Mindset Artistry
Mindset Artistry Empowers Corporate Creatives and Fashion & Entertainment industry professionals to discover their purpose and achieve career fulfillment through inspiring content, personalized coaching, and a supportive community.
Mindset Artistry
Amplifying Untold Stories: Elaine Del Valle's Creative Mission to Empower Latin Voices
Elaine Del Valle is a hurricane force from New York City with Puerto Rican roots who not only noticed the void of Latin voices but decided to fill it with her dynamic storytelling. Our latest podcast guest is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate director who embodies the spirit of resilience and creative mastery. Elaine bravely stepped beyond the limitations faced by Latin actors and, through her one-woman show, carved a space for authentic Latin voices in entertainment that resonates with depth and vibrancy.
The arts are a balancing act, and this episode is a masterclass in juggling the multiple facets of a creative career without dropping the ball. Elaine Del Valle's journey illustrates how an artist can—and perhaps should—embrace a collage of roles, from writing and directing to casting, all contributing to the rich tapestry of storytelling. She passionately rejects the outdated notion that one should be tethered to a single craft, encouraging listeners to seize every opportunity. Her relentless energy and dedication to her art form serve as a beacon to anyone navigating the waters of multiple passions, proving that focus and balance are not mutually exclusive.
Elaine's commitment to her craft and community shines through every word, inspiring listeners to champion underrepresented voices in the arts. Join us for an episode that's as empowering as it is enlightening, filled with stories of triumph, passion, and the relentless pursuit of creative expression.
Welcome to the Mindset Artistry podcast.
Janel Koloski:This is Amanda DeBraux, a self-authenticity prosperity life coach and actor, or actress, per your reference, and I'm Janel Koloski, a career and mindset coach and an actor as well. We are your hosts and we're here to flip your mindset, to teach you the artistry of what we learned, to keep your mind in check Over the course of our lives we've taken on the journey of healing, living and being authentically ourselves as we successfully build our individual careers.
Janel Koloski:This podcast is designed for you so you can discover your goals and courageously reach them at your highest potential, while being 100,000% yourself, which you'll get from us is real dirty and a little well more like a lot of quirky Along with empathy edge and a safe space that holds hashtag no judgment.
Amanda DeBraux:If you're ready to build a mindset that is unapologetically you and excel beyond the stars, you're in the right place.
Janel Koloski:We're so excited to have you here. Now let's dive in Hashtag. Just say Artistry.
Amanda DeBraux:So we have an incredible guest today and I'm so excited because she is a native Puerto Rican, like I am. I'm so excited about that. So Elaine Devaya is a native New Yorker and Puerto Rican, multi hyphenate award winning director and storyteller that has paved the way for Latin voices to be authentically heard, from festivals like South by Southwest Urban World to winning HBO Latin X short film director award, to stocking the bookshelves with her one woman play turned novel and screenplay to completing her invitation only WGA showrunner Academy program. Elaine is a force to be reckoned with, so let's give her a round of applause. Welcome, so excited, I know.
Amanda DeBraux:I'm so grateful that you are joining us today because, being a Latin mixed woman and female, I really value our voices being heard and shared. You know, like my grandfather, though, I feel like growing up I didn't have that and I wish I did. I grew up in that culture, but it wasn't on TV, it wasn't talked about much, and is unfortunate, and I didn't realize that until I started diving into this industry. And thank you for your frustration when you were working and studying as an actor in the Carnegie Hall because you created this one woman show. So tell me about that journey of you know being a Latin woman and how that affected your drive in creating this one woman show.
Elaine Del Valle:Well, I just wanted to be a great actor. So studying acting was just something that I, you know, was in my bones. I wanted to do it. So, after three years of doing it and realizing that the parts that you're being given to work on, they're fabulous but you're never going to get cast in them, you're never going to get even seen for them, and that's where the frustration kept growing, because, you know, I'm a Latin woman who grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, new York. It's a predominantly black ghetto, but, looking at me, the industry did not want to accept that part of me, and so I felt very much not seen, not understood, and those things, as an artist, make you want to have people, you want to express yourself, and so that's what really prompted the writing.
