Why Stories, Not Software Will Save Us: A Conversation with Writer-Director Roland Ellis

The rhythms of cinema, pain of late-capitalism, false promises of AI and enduring primacy of human storytelling.

Image from CONVICTS

It’d be a damn shame if some people weren’t just born weird.  

Taking the logical and easy way is normal. Following one’s gut down the harder road is weird. 

Trying something, succeeding and repeating your success is normal. Trying something, failing and continuing to try because your mind’s on fire with secret visions is weird.  

And the musician, writer, director, journalist and cracklingly-brilliant intellectual Roland Ellis is one of these very virtuous weirdos. The Aussie came into this world tuned to a slightly different frequency than the rest of us. He’s the rare type whose vibe-eantenna seems to catch every current of the human condition…and the even rare type who can express his insights across artistic mediums. 

First known for bending chords and cracking hearts as the musician Ernest Ellis, Ellis came up through the Australian music scene: touring and writing hard, while slowly shifting his creative center of gravity. Over a decade ago, his fascination with the visual language of music videos moved him from on the stage to behind the camera. Next came screenwriting, journalism for Rolling Stone, forays into academia and a move around the world as Ellis braided his various yarns of talent into a single thread: storytelling. 

These days, Ellis is a writer-director based in Brooklyn. He recently wrapped his first feature film The Reunion, which is set to hit Amazon this summer. He’s deep into development on sophomore feature, titled Dream Baby Dream.

The film is a gritty, character-driven slice of New York noir that doubles as a cinematic indictment of late-capitalism’s soul-stealing grind.  It’s in the final stages of crowdfunding, by the way. And is a project more than worth lending your support towards. Check the teaser here.

Aside from his growing success as a writer-director, Roland is a dad, a scholarly thinker and a critic of the transcendent promises of AI culture. 

We caught up with this artist-slash-academic while he was jetlagged in the French Alps, fresh from investor meetings in Geneva and right on the cusp of getting Dream Baby Dream over the line. What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about the addictive nature of flow states, the crushing weight of systems and how stories might just be the last sacred thing left. 

Read the condensed and edited version of our conversation below.