We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ansel Faraj. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ansel below.

Hi Ansel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Probably my Venice Beach romance WILL & LIZ. I’d directed a few thrillers, and just felt like it was getting stale. I’d been thinking about making a love story and what that could be like, and the creative challenges it would bring – two people falling in love and the grounded emotions of it, and just got more and more excited about the possibilities.
It was a very small production, but so exciting and rewarding. It’s a film I’m very proud of.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a grassroots independent filmmaker. I started making films when I was six years old on a VHS camcorder, and kept making films, first with monster action figures, and then friends from school. I was twenty when my first professional film, DOCTOR MABUSE a gothic thriller was given a limited theatrical release. It kickstarted my filmmaking career and I’ve followed it up with several more thrillers. But I don’t like limiting myself to one kind of film. WILL & LIZ was chance to prove that I was adept at other genres. And recently I just finished a comedy THE GREAT NICK D, which won Best Comedy Feature and Best Supporting Actress for O-Lan Jones at the 2024 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Beyond being told how one’s work is appreciated by audiences, I enjoy being able to teach what I’ve learned from my experiences to up and coming writers and filmmakers. I had nobody to guide me in my early days, I was figuring things out as I went through them. Being able to mentor means a lot because it feels like you’re helping build someone else’s dream. And you’re also preparing them for the reality of when the dream comes true, which nobody prepared me for. And the reality of what this job and ‘filmmaking lifestyle’ is in one’s naive head vs what it’s actually like – is valuable knowledge. It’s a brutal grueling business, with emphasis on ‘business’. If you can find the art and the joy within all that, you’ve mastered a magic trick. Show Business is not all fame fortune and glory with twinkling stars. It’s hard work and at times feels completely ridiculous when compared to the real struggles of the world. We go into this business usually hoping to escape from reality and the world ‘out there’. But the world in here can be just as tough and sometimes stupid. It lives and dies by the dollar. So within the art and joy, if you’re also able to master steady resources and income, you’re a wizard. There’s many many struggling artists, writers, actors, filmmakers, etc in this industry. You’re not gonna arrive with just a single idea, and they hand it to you on a silver platter. It takes years of hard work, education, and then luck – which is preparation and opportunity combined — and maybe then, they might look twice at you. Preparing up and coming creatives with the knowledge and reinforcement of strong ideas and stories, while building a portfolio, so they’re not just another “talker” but an actual prospective commodity with experience – that feels good, it makes one feel like you’re not doing something ridiculous, compared to doctors and front line workers and people actually doing something meaningful to help change and improve the world. Worrying about an actor’s wig is nothing compared to that. It’s more fun for sure – but it’s not going to help save the world. Helping strengthen a dream brings good to the dreamer and in turn good for yourself too.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Filmmaking is always up and down. I’ve had so many projects fall apart or go into turnaround, or just never get beyond the script. And I’ve been lucky to have just as many projects come to fruition and be successful and enjoyed by an audience. It’s always a roller coaster. Always have another script ready just in case, you never know what will work. Always be working, always be writing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hollinsworthproductions.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-rau8H6iA89asHWl6CSPdw
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4043796/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk