No big studio. No big budget. No problem. Independent filmmaker Wilfred La Salle

Hello. Welcome. No matter where you are watching, we appreciate you. Welcome to Passion and Faith. I'm your host, Tashani Weddell. Today, we are sitting down and talking with independent filmmaker Wilfred LaSalle. Let's welcome him. Before I before I like start bragging on him. It's a pleasure. Well, how are you feeling? I'm feeling great. Thank you for having me. It is our pleasure here at Passion Faith. We talk a lot about hustle and heart. And if you listened to my Instagram posts, I spoke about, well, your hustle, your heart is next level. You have literally been on almost every Fox station across the country promoting your projects. You are self-taught. You did not go to school for this. You also fund all your projects. Where did that heart and hustle come from? Well, I grew up in public housing. My mother was a single mother. My father struggled with addiction. And I believe it came from that. It came from the fact of seeing my mother work so hard, work two jobs. Put herself through college while my sisters babysat us and it was it was something I used to just sit around and watch tv and watch movies So it was pretty much what all I had but I watched my mother and I watched what she did with nothing And it was truly an inspiration for me. I always say she's my hall of famer I know she must be proud Yes, she is. She's very proud. You're on this quest now, 10 films in 10 years. Let's talk about the seventh film, The Veteran. You got a two-year distribution deal with Fox Soul promoting this film as we gear up to honor. The men and women that serve our country for Veterans Day, which is in less than two weeks. What inspired you to make that film? Because you tackle some tough topics, veteran homelessness, addiction, how we view our veterans when they come back, and the battle that they face after already coming from war. Well, with any of our servicemen and servicewomen, we have to understand that it's service before self, right? The main character, Yanko Valentin Perez, is a U.S. Army veteran, and he plays a U.S. Marine veteran. So when we came up with the concept for the film, it was the seventh film in seven years, but we wanted to tackle the next social issue. We tackled that social issue with the security guard, which was mass school shootings, gun violence. So what felt appropriate was to tackle the veteran crisis here in America and all over the world. The film is set to discuss the opioid crisis, mental health, and health care. Yes. The villain in the film is not a protagonist or an antagonist. It's simply society itself and how we treat those who are less fortunate. But what was really important for me was to really represent the men and women who come home post-deployment in another war zone. Yes. And it was important for us to make this film for the world to see. And The Security Guard, which you mentioned, that was actually your first deal with Fox Soul. Yes. What do you want people to take away from your films? Because you mentioned you're talking about societal issues that a lot of us really don't hear in mainstream media. Well. This is the way I view things. You can either allow the world to tell you who you are, or you can show the world who you are. And the way I'm expressing myself is through my work, through my films. I want to bring people together on these issues. I think what's really important for me to stand out as not just an independent filmmaker, but to stand out from anything that's ever before been done is to create films that matter to people, that get people to care. And I think that's what's really important when you're watching any film that I create. These next films that we're doing, Lucy's tackling the next social issue, which is autism. Yes. But with The Veteran, what we wanted to gear this towards was understanding that our heroes are suffering. They need help. Their story doesn't end and their service doesn't end just because they come home. And I think that was really our driving point. And we actually have a clip. Matt, if we could play that clip of The Veteran. I'm not going to tell you my name. You already know who I am. I am a veteran, and I am an addict. You see these pills right here? They took everything. I buried my wife and son and lost everything. They taught me how to survive war. They never taught me how to survive loss. We now commit the body of our beloved to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. This is the only place I feel sober, because pain is the last thing I have left. This is not a story about war. This is a story about what war leaves behind. Everyone out there, if you have not seen The Veteran, I will say I highly recommend it. I watched it yesterday. It's nearly two hours. Of course. Um, A lot of different topics. It actually made me think about how I assist, how I help those that I see on the street corner that are unhoused with signs that say they're veterans. Now, I always try to give something, but... You