Holly-Anna Mathews Talks ‘Project Hourglass’, Launching SquireRose Studios and Passing on Studio Franchise Deals

We had the pleasure of talking with Holly-Anna Mathews. There is a specific kind of madness required to make an independent movie. Now, add a colicky three-month-old baby who needs to eat every two hours and refuses to sleep alone. Most people would fold under the pressure. Holly-Anna Mathews simply laced up her shoes and started running. Literally. During the late-night filming of the award-winning short film Project Hourglass, Mathews found herself sprinting off a bridge in the dead of night to a parked car where her dad was holding her newborn daughter, Indi. She would feed her baby, put her back to sleep, and sprint right back to the set to keep producing alongside her husband, director Benjamin Mathews. “It was a three or four-hour shoot, and my dad just sat there with her in his arms the entire time,” she remembers. “There is always a way, I believe.”

That kind of relentless drive does not come from nowhere. Mathews grew up in a working-class family, moving from the small town of Tamworth to Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. With a father in the Navy and a hardworking mother who became a lawyer, she learned early on that nothing is handed to you. “I always felt different, or that I wanted more than just the traditional storyline,” she recalls. The spark ignited during a simple shopping trip when she saw her mother admiring expensive dresses they could not afford. She promised her mother she would buy her one someday. That raw desire for something bigger eventually found its focus while she was watching the sci-fi series The 100. “It just occurred to me, they’re getting paid to be there right now,” she says. “That’s their job, to be in this amazing fantasy world.”

She pursued acting, training extensively. When the pandemic shut the world down, Mathews refused to play the waiting game. Leaving behind a steady four-year job at a local grocery store at age twenty-two, she set a hard deadline to get behind the camera. “I remember thinking, I have no idea what I’m going to do, and I have no way to make money, but I’m going to set myself the goal of getting a job behind the scenes on some film by February,” she says. Miraculously, on February first, she landed a gig as a production assistant.

Her work ethic made her undeniable. She quickly found herself working in the art department for the high-profile series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart alongside Sigourney Weaver. Her dedication was so apparent that she was soon offered a massive special effects coordinator role on a Planet of the Apes project despite having zero formal qualifications for the job. “It occurred to me that there are no boundaries,” she notes. “It’s all about people wanting to work with people they know and like.” In a classic rock-and-roll move, she turned the massive studio gig down. She realized she wanted to build her own empire with her husband rather than work on someone else’s dream.

Together, they launched SquireRose Studios and took over Acting Mastery, transforming it into one of Australia’s premier training institutions. Mathews stepped up as CEO, completely revamping the business so her husband could focus on directing. They push each other constantly. “Ben and I like to push the limits,” she says. “If you’ve got too much on your plate, just get a bigger plate.”

That philosophy was put to the ultimate test with Project Hourglass. Despite the exhaustion of new motherhood, they pulled together a massive, action-packed production in just three months over the holidays. The film is a pure adrenaline rush. “It’s like an entire feature film condensed into seven minutes,” Mathews explains. The gamble paid off completely. The film swept the 2026 Tropfest, taking home three awards including the People’s Choice Award, the Best Cinematography award, and the Runways Global Career Acceleration Award that will be taking her and her husband Benjamin Mathews to the US later in the year to meet with the head streamers.

Mathews’ superpower seems to be a total rejection of self-doubt, especially when asking for the impossible. When they needed an editor for their tight holiday deadline, they aimed for Emmy-winning editor Liz Deegan in the UK. When they needed funding, they plainly asked an investor who simply replied, “I can do that.” When they needed a star, she reached out to Bob Morley from The 100, the exact show that originally inspired her career. Her secret is simple: never assume the door is locked. “When you ask people for things from a place of assuming it’s already a no, it often ends up being a no because you asked from that place,” she explains. In every single case, they got a yes.

Even with major festival wins, Mathews and her husband show no signs of slowing down. In recent months, they have been racing to launch a new global online platform The Acting Mastery Academy. A global career development platform for actors that helps them become the authors of their own careers by creating opportunities, getting seen by the industry and building successful, sustainable careers. The platform gives actors access to their philosophy around mindset, acting and career development, while also connecting them with a community and some of the world’s most renowned acting coaches, casting directors, and industry professionals.

