Act One Podcast
Act One Podcast
Writer/Director Christine Swanson
Act One Podcast - Episode 44 - Interview with Director and Screenwriter, Christine Swanson.
Christine Swanson is the writer/director of the new film, ALBANY ROAD, starring Renée Elise Goldsberry and Lynn Whitfield. The film is about a New York executive who is forced to share a rental car with her ex-fiancé's mother, only to discover that the mother is hiding a major secret. The film is being released in theaters on November 15th.
A visionary storyteller from Detroit, multiple award-winning director Christine Swanson earned her MFA in Film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, one of the nation’s top-ranked graduate film programs. Recognized early as a talented filmmaker, Christine was selected by NYU faculty as the Willard T.C. Johnson Fellow, the most prestigious fellowship given to the student who has achieved high standards in his or her work. CNN identified Christine as one of the most promising filmmakers to emerge from NYU’s graduate film program since Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Oliver Stone and Spike Lee (Christine’s NYU directing teacher). Christine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, double majoring in Film Theory and Japanese. She was chosen by the Notre Dame Alumni Association as The Rev. Arthur S. Harvey Award recipient, acknowledging her achievements in the arts.
Christine has developed, written and/or directed entertainment projects for HBO Films, Lionsgate, Universal Television, Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios, TV One, A&E Networks, BET Films, Starz and Faith Filmworks. Christine’s movie directing credits include the network and cable television records breaking The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel, starring Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis. The film won “Best TV Movie” from the African American Film Critics Association and the Satellite TV Award for “Best Television Movie.” The film was nominated for five NAACP Image Awards including “Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture” for Christine and a Critics’ Choice Awards Nomination for “Best Television Movie.” Christine also directed Aunjanue Ellis in their powerful short film, Fannie, about the ground-breaking testimony of human, voting and civil rights icon, Fannie Lou Hamer, in front of the Democratic National Convention’s Credentials Committee in 1964. Fannie earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for “Outstanding Short Form Film" and won two awards at the Bronzelens Film Festival (best acting and best short).
Christine has also directed All About You, All About Us, To Hell and Back, Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story (which broke network ratings as the most watched original movie in the network’s history) and For the Love of Ruth, for which Christine earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for “Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture.” In addition to writing the above movies, Christine was a screenwriter for Woman Thou Art Loosed. Christine recently completed her award- winning feature film, Albany Road which stars Hamilton star Renee Elise Goldsberry and the legendary Lynn Whitfield.
Some of Christine’s television directing credits include episodes of Chicago P.D., P- Valley, FBI, All American, All American: Homecoming, Found, MacGyver, Sweet Magnolias, Bel-Air, BMF and Roswell, New Mexico. Her memorable episode of Chicago P.D., entitled “Black and Blue,” was rated “Best Episode” of Season 6 by Fansided.
The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.
Movie making is about characters who transform. So we're going through that transformation process as characters are learning and evolving and ultimately they change 180 degrees from how they started. It's almost like a walking testimony type experience and at the end of the day, whoo, hallelujah. We've had a church experience, but watching cinema and experiencing a transformation process happening with a character and we get to participate because it's an empathy-producing machine this is what I'm saying it almost feels like church you are listening to the act one podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm your host, james Duke. Thanks for tuning in. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a good review. My guest today is writer director Christinector Christine Swanson. Christine's developed, written and directed for HBO, lionsgate, universal, warner Brothers, cbs, a&e, bet, starz and many more. Some of her film credits include the Clark Sisters, the First Ladies of Gospel, all About you To Hell and Back and For the Love of Ruth, along with her latest film, albany Road, which is in theaters now. So go check it out. Christine also has extensive experience directing television, such as Chicago, pd, p-valley, fbi, all-american, found, macgyver, sweet, magnolias and Bel-Air. Christine is an accomplished alum of the Act One program. She's full of a lot of wisdom and insight. I really hope you enjoy our conversation today. Christine Swanson, welcome to the Act One podcast. It's great to have you.
Speaker 2:Glad to be here. Thank you for having me Act.
Speaker 3:One podcast. It's great to have you, glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Christine, I'm a big fan of yours, I think you do some amazing stuff and I want to make sure that we spend time just talking to you about all kinds of stuff. But there's a project coming out of your latest endeavor, which is a film that you wrote and directed and it's called Albany Road, and I had the privilege to watch it. It's fantastic. Congratulations, thank you. Let's start there. Let's start with Albany Road. What was the, what was the impetus for Albany Road? Because obviously you're a professional, you've been working as a writer, director for years, and so what made you decide to strike out and make this film now? What made you decide to strike out and make this film now?
Speaker 2:Well, this is a story that I probably started writing or thinking about 20 years ago, wrote it within the last 10 years and then I've been shopping it around Hollywood and just I didn't get any bites. The couple of bites that I did get was really. One was from this, uh, a producer of faith who really loved the storytelling and felt that there was, he saw this as a faith-based movie and he really wanted to make it and take it to market. Another one was another producer who wanted to take it to fox searchlight, thought it would be a perfect film for fox searchlight. And he, he said, well, I'm going to find, I'm going to go attach a director to this and I'm going to take this to Fox Searchlight. And at that point I was like whoa, I'm a director, like who has, who wrote out of necessity, and so either I direct this or not. And his response was well, who are you? You know?
Speaker 2:and at that point he's like I don't think I can sell you. And I said, well, I think I could sell myself, and but he didn't want to put me in front of Box Searchlight. So I said, well, I'm going to take my script and I'm going to keep it moving and thank you for considering it. And, by the way, you have daughters, I know, and one day I hope your daughters don't face somebody like you who is small minded in their ability to think that a woman cannot direct the script that she wrote. So that was that. And then it sat on the shelf for another five years or so and then I just delved into television directing.
Speaker 2:For probably the last five years, I've been kind of, you know, pounding the pavement with that, and then, right at the end of 2022, I just felt a nudge, and that nudge was it's time, a nudge, and that nudge was it's time, you know, and time for what? And God's like go, go do Albany Road. And I was like but with what budget? With what money? Like we don't, we don't. And then I just I'm like, no, no, no, that's not right.
