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

Joelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

JOELLE: Mia and I, whether at meetings or industry events or just chatting with colleagues, will hear a lot about how indie filmmaking is rapidly declining, there’s no hope for smaller filmmakers, nobody is working, you name it. It’s an extremely prevalent conversation topic, one we run into A LOT. While we will admit indie filmmaking can be very difficult and the current industry landscape does not favor small projects (at the moment), I also know that people are working. Indie filmmakers are getting their work out there. My belief is that it’s great to educate yourself on the market and acknowledge and strategize for the hurdles you will likely have to face. It’s also great (and necessary) to have the mindset that you can be an indie filmmaker with a niche project and still get it made. I don’t want to negate the arduous work that is required to be a small filmmaker, HOWEVER if you can believe the evidence that suggests you won’t make it, why not believe the evidence that suggests you will?

Joelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

MIA: I’ve always been a performer, but in the past decade, I’ve cultivated my skills as a creator. This translated into writing, acting, & directing as a freelance filmmaker. While I love this business, it can be challenging and frustrating as a young woman in this industry. When I moved to New York to pursue this career, I made a group of friends who were also extremely passionate and driven in their own ways which was so inspiring. I found a kinship with Joelle Westwood, who was also an up and coming actress and writer. We developed a rapport creatively on our first feature script. While we spent our days studying for exams and trying to find ourselves in the city, we spent our evenings and our weekends writing. This quickly became strategizing as we finished the first draft of our project. We were so proud of the work we had done and set out to show the world. But, like I mentioned, our voices weren’t well-represented, or heard. At this time, I was working as an administrative assistant for film development and had been learning a lot about indie production. The script we had then was not exactly “indie”, but we had more ideas, and were gaining a better understanding of business development in the film industry. Thus, Western Star Entertainment Group was born. The company was birthed from our two names “Western” as in Westwood and “Star” as in la estrella (Lastrella) or the star in Spanish. Once we had the name, everything else was a piece of cake right? We’ve spent the last 2 and a half years creating a company and brand that grows and changes everyday. Fast forward to spring 2025, we have produced a dozen narrative short films, developed 2 feature scripts, and a musical. Outside of our personal slate, we are co-producing and developing feature film projects for the upcoming year. As producers, we offer full-service production from pre- through post. This could include casting, location scouting, crew hires, crafty & catering management, on-set supervision, film festival strategy, and more. However, we are also focused on sustainability, female-empowered filmmaking, socially relevant themes in our storytelling, and partnering with organizations that can promote this in our projects. That being said, we are currently looking for creative partnership with non-profits and organizations that support these causes for potential collaboration.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

JOELLE: Probably everything we thought we knew about a set. Just kidding (kind of). The sets that I had been on before we started our company, I wasn’t the producer, I was an actor so I was able to observe the way different sets operated and their vibes. Which are usually very different depending on the content within the project, who you’re working with, the number of days, etc. However, you start to assemble the way you think a set should be run. The first time Western Star ever produced anything, it was with a budget of over $50k, recognizable talent, a very large crew and cast, and one huge location. Let’s just say we had a steep climb up the learning curve! But, because we were scrambling in the deep end, Mia and I figured out really quickly what was important to us. We learned the type of people we want and like to work with, how we want to start our days, the protocol between cast and crew no matter the size of the role. From there, we were able to curate and plan for those things and more. So, my advice to aspiring producers would be to, of course, learn and absorb as much as you can on other sets but to acknowledge ways that your sets can and should be different (and improved!).

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

MIA: At twelve years old, I was a bashful kid with big dreams of being a singer. I had fallen in love with singing in my youth choir because of how great it felt to express myself through music. I wanted to feel that passionate every day, so that’s what I was going to be when I grew up. However, as I came into my teens and my introverted nature didn’t leave me naturally, I knew that dream couldn’t come true unless I felt comfortable performing in front of an audience, so my parents put me in acting classes. We learned valuable skills about improvisation, rejection, and building character that I still use to this day. At the time it was incredibly challenging and made me pretty self-conscious; it took about two years in weekly lessons, audition rooms, and workshops for it to finally “click”. One day, I got up in front of a crowd and all of the embarrassment and fear was gone. I performed better than I ever had and from that day on, I auditioned for every vocal solo I could get my hands on. After all that hard work, I got a solo, but I didn’t get the next one, or that role in the musical, or that call from my agent saying “you’ve made it kid, they want you to come to Hollywood!”. I wasn’t going to become the next big star. Despite this devastating realization, I now had a new talent to cultivate. I fell in love with acting too! I explored my options and found that I liked film acting, but I loved working behind the scenes. That brought me to filmmaking. I ditched my state school college plans of studying opera, and applied for film programs in New York. Now, at age twenty-three, I have co-founded a narrative film production company with emphasis on real-world issues. My career in film allows me the freedom to pursue my interests of writing, teaching, and performing. This is a dream that my twelve-year-old self never could have imagined, but now consumes my life in the most exciting way. I wanted to do something I was passionate about and create art. So I’ll always love singing, but now I get to love filmmaking as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.westernstarentertainmentgroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westernstarentertainment/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/90679560/admin/dashboard/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@westernstarentertainment/featured

Image Credits

Behind-the-scenes taken from the sets of Western Star Entertainment Group.