CWU Film graduate develops business through found community

Dylan Hanson was inspired by his favorite filmmakers from an early age, and knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps one day.

“I want to make movies that make other people want to make movies,” the 2025 CWU graduate said. “If even one person sees something I’ve made, and is inspired to go out and make something of their own, that would be enough.”

The Seabeck, Washington, native was looking for a school to help him fulfill that grand ambition, and he found it a few years ago while visiting his older sister at CWU.

“I’d come up on the weekends and hang out with her and her friends,” Hanson said. “I really love the community and atmosphere of Ellensburg. I heard CWU had a great film program and applied on a whim. Once I was accepted, I made a ton of great friends who I still spend time with.”

Enrolling at CWU in 2022, Hanson wasted no time building his videography resume on campus, finding work opportunities with Auxiliary Enterprises Marketing, the Office of Marketing and Communications (formerly University Relations), Hype, and PULSE magazine, among others.

While his primary focus is on leadership roles on film sets, he knows that the broad experience offered to him by the student positions he has held will help him fill the role of director with the perspective it demands.

“My main goal is to write and direct, and my hope is that by doing all these different positions like I’ve been doing throughout college, I’ll be better informed in those leadership positions,” Hanson said. “It’s been really beneficial.”

Through the CWU Film program, Hanson met what he now considers his core support network, and with their guidance, he was able to get a head start on his career in the lead-up to graduation.

“The biggest thing the film program gave me is connections,” he said. “All the jobs and contract gigs I’ve worked recently, I found through friends I met in film school who are now working in the field. When you work with like-minded people who are just as creative as you are, the fun never really stops, even when you’re tired from putting in long hours.”

In working out and about in the Ellensburg community, Hanson was pleased to discover a strong culture that supports the arts — and the students who produce it.

“I got to make my first feature film because of being in Ellensburg,” he said. “As long as you’re good about communicating with business owners and leadership, people are very welcoming and good about letting you film in their spaces. That’s just how gracious people are.”

While working his various gigs around central Washington following graduation, Hanson is embarking on a venture that he and his business partners —fellow CWU Film alumni Amelia French and Cole Delich — are hoping will change the filmmaking landscape in the region. Hanson and the co-founders of Darkroom 509 have high hopes for the company’s potential impact on the state’s film industry.

“We want to make it super Washington-centric,” he said. “The idea is to bring more film industry to Washington and make it more of a hub instead of having to go to L.A. to find work. We’re very focused on genre, too, taking high-concept ideas and executing them on lower budgets to start bringing in that funding and interest.”

Shifting an entire industry northward is a large undertaking, but through his work at CWU and the support he has been met with along the way, Hanson realized that chasing his ambition is something that should be celebrated.

“Having that support system has made me less afraid of being ambitious,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed doing things my own way, but now I have people around me whose strengths complement my weaknesses, and we make a pretty good team.”

As he looks to a future ripe with possibility, Hanson fondly remembers his time at CWU, with gratitude to the people who’ve shaped him into the filmmaker he is today.