Act One Podcast
Act One Podcast
Producer John Shepherd
Act One Podcast - Episode 46 - Interview with Producer, John Shepherd.
John Shepherd is a 30-year veteran of indie & studio film. As a producer, John’s known for such films as Emanuel (2019), The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008), Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) and The Ultimate Gift (2006).
His latest film is Sarah’s Oil which is inspired by the remarkable true story of Sarah Rector, an African American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted and whose faith is proven right. The film opens in theaters everywhere on November 7th.
The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.
What you learn as a believer in this industry is God's not looking for ability. Yeah, you got to have that. He's looking for availability and someone who will listen. She puts her ear to the ground and she heard God, maybe not audibly, but you have value. What I've given you has value. The question is, what are you going to do with it? And that's the challenge I give to you and myself and all who see the film is we've all been given gifts, you know. Why are you letting somebody discount it, discourage you, stop all over it, destroy, or try and steal it from you, or sell it outright for cheap? You've been given this gift for a reason, but you got to use it. Gotta believe in it.
SPEAKER_01:This is the Act One podcast. I'm your host, James Duke. Thanks for listening. Please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a good review. My guest today is producer John Shepard. John is a 30-year veteran of Indian studio film, and as a producer, he's known for such films as the documentary Emmanuel, The Stoning of Soraya M., Bobby Jones, and The Ultimate Gift. His latest film is Sarah's Oil, which is inspired by the remarkable true story of Sarah Rector, an African-American girl born in Oklahoma, Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she's allotted and whose faith eventually proves her right. The film opens in theaters everywhere on November 7th. Please check it out. John is a longtime member of the Act One community and a very good friend. I hope you enjoy our conversation. John Shepard, welcome to the Act One podcast.
SPEAKER_03:It's good to see you again. Jimmy Gritton, great to be here. I'm sorry the audience can't see how good looking you are. Or me for that matter.
SPEAKER_01:Right. That's right. Yeah, we we poor, poor, poor audience. They don't have to look at me. I know.
SPEAKER_02:I have a face for radio, so there you go. There you go. That's right.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. Let's, hey, listen, congratulations on the new film for those. Uh, let's see, when people, I don't know when people will listen to this podcast, but we're recording it the right before it comes out this weekend, November 7th, is when it's in theaters. It's called Sarah's Oil. So congratulations, John. Why don't we start there? I'd I'd love to just get into all kinds of stuff about your career. You've been a longtime friend of Act One. You've done a lot for Act One over the years. But let's start with your latest film, Sarah's Oil. Why don't you just let the audience know a little bit? Give us the give us the log line. Tell us tell us a little bit about the film.
SPEAKER_03:Sure. So very excited. Hopefully, people will be listening to this. And it's kind of neat because you haven't seen it yet. So I can kind of pitch you the elevator pitch, if it were. But basically, I was looking to tell a story. I get attracted to stories about underdogs. I don't know, maybe because I is one. Guys that come out of nowhere with nothing that are somehow thrust into the spotlight on sort of sometimes reluctantly, sometimes unwittingly. This I was looking for a story about an American entrepreneur, somebody who started with nothing and built a business, overcame incredible adversity. And so I was, you know, the one of the ways producers work. We find the money first, and then we try and figure out, okay, how do I? And so I had some guys that said we want a story that celebrates people with tenacity, people with perseverance, people that, you know, overcame incredible odds. Those are the kind of stories. That's why we don't go to the movies. Where are those stories? And I was thinking, well, who founded Starbucks? And, you know, oh, they already did one on McDonald's. And I talked to Cyrus Narassi. He said, I got a story for you. But uh Cyrus and I have worked together on Stoning a Soroya M and he did Young Messiah. He said, There's an entrepreneur, but it was around the turn of the century. She became one of the first black millionaires in the U.S. Oh, and by the way, she was 11 years old. And I was like, What? I've never heard this story. He goes, No, nobody has because it's kind of lost. And he said, I'll come back to you with a pitch. And he did. The pitch became a treatment, the treatment became a script, and the script became a movie. And it's just incredible the journey we've been on. But it's it's been a lot, it's uh it's been a long road, a little not as hard as Sarah's, but for me it felt like it was challenging.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's a it sounds really exciting. I remember when you first told me about it about a year or so ago, I think right before you guys were shooting. It it's so interesting that a that a story like that is gets gets lost. What was the process like? Because it's based on a true story. What was the process like, you know, researching, finding out more about her? Because there's there wasn't really a lot there, was there?