Elaine Del Valle:And I didn't really know what I was writing at first, and I just decided to put it on my feet one day in class. And that's when, when Hanman, my teacher, said to me you must keep writing this, and that really made me understand how important it was that I keep writing it, because in his at the time he was in his eighties and for him to understand the value of the work and the need for those stories. It made me understand them even more. And since then, of course I mean that's over 10 years ago and I just know it more and more the deeper I dive into the work, into my work as a writer, as a creator, as a director, as an actor, whatever I'm doing, the more I know the need for it and I just understand it.
Amanda DeBraux:And I appreciate that. What have you felt the challenges have been that you faced as a you know, being Latin and being in a storyteller in this entertainment industry, and how have you overcome them?
Elaine Del Valle:Well, by first as an actor, by writing my one woman show. By doing it it became a more broad way and people actually got a chance to see me. So I gave them the opportunity to recognize who I was and that was fantastic. So I faced that challenge that way and I think every day I have to face a different challenge. You know I work multiple hats. My passion is directing. It's what I want to do. It's very difficult to get hired as a director.
Elaine Del Valle:But oftentimes, when they come at me, it's for ethnic stuff, it's for Latino stuff, which is fine, it's wonderful, it's great. It's not the only thing that I want to direct, right, and those jobs are few and far between. So how often am I really getting tapped, you know? So I face those challenges every day. It's who's going to want to hire me for anything? Because the Latino roles are really created by Latino creators for the most part, and not that it's not as it should be, but we just need more of it. So I'm constantly facing the battle of what's the next work? Who's going to come at me for it? Do I have to create my own work in order for it to exist? And that has been the case, and I continue to do that in my writing.
Elaine Del Valle:Directing as a casting director you know it's my parallel track career. It's something that I do all the time. I get to see hundreds of auditions all the time and understand actors and deal with agents and managers. I love the work. I love being a part of the fabric, of deciding who gets seen and the way that the story is being told. So it's a great thing.
Elaine Del Valle:But still, I have my regular clients, and if somebody is reaching out to me for the first time, it's usually because they want something Spanish language, you're depicting Latinx or Latine representation, and so, yes, I'm there. But guess what? They're not always casting for that. I mean, I can name networks that hire me only for the hardest jobs, like when they need an 85-year-old Latina grandmother, and I'm like why do I only get this? Why can't you just give me the regular jobs that you give somebody else? That's so much easier, but yet you want to pay me less. So it's a very much. It's a challenge all the time, but you have to keep a great attitude, appreciate the work and just keep growing in the direction that you want your own career path to take you, and that's what I have been doing.
Amanda DeBraux:It's interesting because, as being a Latin woman and being just a woman in general, I feel like there is, like you said, a lack of opportunities for us. We're like pulling at teeth just to be for that opportunity that men get while they're sleeping. They just get handed to, and it's so frustrating Not to diminish their work, but I feel like we have to work even harder, like you said, to be seen and heard and then, like you said, not to be valued at our worth as well. Financially, we should be paid. It shouldn't be a question about it, there shouldn't be a debate about it, and it's so just frustrating. What would you say to actors who feel like they're dealing with this constant resistance with the industry, whether they're an actor behind the scene I mean behind the camera and from the camera, you know or deciding to embark on this journey of being this multi-hyphenate, being a writer, director, or taking that part, like? What would you say to them?
Elaine Del Valle:I would say just follow your instincts, know the stories that you want to tell and want to tell them so passionately and so much that you do anything to get that story out. Not anything, I just mean artistically. It's the artistic frustration that should lead to it, not because you want to be famous or anything like that, because those things rarely happen. You have to find satisfaction in the work that you're creating and I think artists crave that satisfaction and the only time that I've ever felt it is actually just working and creating the work and being valued for my work. So I mean you have to be able to say yes to yourself before you expect other people to say yes to you. And you have to do it because you love it.