Speaker 2:So I just kept focusing on TV directing, tv directing, and at a certain point, god kept coming back. He was like you need it's time to go do this movie. I said, but what money? And he's like well, what do you have? I'm like we don't, we don't, we don't have it. Okay, lord, I all I have is a fish and a loaf. What am I gonna do with that? And I kid you not, god was like move just. And this movie ended up being 100% financed by my husband, producer Michael Swanson, and myself, and we just started with not enough money, just went into production, and then we're, just we're pulling money from all different sources. Not sure if a couple of my kids will make it to college just using the resources that we had, which really, at the end of the day, those are God's resources, and what God can do with our little. And what God can do with our little is the end result of that is Albany Road.
Speaker 3:Wow, and I can tell you, having seen the film, it looks like an expensive film. I don't know what your final budget was, but it looks like a quality, high production, studio released, released film. So you guys definitely know what you're doing. I, I, um, the the. Let's talk a little bit about the story. Um, uh, you said you've been working on this now for over 10 plus years. Um, and, and it's interesting for those who you know, I'm not going to give anything away.
Speaker 3:We want you to go see the film, but it's your film is structured, I think, in a really interesting way and that it starts as a two hander and then it shifts. So like the first hour of the film is like a two hander and then it shifts and becomes something else and then it kind of shifts. You know, it's just, it's a really interesting structure because it's part road trip, part family drama. Can you just talk about it? Because it seems like it also has maybe a deeply personal film. There's some parts to it. So I'm just curious where did the story come from? Where did you get inspired? And then, how much of it has changed over the years? Or is what we're watching today what you first wrote?
Speaker 2:What we're watching today is probably 90% what I first wrote Wow. So most of that is in the movie and the few changes I'll explain. But many years ago I did a feature film called All About you almost now 25 years ago and it starred Renee Elise Goldsberry, who is a star of Albany Road and who, debbie Allen, was also in my movie. And then I would watch Renee and Debbie Allen interact and I thought, wow, that is really interesting, like they're so funny together. And then I thought, wow, that is really interesting, like they're so funny together. And then I thought, you know, in my head I'm like, oh, it would be interesting to put those two in a movie. And I was like, oh, it should be a road trip movie. And then it was like, oh, it should be in a snowstorm, you know.
Speaker 2:So I just mind that in the back of my head and then fast forward later, like my husband's mom dealt with some health issues and a lot of it she kept hidden from us Because that's what parents do, I think, sometimes and I was just marveling at the fact that this could occur and it really stayed with me in a deep way.
Speaker 2:So I just combined those two elements and I'm like I'm going to make a movie together about two intergenerational women who find each other and they hate each other but they're forced to go on a road trip together and then I'm going to put them in a snowstorm, they're going to have to go through all these kind of obstacles and I'm going to make it a comedy and a rom-com. So it was just a challenge of all of that and putting it into storytelling and just to see could this work? And so and mind you, I'm a graduate of the Act One writing program, I went to NYU film school and I trained as a filmmaker, director primarily. And at some point in my life I decided, like you know, I'm not, I wasn't getting work as a director, but people were coming to me for writing jobs and I just felt like I don't feel, like I have the training, like I was just writing based on pure talent, meaning like as a director, so I can reverse engineer things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was intuitive for you. You were just like absolutely.
Speaker 2:I did feel that I lacked the structural tools to do it like from a blank page, you know. So that's why I actually went to act one, I think in, and I did the writing program. I really felt like that kind of gave me the foundation to really be a true screenwriter. So I can say with confidence like I'm a director and a screenwriter, you know so, in post-Act One, I wrote Albany Road and I just felt like you know so. And post act one, I wrote Albany Road and I just felt like you know. And then as a director, I'm like this is a movie that I know I could make, that I want to see. You know, part of it was like how do I make this? And, honestly, like I thought it was supposed to be this budget and, as you can tell, like production wise, based on what you see, I don't know that it could have been any better if a student had made it. You know what I mean, right, including with the talent, with the level of talent that we had.
Speaker 3:It's a great cast. It's a great cast yeah.
Speaker 3:No, I agree with you. That's the cool thing about watching an indie film where you just go, wow, this and this isn't. And some people might even take this as a negative. I don't mean it's negative, but there's shot it, the production value that you see that's on screen, uh, it's really well done. It's, it's a um, it's an interesting story about these two women who, um, go on this road trip and then kind of uh, things in their lives begin to become revealed and and um, uh, renee is fantastic in it.
Speaker 3:But we have to, we have to talk about Lynn Um. So, lynn Whitfield, who I'm sure many people who will recognize, she, uh, I don't think I've ever seen her in a role like this before. Um, and it's she's in a role like this before and it's she's funny, she's sarcastic, she's biting, and yet she's also deeply flawed and human and she has these like towards the. There's a reveal about midway through the film. That's it's this quiet moment that you filmed with her. That is quite beautiful, it's. It's a little startling Because it's the subject. What's happening is really intense, but it's, it's a quiet moment, it's a beautiful performance by her. Can you just talk about, like, the casting process of this film and and, and there's just your as a, you know, as a director, you've written something and now you're trying to see it come to life, and what was the process of of casting like and what? What? What was it like working with Renee and Lynn?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll say with Renee I cast her in my first feature film and I had auditioned over 200 women and Renee walked in the door. She didn't even audition. I was like that's her. I was that that person is a star and I hope she can act. And it turns out that only because she act she can sing her butt off. She can do a few things, right, yeah, maybe one, a Tony for it for Hamilton. So that it was.
Speaker 2:I always had Renee in the back of my mind to play the lead, but I actually wrote it for like a 30-year-old Renee and, fast forward, I ended up casting the 50-something-year-old Renee, and that's one of the things that we changed in the writing is that when I cast Jay Alphonse Nicholson to play opposite her, he's considerably younger than her. So we were like, what can we do to justify this cougar looking relationship without it feeling like a cougar relationship? And then that's why we embedded into the storytelling that they met when she's at a place in her life that having a family is no longer an option. So that's that's the 10 percent that that changed to uh, accommodate, uh, where? Where the actors right now? And it really I think it worked out beautifully. Um so. So when renee agreed to do it, I knew I had a movie. So, um, now the casting of lynn is interesting because we had another actress on board and we lost her two weeks before shooting no yes.
