“Art. Money. Architecture.”
Those were the 3 words that Ashton Young kept in mind when moving from NY to Norristown at age 7. As a child, Young had dreamt of writing comics as a career, but after coming to the realization that this wouldn’t be the most stable option, he added architecture as a potential backup plan. Despite that, Young felt a connection with art which architecture couldn’t satisfy.
Young thought to himself, “Maybe you have to think about your principles in how you’re able to get your art on a page and apply it to something else”
This caused him to further dial in on video editing, production, screenwriting, etc.
To catapult the excitement of screenwriting and directing, Young first gravitated towards the editing aspect when coming to the high.
“Just wanting to have your own vision put in front of you, instead of somebody else chopping it up and doing this and that is what caused me to get deeper into editing, screenwriting, and directing,” Young said.
When it comes to screenwriting, Young believes that consuming more media provides better insight when creating a project. Pulling elements from manga, comics, and movies, he can often be seen writing scripts in his free time.
“I’ll start a pitch, which is normally around 6 pages, and then I can see where it goes. If it doesn’t go anywhere; fine, but if it does; I’ll keep going.”
Some of these scripts can be seen on Eagle News, in which Aston is a prominent part of. Along with writing, Ashton is also the man behind the camera of many projects displayed on the news, as he finds film-making exciting due to the ability to collaborate.
“You, as a videographer, are either directing a video or taking a vision from somebody else and if someone can’t directly make that vision come to life, it’s important that you help to do so,” Young says. “My visions have been tweaked many times as well, which is where I trust people to help get it done alongside me.”
But Young’s creativity doesn’t stop there, as he also creates music, recently combining elements of jazz-rap with modern twists. His music can be described as a mix between New York artist, Westside Gunn, and Chicago rapper, Lucki. His newest mixtape, “DECOMPRESS,” along with his previous 2 projects, is out on streaming platforms under “Kage.”
After high school, Young plans on attending film school.
“I look for places that aren’t just good film schools but have good connections.”
As for right now, Young is set on screenwriting until eventually becoming a director, with the ultimate goal of owning a production company.
“Eventually I want to bring a spotlight,” Young states. “If I’m in the position to say, ‘I came from Norristown,’ people will really start to think of this place as one that’s able to breed people that can succeed in the world.”
While Young has many goals ahead of him, his most recent is to win Mr Norristown, as he advises everyone to pull up on Thursday, March 21.
“We will rock out for y’all.”
