Scott Neeson, 65, on getting a taste of Hollywood and choosing a life in charity instead

The Scottish-Australian film executive turned philanthropist on his worst celebrity experience, working with Mel Gibson and the most drastic decision of his life.

Scottish-Australian film executive turned philanthropist Scott Neeson. Picture: Christian Berg / The Wall Street Journal

I don’t quite understand … my career journey but it has been amazing. I feel very, very lucky, very blessed, to be in this and I’m not being falsely modest. There was so much luck and being in the right place at the right time with the right people and the right resources. I’ve been enormously lucky.

My first job was … in a drive-in theatre. I was not an especially adept student so I left in year 12 before finishing high school. The federal government job scheme found a job for me working as a projectionist at the drive-in movie theatres. It started me off in my career. I was basically a runner, an assistant for the home office. I worked my way up and was eventually invited to work in Los Angeles.

I was excited about going to LA … eventually I served as president of 20th Century Fox International. But the whole time I was also aware that I’ll always be an Adelaide boy and it was a really cutthroat environment. I really enjoyed my time there, however I was not a part of the ‘Hollywood’ scene but I had a great time being a spectator. I could write a book about it. But I did end up living the LA life. I couldn’t believe the amount of money there was in the industry. I had a beautiful house in the hills of Brentwood and bought SUVs etc. I was living the LA life and was loving it.

Some of the big stars who were great to work with were … people like Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson. But there were some stars that were just so entitled. One star in particular was taking a private jet once and before they would get on the plane, they had someone ask what the thread count of the seats was.

The biggest misconception about Hollywood is … well most of the stereotypes are pretty accurate. The only misconception about it is that people really rag on about the types of films Hollywood makes and why would they do this or that. But it’s a very complex process and there are some really smart people doing it. It’s fairly difficult to decide what films get made.

The trip that changed the trajectory of my life was … when I took five weeks off to go through all the countries with Buddhist monuments. It was meant to be more of a re-energising trip, to get away from the craziness of Hollywood. Of course Angkor Wat in Cambodia was on the list. The big tourist areas are full of kids who were being run by the guardians or parents or someone who was making money off the kids selling books or flowers in the street. I asked a guy who was running a charity, very naively, if there was a place where there were children with serious issues who needed help. He gave me an address, it was on the landfill of Phnom Penh, there were 1500 kids there, working, or who had been abandoned there.

I was expecting … the kids to come up and ask for money. But instead, the first child that came up to me asked me if I could help her get into school. I wasn’t prepared for that. I realised I could change the trajectory of a child’s life. When I was leaving to go back to LA, I had so much dread. It all seemed so trivial.

One of the more drastic decisions I’ve made was … when I decided to move to Cambodia. I made a pledge to myself not to make any drastic decisions until one year after I’d got back to LA. That didn’t really work. I had people asking me what are you doing? You’ve got the best life. But I just couldn’t stay away. I sold my house and my car and I moved to live in the landfill and help struggling kids. It was very difficult.

I went in there thinking … I had all the answers. I had to learn the hard way that a sense of superiority wasn’t going to help but rather listening to people. I started the Cambodian Children’s Fund and I’ve stayed there ever since. It has been 20 years.

Scott Neesonwill be the special guest speaker at a Sydney Gala fundraiser for the Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF) on September 13 at the Art Gallery of NSW. In Adelaide, a fundraising gala will be held on September 20 at the Mortlock Chambers to celebrate the life of Scott Neeson.