Following the end of their professional careers, two former athletes face the brutal reality of life without the sport that defined them. The income is gone. The lifestyle is not.
Their unwavering determination — the same will that made them champions — now leads them down a path that could alter the course of their lives forever. The question is not whether they have the will. It is whether they have the wisdom.
Two individuals. Fictional on screen. Recognizable in life. Because the struggle at the end of something great is a story every one of us has lived in some form. Our hopes are never really crushed. Our dreams never end. They only change. Whether or not we choose to adapt is what matters.
Donnell Franklyn grew up in Gary, Indiana — a city that teaches you early that nobody is coming to save you. He left for college on a basketball scholarship, changed his major from graphic design to sociology, and never stopped designing anyway.
He built ybOrdinary Clothing in Dallas, Texas, starting with a single tee printed in a bedroom. He grew it into a full brand with a catalog spanning tees, hoodies, jackets, accessories, and dresses. He debuted the brand across the South and Midwest, and in 2024 he made a film.
The Will to Win debuted in Dallas, then Merrillville, Indiana — Franklyn returning to Lake County with cast and crew to show the film in a town without a movie theater. The audience was his people. The story was his thesis. The clothing in the lobby was his proof.
Read the Full Story →A founder who builds a clothing brand decides the story behind it is worth telling on screen. Not a promotional short. A feature film.
Franklyn writes two athletes whose post-career struggle mirrors a universal truth: the end of one chapter does not end the person. The will to win is transferable.
Filmed in Dallas. Financed on belief. Shot with a real cast and crew on real streets. No soundstages. No studio. Just the will to make it happen.
The film premieres in Franklyn's current hometown of Dallas, Texas. The brand and the film meet in the same room for the first time.
Franklyn brings the film and the cast to Merrillville, Indiana — Lake County — for a hometown premiere in a town that has no movie theater. September 2024.
The Will to Win launches on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Sling, and Remy Network. The story reaches everywhere. The clothing is the next chapter.
The Will to Win Capsule was built around the film. Every piece is a continuation of the thesis. Watch it first — then come back and the clothing means something different.