Speaker 2:So we went down the casting list and it's funny because I didn't. I never saw lynn whitfield as this character. No, there was a part of me that resisted casting her, which is utterly ridiculous now. But I just want to own up to the fact that it was by God's grace that we have Lynn Whitfield and not by my genius, because my lack of genius could not foresee what Lynn Whitfield could do until Lynn Whitfield did it. And actually I knew this when I had we offered her the role and I had a meeting with her and I was like, oh my gosh, we offered her this role. I don't know if she could do it, but you know the way things are set up you have to make an offer first. So when I had I had a FaceTime meeting with her and she called me from Louisiana, where she's from, and 10 seconds talking to the real Lynn Whitfield, I was like, oh my gosh, she could do this. Uh, because mainly the the character Paula required, um, just a real. The word that Lynn and I used is a folksy element.
Speaker 3:She's grounded yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's no air to her beyond her own arrogance, but she was just grounded in something that was different than what we would see Lynn Whitfield in, say, like in Greenleaf, right, right. So it was just a question of did I feel that she can do it? And in the conversation I knew right away she could. And then we were lucky enough that she was like you know, I want to, I want to do this and I'm like OK. So I call that God's divine providence, because I think God knew that it was time for Lynn to get her flowers. And I think in this role, everywhere we have screened it, people just go bananas over her performance and it's just, it's beautiful to watch because she's so deserving of it, but in a but not seeking it. She's not seeking flowers and that's exactly why you give them their flowers, you know, because she's just, she just put in work and it was work for her. It was work for her to ground this character, because her go-to is is this more, um, uh, erudite?
Speaker 3:erudite, yeah, regal, almost, yes, yes, and it was like crush the regal land.
Speaker 2:And then, even at certain times, I'm times I'm like Lynn. There are gonna be times when I need you not to wear makeup.
Speaker 3:And she was like what?
Speaker 2:And I'm like, yes, we have to just take off the mask. Take off the mask, and it was a little bit of a step for her but she just leaned into it. That's what I'm saying like it wasn't just an everyday acting role. This is oscar level type of of commitment and performance and and delivery of of this character that she had to pull out of the the recesses of of her toolkit to make sure that this character showed up in the way that she did. So that's just that kind of work. Ethic and allegiance to the story is just amazing.
Speaker 3:What's your process for working with actors? What's your process for working with actors? You mentioned about talking to them about makeup, things like that. A lot of people don't realize. Oftentimes, with indie films, there's not usually a lot of time to rehearse, so I'm not sure if you guys had any kind of rehearsal or whatever. So just walk us through. What's your process like working with direct actors on set?
Speaker 2:Well, I would say that most of the actors that I chose for the lead roles were people that I knew or worked with. So J Alphonse Nicholson I directed him in Pea Valley. So when I directed him, like day one, I looked at this guy and I was like this guy's a movie star and he doesn't even know it. And that's when you have to snatch people up before they get, before they know in their heads that oh, I'm, I'm Denzel, because they're more amenable to working with you on the lower budget.
Speaker 2:So, I looked at that guy and I was like he's, he's a young Marlon Brando.
Speaker 2:I looked at that guy and I was like he's a young Marlon Brando and I just got excited about that because you don't see that every day and I just felt like I discovered something and like it was a secret. And like obviously it's not a secret because he was discovered to be cast on P-Valley and he's magnificent in that. But I saw him differently, as a leading man playing opposite for renee gillsbury and because of their age difference nobody would think of them as a couple in a movie and I'm telling you, their chemistry sizzles like so much it's like it's.
Speaker 2:It's just like um tom hanks and and megan and. Megan Meg Ryan.
Speaker 3:Meg.
Speaker 2:Ryan, that kind of special energy and so, just as a director, that's what I'm directing for what is it that we can create that feels magical, that will pop off screen and touch audiences? So a lot of times, like because I have, because I've worked with them, I know what they can do, maybe before they know what they can do. I know what they can do, maybe before they know what they can do, or they know what they can do and I know what I want them to do. And it's really creating that synergy and being on the same page. So I already know their instrument because that's why I cast them.
Speaker 2:So with our film we did not have any rehearsal process and even Lynn Whitfield because she's really old school, I'm talking from the Negro ensemble theater days and she kept saying I really think we should have had a table read and we just didn't have time to get all the actors where we needed to go. And I think it kind of worked in our favor that we didn't do a table read. I'm sure Lynn would disagree, but it was like because we were working off immediate and expedient energy and we shot this film in 23 days so we didn't have a lot of time. That's fast, you know, to figure out everything, but I think once these actors like especially around that dinner table scene, they got to feel each other's energy, it started to solidify and then fireworks just started to pop off.
Speaker 3:So that's a big set piece. Talk about that. When you scheduled that, did you schedule that early in the middle?
Speaker 2:late, because that's everybody yeah, that was scheduled like at the top of pre-production or prep, because once we had the location we knew that we had to get everybody there. For that, maybe for that dinner table scene alone we shot three days.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, yeah, we had over 14 hours of footage for a 12 minute scene. Wow. So it was. It was very well thought out and covered and you know, the magic on that at that table was just. It was this kind of crazy synergy. And it's interesting because I started off with the first close-up, I started on Lynn Whitfield and normally you save the close-up for a talent of that level for last and honestly, in hindsight, I don't know, what I was thinking.
Speaker 2:I was just thinking in order, seating order and like, so wham, we just put camera on lynn and she's just going non-stop, non-stop, non-stop and like, and then that's when I think the other cast members was like oh my goodness, I better bring my a-game yeah yeah, and it just worked out really well.
Speaker 2:So, um, the guy who plays billy, his name is joe holt. He's an actor that I directed in Bel Air and All-American Homecoming, and he's such an actor of another level than I was. I just in my mind, in my head, I'm like I'm going to use him one day I don't know what yet, but I'm going to use him. I just stored him. So when I did this easy, easy call to make like this is you come play with us?
Speaker 3:I thought your cast had really good chemistry. So can we talk? Just let's. Let's get in the weeds a little bit here, for if we've got some aspiring directors listening to this, that so the so the table scene. If you haven't seen the film yet, there's what 10 characters around the table.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So that's actually. People don't realize this. Shooting a 10 person table scene is actually challenging. Can you walk us through? How do you get coverage? How do you shoot? What was your thought process in planning Cause you don't have a lot of time but you did take three days. That's amazing. Talk about shooting scenes where you have that many characters, that, all by the way, they all have lines, they all have reaction shots. Can you just talk about that?
