I was first introduced to Dylan Randall during the selection process for the 2022 WA Made Film Festival. It was late December 2021 when a short film titled Get the Girl landed in my inbox. It was a romantic comedy set in 1985 that immediately stood out.

What struck me was Randall’s ambition. Here was a young filmmaker clearly working beyond his years, packing an enormous amount into a single short: elaborate costumes, a fully realised period setting, and even musical numbers.

Since then, Randall hasn’t taken the easy road. Each new project has pushed further, from his feature-length musical Sweet Rhythm to his Scooby-Doo fan films, and now his latest short, Reach for the Stars which is arguably his most accomplished work to date.

The emotionally-driven film carries a hint of E.T.. It follows young Madeline (Ava Pasch), who is struggling with grief after the loss of her mother. When a small spacecraft crashes in her backyard, she meets B3R1, a stranded visitor from the stars. As the two form a bond and search for a way home, Madeline begins to understand that even when someone is gone, their love can remain.

The film’s impact was clear, unanimously taking out Best of the Fest: Film at the 2025 WA Made Film Festival.

I recently caught up with Randall to talk about his journey so far, the challenges of working at scale, and what continues to inspire his storytelling.

“This whole experience has pushed me to make more films practically and also to try other off-world ideas.”

Interview by Matthew Eeles

I was first introduced to your work in 2021 when you submitted your first short film, Get the Girl, to the WA Made Film Festival, which would go on to screen at the festival in 2022. Thinking back on Get the Girl and the films you’ve made since then, there’s a very common retro theme running through your work. What inspired this?

Honestly, the main thing is mobile phones. I don’t like them. I’m currently watching a show called Beef on Netflix, and there are a lot of scenes where characters are talking to each other on their phones and the text bubbles pop up on the screen. I don’t like that at all. I’m not a fan of phones in films. So I want to set my films in a time without phones. But I guess my major influence was growing up on old films from the early ’80s that I’ve been exposed to ever since I could watch movies with my mum and dad. The feeling of watching Back to the Future, E.T., Indiana Jones, and all the Star Wars films, there’s something about them that feels so otherworldly and full of wonder.

I find it interesting that so many filmmakers your age were inspired to make movies by the same films and filmmakers that inspired me as someone who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s. Was there really such a void of inspiring films made in the late ’90s and 2000s?

I honestly put it down to the wonder of escaping our reality. A movie is an escape from real life. With newer films, I’ve found that we’ve lost touch with escapism and try too hard to incorporate politics, social constructs, and all that stuff. Why don’t we make really fun films anymore that audiences can still feel an emotional connection to?

It’s actually a criticism that I hear a lot when it comes to Australian films in particular. Our films are so grounded in reality. If it’s not a coming-of-age drama, then it’s a kitchen-sink drama, or it’s wildly political. Escapism doesn’t make the cut, and it hasn’t for decades.

I agree. Reach for the Stars hasn’t actually made it into a lot of Australian festivals, and I think it’s because I’ve gone beyond the social norms. But they don’t want to accept anything outside of what they’re used to. That’s why I think the WA Made Film Festival is so great. You’ve created a space that’s accepting of everything. I don’t think anyone could look at the WA Made Film Festival program and notice any particular theme in what’s showing, and I think that’s the festival’s greatest strength. I look at the festivals where I haven’t been successful, and their screening structures and themes are just so obvious.

Let’s go back to Get the Girl for a moment, which was such an ambitious short. It had a big cast, costumes, and sets, and it was shot at the old Perth Girls’ School in East Perth, from memory. What stage were you at in your career at that time?

So this was 2021. I graduated in 2019, did a little bit of study at Murdoch Uni in 2020, and then left because I wasn’t really vibing with what I was being taught. The university circuit wasn’t right for me. Then I went to SAE for seven months, where I wrote the script and pitched the film. I was actually told that I shouldn’t make it because it wasn’t something filmgoers would want to watch. So I thought, “Cool. All right, I’ll go and make it myself.” And that’s what I did. I was pretty much straight out of study, and it was my first major film with people I’d met at uni. It was also my first time using a proper crew, and it took me seven months to make. That was my biggest regret, taking so long, because a short film really shouldn’t take that long. We experienced a lot of ups and downs. I lost locations, and cast members became unavailable. I was making this film very, very bare-bones.

Was it your educators telling you that you shouldn’t make it, or your peers?

