whYBe Productions 

Emmanuel and Shannon Ballester met while attending Victory Outreach in La Puente, California.  They were both in the Usher and Young Adult ministries together.  They were more of acquaintances than friends.  Shannon and her sister Jennifer were closer to Emmanuel's mom Yvonne and sister Victoria.  Yvonne and Victoria were involved in the Children's Ministry and touched Jennifer's life when they took an interest in her autistic son Nathan.  It wasn't until Emmanuel's mom Yvonne passed away that Emmanuel, Victoria and Shannon became close friends.  They began spending a lot of time together and as Emmanuel began to share his passion about making movies, Shannon shared her passion of writing.  They started writing together and collaborating movie ideas in 2010.  Shortly after, Emmanuel and Shannon started dating and were married in 2011.  

In early 2012 their niece Alyssa and nephew John spent the weekend with them.  They were all supposed to go to Knott's Berry Farm for the day but it was raining so they decided to go to the movies instead.  Before leaving, Emmanuel and Shannon showed them their first short film Three Bears.  After that, Alyssa and John were begging them to film their own.  So that day Alyssa made her first short film and John made his.  They spent the day writing, filming and editing.  It was amazing what was accomplished in one day and this inspired Emmanuel and Shannon to begin making their dream a reality.  So after much discussion, they decided that Book Of Twelve would be their first major project.  In May of 2012 in a car outside of their apartment the vision started to unfold as they filmed the divorce scene with Shannon's sister Jennifer and their niece Alyssa.

As they were filming Book Of Twelve, they began discussing starting their own production company.  As they were discussing a name for the production company, Shannon thought about honoring Emmanuel's mom Yvonne Ballester.  Emmanuel had shared with Shannon that his love for movies and film started with his mother.  His favorite movie growing up was Glory.  Shannon would watch Emmanuel with his brother Robert and sister Victoria as they would quiz each other on scores from different movies some of which Shannon had never even heard of.  Yvonne built a bond with her children through movies which inspired Emmanuel to make his own.  So they began with the intials YB and as they said it Shannon realized her initials sounded out are spelled Why Be.  Why Be: what is your purpose in life, what were you created for, what is your destiny?  Shannon and Emmanuel being Christians know that they were created for HIS PURPOSE.  The Bible says in Colossians 1:16 "all things were created by him, and for him".  His purpose is different for everyone.  But God gives you passion, gifts, talents, desires, skills, opportunities, dreams for a reason.  Some people forget about them because life happens, or they need to pay the bills, or they fear failure but Emmanuel and Shannon want to film entertaining movies that touch the heart of their audience and tell people that they were created to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that He has a purpose for their life and that these films would inspire people to live out the purpose God has just for them.