Speaker 2:Yes, so. So I've wanted I've always wanted to do an epic dinner table scene a lot in European movies that are done super well and I wanted everybody to have significant emotional moments and I didn't want to cheat anybody of the nuances of what they were feeling. So I knew to cover that scene. We're just constantly moving the camera around so everybody has their moment. So I'm shooting everybody's coverage in a standard classical way. So you have all the actors repeating that whole scene. So you multiply. There were eight people there, okay, and on average maybe I'll do two to three takes, all right. So three times eight already is 24. That's just on the close ups, right, and then with a two camera setup and then we're doing wide shots and I probably have like two or three wide shot angles of that, three wide shot angles of that.
Speaker 3:So let's just say that 30 times.
Speaker 2:We're doing that whole scene 30 times and it's a long, and it's a long scene 12 minutes, right, with multiple angles, and every time the actor see, the actor's job is to repeat, right, so it's. It's like they were, they were gracious and they were patient, but for three days we did it 30 times and what you see? The end result of that is the editing of of the, the, the, the best moments of those 30 takes and were you and did you, uh, highlight?
Speaker 3:I mean, obviously you wrote the script, but did you go in and kind of highlight, okay, um, this, this line is their moment, this reaction shot. I gotta get this reaction shot. When you're planning your shot list, are you looking at, looking at all that?
Speaker 2:right. So um it, my shot was was mainly about getting the proper coverage and then, as I'm shooting them if I'm okay now, this is Renee's close-up, so as I'm watching it on the monitor, I'm fine-tuning things. Okay, so we'll do a rehearsal take, you know, and then we'll do the take-take and, based on the take and, mind you, these actors are high caliber, so they have made choices about what their, about their performances, so, and and nine times out of ten, they're always on point. So my job is to fine-tune something. If there's something that I want that they're not giving me, I'll tell them. Okay, on this take at this point, but a, b, c and d make this adjustment and they'll do that, and so I did that for every single actor.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And they all have TV experience so they know how to come in and hit their mark and go, you know kind of thing.
Speaker 2:All of them have film and TV experience. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So when you are so, let's take a step back, maybe not necessarily this scene, but just the writing process. When you are crafting a scene, you've got moments right that obviously have to move the plot forward, right right, but there's a lot of character work in this film. So I'm curious how much room do you at all create for any kind of improvisation, any kind of what is kind of your Because it's your script? I'm just curious Was there any rewriting on the spot? Was there any? Just what was that like?
Speaker 2:Well, honestly, really 90% of the script is what you see in the movie, but there are moments of improvisation that happen in the moment that I think some of the actors found that they just rolled with it and it just becomes right. Of course, that right. So that's really a function of being tuned into who your character is and what choices would they make and whether or not sometimes they do it. They don't run it by me sometimes, and it's like they do it in character and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, I'm like, don't do that this time, you know, but I'm telling you they were there, you know, and I don't want to give certain things away because, but I know certain things were like improvised. That really made the moment more poignant. Yeah, I didn't write like.
Speaker 2:I'll just sayyle.
Speaker 2:Pouring at the table when he poured oh yeah, yeah, he did that in the moment, okay, and then it's, it's like now, it's like so hilarious. You know that I'm you, I'm gonna get credit for that. But, honestly, the actors really found, um, the the juicy pieces that that brought scenes to life in in ways that I could not have thought of. And that's part of writing is, you give the foundation and then you have to let the actors do their work and find who these people are and let them express it in the way that actors do. And again, my job is to just yay it or nay it, but nine times out of ten I'm rooting for your choices because I trust your take on who this character is.
Speaker 3:One of the things that I noticed about this film and you. I just found it, I found this interesting and I wanted to ask you about it. I was pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few scenes in this movie that you really let kind of air out and breathe and take its time. And I was thinking about you being this, you know, very successful TV director and I thought, oh, you know, like typically in TV your scenes are, you know, two pages and you're out, one and a half pages and you're out, and you have quite a few scenes in this movie that you really spend time with. The characters is a lot of. I'm just, was that, um, was that intentional on your part? Just because the, the characters there's, the work that you're trying to complete with some of these scenes, it just I I just thought, oh, this is not, this doesn't feel like tv, this feels like film in terms of the, in terms of the way the scenes, a lot of the scenes flowed and were edited.
Speaker 2:Okay, so this is my seventh feature film, yeah. No, but I know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Well, I know you as a TV director. That's what.
Speaker 2:I'm saying so when I looked at it. Yeah, yeah, I'm a filmmaker first. Yeah, and even when I direct television, like most people are like, wow, you direct like a filmmaker I'm like, well, how, how else does one direct? You know, is is. I look at it because, um, we, we work in a cinematic medium, whether it's TV or film. It's how are we using um cinematic tools to express storytelling, right? So I think what you see and feel is is is really the manipulation of cinematic tools to highlight storytelling. And it's interesting that you're like, well, this doesn't feel like TV. It depends on what kind of TV you watch, because sometimes a lot of television is very cinematic, like like P-Valley or or BMF. I've directed and recently I did an episode of Bel Air, but I shot it like a movie. So it's going to feel like a movie although it's television. So I feel like that's my directing style, no matter what the medium is Right. So it's no different with Albany Road, is is I'm going for mostly cinematic, because that's the mandate as far as filmmaking goes. For me, again, it doesn't matter if it's big screen or small screen. And to that end, my cinematographer, spencer Combs I actually worked with him on a pilot and he just hit it off so well. And I kept him in mind for when I did this movie and I reached out to him. Spencer shoots Sons of Anarchy, he shoots how to Get Away with Murder, he shoots Veep. So he works on these big budgeted, high level productions all the time and I was like, hey, would you be interested in shooting like a low budget romcom that will shoot in Champaign, illinois, in the wintertime when it's freezing? And I didn't know that I could get a Spencer Combs. And he was like I've been waiting my whole career for something like this. So, honestly, it's having people who are really good at what they do, working with a director who knows what she wants, and then getting high caliber actors like we can't shortchange them, right. So I was always looking for what's the most cinematic way that we can tell this story with the time and the tools that we have. So I'm a filmmaker first. I love movies.