SPEAKER_03:No, I mean, what's known about Sarah Rector, especially that time in history, especially because she was only 10, 11 years old at the time, is very little. So Cyrus really had to do his homework. He's a historian and a researcher and a lover of literature. So he went to work. He and his wife, Betsy Narasta, are a tremendously talented, dynamic duo. And they started combing old newspaper articles and records, and then they found a book. They said, if you can get us the rights to searching for Sarah Rector by Tanya Bolden, a little coffee table book, not a lot in there, but she talked to the family members, and there was the most authoritative and definitive sort of history of her journey. So I did. I got the rights and was sharing with some of my guys that work with me from Act One and from Hollywood Prayer Network, the discipleship program, that, you know, part of the way project started is getting the real estate, getting some intellectual property, a book, an article, life story rights. Well, we didn't need life story rights because Sarah had passed, but we certainly needed to be authentic. And although there was there's not a lot known, we wanted it to be at least inspired by a true story and stick as close as we could to the truth. We'd seen Killers of the Flower Moon, many have, but it was a dark story. It was a story about serial killers and murder, and it was just not, you know, and it's long and it's expensive. This was the B side of that album. It was hopeful, it was inspirational. It was about a little girl who had a dream that would not be denied, no matter how many people discounted her dream or tried to discourage her or stomped on it or eventually destroy it, or some tried to steal it from her, or perhaps, like you or me or anybody in this industry, they've come along and said, Well, yeah, you've got a gift. Let me give you five bucks for it. You know, they discount you in terms of, hey, your birthright, it's not worth much. But give it to me, maybe I can do something with it. And Sarah believed with all her heart that this land, this intellectual property for us who are filmmakers, had value. And she wasn't gonna sell out, she wasn't gonna dismiss it, she certainly wasn't gonna give it away, and she certainly wasn't gonna let anybody steal it. She just had this passion for her content, if you will. But one of the things that I really think comes across in the movie is she listened. In her case, it was land, 160 acres of worthless, unsuitable for anything, rocks and lizards, dirt, her gift she inherited. She believed God gave it to her for a reason, that there was a plan, there was a purpose. And I, as a filmmaker, have felt this way. I've got nothing. I've got a bunch of rocks and lizards, 160 acres and nothing. It's unsuitable. I'm unsuitable, I'm not qualified. What you learn as a believer in this industry is God's not looking for ability. Yeah, you got to have that. He's looking for availability and someone who will listen. She puts her ear to the ground and she heard God, maybe not audibly, but you have value. What I've given you has value. The question is, what are you going to do with it? And that's the challenge I give to you and myself and and all who see the film is we've all been given gifts, you know. Why are you letting somebody discount it, discourage you, stop all over it, destroy or try and steal it from you, or sell it outright for cheap? You've been given this gift for a reason, but you got to use it. Got to believe in it.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. That's a great that sounds great. That's uh there's a lot there. There's a lot. And I and I love I love how personal in many ways the film is for you and probably for many other people who worked on the project. Can we let's just talk a little bit about the making of the film? You talked about where the idea came from. You'd worked with the director before. What was the process like? The actual, you know, I think you guys filmed in Oklahoma. Is that right? Am I wrong?