When your film teacher turns projects into blockbusters

“After years bouncing between Disney animation, TV shows, indie films and short projects, everything finally clicked with this one,” Clint said.

“It felt like all those experiences. The long hours, running around on set, learning from every mistake led me right here, to this moment in front of an audience who really gets what genre filmmaking is about.”

Monsterfest, Australia’s premier genre film festival, is a celebration of cult, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, dark drama, animation and other boundary-pushing cinema. A platform for filmmakers who dare to go big.

“I was buzzing to have my film’s world premiere in front of that crowd,” he said.

“The Q&A afterwards was the cherry on top -  hearing their reactions and gasps really made me appreciate why I do this and why I love sharing stories with audiences who love movies the way I do.”

But the idea for Dracula Revamped didn’t begin with a studio pitch, it was nurtured inside a TAFE Queensland Coomera Creative campus classroom.

What started as a simple exercise in camera technique and visual storytelling for his students quickly spiraled into something much bigger.

“I set my students a task using script pages from Coppola’s Dracula,” Clint said.

“After seeing eight different interpretations, I wrote a feature that brought those ideas together and we started to shoot.”

Before trading the film set for the classroom, Clint’s career was already the stuff of movie lore. He honed his craft at Disney, working on beloved classics like Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop, before moving into productions including Alien: Covenant.

Now, that industry experience lives and breathes in the Coomera Creative campus studios.

“I try and get students shooting as much as possible, giving them an experience close to a real set as I can,” Clint said.

“Sometimes the projects are probably bigger than they should be, but that’s the point. That’s when students realise they can do more than they thought possible. We’ve built apocalyptic landscapes, filmed inside spaceships, it pushes them to think bigger and dream wilder.”

However, Clint said learning goes beyond classrooms and cameras, it’s about the people you meet and the connections you make.

“The Coomera Creative campus is an outstanding launchpad for creatives,” said Clint.

“Here it’s not just about learning the craft, it’s about mixing with like-minded people, connecting with industry professionals, getting opportunities to work on local film shoots and attending events like the AACTA's and the Gold Coast Film Festival. That’s where students see what’s possible and start imagining their own paths,” he said.

As for what’s next, Clint isn’t slowing down.

“I’m finishing a feature documentary on a Sydney cyberpunk comic publishing house from the 90s,” he said.

“And I’m planning to pitch a monster movie to Screen Queensland. We’ll see how that goes.”