The educators. I actually left SAE because I wanted to make my own films the way I wanted to make them. Since then, I’ve had no formal education.

Considering those ups and downs, did you feel like you had bitten off more than you could chew?

One hundred percent. Originally, it was meant to be a 10-page script, but I wanted to make a longer film, so I developed it further. I’d say my biggest regret is that I didn’t flesh out certain scenes well enough. I remember my dad telling me the same thing. But I felt locked into what I had written at uni because that’s what I had developed it as, and I didn’t want to add too much fluff. Looking back, I could have added a lot more for clarity. But I was still learning. It was my first short, and it made me want to do something even bigger and more ambitious.

And you certainly did go bigger. Your follow-up film, Sweet Rhythm, was even more ambitious. I can’t imagine anyone thinking it would be a good idea to make their first feature film a musical. Where does your confidence come from?

Theatre. [Laughs]. Literally theatre. I was working in theatre as an actor while developing Sweet Rhythm. I had a strong friend group and a community of singers and performers. We actually made two stage musicals that year at our local theatre. I thought, why not? I had an acquaintance with a background in music production, and I said, “Let’s go and make a feature film.” I made a lot of mistakes with Sweet Rhythm, like I did with Get the Girl. Looking back, I could have cut some sequences down and removed half the dialogue. But I could never have done that in the edit because the dialogue carried so much of the plot. Without it, the film wouldn’t have made sense.

You wrote the songs and music for the film. What’s your background in music?

COVID. [Laughs]. I got bored and taught myself piano through YouTube. That’s also where I learned to write songs. I’m a big fan of music from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. You won’t find me listening to anything else. I grew up on Elvis Presley and that sort of thing. I also had friends who are songwriters who helped me. Looking back, I think the music let Sweet Rhythm down in a way. There are a lot of things I’d change, and the music is one of them.

In what way?

Songs are meant to progress the story. That’s something I’ve come to understand now, four years into working as a theatre sound technician and watching so many musicals. In Sweet Rhythm, if you remove the songs, the story is still there. The songs are just added on top to make it a musical. I still love them, and there are songs I like, but if I did it again, I’d integrate them into the story rather than treat them as an addition.

What else would you have done differently in retrospect?

I’d cut down the script. I’ve thought about rewriting it just to see what I could improve. Locations were also tough. Owners were constantly changing their minds. I had a lot of crew issues as well, with people cancelling the day before shoots. Some days it was just me and my sister doing everything. It was a very ambitious project, and some people lost heart towards the end. It became a rush to finish, and even after release, there were issues. I don’t really include it in my filmography anymore because of that.

That’s interesting. I’ve heard very few filmmakers speak that way about one of their films.

A few things happened after the release that made me not want to be associated with some of the people involved. So it’s an interesting film to look back on.

Is it available to watch online?

You can rent it on YouTube. I managed to get a distribution deal in 2023, though there was no money in it, just an equal split. It hasn’t made anything. It did air on Channel 9 once, which was the only time it’s been on TV. Otherwise, you can rent it on YouTube for about $2.

Have viewers left any feedback?

I don’t think it’s been watched much, to be honest. But I did get some Letterboxd reviews after it screened at the WA Made Film Festival. One said, “fairly well-made production, which gives it that low-budget local bump.” Another said, “20 minutes too long—could have been cut to make it punchier.” Honestly, I agree with those comments. People ask if I regret making it, and I say no. The films I’ve made since have been better because of the lessons I learned.

Your most successful film so far in terms of eyeballs is your short fan film, Scoob! Where Are You?, which has over 50,000 views on YouTube. You wrote and directed that film, and you also starred in it as Shaggy. Were those views achieved in a short amount of time, or have they steadily built since its release?

They came very, very quickly. It still gets views today—around 200 every 24 hours.

Why Scooby-Doo?

It’s a funny story. I started doing Shaggy’s voice around the house, and my mum was getting very annoyed. So I said, “I’m going to immortalise my impression.” [Laughs]. All my friends love Scooby-Doo, and we do the voices all the time, so I asked if they wanted to make a short film. We already knew who would play Daphne, Scoob, Shaggy, and Velma. We shot the first film over eight nights in Gnangara Pines. We all live in Mandurah, so it was a two-hour drive, which was ridiculous. But we just wanted to have fun and make something we were good at. Within two or three months, I had already written and shot the second one. With the Scooby-Doo films, I wanted to see what I could make in the shortest amount of time with the highest production value possible. The first one was shot and released in December, a one-month turnaround. The second was shot in February and released in March, and the third was shot in August and released in September. We’d shoot for four days and edit for three weeks. I wanted to get them out as quickly as possible to test what I could achieve in that timeframe. We hired a Wicked Camper that was already painted like the Mystery Machine. I also hired King’s Carnival in Mandurah, which has now been demolished, and filmed a “spooky carnival” sequence there. Everyone says it’s spooky.