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we scouted all over the world to make this movie. You know, we started with Kingdom Story. I brought Zachary Levi into the project and Cyrus and Betsy, and then Derek Williams from DNA. We were basically the original Fab Five that came with nothing to Lionsgate, and Kevin Downs said, I think we can get this done here through Kingdom Story. And it was the fastest green light ever. Great story, young woman of color, overcoming incredible odds, great inspirational, and it had faith elements to it. We scouted everywhere from South Africa to Oklahoma to Louisiana. We did budgets all over the place, and it just was too expensive. So eventually, with the COVID and the and then the strikes, it it languished and fell out at Lionsgate. But this is kind of how the Lord works. And I'm a big believer that movies can drive you closer to God because you're on your knees or on your face praying the whole time. There was a guy down in Texas, a dad at Cyrus' daughter-in-law's school. So Cyrus goes down to Texas, our director, writer, to see his daughter-in-law and his son, who are at a Christian school. And the his daughter-in-law, Betsy, says, Hey, there's a new guy in town that uh produced Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. And he's raising his kids in Texas. He left LA. You should give him your script. So Cyrus gave him Sarah's oil. He read it. He flipped for it. But he said, you know, despite the fact I grew up on the oil fields and my dad was a roughnick, I'm raising money for my own film fund. I don't have time to help you guys. But great script. I was like, Cyrus, why are you telling me this story? This is like so discouraging. He's like, Well, at least somebody liked it and he's done some big movies. Cut to two years later, this guy, Jeremy Lacham, who I just owe a debt of gratitude to, Northwestern guy, came out to California. He uh he got hired at Wonder, the Wonder Project by John Irwin to basically head up uh production. And he said, first movie we're making is Sarah's oil. And it just goes to show, you know, you if you're a producer, you produce. If you're a writer, you write. And you've just got to get your work out there and let people read it or critique it or stomp on it. But it does no good to hide it under a bushel. We have got to stop cursing the darkness and light a candle, which is kind of Sarah's journey. Is she wasn't going to be discouraged about this crummy griff gift she got. She was like so excited that she had land. And even though they couldn't afford the property tax on it, Daddy, don't sell it. God gave it to me for a reason. And uh that's the journey of the of a filmmaker. And that's kind of how Sarah's oil came to fruition. It took years, Jimmy. It was the hardest project I have ever worked on. And I've done some hard projects.
SPEAKER_01:But I what what when you say it was the hardest project, what what does that mean? What does that look like?
SPEAKER_03:It was the story that did not want to be told. Everything that could go wrong on it from the beginning did. Greenlit at Lionsgate, and then put into just turnaround at Lions Gate. And then we had it at a film fund, greenlit, we're in Oklahoma, I'm hiring everybody, we're scouting, and then it went into turnaround. And then we had opportunity at Wonder, and yet there's an impending strike coming up with the Teamsters. And if it doesn't get green light by a certain date, they're not going to make it. Finally, finally, it gets greenlit. And Amazon MGM was very generous with our budget and the support. And it's a big studio with a lot of excitement around the Wonder project. But now you got to make it. So day one, I'm flying into Tulsa. I'm all excited and I'm looking out the window at you know 11 o'clock at night as we're flying in from Dallas. It's World War III going on in the clouds. Everything's exploding. There's a lightning storm like you've never seen. I'm like, this guy's gonna try and land in this. And thank goodness, no, we're turning around. We went back to Dallas that night and slept in the airport. And that was day one every day. It was ticks, it was tornadoes, it was towns getting wiped out by the weather. It was our DP who'd been with the project two years, had scouted South Africa, developing viral encephalitis, finding out his arteries were blocked, had to fly home to get health care, replacing him with a new DP named Johnny Durango, who turned out to be a godsend and answered a prayer, but he came in with no prep. And his wife is reading and recording to him the pages we're going to shoot each day, and he's listening on the way to set. Thank God I had been asked to host a screening of Unsung Hero, which he shot. And I'd seen his work. And I was like, Yeah. And then Jim, I'll just share this with your audience, Jimmy. But he showed up on set with a t-shirt on that said, Y'all need Jesus. And I was like, oh no, we all need we need this guy because he's got Jesus. And