made it a point to show one of the characters putting money in the cup and then taking it away or just being real nasty, society being real nasty to these people, not recognizing the story behind that sign. Absolutely. It was very powerful when we actually filmed that. We had a lot of people who were very upset, and clearly you can see why. People thought that it was real. They didn't see the cameras. And the actor, Michael D. Simone, he was actually chased by one of the hecklers there. They were really upset. They were like, hey, man, this is not right. And I had to get involved and say, hey, listen, I have the camera here. He's not an actual homeless veteran. He's an actor playing a veteran. It elicits a reaction from you, for sure. Absolutely, because we walked past. Homeless people every single day, especially in New York City. And what we don't realize is that each and every one of them has a story. Yes. There's someone's father, someone's brother, someone's sister. That was what we wanted to do with this film. We wanted to drive that narrative in such a powerful way that it moved people. It got them to react. And I think we did well with that. Definitely. And the line that stuck out to me was the co-lead. When he was being, I don't want to give it away, but he basically said, it's not a handout, it's a hand. I love that. You know, that's my favorite line of the movie because it's so powerful. When I wrote it, even the co-lead, Lancelot E. Theobald Jr. He loves that line. I mean, he is, the way he delivered it, the way it was meant, it was just powerful. When I put it in the trailer, because it just needed to be there. It was such a powerful moment. And I'm just so thankful for the actors who came on and gave 150%. Absolutely. When you see some of these actors here, these are actors that are not, In front of Hollywood films. And what I'm trying to do is give them that platform. Showcase their talents. And as you can see, the talent is there with the cast. I mean, they did such a phenomenal role. And Jose Torres, actually a real veteran. Not only playing an actor in front of the screen, but you work with a small crew. I don't know if we mentioned this, but I mean, he is everything. You write, you produce, you film, you fund. And also the actors also help you behind the scenes as well, including Jose. Oh, yeah. Including Uncle Valentin Perez. Yes. All of them, because that's what we are. We're a family here at LaSalle Productions. None of this stuff, none of these films. I wouldn't be sitting here with you right now if it weren't for each and every one of the cast members from past films to present films that have made these dreams a reality. I wrote these scripts, made them with no money, no budget, just one man, one vision, and one mission to be the greatest independent filmmaker the world has ever seen. Well, how the hell is that possible? No money, no funding, independent. How is that possible? Well, I'll tell you, it's 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Yeah, and hustle. That's really what it is. I mean, it's just one man hustling to change the narrative, to really. Chase's dreams. I always tell people that if you want to kill a big dream, tell it to a small-minded person. They'll kill your dream. To any creative, to any podcaster, to any filmmaker that's watching me sit here with you right now, what I want them to know is that dreams don't quit. People do. Make your film. Follow your passion. Passion will always supersede obstacles. That's a mic drop right there. I want to also say that you are a testament that it's never too late. Right. Um, You decided at the age of 32, you were formerly a New York City corrections officer. I also believe you're a New York City school teacher? School safety agent. School safety agent, excuse me. But at 32 years old, you said, hey, I'm going to follow my passion, which is filmmaking. Tell us how that road came about. Well, I was sitting with coworkers and I said, hey, I want to make films. And they laughed at me. You know, they were chasing the dream that, you know, they're like, well, you make $30,000 a year. You are an NYPD school safety agent. So what I realized in that moment is I can't tell people my dreams. I have to show them. And I knew. That, okay, cool. They don't believe in me. So it just became personal to me. I said, okay, I'm going to show the world. I'm going to show everyone that I mean business and I'm going to make these films and the world is going to hear us. What was that feeling? What was that turning point that pushed you into that direction to say, I can do this? I was making $32,000 a year to then saying, I'm going to get up and I'm going to start making films. You had no experience. No equipment. No equipment, nothing. I bought $10,000 worth of camera equipment. So that's a third of your salary. Right. My wife, when I came home, she thought I was crazy. I had all this stuff from B&H. And she said, Will, what are you doing? You have no idea how to do this. I said, look, I