Speaker 2:I came into this business only wanted to be a movie director, not even thinking about directing television at that time, which is almost 30 years ago. Right Now, tv is really ubiquitous, it's everywhere and that is primarily like where I get most of my work, you know. So those skills are transferable. It's just you have to understand. I always teach my students that movies is a director's medium, television is a writer's medium. You have to know where you are. So when I'm directing television, it's always in service to the showrunner and their vision and with the team that they've already set up. So I have to plug into that right. When I do a movie, I create the world, I build the team and they have to plug into my vision. So the approach is going to be different and the the hopefully the feeling is different too. Um at at in terms of the end result.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point. Um, so I I'm trying to figure out can we, can we? Can you answer this question without giving anything away for people who haven't seen the movie? But, um, to you, what is the deer, or who is the deer?
Speaker 2:Or one of the things that I learned in my screenwriting classes is there's the idea of a visual metaphor that encompasses the theme in the storytelling. And I'm a filmmaker of color, I'm a black female, I'm actually half Korean as well, and so I just feel like a lot of black movies in particular don't deal in the space of imagery, they deal in the space of dialogue. It's telling stories by talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, you know, and just we're just shooting people talking, and it's not as interesting to me and that's not. That's not what inspires me as a storyteller and what I wanted to do, particularly with this type of story and these types of people.
Speaker 2:I wanted to make sure that we also highlighted the themes of the storytelling in ways that are visual, and so one idea was to incorporate the symbolic object that really spoke to meaning on a different level that, if set up properly, the audience would understand. That's what that was is the deer. There's a metaphor, that of a deer, that represents, um, the prime, the paula character and and her journey in the storytelling, from where she starts to where she ends, and we know that every time we see the deer, it will remind us of Paula. Yeah, so, because the deer reminds Paula of herself. So you plant that properly, then the payoff is going to happen later. So I just want to play with that, and that was that was why I used the deer metaphor.
Speaker 3:And I, honestly, I really love that explanation. I don't fully know the criticism that you're referring to, but I know your response to it, which is leaning more heavily on visual imagery, and I think that that is such a powerful I think reminder for anyone who's listening, who's aspiring is this is first and foremost a visual medium and, for all intents and purposes, we should be able to turn the volume off and watch the pictures and still know what's happening, still feel something from the character, like the subtlety of the performances and what you're showing us. What you don't show us is just as important as what you show us. All that goes into what it means to make a film, and I love that.
Speaker 3:This is just kind of something that you've added into this film that you thought was necessary. Was that always in the script? Was that from the very beginning? That's interesting. Yeah, I like that. What was it like? Your husband produced this film with you and I had the privilege of meeting him and he's a fantastic guy, man, just an amazing guy, has had a successful career on his own as a producer and an executive, and what was it like? Is this the first film you guys made together? No, so you've made other films together.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is maybe the third film that we produced together. What's?
Speaker 3:it like working with your husband on set every day.
Speaker 2:Honestly, it's a question that keeps coming up over and over again and I'm a little surprised by it, because the assumption is that it's hard to work with your spouse, potentially, but like he's a producer of the highest level, he's senior VP of production at a studio. So it's like, dude, if you're gonna have a producer, have that producer. He just happens to be my husband, so we have a very, um, a cohesive working relationship because we both do different things and we complement each other, kind of like in a marriage, right? Um? So, honestly, he's easily the best producer I've ever worked with and like I wouldn't have it in any other way.
Speaker 3:um, I can imagine just the advantage of having that second hand where, where he can anticipate things that before you even need him he can. You know, any good producer is going to do that, but he's your husband, so he's able to do that even more on top of it and it might be.
Speaker 2:It's all our money, so he's very on top of it. It was, it was, it was great and um, it's something that we want to do more of, I think, beyond making movies. Our greatest productions to date have been our four children, and the cool thing is every one of our kids worked on this movie.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's awesome A couple of them. We pulled them out of school to do that because it's the family business, and my oldest son graduated from NYU film school. He's a filmmaker. My third son is a freshman at USC in the acting program, very much involved in business. So it's a family business and it was great that they could see what we do and then they can also help in the process of making dreams come true for their parents.
Speaker 3:When did you realize you wanted to be a director?
Speaker 2:so I can tell you that, like as I was thinking about my memoir, which I'm so not into that, but I'm just saying if I were it it was like growing up, interestingly, like we all watched a lot of tv, but I wasn't interested in television so much. But I love the experience of being in a theater and watching this huge screen, essentially teaching me story and structure, but also allowing me to have an experience of empathy. Now, television does that too in its own way, but the way that movies do it, I say moviemaking is about characters who transform. So we're going through that transformation process as characters are learning and evolving. Then ultimately they change 180 degrees from how they started. It's almost like a walking testimony type experience and at the end of the day, hallelujah, we've had a church experience. Tv is about characters who procrastinate, so it's just constantly going on and on and on and they never really change.
Speaker 2:But watching cinema and experiencing a transformation process happening with a character and we get to participate because it's an empathy-producing machine this is what I'm saying it almost feels like church and I feel like it's like a service, and I feel like it's like a service and it's an opportunity to see ourselves and characters in ways that we have to deal with our messy vulnerabilities, in ways that we see characters change or not.
Speaker 2:It reflects back to us our own humanity and the things and the messiness that we need to tackle ourselves. I just, I'd love, I'd love going on that journey and as a younger person, I just I just connected with the theater in that way Now, movie, movie and cinema in that way, when I was a freshman at the University of Notre Dame and my husband was a sophomore, he was like a government major and I was a finance major. Only because I'm like, well, that's what you studied to get a job. I didn't know. Right, spike Lee came to my campus freshman year to talk about do the right thing and when I heard him talk I was like people make movies for a living, like I didn't know that I grew up in Detroit, michigan. People shoot movies on the streets. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:So two things happened my freshman year. They shot the movie Rudy and I signed up to be a PA. I was technically a PA on Rudy and then Spike Lee. It was a sign. It was a sign and God came. Oh God, I didn't mean that, sorry, strike back. Spike Lee came to campus and I changed my major right then and there, and so did Michael. We both changed our major to film. I did research on Spike Lee and learned that he went to NYU graduate film school, and so when I finished Notre Dame I applied to NYU graduate film school. I got in and Spike Lee was my directing teacher my last year. No, way.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it's full circle moment. God ordained Honestly, because, first of all, you know how hard it is to get into NYU graduate film school.
Speaker 2:Dane, honestly, because, first of all, you know how hard it is to get into NYU graduate film school Very, very difficult. I didn't know that. I just declared my freshman year in college. That's where I'm going because Spike Lee went there and then, three or maybe four weeks ago, spike Lee invited me to screen Albany Road for his NYU class the same class that I took when he taught me and Spike saw it and was in tears, kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for bringing my movie.