Elaine Del Valle:Like if you don't love acting, don't be an actor, because it's really hard to get work and you have to. It's so hard to justeven when you're working, like when I was off-prod every day. You have to get there every day. You have to get myself there very low pay, even if it's equity but you have to love the work and if you don't do that, just don't do it. If you can do anything else, be anything else, but if you have to do it, then do it. That's the only way to be satisfied in life right.
Janel Koloski:I love that and I would love to know more, elaine, about how you balance the multi-hyphenate career, because I have a multi-hyphenate career and that's specifically what I coach and a lot of times with my clients they're afraid that if they do other things it means they don't care about acting, and I explain to them I want to do acting the most, but we all have different journeys and I could find work modeling, hosting and producing, meeting and networking with the right people, keeping acting my focus, but it is hard to balance, so I'd love any advice you have for our listeners about that balance.
Elaine Del Valle:It's so interesting, because why are actors expected to be waiters while they're acting? I know they're all like.
Janel Koloski:I don't work at Starbucks to prove that I'm a real actor, I'm like, but then you hate your life. Exactly, I want to watch Starbucks everybody Exactly Now.
Elaine Del Valle:I didn't go into it like I want to be a writer. I didn't do that While I was. You know, I already told you the path to me creating the work and why it was as an artist. And then, while I was acting in my one woman show on stage, I, just like every other actor, had invited everyone I knew to come see it. Some of those people were agency producers that I had worked with on camera commercials, being the talent, and it was their idea, after having seen the play and knowing my work ethic and really opening their eyes to my humanity Beyond acting, is when they said I want to work with you every day.
Elaine Del Valle:I just can't hire an actor every day, so what else do you do? I was. I was like what do you need, pa? You want craft services, like whatever? I was open because I wanted to have the ability to show my value and to become indispensable to them and it was their idea. When they said to me you know you need casting. You ever done casting? And I thought about it for a moment, I thought you know, I've been in every casting office in New York, some in LA, some in Miami, and I really know a good experience from a bad experience, and there are a lot of bad experiences that I wish that actors didn't have to go through, that I had gone through and I feel like I could make that change for them and provide this service to them.
Elaine Del Valle:Because I was really it was a Spanish language ad agency and as someone who was a working actor I mean I worked a lot in commercials there was no frustration in being a commercial actor. For me that was really my bread and butter. But I was really in tune with who was out there. They were all my friends.
Elaine Del Valle:I had everybody on speed dial and that's before I understood the casting platforms that are available to casting producers and directors that I use every day for that work and how do I choose what I'm doing for the day, and balancing that act is really what is needed today, like I just got a call from my editor. When I'm done with this, I have to reach my editor who's editing my feature film, and last night I got a casting job. I put it out this morning on Breakdown Services. It's already been released. I will be looking at the submissions. I've already sent it to an agent and said you want first dibs on it. That was just the last agent that I happened to be working with, who I just put some money through.
Elaine Del Valle:So it's all. Really, I'm a very good person at connecting the dots in everything that I do and making it all work together and synergistically, and I think you really have to think about it in those terms. Shonda Rhimes wrote a book called the Year of yes and it feels like that, like say yes to stuff, see where it takes you, and at some point you just have to start saying no because you want to maintain a path. So I look at the day as in what's needed today, what needs my most attention today and where are my hands tied that I can create an opportunity for tomorrow.
Amanda DeBraux:So good, because I feel earlier on in the industry, janelle and I had this very similar path of being told you can't do anything else but be an actor, like focus, that's it, keep your mind on that. You know, kind of like the horse, the racing horse, and it just keep those blinders on, don't do anything else, and like you have to live it, breathe it, eat it and sleep it and all those things. And we've gotten that multiple times when we've talked to other people and it just kind of scares me in the root of my core because I just feel like it limits actors and just creative beings. We're not meant to do just one thing. And storytelling, like you said, you know your storytelling is told on many different platforms. So directing and writing and casting, like how amazing is that?
Elaine Del Valle:So that's what you say. You say, you know, I used to say I do one thing entertainment. Don't be confused, I'm a story teller.