Most recently they secured Hollywood heavyweights like casting director David Rapaport and acting coach Ivana Chubbuck. “Right now, it’s just the season of working very hard while also being a parent,” she shrugs.

Through all the accolades, Mathews remains deeply down to earth, attributing her success to a distinctly Australian humility and a willingness to embrace the struggle. “I like being uncomfortable because that’s when you’re growing,” she says. Her advice to anyone trying to make their mark is beautifully blunt. “Life is incredibly short,” she says. “Don’t spend your life trying to please other people. Be honest with yourself and actually go for it.” She has certainly taken her own advice, trading comfortable certainties for midnight sprints in the rain, building a life and a legacy entirely on her own terms.

Holly-Anna, it is such a delight and a pleasure to meet you. Before we dive deep and talk about your work and the film, our readers would love to learn about Holly-Anna Mathews’ personal origin story. Can you share the story of your childhood and how you grew up, particularly the seeds and genesis for all the amazing work that has come since then?

Holly-Anna: I came from a very small town called Tamworth, then moved to Sydney when I was very young. I was from the Sutherland Shire. I always knew that I wanted more than just the traditional storyline and was particularly passionate about careers. I remember my parents didn’t have a whole lot of money. I remember going into this dress store with my mum one time, and it was quite a milestone for me because I recall it so clearly. She was looking at all these expensive dresses, and I said, “One day, I’m going to buy you one of those dresses.” That was something really important to me.

As I got older, I couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t even think about film and TV. All I knew was that I’d always loved film and TV. I was watching a TV show I loved called The 100, and I saw this scene happening. It just occurred to me, they’re getting paid to be there right now. That’s their job, to be in this amazing fantasy world in some capacity, whether they’re behind the scenes or in front of the camera.

From that point on, I decided I wanted to be an actor. I studied acting for a little while and did that for a few years, and I really loved it. Then COVID hit, and everything went south for everyone. During that time, I had some time to reflect on what I really wanted. At the time, I thought, I don’t enjoy this sitting and waiting game, waiting for an agent, waiting for things to come to you.

Then I decided I was going to find a different pathway. Whether it ended up being acting or not, I knew I wanted to be in this industry, so I was going to try something different. I left my agent and also quit my job. At the time, I was working at IGA, and I’d been very comfortable there for four years. I think I was 22. I remember thinking, I have no idea what I’m going to do, and I have no way to make money, but I’m going to set myself the goal of getting a job behind the scenes on some film by February. I’m just going to do it.

Anyway, I quit my job and, bizarrely, a friend of a friend was shooting a feature film and needed a production assistant. Literally on February 1st, I started. That was the first thing I did. While I was there, I met this agent, and I became curious about being an agent. I told her I’d love to come and try it. I did, and I loved it.

After that, I got a job because a friend of a friend was looking for someone for a TV show called Lost Flowers of Alice Hart with Sigourney Weaver. I was actually a runner on that show, and I loved it. What I found really interesting was that right after I finished, I was quite close with the coordinator on that job. She loved me so much that she called me a month later and said, “There’s a coordinator role for you on Planet of the Apes. Do you want to do it?”

It hit me then. I was a runner, I had no qualifications, and she was offering me this coordinator role, the same position she had been in before with me, purely because she liked me and felt I worked hard. It occurred to me that there are no boundaries. It’s all about people wanting to work with people they know and like.

That was a really big turning point for me because I couldn’t decide whether or not to take it. Something was telling me not to. I had to sit with it for a while, and I came to terms with the fact that I don’t want to work on someone else’s projects. I actually want to work on my husband’s projects because I think he’s so talented. I want to have our own production company, and I want to make films and shows with him to start. Maybe down the line, I’ll do others.

I went home, told my husband, and we came up with a plan for me to come on board at our acting school and build it up while he focused on developing these projects. We did that. We built it up to a place where we can step away now and keep it running. He can teach if he wants to, but he doesn’t have to.

From there, we’ve had a TV show get picked up as well, which is a whole other story about how that happened. We’ve raised money for a feature film, and we just launched an online platform called The Acting Mastery Academy, which is a first of its kind. It’s been a journey.

Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind from your successful career.?

Holly-Anna: I think one that stands out to me the most is producing the short film Project Hourglass. We had a three-month-old baby girl, and I remember my husband bringing it up. He said, “Tropfest is back.” We already had a colicky, screaming, very uncomfortable, unhappy little baby at the time. She was in a lot of pain. We were barely getting any sleep, either of us, and I was very stressed. I just said, “Nope, not happening.”