Speaker 2:Yes Cause he said he's like you don't know this, but today is my mom's birthday, so we screened it on his mother's birthday and he, when he was a freshman in college, he lost his mother and the movie just spoke to him in a very special way and it was, it was, it was beautiful.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's a powerful story. That's amazing. You so Wow, that's really cool. So when you went to NYU, while you were studying at NYU, had you and Michael married or were you guys together yet While you were at NYU?
Speaker 2:We met when we were 17. And we met in DC, washington DC, oh you met before Notre Dame. Yes, he was from Chicago, oh, DC. Oh, you met before Notre Dame. Yes, he was from Chicago, oh wow. And he went to my senior prom in high school and I probably would have gone to the University of Michigan. But he heavily recruited me to look at Notre Dame and I went to Notre Dame. I graduated in May of 94. We got married in July of 94.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, that's amazing. And so you guys were both in New York at the time, and then when did you come out to? When did you guys come out to LA and start working out here?
Speaker 2:I graduated from NYU in 1999. And we came to LA right after I graduated. We were going to go for it and we did.
Speaker 3:What was that? Talk a little bit about that. I'm curious. You know like I'm not asking the questions for you know you don't have to grind any axes if you don't want to, but I think it's important to have this conversation after everything that our business has gone through. Here you are. You're a woman of color, and the business has not always been kind to women or people of color, and you came out here in 99.
Speaker 3:What were? Was that struggle real? Is that something that you had to do and what is some maybe some things you've learned through that process?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I had a lot of success with a short film that I made at NYU. It played at Sundance, it was nominated for a student Academy award and it really opened up a lot of doors. It won the first ever HBO short film competition, which led to a development deal at HBO. Just a lot of things thrown on my lap before I was ready.
Speaker 2:But we kind of got baptized by fire, like into the industry. So we decided to make a feature film right in 1999. And that's the film it's All About you. That starred Renee Goldsberry, and we just didn't think anything of anything because we had independent financiers and our company. We called it Faith Filmworks. We were just walking out on faith, we were just doing all that. But long story short, we made a great movie that actually had a lot of traction. It's a cult classic now.
Speaker 2:But we could not get Hollywood distribution because at that time they told us this movie's not edgy enough for the Black audience. There's no audience for it. And we were like, no, there's an audience of Black people who go to church, particularly black women, who will show up and support movies like this. And I was just ahead of my time because two years later Tyler Perry came out with a movie that was geared towards black women who go to church and blah blah blah and blah, blah blah. So it was just it's dealing with an industry that, to me is has a certain mindset about how things should be and then they own everything. They the, the, the production, the distribution, and now they own the theaters. So it's it's really troubling monopoly that's in place. So it's like if you're not supported by them here, then you can't get it distributed here, then who's going to see it? Right? And back then, like, our movie came out on dvd. It was the highest selling dvd in the history of the, of that company's um record. So, and that was mostly by word of mouth. So when a movie does well by word of mouth on DVD, that means it would have done gangbusters in theaters. So it was coming face to face with an industry that just was not, you know, and it was.
Speaker 2:I was ahead of the industry in my mind in terms of the content that people wanted to see, and this is the same thing that happened fast forward, 25 years later with Albany Road. I pitched it, nobody wanted to make it, so we just made it on our own and then we wrapped it around for distribution and people wanted it for streaming and I'm like, no, you guys, guys are missing it. Like this is, this is the holiday movie of the year. Like, if you can't wrap your mind around that, then, um, we'll just have to take it out ourselves. And here we go, we're taking it out ourselves and it's a huge.
Speaker 2:It's a faith-based movie. We don't advertise it as that, but of course it's a faith movie. I've just done it in a way that it doesn't clock you over the head with the messaging or feel Pollyannish, but it's highly commercial and highly entertaining. It just happens to have a faith message as well. So it has all the components that really can work and for what it's worth, with a primarily black cast, we screened it at roger eberfest, which was 700 white people in a theater, uh, in champaign, illinois, we got two standing ovations. So it has it has major crossover appeal.
Speaker 2:So here we are in the david and goliath situation again, with an industry that is, quite frankly, imploding because they don't know what they're doing. They spend a lot of money on on the wrong things. They spend too much money on marketing and advertising and not enough on actually creating good content and not enough sharing revenue with the artists who create the content. So I feel like we're just in a in a time in this industry where everything is in influx. But, um, I look at it as if um, um again, if it's a David and Goliath story, um, who won right? If it's, if it's a story of um great upheaval in a worldly system that negates the truth of God's love, at the end of the day, god is on the throne and God will have the final say. So I don't look at this like, even if I say it's a David and Goliath story, I'm on the side of the right team. I'm on the side of the right team. We know how that ends right.
Speaker 2:And that doesn't mean let me be very clear, because this is where I feel a lot of Christian people have muddied the waters okay. It doesn't mean that, because we are people of faith, that we prostitute the gospel for filthy lucre. It does not mean that. It does not mean that we throw together movies with a faith-based message to get Christian audiences to show up and support and then we make all this money and do what with it Preach. Where is that money going? It's going into the pockets of people prostituting the gospel for filthy lucre and the storytelling is mediocre at best. What you're selling is you're selling the idea that we're evangelizing the world using this tool, this medium, as a ministry tool, all the while where you know you're just lining your pockets. And if you were just honest with it then we can respect you. You're just a corporation and you're doing it for profit and your goal is the highest ROI possible. Say that, but don't say God's behind this and God's behind you, because the fruit of that is not obvious.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's such a good word. I've always said hey, listen, if your Christian film is so great, why don't you submit it for festivals and let it compete in the marketplace? And what I often get told is oh, because the message gets rejected. And I would venture to say it's not your message that's getting rejected, it's the quality of your filmmaking that is oftentimes getting. But that's an easy kind of cop-out for a lot of people in that space.
Speaker 2:That's very interesting, because part of the thing that I did is I wanted to put it in festivals, and particularly festivals that had a high concentration of Black women, and in most of the festivals we've submitted in, we have won Best Feature Film.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's awesome. Can we just talk just a little bit about something that I just have a question Kind of the idea of underrepresented groups. I recently there was a passing of an actor who I adored growing up. I've often, you know, here I am, I'm a white guy from the South. I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Here I am. I'm a white guy from the South.