Elaine Del Valle:So, when my passion is directing and, like you know, right now I'm rebuilding my website because I feel like everybody should just constantly make it better yes, and I think that that does pay off. Whatever it is that you do, whether it be new headshots and the website, whatever it is it does pay off. The energy that you're putting out into the universe to be seen and to be heard and expressing yourself and what you want is important for yourself as well. But I digress on that On my website, I feel like it's really important that you know I'm a director.
Janel Koloski:Am.
Elaine Del Valle:I still an actor? Am I still a casting director? Am I still a writer? Am I still a producer? Yes, but this is my focus and this is what I want. If I had it my way, like I just was, it a year and a half ago I was a recurring guest star in an ABC hip hop drama called Queens. Yeah, and yeah, it was wonderful, great, and I was there, you know, weeks at a time doing this and all my days off. I asked if I could shadow the producing director and she said yes. So I got to do what I do focus on the work of an actor as an actor while I was acting Never take for granted.
Elaine Del Valle:while I'm there, accomplish my job, show them that I can do that. But when I was done with like the big monologue scenes and I proved myself to the AD and the director and the producing director, that's when I felt the confidence that I can ask and not get into anyone's way. So I wouldn't recommend it to like any guest star or any co-star. But if you're a recurring guest star, that has days off and you're there anyway and this is your passion and you've been doing it because you know, by that time I had been directing for a while. I just wanted the opportunity to learn and those opportunities don't come very often. They're very hard. No matter what level you're at, the competition as a director is as fierce as the competition as an actor.
Janel Koloski:Yeah, I love that and I find that people forget that even for makeup artists anybody you know, for the modeling world makeup artists have a union and you know they're trying to come up too. So you're just, you know you're trying to stay in contact with everybody and Amanda and I are always trying to help each other out and I think a lot of times with our clients they're just afraid of asking because, oh, will it be rude, why I'd be blacklisted. I don't know what advice do you have for people that are afraid to ask because they don't want to look bad, or maybe rejection? I mean, we know you don't ask, you don't get it, but we would love for our listeners just maybe some tools whenever they're just afraid to just pull the trigger.
Elaine Del Valle:I think it's very important that you know how to ask and how to make it easy for someone to say yes, and then, if they don't say yes, let it go. So I remember the first thing that I ever sold to HBO. Well, the first thing that I ever made was a comedy web series called Reasons why I'm Single, and I had, through the One Woman show, had gotten the attention of HBO, and someone at HBO said I want to know everything you're doing from now on. So that's why I started creating the web series I directed out of default. I found my passion there and it was there that, after I created the web series, I sent her the first three episodes. She said this is really good, I'm going to send it up to LA see what they say. Maybe there's a writing job in it for you. And I thought this is incredible, this is great.
Elaine Del Valle:But then I didn't hear back from her and I didn't want to be the pariah that was rubbing her the wrong way or insisting too much, because if she had good news she'd called me right, and so I was afraid. I didn't want to hurt the relationship. But for all I know, she just forgot. I didn't know, but I knew that I was on the right path. So I kept creating and I found someone that I also wanted to support another Latino filmmaker and I saw a short film and I was like this would make a great web series. Reached out to the filmmaker, said I produced this web series. I want to produce your thing as a web series. Long story short. We did it. The first episode I sent her she said the same thing. Let me kick it up to LA, see what they say. Maybe there's a job in it for you.
Elaine Del Valle:At that point, and maybe because it wasn't my own, or maybe because I had the experience, or maybe because I had, because it wasn't my own I felt selfless in the ass and I said I know exactly where this belongs. This belongs on HBO Latino. It should be like, instead of your coming attraction, it should be like interstitial things in between your programs, because their HBO's programs were ending like at an hour 24 minutes and then they had six minutes to fill before the next slot. So I knew the gap that existed, that needed to be filled, that I didn't think was being filled to the best of its ability to create programming for that spot. And that's where I said that it wasn't. She immediately responded to the idea, immediately wrote to somebody and immediately got me a meeting and within six months of that meeting we were airing on HBO and I had sold the first season not just the first season, but the second season as well in advance, and that sort of thing really gave me the confidence.
