WASTED YOUTH

A Feature Documentary by Kevan Doyle

Directed by Kevan Doyle and Pablo Jimeno

Written by Aidan Doyle & Kevan Doyle

Subject: Aidan Doyle

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Logline

By his mid-twenties, Aidan Doyle had built a stable, financially secure life in New York City — the kind of life you’re told to want. But once he got there, he realized he’d been chasing someone else’s dream. So he left — and spent the next four years driving the length of the Pan-American Highway in search of a life that felt like his own.

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Synopsis

By his mid-twenties, Aidan Doyle had worked his way into a career that checked all the boxes. Stable income. Respectable job. A clear, upward path. It was the kind of success we’re taught to pursue — the one handed down through college classrooms, job fairs, and late-night ambition. But once he got there, he realized something was deeply wrong: he didn’t want any of it.

He had spent years chasing society’s definition of success, only to arrive and find it empty. It wasn’t his dream — it was someone else’s.

So he left. Traded certainty for chaos, comfort for curiosity. He packed up a 1998 Toyota 4Runner and began a 50,000-mile overland journey through every country in Latin America, surfing forgotten coastlines, meeting strangers, and learning to live with less. What began as escape became transformation.

Wasted Youth is a documentary about that journey — and the internal reckoning that came with it. It’s about loneliness, sacrifice, and the slow process of rebuilding a life on your own terms. It explores the relationships that shaped the road, including a love that couldn’t last — and the grief that followed.

This isn’t a story about being exceptional. It’s not a curated highlight reel of wanderlust. It’s about waking up inside a life that doesn’t feel like yours — and having the guts to start over.

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Key Themes

• Redefining Success: Letting go of what you were told to want

• Discomfort & Growth: Sitting with loneliness, uncertainty, and doubt

• Sacrifice: Leaving behind comfort, love, and stability

• Adventure with Consequence: The emotional toll of freedom

• Ordinary Bravery: Choosing change without knowing the outcome

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Production Overview

• Journey Duration: ~4 years

• Distance Traveled: 50,000+ miles

• Regions Covered: Every country in Latin America

• Gear: Sony FX6 + professional 4K–8K footage

• Languages: English, Spanish

• Current Status:

• 90% filmed

• Remaining: NYC b-roll, surf reshoots, follow-up interviews

• Style: Observational, lyrical, raw and personal

• Feature Length: 70–90 minutes

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The Filmmakers

Kevan Doyle – Director

Documentary and commercial filmmaker whose work centers on sustainability and character-driven storytelling. TEDx speaker and director of multiple long-form films.

Pablo Jimeno – Co-Director

Award-winning Spanish documentarian with a focus on immersive, human-centered narratives across Latin America.

Aidan Doyle – Subject / Writer

Photographer and storyteller from Southern California. After years in a career that left him unfulfilled, Aidan hit the road to rediscover what mattered. Wasted Youth is his story — and the story of the thousands of miles in between.