Speaker 3:I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and I grew up watching TV way too much TV than I should have and one of my favorite shows growing up was Good Times. I loved that show and I have been told recently that that is a black show, been told recently that that is a black show and I I understand why it's called that, but all I know is that as a as a white kid growing up in memphis, um, I identified with all the characters in that show and particularly I love the dad who just the actor just passed away. It makes me think of this and he reminded me a lot of my dad and I. Just I had so much connection to those characters that when people tell me it was a Black show, I go I don't know if it's, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 3:So here's my question to you I know that there are underrepresented groups, I know it's important, but, having said that, you touched on like I wouldn't call your film a black film Like where have we not gone far enough and where would you say maybe we've gone too far? What's your kind of take on? Because I do think that film like you said earlier, film are empathy machines and we need to be introduced to worlds and people's lives that we don't know, don't encounter on a regular basis, things like that. But I feel like some of this has turned into marketing ploys versus, like guys. This is a human story and so what's your take on all that?
Speaker 2:Well, that's one of the things that I had hoped to do with this movie, and I've gotten the answers already in the festivals that we've screened at, and we're getting standing ovations from white people and white people telling me please stop calling this a black movie, because this movie spoke to me and moved me in such a way that I haven't felt in a long time that you know I'm.
Speaker 2:You know that doesn't compute with me or for me, so, but for black people? Black people will say, oh my gosh, I've never seen a movie that had images of us shown in this way that really reflected humanity so deeply that I'm so touched and I'm like. They're like this is brand new for us, almost, and so see the discrepancy of that. So what that is speaking to is again an industry that has created a model for, for advertising and marketing purposes, that this is this because it has black people in it, right, as opposed to looking at the story for um, the inherent value of, of what the storytelling is, and then coming away with it saying this has is a universal story, that that has a message for all of humanity, yeah, like no so that's not what they see.
Speaker 2:First, because they don't know how to sell something that really is universal with just Asian people, yeah, just black people, right. So that's that's, that's a limitation of imagination for marketers, right? But let's, let's flip it and say it like this this is a faith-based movie. Would white Christians see it as that? I think the answer is yes.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:How do we get it to white people? And how do we say, white Christians, this is a movie for you, and could white Christians look at the poster and decide is this a movie for you? And could white Christians look at the poster and decide is this a movie for me? So I think it's again a marketing thing, but I think once we people of faith agree that there is no Greek or Jew, there is no male or female, if we really believe that and we tell you, my gosh, god is reflected in the storytelling. Don't miss it.
Speaker 2:I would love to see the groundswell of support from white Christians, you know, but white Christians have been talked to and marketed in such a way, like I said, by the people selling you know, prostituting the gospel for filthy lucre that they only think a faith-based film looks like this. So then they become closed-minded and now there's a conundrum. But here's the thing I felt inherently, that my job was to do this movie. And then, really, the end result is not my business. If God told me to do this, which I believe, so then the end result is God's business and I believe it will find its way into the hearts of all Christians, if that is indeed what they're seeking, like they say. You know, I think because of the way they've been marketed to, in many ways they're. They have been fine tuned to be agenda oriented as opposed to being story oriented, and because if you're story oriented then Christ can drop a parable in your spirit and speak to you, no matter where it comes from. Are you open to that?
Speaker 3:Amen. Yeah, I mean, you and I both know as storytellers there's rules to genre and now, unfortunately, there's this sub-genre marketing that there are rules to and maybe less rules and more boxes that have to be checked. And I think that people don't miss the fact that those boxes are not inherently true. They are boxes that people have said how do we maximize dollars to reach it? Minimizing certain things in those kind of stories and elevating other things that it's like, wow, that is neither, that is neither. It's based, but I don't know if it's faith. I forgot to ask you when you brought up Spike Lee by the way who, by the way, I forgot to ask you when you brought up.
Speaker 3:Spike Lee, by the way, who, by the way, is arguably our most celebrated black filmmaker and doesn't make what you call black film. Do the Right Thing is is about a particular subset of black culture, but it's not like Malcolm X. Malcolm X, these are not films. These are films that someone like me, a white guy who grew up in the South, can completely immerse myself in. Mo' Better Blues. I can completely immerse myself in these stories because they're human stories. Anyway, I digress a little bit. What would you say are maybe one or two key lessons you learned from from Spike? Maybe watching his films or having him talk to you, mentor you a little bit, whether it's in class or whatever. What are some things you maybe you learn from him?
Speaker 2:Well, it's the idea of being the, the general of the storytelling. So a lot of directing. It's not a sexy job, you know, I think people think it is, but it's really having a vision and really the tools and the mindset of a general, like leading an army and we are going to get this done. And so I just learned from him early on is like it's the cult of personality sometimes, Like he just commands a certain type of allegiance and wanting to do whatever it is that he tells you to do. And I realized right away, like if you cannot command an army, this job is not for you.
Speaker 2:Because what he did, starting out, especially on an indie level, just required this kind of war-type mentality. Like today I have enough to shoot these two scenes. Tonight I'm getting on the phone to ask for more money. Like it just requires a skill set that that forces you to come outside of your own ego and and decide like this is what I want to get done by any means necessary, to quote Malcolm X. So I just I learned that early on and I learned that in film school, like the directors who actually get things done are are generals at heart, they're team leaders at heart and they're creatives. But it's like if I can't manage the, the army, then I can't win this war, because filmmaking is war. That's what I learned. That's really I. I learned that from spike right off and I was like either you lead and have a, have the potential to thrive, or you'll get swallowed up in the process and you'll never come out of the trenches.
Speaker 3:That's good. What would you kind of to wrap this up? We have a lot of aspiring filmmakers, a lot of aspiring directors listening to this podcast, podcast. If you, uh, if you were talking to young christine today, uh, starting out again, um, what, what would be your advice to um someone who says, uh, I just heard your podcast, I want to be a director. What do I do? What's what's? What's your advice? Where should they start? What should they be doing? How should they start investing uh early on in their career?
Speaker 2:Well, it's, it's, it's okay. Let me give. Let's start with TV, because filmmaking is is so hard that I don't even know how to begin to advise people today. And and it's it's hard if you don't have one or two things, if you don't have talent and that general mentality that I said and financing, forget it. If you don't have financing, you're not making movies. You're just not, because the goal of making movies is for people to see it. If you can't finance it and then get it distributed, so that's a whole nother podcast in and of itself.