Elaine Del Valle:Also, as an aside, I do a lot of charity work. I used to do a cycling event to help kids with autism. I helped the school for autism be built. It was knowing exactly the amount of square footage of the floor, the ceiling, the fence, exactly what I needed and who had it to give me without any sweat off their brow. As long as I came with those specifics and made it easy to say yes, and if it weren't for me, if it wasn't for my personal gain, that's when I felt the most confident in asking. So we'll find projects like that and if it feels selfless, it'll probably be easier to ask, and that's how you get the courage. It's still very difficult. Asking for stuff is still the hardest, but you have to know how to ask to make people feel confident that you can deliver once they've given and that you're passionate about it because they're not supporting the project ever.
Elaine Del Valle:They're always appreciating you and how you believe in that project and whether that be a charity or a film or anything, that's the way that it is.
Amanda DeBraux:Gosh, that's incredible. Just specificity, being detailed, is really important in your career and I want to circle back a bit and then I want to dive that into that as well. But working with clients as well and I've had this fear is how do you overcome? Because you came into this industry knowing that you wanted to be an actor and then all of a sudden, this opened up and you said, well, maybe I could be, possibly a director. How do you get rid of that fear? Because I know I think I had it at some point of like if I give up being an actor, I'm never going to have this career. If I focus on anything else, then I'm taking away from being that. What is your advice for anyone who's kind of dealing with that dilemma, that confusion or that fear of giving energy to something else in the industry?
Elaine Del Valle:Just, do it. That's the only thing. If you fear something. I don't run away from challenges, I actually run toward them If it scares me. That's what I want to do. I don't want to do what I've already done and already proven that I can do. That's not growth. I want to do something new and fresh and exciting and try new genres and new things and work with different people. That, to me, is great.
Elaine Del Valle:With directing, I didn't say I wanted to direct. I was an actor that needed to write my own material. I wrote my own material. It made me write more material because I got attention from somebody On writing that material. I didn't say I'm going to direct this material now.
Elaine Del Valle:I actually asked everybody that I knew, every director that I knew, if they would direct this material. But back then no one trusted what a web series would do for them. There was no awkward black girl. That didn't exist, it was just very new. It was the only thing that I could afford, but nobody wanted to put their name on or tarnish their name and do something beneath them With that. I asked somebody, another new person. I asked everybody this one woman that I had an internship with in New York and film and television with. She said to me tell me about it. I told her. She said it's clear to me that you are the director. You clearly know what you are. I had already hired a cinematographer. I already worked with the actors. I actually co-wrote it with somebody from my class at Winhatton Studios. She was one of the actors. I was in it as well, with that one person telling me you could do it.
Elaine Del Valle:This is clear to me that you are. I was able to see that because you cannot see yourself clearly. Sometimes you don't see. Especially when I grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, I didn't know the opportunities that existed for me that I know now exist. I could have taken so much advantage, I could have started so much earlier. But that woman telling me you're the director, and then I directed, then I found my passion. I didn't know everything that I needed to know. Everything that I know now is the director. I'm still learning and growing every single day. I try to do that every day and everything that I do.
Elaine Del Valle:But when I landed what I wanted on that screen seeing the writing come to life, seeing the actors work through it, working with the actors, getting that performance that I knew was in them better than the first time and then I had to edit my own stuff too.
Elaine Del Valle:So even learning how to edit and putting it together, all of that was a great satisfaction to my creative soul and that's why I fell in love with directing and that's why I wanted to keep directing. And then I got the advice from Rashad Ernesto Green, a great filmmaker who I immensely respect. He said to me Elaine, if you really want to direct, start directing short films. And every year I made a promise to myself I'm going to save up. Every year I'm going to make a short film, no matter what, no matter what. And I kept doing that until my short films got better and better. And then I was in all the festivals and finally one, South by Southwest, and that's an incredible journey that you had to have taken the journey in order to have experienced the growth. There's no shortcut to that, but you must do it.
