screening is simply disrespectful.
We have a lot of readers on our site looking to make movies or get into the industry somehow. What is the ONE THING you would say to someone who is wanting to get into the filmmaking business?
You have to be relentless. You need a dogmatic approach where you don’t stop when things get hard. You need to set goals and systematically work towards achieving those goals. You just can’t give up.
And final question: what is the greatest movie you have ever seen at a film festival?
In 2013 I saw a movie called SHORT TERM 12. I cried so unbelievably hard and was deeply, deeply moved. The people in that movie including Brie Larson, Rami Malek and Lakeith Stanfield along with the director Destin Daniel Cretton have gone on to have incredible careers. That movie is special.
For more information on this film and to follow its progress into the festival world, point your browser to www.sxsw.com/film!