said, Courtney, I'm going to make these films. I don't care if it makes sense to you or anyone else. I had this vision in my head. I saw every film in my head. I said, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to be the best at it. And if I fail, so what? I'll fail my way to success. Right. That's what this is. I'm losing more than I'm succeeding. Right. When you when you it takes courage to be successful. That's what people don't understand. To be judged by your work, to have people look at your work and say, look, I don't like that film. That's OK. Film is subjective. It's supposed to be subjective. And that's OK. Not everything I make, everyone's going to like. But that's OK. The fact that I had the courage to make it and put it out there. It means the world to me. And the fact that people are taking these characters that I created in my head, I wrote down on paper and I translate it onto screen. That's the best feeling in the world. With no budget, turning a vision into reality. Will, the beautiful thing about Passion and Faith and Will watches us. So it's great to have you in this seat right now is that everyone that is watching us actually gets to sit in my seat and ask you a question. So before we have to go to a quick commercial, let's jump into a question. What are your thoughts on Generative AI tools being used in the industry and you can actually promote your next film, which deals with that. So I am on the cusp with AI. So the next film that we're doing after Lucy, which is film number nine. Yes. Lucy's eight. Lucy's eight. Film number nine is The Reporter. That film is going to tackle journalists being replaced with AI. So that is that is going to be something that you'll have to wait and see for that. I just feel like AI is going to kind of take over things in a way where it's going to take out that connection. It also, for me, it just promotes a little bit of laziness. I'm being honest here. You don't use AI in your films? No, we don't use any AI in the films. Okay. No, no AI. We use CGI, like to blur things out. Yeah, character generated. Right. But like, no, no. All the actors are physical actors. Everyone that you see, it's real. Okay. Well, Matt hasn't given us the break. So I'm going to go in and I'm going to ask you another question. How do you make money? You got a wife. Do you have any children? No children. Well, you have to keep a roof over your head and food in your stomach. I know you told me you fast, but you eventually have to eat. How do you make money? So with independent filmmaking, you're not going to make a lot of money, right? So you have aggregators where you put your films on platforms like Apple TV, Tubi, which is owned by Fox. I didn't know that until I found out. Amazon Prime Video, that generates a certain amount of income. Now it doesn't generate a lot of income, but it generates enough income for you to have to fund your next project. So the money coming in is going out just as fast. Okay. I, I, I, I still, I, yeah, I, I, I'm going to, because I got so many more questions. It's a lot of budgeting, a lot of budgeting. I probably should have, you should probably have your wife here to have her come in, but we got to take a quick commercial break. I knew it was coming. It's that half mark. You're watching Passion and Faith with Will LaSalle. We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back to Passion and Faith. I'm your host, Ashani Whitlow. We are still with filmmaker, independent filmmaker, Will LaSalle. It's a pleasure to have you. So we're going to jump right back into the chat. We got a lot of questions that folks want to ask of you. What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers, Will? Pursue your dreams. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else but you. I think a lot of us, even myself, we get caught up with What's the quality going to look like? I don't have this. I don't have that. Don't worry about what you don't have. If you have a phone, if you have a cell phone. Film the movie with your cell phone. Get a couple of your friends. That's what I did for my first film. I had a couple of friends. Hey, listen, I want to make a film. I don't care if you don't have the acting experience. Just get up and make your content. All right. Again, your dreams, they don't have to make sense to anyone else but you. So just get up, make the content, whatever it is that you want to do, and just put your all into it. What was the name of your first film? Hilo. Hilo. Oh, and there's a Hilo 1, there's a Hilo 2. There's a Hilo 1, Hilo 2, Hilo 3, Graves, Oculus, Security Guard, Veteran. I recommend You go and watch, you at home, go and watch Hilo 1 to the current project. You'll see the big, I mean, it's drastic, the growth. So just to show people. Yeah, that progression and staying dedicated. Absolutely. Okay, what project are you most proud of? Is it the doc? Because we got a sneak peek. He has a documentary coming out about his life, his upbringing. It's pretty rough. And it's