Janel Koloski:Oh, I love that. It's so true when someone sees you or sees things you don't. I remember I was going to work for the Travel Channel and I was so nervous to think I was good enough that I had to win this thing or whatever. And then I eventually ended up posting for them. But I had a friend that said you have to win. I was like okay, and I did, but like she knew I was capable. But I want to ask about your feature film and also thank you for the work that you do for the autism community. My brother has autism and I have a degree in elementary and special ed, so we have my daughter, as well as a high school teacher, oh my gosh.
Janel Koloski:Yeah, it's so important. You know I love you know, Joe, my brother's amazing and I would love to know more about how you adapted your book into a feature film, because eventually I want to turn a documentary about my mother and my brother into a film and I'm having trouble getting started because that's overwhelming.
Elaine Del Valle:So it's very nice.
Janel Koloski:So the advice that.
Elaine Del Valle:I got studying through the Sundance lab, spring Writing Lab. Kimberly Pierce was one of our teachers in that lab and she said, you know, she did Boys Don't Cry. Or I should say they did Boys Don't Cry. And they said when you're writing a true story, forget about the truth, follow the emotional truth and the action, and then that's how you have a greater story to tell, because it's the emotion of the story that's really drawing you. And you're being clouded by all these little facts and minutiae that you want to get right, because you think that's what makes the story right. But it's not. It's the heart. It's like when you meet somebody, you may not remember anything about them except how they made you feel. And that's how you know people go to plays. They're like, oh god, I love that play. Yeah, I don't. I can't even tell you what it's about. It's been two years, but I remember I love it, right? So so it's how it made you feel. So that's a great piece of advice when you're adapting material and and sometimes it's easier to adapt other people's material than it is your own. So that's something that I did with my short film princess cut that I won the HBO Latinx director award for. That's now streaming on HBO Max now, so you can actually see it now princess cut.
Elaine Del Valle:And that work was adapted by the major caramans play that I saw at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It was called bitch brown. It was a dark comedy and and I didn't see that I thought that the work was Amazing. The words, the language was incredible, but at the same time, when you're a director, yes, it's about the language, but it's really a visual story. And so I adapted that very heavy dialogue piece, with the help of Demetrius, of course, into what became princess cut, which was not a dark comedy, it was more of a suspense, slow burn, surprising, relationship, common ground movie it was. It was everything that I wanted it to be and and I'm really proud of that, but being able to adapt that material the way I saw it was really special. So that's another thing that I would recommend do something a little different to get yourself out of, out of the weeds.
Elaine Del Valle:And and Another practice, another thing that I learned from Sundance lab I forgot who the teacher was on that, but maybe it was Michelle Satter and she said she gave us a photo. The class, she said now here's a photo, write a story with your characters about this make it work into that, and that was the greatest gift that I ever had as a, as a creator, even as a director, because what she did was she proposed the visual first, and then I knew the characters and the strength of the characters and Because I knew them so well, I knew how they could be a part of that visual story and it created a bigger visual story that I had, and that's that's something that I I mean I still use that today.
Amanda DeBraux:That's so inspiring. Wow, I'm like Florida and kind of like lost for words, because I'm so in in, impressed by your creativity and drive For this industry and passion for storytelling in all the ways that you do. What is it that you hope to leave behind with all the work that you do, to inspire, maybe, the next generation, or in years and years to come?
Elaine Del Valle:Wow, what is it that I hope to leave? Well, I had an art teacher. I used to. I used to. I love drawing, poetry, writing Art. I was a kid that wrote rap songs and I was a kid Poetry. I would get called into the principal's office because they thought that my poetry was about my life. And sometimes it was, but sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes it was about something that I was seeing or understanding or an episode of good times.
Elaine Del Valle:You know, so I wrote a poem about an episode of good times where Janet Jackson Was this girl that was being abused by her mother, and I wrote a poem about that and I was called down to the principal's office Because they thought that I was being abused. So it's really funny. So, like I said, I was. I was a student of art, painting oil on canvas, and the teacher asked why do we paint? Why? Why do we?