Speaker 2:But let's just say television directing, because there are tons of TV shows out there and everyone requires a director. So I would say, minimally, what you need to start off with is craft, like you know how to tell a story using actors, camera, camera and department heads and department heads include production designer, costume designer, head of hair and and then having the language and the acumen to speak to a cinematographer to discuss how are we going to cover scenes? Okay, so that's that. So that's an acumen that you don't just wake up knowing you actually have to study and have experience doing before somebody's going to let you on a TV show with a budget of between five to $7 dollars and hand over the reins to you and say go, fulfill your dreams. It doesn't it just it doesn't work like that. You know so.
Speaker 2:And now, on top of having an acumen to talk to everybody below the line, you also have to be able to direct actors. And I'm talking, you're talking. You can have actors who just started out yesterday to 50 some odd year veterans, and your job is to communicate to all of them, and rather quickly, because time is money to get what you need, based on what the script requires. You also have to have an understanding of how scripts work and how what writers are writing, what their intent is and how can you communicate that to the actors and then to the cinematographers. And then you pull it all together in like a, a steaming pot of gumbo, and it also has to taste good. So it's it's not for the faint at heart, but at the same time it is, is.
Speaker 2:It is something that that you can aspire to do and be successful at it. But the steps are many, the process is long and the other thing I didn't add on top of it is okay. So you're a great artist, you can communicate well, you know what you want. But do you, can you? Can you manage the political landmine that?
Speaker 2:That is a tv set that the showrunner hates, the, the studio executive and the um yeah, studio executive is, is, is, um is on his way out and he's giving notes? It's a political landmine a lot of times. So it's like having the experience and the maturity to manage that part and, honestly, like for me, I didn't get the wisdom to manage that until I got beat up brutally many times and, like you get beat up so much, you're like OK, I'm going to learn this lesson and learn from it and do things differently going forward. So at this point, I'm sure I have discouraged a lot of people from doing this. I'm sure I have discouraged a lot of people from doing this, but, my goodness, if you still want to continue to do it, knowing what I just told you, then then maybe this is what you're supposed to do Do you think?
Speaker 3:do you think film school is still the the thing to encourage people to do? Or, given the fact that the audience is so fractured and that it's come to us now that, with the technology, with iPhones and everything you know YouTube, everything is would a better pathway at this point be, if you're starting out, to just go out and just start creating stuff Like what's your kind of take on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so okay, I'm going to say this, knowing that film school has a huge price tag on it, so it's not available for everybody, ok. But at the same time, an iPhone is right, so I could just do that. That's not what film school is for. No. Film school is where you go to have opportunities to fail Safely, that's it. Film school is where you go to have opportunities to fail safely, that's it. That's it. You're just practicing and discovering what your voice is, who you are as an artist and having opportunities to do projects where you're being incubated. I cannot tell you how valuable that experience is because, because of film school and we I did this I can apply that same skill set on any set. Knowing I've been through it, I know how to work with a crew, I know how to do this in a certain time frame, I know that the hair department is two hours behind so I have to figure out how to switch gears. So I've had practice doing that. Now you can do that on your own, short or have you. But film school, again, is an incubator for a time, a few years, that you spend safely so that you can try things out and fail and or succeed. But it's not the end, all the be all, but I highly recommend it because why jump into this industry? I'm like you have the rest of your life to work.
Speaker 2:My son did that. He was a freshman at NYU film school. He's like mom, I know all this. I don't need you to spend money for me to go to film school to learn this. And I'm like well, I'm not sending you to film school or college to learn how to make films. I could teach you that myself. I'm sending you there to learn about who you are in the context of interacting with other people and other experiences.
Speaker 2:So what you're doing is you're honing your character. You're discovering what you're made of. You're understanding where you need to grow. You're understanding like, wow, I developed in this way as a human and like this is what it feels like when I put those skills to work. That's what that's about. And so any especially young person, when you have an opportunity to go to college, to study abroad, to try some things before jumping into the workforce because you have the rest of your life to work, it's not that sexy people. Use that opportunity to hone who you are as a person, develop your spiritual tools, commune with God, you know, go hiking and explore other countries. If you can, then jump into this, because it's a hamster wheel sometimes that's going to be hard to jump off. So there's no rush. There's no rush to be the next great, whatever OK. But that time of youth it's fleeting and it's a gift Discover who you are.
Speaker 2:Fail at some things. Ok, you want to fail early. You don't want to get on the big stage and fail. But even if you did, you're going to learn something from that. But because you have failed, that's not going to be devastating to you. You're going to learn from that and grow. So that's, that's film school. That's the value of film school and I highly recommend it. If you can get it or just go to college, that's that can be your film school.
Speaker 3:Okay, so yeah, do it if you can, and it doesn't hurt if Spike Lee is your professor. Didn't hurt, christine, this has been an absolute joy. I love talking to you. I think so much of what you say resonates with me and I think it's going to resonate with the audience and we're very proud of you and you're an accomplished filmmaker. You've done a lot and I think people are going to really enjoy your latest film. So just a reminder Albany Road in theaters November 15th and I'll make sure everyone gets all the information on this, on the uh, on the podcast too, they can look up where to buy tickets and all that kind of stuff so thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Oh, we always like to close our podcast by praying for our guests. Would you allow me to do that? Yes, thank you, heavenly father. Just uh you. Thank you for Christine, thank you for just who she is, how you have uniquely created her to be a storyteller, to be a filmmaker, to be a director, a writer and director. Thank you for birthing stories in her and giving her the skills and the tenacity and the perseverance to tell these stories. God, we pray that you would just continue to develop in her the woman that you want her to be the mother, the wife, the friend, the director, the writer. God, I pray you would bless her endeavors. I pray you would bless her endeavors. I pray you would bless her family, bless her work, bless this project, and we just thank you for the time spent together today and we love you, god. We pray this in Jesus' name and your promises we stand.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thank you for listening to the Act One podcast, celebrating over 20 years as the premier training program for Christians in Hollywood. Act One is a Christian community of entertainment industry professionals who train and equip storytellers to create works of truth, goodness and beauty. The Act One program is a division of Master Media International. To financially support the mission of Act One or to learn more about our programs, visit us online at actoneprogramcom, and to learn more about the work of Master Media, go to mastermediacom. Thank you, bye.