pretty rough. My honesty, that trailer is pretty good. But should we watch it? Or do you want to answer the question first? It's up to you. It's your podcast. Okay. All right. All right. Let's watch the trailer first, and then we'll come back and we'll have the answer. He grew up. He became an articulate child. He had his own imagination, and he did very well. My dad leaving me at the age of three, walking out. Film was my escape from that, and I really found myself in Rocky, and I said to myself, well, that's the underdog. That's me. Carefully consider what's best for Maya. You can't avoid all of that, and I'll pick it up from the inside, so I don't have to get too much of that. All those times you've been putting in, we're going to show the world who you are today. The world is going to know. I have not seen any other independent director even tackle that, let alone get the amount of press that he's been able to get. It's truly phenomenal. Has been recognized as one of the best and fastest growing independent filmmakers in this country and even around the world. Independent filmmaker Wilfred LaSalle. Will LaSalle. I knew that no one had the vision of how I wanted these films to be shot. Will, but you know why? Because he knows what he wants and he's not going to let anything stop him. And the top of it all, the talent of this man is crazy. You would swear it's a multi-million dollar movie. It's simply one man borrowing belief. A belief that he can make a difference. Thank you guys for being here tonight. Thank you. I knew early on, some way, somehow, I was going to change the world. And the world would listen. Let's go. My wife had enough. I was never home. I was never present. I was obsessive. I became manic. I could either do two things. I could either allow the world to tell me who I am I can show the world who I am. Will's commitment really got the job done. That's why the films all come out such the quality that they do. It's all that work behind the scenes that got him to where he is now. How do I look? I don't look crazy? Does failure scare you? Like, if you don't succeed? No. What scares me is not trying. What scares me is going back and saying, I wish I would have, could have done that. I wish I would have worked harder. I just want to say this to you all. Will loves us. Will, you said that your wife hasn't even seen that trail. That's an exclusive passion and faith drop right there of the LaSalle documentary. Oh, yeah. That is not even. Set to be released, that trailer comes out April 15, 2027 and the doc doesn't come out until 2030. And that's the 11th film. That's just the documentary. It's right after the 10th film. It's the documentary on my life, on my journey as a filmmaker and personal things. I'll go back to your journey, but we want to get Paz's question. What project are you most proud of? Would it be the project of your life, your journey, just going against the odds? It's going to be a hard one, but I'll be honest with you. I love The Veteran. I love all my films, but I love The Veteran. It's a great film, but I got to be honest, The Security Guard. The last 20 minutes of The Security Guard, it's probably the most intense. And it's by far, to this day, people can't stop talking about that film. It's about my life as a school safety agent. I put little pieces of my life in that film. I would say The Security Guard. OK. And since we just showed the doc, I want to I want to stay on that because you mentioned it's not coming out. The trailer is not dropping until April 15th of twenty twenty seven. And that's a monumental moment in your life. Thank Can you talk about that and its significance? So every date. that I put up with anything that I do has a very big significance in my life. It's a negative turned into a positive. So on April 15, 2007, my father passed away of cancer at the age of 55. And I said, all right, in order to honor the last name LaSalle you. and to honor my legacy and his legacy is I'm going to drop the trailer on April 15, 2027 on the 20th anniversary of when he passed. What do you think your dad would say to you? If he were here. I know he would be very proud. He loves our last name. And that's why I am so adamant about putting my last name everywhere. I put it on jerseys and everything because he took so much pride in the LaSalle name. I think that he would be very proud of where I'm at. I think he would love my wife because my wife is absolutely incredible. Courtney LaSalle is amazing. And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. She... She deals with me, is what I'll say. But I think that, you know, my last name LaSalle is not just her last name. It's his last name. It's all I have left of him. So I want to make sure that legacy is fulfilled. What would little LaSalle, what would little Will say to big Will? Dad, I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you. What would you say to yourself? What would the little you say to the big you? I would say... Keep going. I believe in you, and you're going to make it. Let's jump into, we can get a couple more questions in. We got Susannie, who's actually a Fox employee here. She said, do you think you'll branch out into vertical films series? You never know. I don't, I'm not really. I'm knowledgeable about the vertical film scale. I know Instagram reels. I usually do that, but I've never, it's something I'm open to. I mean, I don't know if I'll ever branch into it. A lot of people have asked me about horror films. Will you do a horror film? Probably not. