Cindy and Casey Ball kept hearing the same old advice that filmmakers have to leave for Los Angeles or some other industry hub to make it, and they decided to push back on it by building something where they already lived. That instinct led them to co-found the Desert Empire Filmmaker Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting, educating, and elevating filmmakers and creative professionals in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley. DEFF addresses a long-standing gap in access to training, resources, and industry pathways for creators working outside traditional entertainment hubs, with programming that spans filmmaker spotlights, community events, festival partnerships, and industry conversations. Their bigger vision goes beyond student work and independent shorts, aiming to move local voices toward TV pilots, feature films, and mainstream platforms so that audiences can watch a story shot in the IE on the streaming services they already use.
