Laughter spills out of the room on the bottom floor of the Jacob Spori Building. I-News is finished, and Cole Benton, sitting behind the I-News desk, is grinning and concluding a joke.

Broadcasting major Cole Benton, a senior from Ravensdale, Wash., plans to become a “Mormon Spielberg.” Benton said that becoming a Mormon Spielberg means “being a good member of the Church making contemporary films.”

Just because Spielberg is Jewish doesn’t mean he makes strictly Jewish movies. He tries to make movies that move people. Spielberg said, “I dream for a living,” according to en.thinkexist.com/quotes/steven_spielberg.

Benton dreams of creating films with good morals that “leave you feeling better about yourself.” As for making LDS movies, Benton said he would avoid the limited audience of the Mormon market, adding that he would be careful not to make anything that would make the Church look foolish. If he does make the next Singles Ward he promises, “It just won’t be… Utahish.”

Benton readily admits that this field of work is competitive, but he’s not worried.

“What happens will happen. Maybe I’ll be incredibly famous and rich and everyone will be like, ‘Hey, that’s the kid who was interviewed in Scroll,’ or I’ll be some regular old schmuck that sits in his office all day and teaches kids how to edit video in high school.”

He’s working on becoming better. If one attends any film festival on campus one will most likely see Benton’s talent. Benton submitted his film So You’re Eighteen in a previous BYU-Idaho film festival.

With help from his friend Jonathan Boden, a senior from Brentwood, Calif., the movie So You’re Eighteen was designed to help young ladies on campus realize it is very possible to find that special someone and get married in two short weeks.

Benton produced another movie called Escape From Rexburg for the film festival on Oct. 27, a short story about zombies, skateboards and pop cans.

Benton is also the main director of I-News – a campus-produced show available to watch at www.byui.edu/scroll/inews. Benton understands that the potential of I-News will lie in the new students preparing to take over the operation.

“The challenge is to get all the freshman up to date with Final Cut Pro, how to use the boards, and so I’m just trying to make sure everyone knows everything,” Benton said.

As Benton reflects on how he teaches these technical skills, he briefly looks down, a smirk sneaking onto his face. “You know, make them feel stupid and then build them back up to be better editors, that’s my job.”

Lindsy Mollotte, a broadcasting senior from Othello, Wash., said, “Cole is always helpful to students; he’s probably the most informed broadcasting major at BYU-Idaho. He’s very talented and is always willing to offer a helping hand. And he’s funny too.”

Benton offers advice to students looking to work in film. Benton says if one plans to become a film student, broadcasting is the major in which to enroll.