Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Harley and Kaiti Wallen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Harley and Kaiti thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
We’ve been making films a while now with 11 Feature Films, a full season of a TV Series and 5 short films leading up to it. Something really special happened when we took on the True Story of Nicole Beverly “Finding Nicole”! Our lawyer Bill Dobreff dropped the story off in our lap after having the conversation with Nicole about making a film of her story and brought it to us. Bill had no idea how close to home this was for me (Harley) as I grew up in a Domestic Violence home and have never been very comfortable sharing much of this with others but it gave me a sense that I could tell this story and essentially be a small voice of Nicole’s two sons. I knew immediately who I felt would be able to write this story so I set up a meeting with Geoffrey Calhoun who I’d met at a film festival and was very impressed with. He said yes and told me he had just as I grew up at the hands of an abusive father so it felt incredibly destined as this point. Just as we completed the screenplay, got the letters of intent from name talent and brought the investors onboard Covid hit and side railed the whole thing. We gave the investors their money back and essentially shelved the project for the time being and it stayed there until we decided we owed to make this especially as Domestic Violence grew during the lockdowns and the period of additional stress and worries so in early 2022 we started building the budget again, we assembled a brand new team on both sides of the camera and in September we filmed it all. We were met from old and young people, on the right and left, divided by wealth,, race, fortune and religion by people saying “that’s a problem in my community and I’d love to be a part, I’d love to help etc. whenever we feel we are too different, too unlike each other, or too far apart these things need to remind us that we aren’t, we are fundamentally a lot more alike but struggle with expression, fear and so many distractions in an ever changing world, but we’re not beyond hope… I for one still believe!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Kaiti got into this originally as her sister Kelly found a love for the arts and pursued her life as a filmmaker and going to film school but as Kelly moved to LA Kaiti didn’t have that artistic outlet so she dabbled in modeling until she met Harley. Harley on the other hand had moved halfway around the globe to pursue his dreams to be an actor on the big screen and although he had a few detours (kids, career ladders etc) he never lost the calling and when an opportunity to join in a short film came he jumped on the opportunity and started working his dreary again. After Harley and Kaiti met and Harley just started expressing a desire to write & direct the Michigan film incentives were cut and with worry and concern about the Michigan independent film community they decided in going for it. Harley started pursuing online film school and Kaiti hired her self an acting coach and at this point, I guess the rest is history…
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
One of the things we have both always agreed on is the importance of having the mind set an attitude of a student and we both feel that is one of the main components of us progressing as quickly as we have. The other is our system, our system has a few components but essentially we say Film First, Brand Second and “me” Third. We believe It is essential to keep the egos out of as much of the equation as possible to make as many good decisions as possible.. We also believe that it is crucial that we Love what we do so we try to tackle films and stories that have meaning to us beyond just genre. It’s fairly simple to say we are capable of so much more when we are emotionally invested!
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Sometimes it’s surprising to me how little people are invested in their craft, field and they miss the compound of standing in the shoulders of others. We do not have to learn every single lesson from our own mistake or journey. We can learn from others and that way speed up our growth curve to reach further or maybe different but we audition about a thousand actors for about 25 speaking roles and it’s alarming how many haven’t read essential books such as “An Actor Prepares” or barely know Strasberg, Meisner or Stanislavsky so it’s hard to pick a specific source but it goes back to “being and remaining a student”
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @paintedcreekproduction @theharleywallen @kaitiwallén_officisl
- Facebook: Painted Creek Productions, Harley Wallen and Kaiti Wallen
- Linkedin: Harley Wallen or Kaiti Wallen
- Twitter: @HarleyTheSwede
- Youtube: Painted Creek Productions