he was, but day one, he got bit by a brown recluse spider and had a tick while he was in getting treated for the brown recluse spider. It was you can't imagine showing up at a hundred-year-old building in this beautiful square in Okmulgi, Oklahoma, only to find out the hundred-year-old elevator doesn't work. And we're going to have to haul all our equipment, all our actors, all our cameras, all of our set deck up 10 flights of a narrow staircase. Well, grips, I love grips. I love our crew. They're so creative. It's like, why don't we just bust out the windows and we can crane everything up using the condor? I was like, go for it. We'll replace those windows, those hundred-year-old windows. But everything, I mean, literally, one day, if a producer falls over on a set, we keep rolling. But if a horse falls over due to heat, everything stops for at least an hour. And I turned everybody as this horse and a long line of, you know, we had carriages and old cars and horses and buggies and stuff that wouldn't start. This horse falls down, and I just yelled at the top of my lung. And this is why we pray every day before we start. And I said, I'm going to pray right now because there was nothing we could do. Wranglers are running from all over. Is this horse dead or whatever? We prayed. And do you know that horse stood back up? And I went, That's a resurrection. It's like it literally was, we just have to pray because something's going to go wrong. It just, I said, the Wrangler, what happened to the horse? Just didn't want to work. I'm like, oh my gosh. Well, like all of us. But we were so hot in Oklahoma. We were we were mandated by Amazon to take a 10-minute break every hour because it was so hot. Which, you know, 10 minutes turns into 15 or 20 once you break people down, try and get them in cooling vans and try and get them back.
SPEAKER_01:And it was brutal. Every hour you were mandated to take a break. Every hour? Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah. It got so intensely hot there. I mean, if it wasn't raining cats and dogs to where we were pulling semi-tractor trailers out of the mud, it was hotter in Hades. And people were, I mean, we were working with a lot of Native Americans, the Creek Muscogee tribe and Cherokee Nation. And these are tough people, people of the land. The problem is they wouldn't come in when they got hot. They just stand there until they did fall over. We'd have to mandate you need to take a break. Because otherwise they'd go, no, no, we we can we we'll tough it out. And like, oh my gosh. Well, the other thing that made it hard, Jimmy, is I think the land itself, the story, that period in history, where we were shooting, uh, there was stuff going on. I mean, we'd be up in some of these buildings and there'd be evidence of KKK meetings that had happened there and all kinds of memorabilia that still existed. And I mean, it was there was a lot of tension. There was tribal tensions, you know, we're telling a black story, a white story, a rich story, a poor story, an oil man story, a poverty-stricken family story. There was a lot of opportunity for, but it's funny because those things that you would have thought would have driven us apart, pulled us together. The things we didn't see coming were the things that, and this is always the way, isn't it? It's where you you you you didn't think there'd be any issue. Oh, they're gonna love me in Oklahoma. Well, turns out they don't necessarily love Hollywood coming into their town telling a story about Native Americans. I'm not Native American, I don't know the history of Oklahoma or the creek, and uh I had to learn. But one that's one of the cool things about making movies is I often think, this is a message the world needs to hear. And then at the end of the movie, I go, This is a message that actually I needed to hear. And God said, Yeah, this was actually a message and a lesson you needed to learn, John Shepard. And uh it's humbling, it's also gratifying, it's also inspiring, it's also wow, I don't I don't know what I'm doing. I have to trust God.
SPEAKER_01:That's good. That's really good. I the the casting uh when okay, so you're making this film, you you know, you're obviously the design of the film is based around the main character being an 11-year-old girl. That's a challenge regardless of budget or story or whatever. But obviously, because if I remember correctly, Sarah said she's she's she's half black, half Native American. Is that right? Yeah, half Indian?
