Meet Jarrale Daniels

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jarrale Daniels a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jarrale, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

Wow, this is a great question. I feel like my creativity seems from my early childhood. I always had such a wild imagination and could keep myself entertained for hours upon hours. I would sit and think out stories with my wrestling action figures (I was and still am a big wrestling fan) and bring them to life. I’d eventually start writing out those ideas into short stories and then from there a love of writing and storytelling formed. That was just further strengthened by film as I started to get more into great films like Scarface, The Dark Knight, Memento, Moonlight, and countless others. So the way I keep that creativity alive is by letting my mind keep that inner child alive.

I try to go out and watch new movies as frequently as I can while also going back and rewatching classics or things that I may not have seen before. I watch these as a moviegoer but I also watch them as a student, studying things that work and things that don’t. Looking at different lighting set-ups that I may have not knew about before or different angles and formats that are visually striking. I try to watch a vast array of movies, even things that I think may be bad or that I may not necessarily be into very much. I think with any art form there are always things that you can learn and apply to your creativity tool belt.

I also try to keep my creativity sharp by writing anything that comes to my mind. I have a notes app with around 2-300 different notes of interesting ideas I’ve thought about that I want to enact on. Sometimes it might be a striking story that I think would be visually interesting or it may be a certain angle with crazy lighting that may be able to tell a great story. Of course, I don’t always have the time to get back to all of these but I think as a creative you have to encourage your mind to flourish and start thinking in that creative way. I also write things like poetry as well, which is another passion that started at the early stage of my life. It allows me a place to just journal my feelings as well as another outlet for creative expression.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Where do I start? At my heart and my core, I’m a filmmaker and creative. I went to DePaul University in Chicago and graduated with a degree in Cinema Production as well as a minor in Screenwriting. I moved out to Los Angles after graduating in 2019 to pursue film and strengthen my skills and creative voice.

My passion is directing and writing but I have recently been getting involved in some producing work. I had the privilege to produce two great short films with my close friends Jaran Huggins and Casey Baum, entitled WAKING and Bowling, Alone, respectively. I loved my time producing both these films which are beginning to make their rounds for festivals soon. I find both of these films to be very exciting creatively and the stories within both really spoke to me and stuck with me. The first, WAKING, was a tribute to Jaran’s best friend who had passed away. We shot this on 16MM film which was my first time using actual film stock for a project. It was such a great learning experience and the finish product was really something special that I’m very proud of and proud of Jaran and the rest of the crew. The second, Bowling, Alone, was a very heartwarming piece about a man dealing with the grief of losing his wife and his new found admiration for her clothes. We shot out in Maryland which was again a great experience because it was my first personal out-of-state shoot.

Upcoming, I am producing a project with two people who were also interviewed for the Bold Journey series, my fellow DePaul Alums, Annette Galloway and Jared Drake. Jared and I go way back to basically the beginning of my learning career at DePaul and though aren’t blood-related, we’re brothers. We co-wrote and co-directed “My Immortal Love” together which was our first project together that wasn’t school focused. It really laid the foundation for my knowledge in film and really understanding how productions work. It gave us both a ton of lessons and I feel like I applied those lessons with the shorts I mentioned before. I’m extremely excited to work with my brother again as well as Annette on her feature film.

I’ve also got some projects that I’ve written that I want to get started working on making a reality in the upcoming year. I have a feature that I’m working on that I want to first create as a short film/proof of concept. It’s a cross between Midsommar and 10 Cloverfield Lane in a way with my own unique twist and voice in it as well.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Hard work: I know it sounds cliche to say, but hard work does indeed pay off and makes a difference. I was instilled with a hardworking mentality when I was a child and it really stuck with me throughout life, that’s really the midwest/Chicago way in my eyes. Every single opportunity I was able to get was in part because of that mentality, I was always willing to do the work. When I first moved out to Los Angles in August of 2019, I was grinding to find a job. In October of 2019, I found one and started working on the hit doc-series, Dear Mama. I was on that for 3 and a half years as a Production Coordinator/Supervisor and it was 3 years filled with hard work. My advice to any young filmmakers is to do those jobs or tasks that may be unsavory and difficult. Don’t only do them, but do them with a smile on your face and a positive attitude. Those are the little things that people notice. It may not be noticed immediately, but eventually it will be.

Confidence: This is another huge quality but I want it to not get misconstrued as cockiness. You have to be confident in yourself in order for others to believe in you. Now, internally, you can totally have second thoughts, questions or self-doubt but it’s important to not let any of those things bubble up to the surface. It’s a super difficult thing to work on when first starting out in the industry but can even be challenging after some years of experience. Another cliche, fake it til you make it. But really I feel like you shouldn’t fake it but rather be the self that you aspire to be until you become that person.

Studying/Being inquisitive: One thing I also learned and had instilled into me at a young age is being inquisitive. My mom always encouraged me to ask as many questions as I needed and that no question was a bad question. Always ask questions! It not only shows that you are interested in the situation but that you want to learn and want to grow. I highly encourage you all to ask anything that comes to your mind, even if you think you may know the answer.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

A big obstacle/challenge I was facing (and still am to an extent) was the big film industry strike that happened. The strike started practically at the same time that the Dear Mama project was over and the effects have continued to linger since then. I took a break after wrapping up since it had been 3 years but my break was more extended than planned with how long the strike happened. Even when it ended, things didn’t and haven’t gone back to normal. There aren’t as many jobs available still. It was a hard adjustment after having something so consistent for so long.

I didn’t let that deter me though. I kept working hard and looking for anything I could. I was able to do some great freelance gigs such as working the Grammys out here in LA for Getty Images as well focusing on my own independent and personal projects. Without that pressure point, I wouldn’t have been able to produce those short films and work on my writing. I was able to find the silver lining within those dark times. In those moments, those core values truly became my mantra.

I hit a point where I knew I needed to pivot and I did. So I started looking for jobs that would be able to give me that stability while also providing me with skills that I can add into my repertoire to become the best version of me I could be. I got the great oppurtunity to work on the content team of HexClad Cookware as the Junior Content Manager/Studio Manger. Though not film, it is very heavilyty production adjacent and I’m gaining so much knowledge in terms of marketing, branding and content as well as getting the chance to work with such extremely talented people.

While I’m 100% in with my current job, I am still crafting my skills and working on my writing and creative projects with my free time. Never give up on your goals no matter how hard the road may be to get there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jarralejaydaniels.com
• Instagram: @jarralejaydaniels
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarraledaniels