Interview with American Actor, Producer Joe Gawalis

Joe Gawalis is an award winning actor, producer and filmmaker based out of New York City. Joe Gawalis is influenced deeply by his east coast roots, Joe’s style of filmmaking reflects the people of the Big Apple itself, raw, gritty, rich in character and fueled by the understanding that the melting pot known as NYC is as diverse and melded together as a grey stormy night.

Joe Gawalis powerful drama ‘Around Every Corner’ has gained an enormous fan following online in a short period of time it was just been released on Amazon Prime, Amazon Video and iTunes. Joe has been interviewed on shows such as Fox 5’s Good Day “Street Talk” with Emmy Award winning anchor Antwan Lewis and featured in such publications as Examiner.

Joe Gawalis is a recipient of the Drug Free Hero Award, for his community service and bringing awareness to the drug pandemic throughout New York City.

Why did you get into filmmaking?
To share amazing stories with the world. It’s hard to try to get a message across in a preachy sort of way, unless people are looking for that, and the world shouldn’t be viewed in black and white anyway. Through cinema we can open the eyes of the viewers and make them start to think about what they are being told and how this relates to their lives in a positive or negative way. I’ve really always been fascinated with amazing story telling, even at a young age I would constantly write, create stories to play out with my friends via. Legos, action figures, or even act out adventures with ourselves as the characters. I always liked having a story line in these games to follow. Eventually I became obsessed with cinema but was unable to really get my hands on the proper equipment until I attended film school. From there I was off.

What films have you made?
My first feature film, Around Every Corner was released last year. We finished this film in a very limited time frame on a microbudget thanks to an amazing team and the dedication of everyone involved. Not only does that make me very proud, but what is even more incredible is the fact that the film is being screened in various addiction clinics and rehabilitation centers, we are also up for an award regarding this in June. Having been told a film I made has really changed the life of someone at a low point and has inspired them to get better is a feeling unlike any other. Around Every Corner is available now on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, VUDU and DVD.

We recently completed my latest feature film “The Breaking Point” Starring Wiliam DeMeo Joseph D’Onofrio and James K. Fulater. It’s a psychological dark drama about the breakdown of an everyday man. A statement on the failure of the ‘American Dream.’ Do everything you are told, and you will receive all of life’s gifts. The job, wife, the house in the suburbs, the two kids, but you discover it was all a lie. Enter the mind of Jim Thompson, ‘An Everyday Man’, who was pushed to his ‘Breaking Point.’ “The Breaking Point” Will be premiering in late April or early may 2017.

I am currently directing a documentary “The North Shore” which is the idea of Producer Chris Victor who also worked on me on “The Breaking Point” and Around Every Corner. It focuses on the development of the North Shore area of Staten Island. There are some amazing projects being developed there such as the Empire Outlets, The New York Wheel, The Urby and spectacular new businesses and homes. We are also speaking to the long time residents and new people to the area about how this hidden gem in New York City has begun to transform and is on the cusp of a new era.

What wrong impressions do actors hold about acting
Acting is not representing certain emotions and cues at specific times within the script. Acting is getting to a point where you are feeling what you are supposed to be representing. If you are “acting” an emotion, then you are not successfully acting. The paradox with the art of acting is the word itself. Acting is not what an actor wants to be doing with a role. The true art of acting is getting in the depths where you meet the character and give yourself to the character and feel what the character is feeling. You are fully connected with the story. You are not acting to please an audience.

We are going into production on my next feature the last week of April so we are very excited.

What is you concept on collaboration?
Collaboration is the key to any production on every level but I can see first-hand how much it makes all the difference with indie filmmaking. To have been surrounded by a dedicated team that has been pushing from start to finish is inspiring. Because of everyone’s hard work our last film is complete and available for the world to see. We owe any success we have to everyone on set. What I am very proud of is the relationship the team has formed throughout the years of working together. From producers, actors, stunt choreographers, camera ops, sound designers, make up artists you name it many of us have been working together from short films onto completing our second feature and moving onto the third. It’s been an amazing journey together

How do you find the process of filmmaking as an indie filmmaker?
It’s an incredible journey that people have to step in to truly understand. The amount of hats you have to wear to get your project off the ground could literally break your neck. It’s understanding when to take one off and put the other one on to keep yourself focused and moving forward. And it’s really all about the amazing team that you get involved with because it will be like you’re in a relationship with each individual and if you care about and respect your partners it will be an amazing experience.

On set of Neverland #TimesSquare #nyc #artist #AWW #SupportIndieFilm #imdb #actorslife #moments #life #youngnfree pic.twitter.com/bnVwbbYnji

— Joe Gawalis (@JoeGawalis) September 12, 2015

What I’ve also found is sometimes you may not always be able to make the film you want to make, but the one you can make. That’s not saying to do something you hate but if you’ve never shot a film don’t aim to make a multimillion dollar blockbuster right out of the gate. Enjoy the process and love of what you do, and have fun with it or why do it anyway.

Describe your recent work or film
‘Around Every Corner‘: Preproduction was actually a very quick process. I had the idea in my head about a family film that would inspire. The problem was we’ve won some festivals with shorts and have developed a pretty good reputation but we haven’t released a feature film so it was hard to get money behind us. So I decided to make this film about the characters and their relationship, find spectacular independent actors that I respect and build around them. It was an amazing experience. Since we didn’t have much of a budget at all I decided to do a film with whatever we had available. There are so many talented friends and other filmmakers I know that just wait for the moment to have the right gear, money, etc. but that may never come. So I wanted to show that we could make a film no matter what obstacles are in front of us.

Post was another beast all in itself. As we were working with a very low budget I decided to make the point that we will really keep this at a low budget. I mean do it with what you have. So we edited on an old laptop, on external Seagate 3.0 drives. This wasn’t a problem at first editing scene by scene but once we got to our final cut. Very Very slow. Exporting was a whole other deal, not know exactly what deliverables were necessary to get the film out on various platforms etc.

Prepping for @Fox5GDST with @AntwanFox5 talking about @aecmovie. Thank you Antwan and everyone at GDST! #grateful pic.twitter.com/GEhRHZs0wj

— Joe Gawalis (@JoeGawalis) June 27, 2015

Marketing was a spectacular experience and we learned the power of new age marketing through social media. No longer are billboards in Time Square required to make an impact. Through grass roots marketing, we were able to get over 16k followers on social media, which translated into us getting featured in Examiner and even a 10 minute interview on Fox 5 news in New York City which really set us apart from other microbudget indie films.

Overall, the team went into the trenches together from start to finish with our hands in the dirt the entire time. What is even better is we accomplished our goals. The film was complete, screened in multiple festivals, was nominated for numerous awards and won awards as well. Finally, we are now available to buy on iTunes, DVD, Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Prime. I can’t say you can get a better learning experience than that with virtually no money the first time out of the gate.

What are your future goals?
To continue to make great films and grow my company. I would like to get my company to a place where we are creating multiple films a year. If we can accomplish this, we can also start giving opportunities to other amazing filmmakers out there. Creating opportunity for other people would be something special. I really pride myself in working with unknown talent that has otherwise been a smaller player and put them in the spot light. If I could do that everyday I would be a happy person.

What do you think indie filmmaker needs in today’s world of filmmaking?
It all starts with the full understanding of the story. Its not a script. A set of lines. It’s a story. This character has a story and it has come from something. Believing in the characters story is what makes it believable. I have to believe before I can be bring life to what I believe.