SPEAKER_03:Correct. She's what's known as a Creek freedman. So many people don't know that Native American tribes had slaves and her family had been enslaved. So they were what's known as Creek Freedmen. So when they were emancipated, they were given land by the Dawes Act, and her parents got, you know, acreage, and she got acreage, her siblings got acreage, but most people couldn't afford the property tax. So 30 bucks a year. So they'd sell it cheap or it would get taken from them. But Sarah was just determined. I am not giving up my land. I am going to find, I believe there's oil on it, and teams up with a white wildcatter who is he a con man? Is he a crook? Is he an honest guy? Played by Zachary Levi magnificently, I might say. I just I think it's Zach's best work to date. But it's really the story of this unlikely partnership and these disparate people, black, white, rich, poor, Native American, black, and and and the oil. And you know, nobody's all good or all bad. There are shades of gray on both sides, just like in life. And I think that's what makes it a great story, is she brings out the best in people because she's just so I think one of the things that was such a privilege, Jimmy, was we showed the movie to her living relatives, and they had no idea what we'd made. They were not involved in the making or the writing or had no input. We didn't know who they were until we made the film. And then we went to Kansas City and showed them. And they were shocked at how closely we captured the spirit of their aunt. Wow. That was very gratifying. It was also terrifying. Cyrus didn't even want to go. He was afraid if they don't like it, we're in big trouble. So uh it went really well, and they've been very supportive of the release, which is November 7th in theaters across the country.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so so how do you okay? So, you know, you're talking about this amazing, you know, young girl. So I want to get to the casting of this lead. So how what what was the process like of casting such a unique, you know, character?
SPEAKER_03:It was really incredible. We I I often think that perhaps the reason the Lord didn't green light the movie earlier was he was waiting for the right girl to be the right age. And if we'd gone three years ago when Naya was only seven, we'd have never made the movie, you know. But uh by the time we really got it greenlit, this little girl named Naya Desser Johnson, who's from New York of all places, we saw probably 500 or more little girls unknown for this part. We had a great casting directors, and and there was one woman in particular, Winsom Sinclair in New York, who, by the way, has since passed. We had a number of people pass during production or pre-production. But Winsome found this little girl, sent us to Jill Anthony Thomas, our casting director here in LA, who's done so many great Kingdom Story movies. And we met her, and she comes into the room with Zach Levi. And, you know, he's a funny guy. He can make anybody laugh, and he's very quick on his feet and he improvs like crazy. And so he was testing her, and she was holding her own and she was laughing, but she was giving it right back to him. And they are just magic on screen together. So the casting, if we didn't find the right Sarah, we couldn't make this movie. But she not only steals the film, Zach, sorry, I think she feels she steals your heart. You know, she's just got such a joy about her. And I well, it's one of the things I want people to take away from this is that, especially young people. I'm a father of three daughters. You know, to have a dream, and I think anybody who has a dream is still a young person. You're only you only get old when you give up your dreams, or you feel like your dream is dead or it's never going to resurrect. And some dreams refuse to die. And I often tell people there were 12 guys 2,000 years ago that had a dream and they killed the dreamer. But dreams like this, certain dreams will, they just refuse to die. And that dream resurrected. Sarah is very much operating in that resurrection spirit, that no matter what, and this is the kind of faith and resolution and relentlessness that's required in this business because it's tough, as as access in the movie, it's tough custard. And when the game's rigged, it's best you do the rigging. But she's somebody who's his moral compass, his north star. She's more concerned, not about hitting oil, she's more concerned about his soul, which is also kind of an interesting take. And again, a message I needed to learn in life. Yeah, I hope this make this movie makes a hundred million dollars, says my my young actor in the movie prayed for me one day. But it's not about hitting the biggest gusher in Oklahoma history. It's always this business for me, has always been about relationship, what we do, not just, you know, it's about how we do it. What we do is important, but we're human beings, not human doings. And Act One and Master Media and my time with Hollywood Prayer Network and the discipleship I've had in this town by seasoned veterans, the David McFadsians of the world, and the Karen Covells, and then you, Jimmy, with your service. This is what it's really about. This is the treasure that you can't find buried in the ground, drilling. It's what you encounter on your journey. And if you aren't listening because you're so caught up in the noise, you'll miss it. I think it was Malcolm Muggerage who said, God is speaking to us all the time. The secret of life is getting the message. And this is a movie that just reminded reminded me that you need to stop and listen and take time to listen. And by listening, I don't mean just waiting for your turn to talk, which is my job as a producer is to talk, talk, talk, talk. I love to hear myself talk. In fact, I probably would have been a preacher because I love to hear myself talk. It's people I can't stand. But seriously, I was convicted that I need to be a better listener to my daughters, to the story, to Sarah, to others. And that's where the treasure lies. Listening to the voice of God telling you it's not what the world says. It's not about whether you hit the gusher, it's not whether about you get the movie made. It's about being obedient, having faith. And guess what, John? At the end of the day, what's the real treasure? What's gonna what's gonna remain? You know, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these, well, if you want to know the answer to that, you gotta go watch the movie. Or or I guess read the read the scripture.