King’s Carnival was spooky, even in the middle of the day.

[Laughs]. It really is. For the third film, I wanted to include a musical number because we were shooting in a theatre. I was binge-watching Scooby-Doo episodes to figure out how to do something different, and I think that’s reflected in the views because it goes further from the classic episodes. At the end of the trilogy, I added a small joke about them heading to Spooky Island, hinting that the films could be a prequel trilogy to the live-action films from 25 years ago. [Laughs].

What are the copyright logistics of making a Scooby-Doo fan film?

It’s a parody. I researched it extensively to make sure it was okay. I credited everything properly and made it clear that it’s owned by Warner Bros. The original Scooby-Doo soundtrack from the ’70s is actually in the public domain, so there were no issues there. That library of music is one of the reasons I made three films.

Let’s move on to your latest short film, Reach for the Stars, which is your best film yet, in my opinion. The Reach for the Stars narrative came to you after the death of your grandfather, and you wanted to explore dealing with grief. If you’re comfortable discussing it, could you elaborate on that?

I had never actually lost a relative that close to me before. My family are living in England, and my immediate family live in Australia, so we’re very disconnected from family outings and all that kind of stuff. We only see them when they come to Australia, or when we travel there. I always try to make my films fun for people to watch, but with this film I wanted to make something with a message. That’s why I decided to explore grief and how my mum must have dealt with the grief of losing her father from so far away. From that, I came up with this story for Reach for the Stars. I always felt like it was easier to write a female lead because I was able to draw from my mum’s grief.

That’s interesting because I was going to ask why you decided to feature a young girl and her mother, rather than a young boy and his grandfather.

I wanted this narrative to be about immediate family, rather than secondary family. Daniel Monteiro Pais plays B3R1 in the film, but I did offer for him to audition for the lead role in case we needed to gender-swap the characters for whatever reason. That was the other version of the script. But I thought the ideas came easier for a daughter losing a mother, with a father not knowing how to help, although it was not an easier story to write. What I didn’t want to do was have her overcoming grief via her father or a counsellor. I wanted to do it how Pixar does it. I was so moved by Inside Out 2 because Pixar is able to give their characters real emotional depth. Like Bing Bong. That dude was going off a cliff, and that was so sad. I wanted to experiment with practical effects and make a puppet robot that comes from space. He’s lost his home. She’s lost her home, which is her mum, and they both come together and make it out together, really. I knew that people would have an emotional connection to this character.

I want to ask you about B3R1 in a moment, but firstly, Ava Pasch plays your lead character, Madeline, in the film. Ava is an aspiring filmmaker herself who has directed some terrific shorts. How did Ava’s casting come about?

I actually just messaged her because I know her through theatre. The theatre world in Mandurah is a very, very close-knit community, so I know her. She did some shows with me as an ensemble cast member while I was a lead. She was still at school last year, and she played Anna in a school production of Frozen. I thought she was great. I was the stagehand for that show. When I was writing Reach for the Stars, I knew that Ava could play Madeline.

She’s such a great, tenacious talent.

She is amazing. And she’s actually in my next film as well.

As I mentioned, she has directed some short films herself. Does it make it easier to direct someone like Ava who comes with directing experience?

She’s great to direct. I like to maintain a fun attitude on my sets. I love having fun, but also getting the job done. We’re a small crew. There were three of us at one point. I was on camera, Aidan Thomas was on the smoke, and Sydnee Hopkins was there helping out. We were all having fun. It’s a heavy film as well, so I wanted to make sure we had some fun in between takes. She’s a very bubbly person, and I’m a very talkative person. So in between takes, we’re back and forth. She liked being on set because it showed her how to direct in a more chilled-out environment when dealing with such heavy themes. And props to her for acting against a robot. I can imagine that’s how it must feel for actors working in front of a green screen. She did a really good job.

Talk us through the creation of B3R1.