Amanda DeBraux:paint? Why?
Elaine Del Valle:why? And he said there's only one answer to prove we exist. And so I took that, not just as an artist painting something on canvas, but I feel like everything that I write, especially my films, my films, is really what I leave behind and I feel like they prove I exist, especially when I tell stories that present Me as a kid, which is I don't see that out there Me as a Latina in an urban jungle. That doesn't fit in. That's not the poster child as you would think would represent that. So I want to tell those stories.
Elaine Del Valle:Also, I grew up in one of the densest populations in the US. I think it's like the fourth densest population in the US. It's more dense than like 98% of the US, just my neighborhood. So because of that, I got to know so many thousands of people in my blocks right, so many thousands of people that in other people's minds they're just one person. But I got to know individuals living under the same circumstance, under the same umbrella that people are categorizing them in.
Elaine Del Valle:But each person is so individual and that, to me, is a great gift and being able to take a script, whether it's mine or someone else's, and use the characters that I know in my world, in my life, my experiences, to infuse the truth of that. That's really very special, and I think every director is always doing that. They're always putting a face to the or putting a character in their head that they know of. This is like this person, this is like this person. Oh, this is like this relationship. Okay, this is like when this instance happened, and that's really very special. To have the breath of valuing humans in the way that I do, I think it's in my work and everything that I do. So that's what I really want to leave behind. That's all I can leave behind, right.
Amanda DeBraux:So good, so good. What is it that you're working on now? You talked about a feature film. Can you share?
Elaine Del Valle:Yeah. So I just wrapped my second feature film yeah, I'm very happy about that, and it's in post-production. Right now I am titling it but I'm not releasing the title yet because I want it to be fresh and new. When people hear the name and I love the name it's very meaningful and special and incites curiosity, provokes curiosity of it, and it's very urban, so I love the title. Anyway, that's in post and hopefully I'll have a cut in March or April and then I'll start submitting to try to get more post-production grants. So I'm always working on grants. I'm always working on, like, the work that pays. And then I'm always creating. Right now I have two pilots, one that I finished writing and the other one that I'm only on page seven on. But I really am enjoying it and I call it a pilot.
Elaine Del Valle:It started out feeling like a film and then, as I started writing, I was like, oh, this is a great story that I could tell forever and it's not like I was trying to for it to be that, it's just that's what it's turning out to be. So I just, you know, I use the time that I have, the spare time that I have, creating. I'm a part of a writer's group. I'm always doing that and I'm always looking for the next opportunity. I have meetings all the time. I'm going to be attending content America.
Elaine Del Valle:I would love for somebody to believe in my eye enough to say we're going to put some money into what you want to do, and then I would like to use that money to not just for myself to be able to create the stories that I want and to direct and produce those stories. I also want to point at people that I know already, that I know have it and just don't have the opportunity. And I want to be able to make these names of tomorrow in acting, in directing, in producing in writing, because our community, the Latino community, specifically needs it more than any other, because we're so under indexed and underrepresented on screen and behind the camera, in the writing, in every single way. So that would be really special to me to be able to do and that's something that I hope that my work, my body of work, helps me to be able to create in the future in general, like just make that happen for other people and myself.
Amanda DeBraux:Yes, I love that you're an advocate in all the ways for voices not being heard and pushing that forward. So thank you for doing all that you're doing. Well, there's so many people.
Elaine Del Valle:So there's so much talent out there. I know it, I see it, I believe in it. I tell them, I work with them, I help them, I do free casting for them, I help them raise money. Sometimes I give them money. You know, it's like there's so many people out there that just you know they haven't had the benefit of going to USC, nyu, afi, like me. I didn't even know that scholarships were available to me and I was a kid that lives up welfare. How did I know that?
Amanda DeBraux:Yeah, that's so beautiful and yeah, I know, I know, because I wish I would have known all these things growing up in the Bronx, like I didn't. There was no outlet for this creative expression to be nurtured in the schools and I wish I had that. And so and that's my hope moving forward is that I can do that for the next generation as well. You know, I just wish I did. My mom did it for me, but in the schools it just it wasn't supported. You were this kind of robotic child that went into school. You learned what you learned and if you learned different, something was wrong with you. You were ridiculed for it. And it's just such a special thing that you're recognizing all of them and creating this path for those creatives not just, you know, being active.