Then we were at the studio, and one of our cinematographer friends, Joshua Flavell, who actually shot some of Heartbreak High, said, “You guys should really do something. Why not? Just make something.”

I sat on it and thought about it for a while and said, “You know what? Let’s just do it. It’s already hard, so it’s not as if I’m going to get any more sleep.”

Ben and I like to push the limits, and we decided to do it. It was very challenging. What I found interesting is that people think they don’t have enough time or there’s too much going on. You’d be amazed at how you can still achieve things anyway if you simply add something on. Something Ben and I like to say to each other is, “If you’ve got too much on your plate, just get a bigger plate.”

At that time, something that stands out to me is a bridge scene we were shooting. I was still breastfeeding every two hours, and my baby also couldn’t sleep without me. We co-sleep, and she wanted me to be in the bed with her. I couldn’t leave her at home with my dad. Even if I could, I couldn’t pump enough milk because I was so stressed from the workload. There just wasn’t enough other than to meet her immediate needs.

I wondered how I was going to make it happen so I could be there for this bridge scene. I had to be there because Ben was acting in the short film. There was no director, and I was standing in for him, giving him notes. It was at 1 a.m., and I knew I had to figure out a way.

All I could think of was my dad. I thought I would ask him to sit in the car with Indi while she slept. We’d wait until she was asleep, transfer her into the car, and then I would feed her before getting up and putting her back to sleep in the car. My dad would hold her while I ran up on the bridge, shot the scene, and kept my phone on me. If she cried, I’d run all the way back, a five-minute run off the bridge to the car, to feed her again.

That is essentially what we did. It was a three or four-hour shoot, and my dad just sat there with her in his arms the entire time.

In that moment, I realized we are very fortunate to have supportive grandparents who help, as not everyone does. However, I am a big believer in thinking outside the box. If you think there are only one or two options, I like to ask myself, what is the third option? What is the fourth option? What is the fifth option? There are normally a million other options out there to pull something off. There is always a way, I believe.

There’s a saying that no is not rejection but redirection and protection. Do you have a story where you received a no to an opportunity, but it led to an even better opportunity or an unexpected blessing?

Holly-Anna: That is a very good question. It’s hard for me to say because I don’t really register them as no’s. Even if they are a no, they become a yes in some way.

I have a theory that people don’t ask for things because of their own considerations. They might think the person is going to say no, or they might think the person will judge them. I realize it’s almost never their considerations. You might think they’re going to find you annoying, but it’s almost never what they’re actually thinking.

When you ask people for things from a place of assuming it’s already a no, it often ends up being a no because you asked from that place. I feel I have a pretty good track record of people saying yes to me, probably because I approach it with the mindset that it’s already going to be a yes. If it is a no, I can usually change my schedule to find a time that works and turn it into a yes.

One story I have involves my husband and an editor, Liz Deegan. She is a phenomenal Emmy Award-winning editor who has done many great things and lives in the UK. With our short film, we only had three months to get it done by the time we decided to do it. It was over the Christmas holidays, and the deadline was January 7th.

We were sitting in bed trying to figure out who we wanted to edit it. I knew he would have loved Liz, or another editor he works with, to edit it. He felt it was impossible because she was in the UK, it was over Christmas, and her rate would be much higher than what we could afford. He didn’t even want to ask.

I told him, “If you want Liz and can’t think of anyone else who can do this, just ask her. You don’t actually know if it’s going to be a yes or a no. Don’t put the no in her mouth. She might want to be a part of it.”

It took a little convincing, but eventually he decided to ask her. He called and asked if she was available. She said yes and mentioned she would actually be in Sydney on that specific date. She was very happy to do it within our very tight budget over the Christmas holidays.

That also happened with our investor. We reached out to him, and we weren’t sure if he’d want to invest in something else since he had already invested in another feature film. We told him what we were doing and asked if he would be interested in investing. He simply asked how much we needed. We told him, and he said, “I can do that.” He then shared how much he values investing in films and supporting the arts, writers, and filmmakers.

Another example was getting Bob Morley on the film. We reached out to his agent and said we’d love to have him, explained what we could offer, and asked if he was available. She didn’t respond initially. I followed up with a call, and she said he was unavailable because he was already in the US.