SPEAKER_01:Nice T's, nice T's there, Joe. Um, I I'm looking forward to seeing the film. I I haven't seen it yet, but I it comes out November 7th in theaters everywhere. John, you you uh you've been working in the business for a long time. Like I said earlier, you you've obviously been a part of of helping act oneers for years. You one of the things that I think is really kind of fun about you is maybe some people know, but who who who maybe are listening to this podcast who who saw your name and maybe know you, but most people probably don't realize you started out as an actor. And you were and and you still even, you know, you'll still, I don't know, do you have a part in Saraso? Like you still pop up and stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I was cut out, same as Kevin Downs. We both had parts until they saw the finished cut. They say maybe you guys should stick to producing.
SPEAKER_01:So with when did you when did you first start working in the business as as an actor? And what what kind of got you into acting back in those days?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, my first job, I was completely naked. I have to be honest, it's a friendly crowd, so I'll tell you, I was two years old. It was a magazine spread for Vogue. My mom, who was a flight attendant back in the day, stewardess for United, took me into New York City where I was born. And I got a job with this supermodel and about 10 other little two-year-old boys. And I think there was something about that moment that changed my life. I became an exhibitionist. I wanted to be on camera. And I learned to keep my clothes on when I was about nine. I saw a TV movie about a little kid who runs away to join the circus called Toby Tyler. And it was starring this kid. And I was like, Mom, how can I I want I could have done that? How did he get that part? I want to do that. And he said, Well, you have to get an agent. My dad was in advertising, and so he lived, we lived in Chicago then. He said, Well, take you down. We'll meet some photographers and agents. And dang, if I didn't walk into an agency and and they discouraged me like crazy, stomped all over my dream. Yeah, we got plenty of little boys. And as I was leaving, the head of the agency, Shirley Hamilton, was walking through the door. She said, Who are you? I said, I'm John Shepard. She said, Where were you yesterday? I said, Well, I'm not with this agency. And she said, Well, you are now. And she signed me and I got my first commercial, which led to some dinner theater and some plays. And then I tested for a pilot in Chicago. Sometimes it's better to start in a small pond and become a big fish. So I was like the kid in Chicago that had done equity and commercials, and I'd even done a little role in a movie. But I got flown out to LA for a screen test. Everybody thought I was going to be a big star when I got the lead role in an ABC Fox pilot being directed by John Rich, who had done the pilot for the Brady Bunch. He had done the pilot for All in the Family. He was a director on the Dick Van Dyke show. And so I came back to great celebration in Chicago. And then the show never aired, ever. No one saw it. And I was humiliated and humbled. So I went back to LA when I was 17 years old to try and get an agent myself after my first year at Northwestern. You know, funny thing, Jimmy, that TV pilot was redone as a movie. And they recast my role with a nine-year-old boy named Peter Billingsley, and it became the Christmas classic, a Christmas story. So are you being serious? I'm serious. I was the original Ralphie Parker. Well, me and about three other guys. I think, I think, who was it? There was a couple other guys that had also done the role of different PBS specials and stuff. But Matt Dillon did it once. I did it once. And then Peter Billingsley nailed it as a nine-year-old. It became this huge classic. But I still have my footage. It's available. I can rent it to you through the joining my John Shepherd failed movie club. But anyway, that led to moving to LA and going to UCLA and eventually being cast in. Well, I always said there's two kinds of films I'd never do. All my buddies in Chicago were making fun of me, going to LA, oh, gonna be famous, thinking to be on TV. And I said, Yeah, well, I'm I am gonna be famous. I am gonna be on TV, but there are two things I'll never do. I'll never do a horror like a slasher picture, and I will never do a lame, cheesy Christian film. And uh, you know, you want to make God laugh? You tell him your plans. So, of course, the first role I get is Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th. Oh, which one? Not the first one. No, not the first one. Second, nope, third, fourth, nope, the fifth one. Not even so. I played Corey Feldman as a teenager. I was a good guy. Interesting time. I was a believer. I was a new Christian at the time. And it was a big decision. Should I take this role or not? Can you be a good guy in a bad movie? Can you be a bad guy in a Christian film? What is your opportunity for witness? What is your is this violate scripture? When you pray about it, what does the Lord say? You got to go with the light you've been shown. And then there's wisdom in many counselors. What do the guys in my Bible study think? And my pastor. And so I went through that exercise, my code, if you will, and I decided I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do the best Tommy Jarvis that's ever been done. I'm gonna take it very seriously. And you know what it is, some of my best work.