Elaine Del Valle:You know, I also want to say, like you don't have to be just a creative. I mean, I was a straight A student. I was like in the fourth grade I was reading on a ninth grade level.
Janel Koloski:Wow.
Elaine Del Valle:And that's always like the, the, the gifted child that was in the math team and stuff like that. So you don't have to just be seen as a creative to be a creative. The creative in me was not. It wasn't encouraged and so I never. You know, I waited too long. I mean, yeah, I was in school plays, my dad was a musician, my dad was a singer-songwriter All those things were in me. I was in school. I was really excelling in the work and the math, reading, writing, you know all of that stuff. It was still working for me.
Elaine Del Valle:But I still think that creativity needs to be encouraged in every way. You know, and just you, need to be able to be exposed to things in order to know who you are and so and to know where you want to go. Without that exposure there's, you know, you're just living in a closed world, which is which is what places like Brownsville, brooklyn, places all around the country and all around the world are. It's just you, only you only know what's in front of you, and it's really the exposure that helps you become more worldly and understand the opportunities and and expand your own faith in what you can accomplish.
Amanda DeBraux:Wow, very powerful. I almost want to end it right there because that was just so so good and I think I will. Thank you so much for sharing your inspirational story, your background, your gravitas. You have such an energy that is almost I'm not even addicting. What's the word? There's a word for it like enticing. There we go. I'm going to say like enticing. I think that's a good way of putting it. I'm not that that great of a voice of that, but again, just thank you because I I've seen your work many times. I saw you on Instagram and you're again you're. I just had to reach out and talk to you. I was telling Janelle we got to get her on the podcast like ASAP, right now, because I Thank you, I appreciate it.
Elaine Del Valle:I, you know, sometimes, talking like this, it just helps me to be seen as well. So I appreciate if you want to ask me questions. I'm you know, I'm grateful for that opportunity, but also I understand that it takes time away from other things. So you, you know it's a balancing act. So I do appreciate you seeing me and and I'm wanting to hear what I have to say Thank you Of course, and how can people connect with you and reach out to you to keep?
Elaine Del Valle:up with us.
Elaine Del Valle:Yeah, that's great. Instagram. My name, Elaine Delvayette, director. I love that. I love that there's my Instagram tag and yeah, if you want to reach out to me, definitely through there.
Elaine Del Valle:I don't necessarily accept unsolicited materials, for you know, if you're an actor and you want to be cast in something, you have to just put yourself in the casting director's shoes and say how many actors are reaching out to that person all the time. It's very hard to keep track. So I often say to actors the best time to reach me is when I'm casting something that's actually right for you. So you can see that on actors access, you get the alerts, make sure your profiles match and when it's right for you, hit me up. Hit me up on Instagram, submit yourself, I'll see you. There's always a room for no. Hey, Elaine, I saw you on such and such. I'm going to send you the audition, Then the audition is yours, Then you just you know, and I listen to, listen, to watch hundreds of auditions all the time.
Elaine Del Valle:So that is as a as a as an actor trying to reach me as a casting director. If you're someone who wants to tell a story and things like you, have it in you and you have a great story. You have to put yourself in the writer's position as well. Why would that writer want to tell your story when they could tell their own, when they could tell their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, somebody who they care about? So you have to think about that as well and, just you know, be respectful as a, as an actor, reach my Asian, as a director, reach my agent, and that's really the best way to do it. Thank you so much.
Amanda DeBraux:Thank you everybody, so much for joining us for this amazing episode of Mindset Artistry, and we'll see you next time, thank you.
Janel Koloski:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Mindset Artistry.
Amanda DeBraux:We hope you found our stories and tips motivating and helpful.
Janel Koloski:Be sure to follow us here on Spotify for more episodes to help you master the art of your mindset.