I thought about it and realized we could just fly him out. I called her back and said we really wanted Bob Morley and could fly him out. She replied, “If you’re really serious about this, send me an offer.”

I sent the offer, and Bob agreed to do it. He was on The 100, the TV show that made me want to be an actor, and it was a full-circle moment. It made me realize you can kind of do anything. You are the one who limits yourself.

You’ve been blessed with a lot of success, but there is a saying that the greatest university is adversity. What has hardship taught you that success never could?

Holly-Anna: What has hardship taught me? Growing up in the Shire in a working-class family, my dad was in the Navy, my mum is now a lawyer but has always worked very hard, one sister is a nurse, and the other is a teacher, I always learned to work very hard for the things I want. That keeps me humble because that’s still what my family does.

I like it when it’s tough. If things are too calm, my husband and I feel like we need to add something because we aren’t aiming high enough. I like being uncomfortable because that’s when you’re growing. If you’re just doing the same thing over and over again, I get very bored. I need variety.

When things are hard, that is the true test for me. Right now, what we’re doing with this online platform has been very hard. For the last two weeks, we’ve been filming this entire course for our platform while also organizing other teachers who will be on it.

We have David Rapaport, a huge Hollywood casting director who worked on Gossip Girl, You, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. We also have Ivana Chubbuck, who literally just coached Ryan Gosling on The Fall Guy and Project Hail Mary.

The only reason we decided to do this online platform now is because the two production companies for the TV show we had picked came back to us and wanted to do the writers’ room immediately. It occurred to me that Ben would be away from teaching entirely, meaning our school wouldn’t have a replacement for him or anything left behind if we didn’t create something.

We had a three-week window to film the course, get it online, and handle all the marketing, website development, and platform setup. We have had to sacrifice certain things, like sleep and time together. However, we hold being the best parents to Indi as our top value, and we won’t let that suffer at all.

While there are things we’ve had to sacrifice, we know there are seasons for things. Right now, it’s just the season of working very hard while also being a parent.

Let’s talk a little bit about Project Hourglass. Please tell our readers why, in your unbiased opinion, they have to watch it.

Holly-Anna: The biggest reason to watch it is that it’s like an entire feature film condensed into seven minutes. It is packed full of action and has a big twist, making you think it’s going one way before it goes another. It’s just a lot of fun. When I showed it to my nephews for the first time, they were squealing and jumping because they were so excited. The performances are fantastic; Ben, Bob, and Kya did a phenomenal job. It’s a great watch. I was just trying to think of the main Tom Cruise films; Mission Impossible was a very big reference for our film.

I always wondered this, but it feels like of the top 20 actors in Hollywood, half of them are Australian. They are way overrepresented in Hollywood. What do you think it is about Australians that makes them so phenomenally talented and successful?

Holly-Anna: I love Americans so much, but one thing that Australians have buckets of is that we’re very down to earth, honest, and humble. We are also very hard-working. From all the casting directors we’ve been interviewing for our online platform, that’s something I hear a lot. Even American casting directors have said that Australians work incredibly hard, always have their materials together, and go above and beyond. We are used to working very hard for the things we want. We also have a great quality of life here, which meets our needs while we strive for bigger things. We are very well taken care of by our government. Ultimately, I believe our hard work, combined with being down to earth and humble, conveys quite well in our performances.

This is our signature question. Holly, because of your amazing work and the platform that both of you have built, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can inspire.

Holly-Anna: I’ve got two equally valuable ideas — one personal and one career-related. I will share the career one. It ties into what I’ve been saying: just go for it. Life is incredibly short. Don’t spend your life trying to please other people, trying to make everyone else happy, doing what your family wants, or living a life for someone else. It’s really important that you get clear on what you want and act in integrity with yourself. A lot of people are out of integrity with themselves because they aren’t authentically doing what they want to do. Be honest with yourself and actually go for it. Sometimes people don’t take action once, and a story gets ascribed to them. Then they get stuck there because they adopt this story about themselves. It’s helpful to uncover what those stories are, get them out of the way, and completely commit to action. Then you simply know yourself as a person who takes action.

Holly, it’s been a joy to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings for you, Ben, and Indi. I hope we can do this again next year.

Holly-Anna: We’d love that. Thank you so much.