Meet Ajala Bandele of Story Creator

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ajala Bandele.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ajala. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I graduated from Calarts as an Actor/writer and after a year of auditioning I decided to write and direct my own feature film, OMG…WE’RE IN A HORROR MOVIE!!!, which I would later find worldwide distribution for. When I told a friend I shot a movie, he thought I meant I was the shooter, and he hired me out as a DP. I stole a friends camera, later returned, and began a business shooting and editing music videos, short films, and other such projects. A friend of mine who owned a demo reel company called Rapid Reelz hired me as a writer, and after a few years I worked my way up to the Writers Manager position. (I’m fancy). So the majority of my time in LA has been writing, acting, and shooting indie films. I met my wife, Danna Bandele, on set and our first date consisted of her critiquing a script of mine. So I proposed to her by writing a script and taking her to our favorite restaurant where in the script a married couple remembers the day they got engaged. As we read the screenplay, I acted out my part by producing the ring when the stage directions called for it and proposing. Twas perfect.

Now happily married and with a youngin on the way, I’ve been writing more and more. I found a perfect place to craft my stories, TeaPop, a tea cafe in NoHo, a place where I can write and my wife can edit my work. In my journey as a storyteller, I began talking to different types of writers, all of whom struggled at various stages of writing. I thought that there should be something that would organize, inspire, and guide writers to create better stories faster, without any major plot holes. After a lot of research and a year of dedicated work, I created Story Creator, a writing guide that helps you create compelling stories. I’ve now partnered with a former SpaceX mechanical engineer and current start-up entrepreneur, Glentrez Thornton, and we are working on development of a whole new way of writing.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
After graduating Calarts I found that no one either wanted me or knew what to do with me as an actor. I’m black, short, muscular, and young looking, with 20 years of training and experience. I thought I would be able to find something, anything, but nothing came my way. So I tried to forge my own path and with a friend of mine, Tom Hatfield, we wrote OMG…WE’RE IN A HORROR MOVIE!!! a silly comedy making fun of horror movies and stereotypes in Hollywood. When we were trying to find funding for the project, four people said they would grant us 15k each if we replaced the majority of the black actors with white ones, and cut out the Asian female lead, again to be replaced by a white woman. That type of racism and discrimination seems to be more prevalent than I thought it was and it has made it difficult for me to rise in the world of entertainment. I’ve had agents steal money from me, been fired for trying to do the right thing, and a host of other negative things. I’ve had to shift my focus from just being an actor to being a filmmaker in order to act. By becoming a filmmaker, I can write, direct, act and edit my own projects that have characters that I can play and feel good to play. I can give myself my own chances. If you want to get things done, watch a YouTube tutorial video then get it done yourself.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
There are two parts to me. Dual Nature Artisans, my production company with my wife, and Story Creator, my writing company with Glentrez Thornton of ModernlyNerdish. DNA focuses on telling compelling personal narratives using indie filmmaking. We’ve produce shorts and concept videos for artists who have something to say with their art. This is a passion for both my wife and I, and we are always trying to create something fun, interesting, and original. We experiment with our filmmaking choices and harken back to classic filmmaking. Our most recent project is a silent film called ONE MORE, and our next one is called Evil Eye, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s A Tell-Tale Heart. Dual Nature Artisans is about making the best story possible.

Story Creator is my company with a friend I met at a tea shop. We specialize in helping both experienced and budding writers create compelling stories. We hope to help revolutionize the writing industry by creating a program that not only helps you organize and build your story, it teaches you how to think about your story as well. I’ve spent more than a year talking to writers, taking classes, and perfecting my own writing in order to come up with something that doesn’t pigeonhole you into creating a specific type of story but guides you into thinking about what your major story elements are. My hope is that once Story Creator takes off I can start teaching at various schools and bringing a stronger knowledge of story and storytelling to everyone. Eventually, I want Dual Nature Artisans and Story Creator to join forces, making a powerhouse Educational Production company.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success, to me, is the continual pursuit of a goal. Success is not the achievement of that pursuit. It’s like a writing a novel. Once you’ve written your book you are no longer writing. You are in between stories. That’s never fun. But when you are writing you feel like a writer. As you finish each chapter you know that you are living the life you want to live. So success to me is the progression of the journey.

That being said, I’ve found my most successful moments in transition between projects. The moment one stops and another begins, I find a sense of completion and fulfillment as I continue to create. The lead actor in my feature OMG…WE”RE IN A HORROR MOVIE!!! said to me after day one of a back to back 18 hour shoot that he was living the dream because he was on set filming a movie he enjoyed. We didn’t have money, only one person was being paid, and nothing was going smoothly. But that’s filmmaking. That’s what it is to be an actor, director, just being on set. Once the movie was finished we went back to our 9-5’s, longing to be back on set.

All I really want, and what I believe makes people the happiest, is when you are chasing your dreams and you feel like your gaining.

Contact Info:

• Website: ajalabandele.com
• Instagram: @AjalaBandele
• Twitter: @ajalabandele

Image Credit:
Posters by Ajala Bandele, Photography by Dante, Drea Castro, Max Masin

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