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. But to answer the question, I really, I'm not opposed to it. I just have to learn more and have more information on it. What was the significance of you doing 10 films in 10 years? To prove to myself that it's never before been done. from any independent filmmaker on a zero dollar budget usually takes Hollywood three three years to make one film. So it was more like all right I'm going to make 10 films in 10 years and I want to be the greatest independent filmmaker in the world and not only do I want to be the greatest I want to leave a legacy of creating social films that no one not even big Hollywood wanted to touch. So what's next? Lucy comes out April 2027 on Autism, which you have the exclusive trailer as well. Yes, we do. And well, we can just play it while... Oh, got it, got it, got it, got it. All good. Well, make sure you check out Lucy. Yes. November 6th, that trailer comes out. And then The Reporter, 2029? Yeah, 2028. Sorry, 2028. And what are the goals after? Where does Will see himself? Ten films behind you. Like, what's next? What's the big, what's the next big goal? Well, I have to thank Fox Soul. Fox Soul took a chance on a no-name filmmaker who emailed them for three years before they even responded to me. There's that persistence. There's that heart. There's that hustle. And I'm truly thankful to the entire Fox team, Fox Soul team. They signed two films, The Veteran and The Security Guard. The goal for me now, It's to continue working with Fox to make films with Fox Studios, which used to be 20th Century Fox, and produce films directly for them. Okay, so we got about two and a half minutes. I do this with every guest. Well, you know this. You've watched Passion and Faith. Yes, yes, yes. So you know it's time for the little black book. We want you to open one page, read it out loud, and tell us how it applies to your life right here in this moment. Okay. Gratitude is a healer. Ooh. Well, to that, I always say it's gratitude, not attitude. I know that's right. And I am extremely grateful for all of the opportunities that I've had in my life. I could have been a statistic growing up in public housing, and I was handed a certain deck of cards. You know, when life hands you lemons, you either have to make lemonade, you have to make iced tea, you have to make peach tea. You have to do what you need to do to make whatever dreams you have possible. I'm just thankful that I stuck with what I have and I believed in myself enough to go after everything I want. So I would say rejection is redirection. The word no means numerous opportunities. And the word impossible, if you separate it, it means I'm possible. Well, dropping gems left and right. We might need you to create a little black book. ****. I mean, I love the outlook, seriously, because you're absolutely right. I mean, all the cards were stacked against you. Raised in public housing, in the projects, by the Bronx Zoo, dad addicted to drugs. You could have used every one of those excuses not to excel. Right. But instead, you used it as fuel. Well, I think that's what we have in life. You have to understand that certain circumstances you're born into, certain things are going to happen to you in life, right? Right. But life is. 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it. Absolutely. Absolutely. We'll let folks know how they can continue to follow your journey, how they can support, because again, Will funds all of his films. And if you continue to stream, you will continue to help Will eat and do more projects. Yes. Yes. Please watch The Veteran. Please watch The Security Guard. It's on Tubi, Fox Soul, Prime, Roku. Just your support. Watch the trailers. Follow me on lasalproductions.com. Follow my journey. You can follow my Instagram page. It's typing my full name and it'll come up. I'll follow you back. Comment, like, subscribe. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Well, thank you. It was our pleasure to have you here. You really inspired us for sure. You let us know it's never too late to chase a dream. No. Wilford LaSalle, independent film director. Make sure you check out his latest project, The Veteran. Watch it with a veteran in your life. I think it'll really connect. It's a moment to connect and also honor those who've made so many sacrifices for us to have the freedoms that we have. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Passion Faith. We'll see you next Thursday. Same time, same place. Have a good one.