SPEAKER_01:But it was Yeah, I was looking at uh I looked it up, and and Yeah, so sorry. No, no, no, no, but it's like you get good marks. I I noticed that for a lot of Friday the 13th fans, they they look at they they say they look at part five and they're like, hey, this one's this one's pretty good. Like it's you're like in the I looked it up that in the all I can't remember how many there's movies have been made, quite quite a bit.
SPEAKER_03:13 or something, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And and part five, you know, it's ranked like you know, fourth best. You're you're kind of you're up there. So there you go. You know, you got that going for you.
SPEAKER_03:So thank you. Some people are haters. You know, I've been on panel discussions at Friday the 13th conventions where they've called me the Jar Jar Binks of the franchise. I'd never heard that. I thought, wow, that's a badge of honor. But but I actually, you know, I really prepared for the role. I uh it was about a story about a kid coming out of an insane asylum. So I went and volunteered at Camarillo State Mental Hospital and did that and really experienced. I was a method actor, so I decided I wouldn't talk to anybody for the entire production. I would not look them in the eye. I would be in character, a kid coming out of an insane asylum who is messed up. But there was one stunt guy, Dick Warlock. What a name. So nice, so friendly. And I had to flip a kid, and he's explaining to me how I have to do this so I don't injure his stunt man. And he's so nice. He's asking me all these questions. I really having a hard time because I'm an outgoing person, but I was trying to stay in character. So I asked him one question. I just said, So, where are you from? He goes, Oh, I'm from Arizona. Uh, you know, Eddie and I, Eddie Matthews, we're both Christians. We come up and work on these dark horror sets to share the light of Christ and the love of God with people. I was like, oh my gosh. I haven't talked to anybody in three weeks since the first guy I talked to. And I said, Well, I'm a I'm a Christian too. He said, What? I said, Yeah, I'm a I'm a believer. And he yells across the set of a horror film on which I have not spoken to anybody for three weeks. Hey, Eddie, this guy's a brother in Christ. Of course, that generated a lot of looks and interest as well. But eventually we had an opportunity to share our faith with a few people. And of course, my character lives. So he goes on to part six. But I really prayed about that and felt convicted that, you know what, I didn't come out here to use whatever gifts I'd been given. It's sort of like I heard a sermon once about, you know, I give you a leather briefcase, you know, and you can use it to go to seminary and learn, study the Bible, and you know, keep all your papers in it, or you can use it to take out the garbage. You know, it's your it's your gift to use as you will. And I felt kind of like, gosh, am I taking out the garbage? So I quit the business and I went to seminary. And uh, you know, a lot I kind of ran out of money and moved out of Malibu and into a little guest house in North Hollywood and started going to a very conservative seminary where you signed a an agreement you wouldn't go to an R-rated film. Of course, I was in one across the street at the drive-in. No one knew that.