So originally, in the script, he was going to be called Bert. If you flip the “e” around, it becomes B3, and then “r”, and then the “1” was going to resemble more of a “t”. There was actually a sequence in the film where he didn’t know how to talk, and he would show his path home on a map, and it would spell out B3R1. She would look at it and go, “Ah, Bert.” And Madeline would call him Bert instead of B. So that’s honestly where the name came from. The creation of the robot itself came from looking at children’s toys. I looked at models online, and I took inspiration from the boxy style of the old Star Wars droids. I originally drew him with a round head, and then when I went to make him, that was impossible. So I went for a more boxy feel, and it gave him a cuter appearance. His eyes are actually camera lenses from phones. He’s got some Lego on him. Honestly, he’s literally just built from that craft plywood you can buy from the kids’ section of Bunnings, with some electrical aluminium tape. [Laughs].

Do you still have B3R1?

He’s on my desk. He’s next to me every time I sit at my desk.

Was he always going to be practical?

He was always going to be practical, but there were two ways of doing it: stop motion or puppetry. I actually started with the stop-motion idea. We basically filmed all of Ava’s interior shots first. We filmed outdoors one night, two indoor days, and then another outdoor night for pickups. But during the outdoor shots on night one, he was puppeteered. Him coming out of the spaceship and falling over was puppeteered. And his actual sequence, where he gets up out of the ship and falls over, was originally supposed to be blue-screen stop motion. But when I got to the interiors and we started doing stop motion, I found that the light outside was changing too quickly. And because he’s a miniature, he was picking up dust, and I wasn’t noticing. It didn’t feel natural enough for me. It felt too disconnected from the world. So I called Daniel and said, “Hey man, I know you’re on uni break. Can you come back over today and tomorrow so we can puppeteer him for the whole day?” And that’s what we did. He was never going to be CGI. Puppeteering him made him feel alive. It felt like he was really there.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the emotion of this narrative and these characters. How emotional has the experience of making and releasing this film been for you?

I’ve loved every second of it. I’m very grateful for the awards that we’ve won so far. It takes an entire team to make these films. I’m glad I had such an amazing team helping me make it. Considering I did a lot of the work, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without them. B3R1 wouldn’t have come alive without Daniel and my parents’ help. So it’s been great. This whole experience has pushed me to make more films practically and also to try other off-world ideas. I made stickers for the film, I made some T-shirts for people. It’s become one of those films that I’ll remember forever. There’s also a lot of emotion in making so many new friends while making the film. Ava and Daniel are now part of the next film. Even Jay Selvey, who puppeteered the little red puppet in the film, is in the next one. Our composer, Lizzie Bliss, is composing my next film. It’s the small things that have now propelled us to push our creative boundaries and try something that looks impossible on paper.

If you were offered a million dollars to make a feature film tomorrow, what would it be?

Reach for the Stars. A feature version.

Really?

Yeah. I think about it a lot. I’ve actually got a draft on my laptop. It’s just there. I haven’t touched it in weeks, but I was thinking that if I were going to make a feature, I would use Reach for the Stars as my proof of concept and go and make it. I would use the money to help me make multiple versions of the robots so I can do different poses, but I would never want to replace him with CGI. He would always have to be his little clanky self, with fishing wire. I’d give him more of a backstory, and I’d also show Madeline going through more hardships at school.

Tell us about your next film, The Puppets of the High Seas.

When I finished Reach for the Stars, I wanted to continue experimenting with puppets because not a lot of people in the local film community are doing that. It’s called The Puppets of the High Seas. It’s a pirate film that I had written two years ago. It’s a 55-minute film about a crew of three puppets, with a human captain, who get lost in a storm and are shipwrecked upon an uncharted isle. On this uncharted isle, they meet an evil captain, Red Grave, who has the treasure of the Trinity of Lost Souls. Pretty much, this film is the cheesiest and most basic puppet pirate film I could make, but it has its own charm and flair. It has three lead puppets that I made myself, Ernesto, Billy, and Chuck. You’ve got the lead captain, Boggs, the evil captain, Red Grave, and the supporting lead of Isabella, who appears throughout the film. We built a pirate ship in my back garden, and we filmed some of it down at the Mandurah foreshore. Some of it we shot in 40-degree heat in January. But it’s got the costumes, it’s got swords, it’s got makeup, and the puppets are so funny. And there’s even a musical number. [Laughs].

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