Daily Inspiration: Meet Carlito Hale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlito Hale.

Hi Carlito, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all began long before I ever picked up a pen or stepped behind a camera. It began spiritually with my grandfather, James Herbert Neeley. He was a poet, a father, and a lifelong lover of movies. He even appeared as an extra in the 1989 film Great Balls of Fire, and if you watch closely, you can actually see him in the opening sequence, breaking up a fight between two girls who were battling over him. I never had the chance to meet him; he passed away eleven years before I was born, but his spirit has always felt close, like a quiet current guiding everything I do.

For me, the journey truly started with writing. In 2020, when the world shut down during COVID and quarantine forced us into stillness, I turned to poetry to calm my mind. The outside world was heavy and uncertain, but writing gave me peace. And when I needed to escape, I escaped into movies. I’ve always loved films. When I was younger, my dad had this small laptop loaded with hundreds of movies, and I would spend hours watching them, story after story, world after world. As the summer of 2020 grew quieter and dimmer, my imagination grew louder.

One day, it hit me: what if I could combine the peace I felt from writing with the escape I felt from movies?

That realization changed everything.

For two and a half weeks straight, I lived on what we now call “YouTube University,” teaching myself how to write a screenplay. Hour after hour. Trial and error. I brainstormed, learned structure, failed forward, and wrote my very first script. Then another. And another. I couldn’t stop. The spark had turned into a fire.
In January of 2023, I enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado. I paused screenwriting to focus on school, but I never stopped writing. Poetry remained my therapy, my anchor. Then, in the spring of 2024, I finally stepped fully into my calling. I wrote and directed my first-ever short film, “Nice to Meet You.” That fall, I followed it with “Mirror Souls.” The next year came “What If we” a film that went on to sell out a theater at the Kress Cinema in Greeley, Colorado. A moment I’ll never forget.

Then came the advice that shifted my entire path.

A mentor of mine, Terry Hobson, my best friend’s uncle and the father of actress Tati Gabrielle (The Last of Us, You), called me one day and said, “Stop making short films. Be different. Start making features.”

So I did.

I began writing my first feature film, PipeDreem, a story about a young girl chasing a dream that the world tells her is impossible. That film has now made noise across the Denver metro and the Greeley area. I’ve appeared on 9News and been featured in the Greeley Tribune, and on January 3rd–4th, 2026, PipeDreem will premiere at the Elaine Wolf Theatre in Denver.

And here’s the part that still gives me chills.

I started manifesting this film dream before I ever knew any of this about my grandfather being a poet and a movie lover. The same fire. The same language. The same calling. I truly believe my grandfather lives spiritually and vicariously through me, that he passed this gift down without ever knowing he did. Every story I tell, every film I make, every word I write… I do it
because of him and for him.

My “why” is simple. But my drive comes from something deeper: the strength I pull from my grandfather’s spirit and the love I receive from the Most High.

And if my story hasn’t inspired you yet, let me leave you with this:

Do what you love.
Love what you do.
Trust in God.
And watch your purpose reveal itself.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
This journey, like any true calling, has been marked by both triumph and trial. Yet I have learned that challenges are not roadblocks. They are invitations. Every obstacle placed in my path is not meant to stop me but to shape me. Where some see hardship as a sign to turn back, I see it as a breaking point, the moment where growth is demanded and purpose is refined. As Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” I have come to live by those words.

That truth was tested in one of the most defining moments of my life, when I moved to my dream city, New York.

In the fall of 2022, I enrolled at Long Island University in Brooklyn, ready to begin what I believed was the next great chapter of my life. I arrived full of hope and anticipation. On the Uber ride to campus, I asked the driver to play “Welcome to New York” by Taylor Swift. It felt cinematic, like the opening scene of a dream finally realized. I was ready to take the city by storm.

But God had other plans.

When I arrived on campus, met my roommate, and went to officially check in, I was told I owed $15,000. Prior to leaving for New York, I had checked with every department, including financial aid, admissions, and housing. Each one gave me the green light. And yet, in a single moment, everything unraveled. I was devastated. I had finally reached my favorite city in the world, only to be told I could not stay.

After calling my mother in tears, she encouraged me to return home and enroll at the University of Northern Colorado instead. Before leaving, I made one final decision. I needed to see at least one landmark I had dreamed about all my life. I searched for what was closest.

Times Square.

I sat alone on the red stairs, surrounded by the glow of screens and the rush of people, suspended between overwhelming joy and crushing heartbreak. I was standing in the middle of my dream while watching it slip away. I bought a same-day plane ticket back to Denver and spent every last dollar I had to return to Colorado. After saving for so long, I returned home completely broke.

I had only spent eight hours in New York City.

But in those eight hours, I learned one of the greatest lessons of my life. It is not about my timing. It is about God’s. That moment humbled me in a way nothing else ever could. It taught me to trust divine timing and to be grateful for every opportunity placed in my hands, because everything can change in a single day.

That experience did not break me. It rebuilt me. And everything that followed was stronger because of it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I strive to inspire everlasting greatness in others through true humanity, uniqueness, realness, and authenticity, all expressed through the cinematic art form. I am known as a local filmmaker who tells stories rooted in the true emotional experience of being human and the inner drive that lives within all of us. I am known for doing what I love and loving what I do, and that passion is what fuels me every day.

What drives me is the pursuit of greatness and the discipline to chase excellence. While perfection does not exist and may never be fully attained, the desire to reach for it is what pushes me beyond my limits. That pursuit is what, in my belief, sets me apart. I am committed to becoming great in the gift the Lord placed within me, not by trying to be someone I am not, but by fully embracing who I am. It is a struggle many of us face, and one I continue to grow through with intention.

That is what I am most proud of. Learning who I am and becoming better in small ways each day. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Those words guide how I approach both life and art.

I am proud of every trial I have overcome and even more confident in my ability to face whatever lies ahead. Whatever is to come, I am ready for it.

What makes you happy?
To do what I love and love what I do is what makes me happy. I love movies, going to the movies, writing movies, and making movies. All this makes me happy because it is what I desire. I am a firm believer that true happiness comes from within and that no person alone can create it for you. I hold this belief because, when your mental health is struggling, only you have the power to guide yourself back to peace. But I also believe that God is the foundation that makes that healing possible. From my personal experience, healing begins with accountability, self-awareness, and faith. When I did not have the strength to rise on my own, God carried me through the darkest moments and reminded me who I was created to be. No one can walk your path for you, but with God’s guidance, you are never walking alone. Manifesting and chasing this dream that burns eternally within me is what makes me happy.

Pricing:

• Come see my film ‘PipeDreem’ at the Elaine Wolf Theatre link attached to the article.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tickets.jccdenver.org/tickets/carlito-hale-s-pipedreem-343662#buy
• Instagram: carlito_hale
• Facebook: Carlito Hale
• LinkedIn: Carlito Hale
• Twitter: carlito_hale
• Youtube: Carlito Hale
• Other: https://tickets.jccdenver.org/tickets/carlito-hale-s-pipedreem-343662#buy

Image Credits
Name: DJ
Instagram: djadj1ri