SPEAKER_01:So you're in seminary, and you have to sign an agreement that you can't watch yourself in the movie across.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. And then and no one else should either, but the movie was doing fine without any help from my attendants. It was funny was I was dating a girl who was at Fuller, and we would meet on Sundays at a church in Burbank, which is where I am today, at an EV free, a church that was theologically and geographically halfway between us. Jimmy, I'm at church and a guy comes up to me, an actor, and he says, You're you're an actor, right? And I said, No, no, I used to be, I'm not doing that anymore. He goes, No, no, I've seen you and stuff. I just read for this part. I bet you get it. You'd be perfect for it. I'm not gonna get it. Townsend Coleman. I know this guy's a solid Christian because what actor tells another actor about a party's up for? He's like, I'm I don't think I'm gonna get it, but yeah, I bet you'd be perfect for it. You should call them. Call on Monday. I had no idea what the part was, but I am broke and I'm in seminary, so I called worldwide pictures on a lit, it was what was it, Memorial Day, expecting to get an answering machine. And a guy answers. How'd you hear about this? I said, Well, I was at church. Oh, you said you're Christian. Now I didn't know I was calling it the Billy Graham organization. I didn't know whether the guy was a Christian or not. It turns out he wasn't. He was a Jewish guy that happened to be working that day. And he said, So you're Christian, huh? I said, Yeah, I found out about it at church. He goes, Yeah, well, we're looking for a pagan for this part. I'm like, Oh, well, I could backslide. And he laughed and he said, Why don't you come in and meet the director tomorrow? By the end of the week, I was going to Amsterdam to do a Billy Graham film. Opposite end of the spectrum from Friday the 13th. But it just shows you the Lord can use and does and and and and is working on our behalf even while we're sleeping. But sometimes when we try and control it or make it happen or lay out our plans, you know, it's kind of like going through the car wash. You got to take your hands off the wheel, sit back, and enjoy the ride. It's hard to do. A lot of us want to steer the car or put it in gear and or get going faster. But that's not how God works. He's never late, but he's not early either. He's just right on time. And that was my experience. So I got to tort that film for a year and give my testimony at Mile High Stadium, Billy Graham Crusade. And then what do you do? Life is over if you're a Christian actor and you do a Billy Graham film. There's nobody else at the time making Christian movies. So I thought, well, I'm done. I've I've hit the ceiling.
SPEAKER_01:But again, did you drop out of seminary or were you still doing seminary?
SPEAKER_03:No, I had to drop out. I toured with the movie all over the place, speaking, and and the production company actually hired me to watch Billy Graham sermons because they were doing a documentary on Dr. Graham. So I was getting better seminary than going to class, watching all of the best of Billy. I mean, I know his jokes, his meetings with Woody Allen, his presidents at the prayer breakfast with everybody from Nixon to Lyndon Johnson to golfing with John F. Kennedy. And then I got to meet Billy Graham, go up to his house and have lunch with he and Ruth and Montreat. And then so it was it was better than seminary in a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's amazing, John. I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_03:That's can you I look back at it now and I go, how was I not just so appreciative? I was so caught up in my own noise and self. I didn't stop to listen and smell the roses and really appreciate. But but as luck would have it, I I said to the production company, how come you guys don't make movies anymore? You know? They said, Oh, they're too expensive. And you know, we don't know any Christians in Hollywood. So I said, Well, I uh how much was my movie? They said about three, three and a half million dollars. I said, Oh, I could have done that movie for like a half a million. I had no idea. I'm just speaking out of my ear. And they said, Okay, well, bring us a movie you can do for half a million, maybe we'll talk. And I'm like, Oh, well, I know a lot of Christians cannot so I started calling on my buddies, directors. And this was back when there was no kingdom story, there was no Christianfilm.com, nobody was doing, there wasn't a Bible study at every church or act one or premise or any of that. It was really a nascent time. But I brought every Christian I knew to a meeting at the LAX airport. The Billy Graham organization walked in and they looked at this room full of people and they said, What are all these people doing here? My friends were like, You didn't tell them we're pitching a movie. And I'm like, Well, no, I told them we're pitching. I just didn't say you guys would all be here. So we pitched and they gave us a half a million dollars to go make a movie. And I got Connie Selica, who was on a TV show at the time called Hotel, and her boyfriend John Tesh, who was on a show called Entertainment Tonight at the time, and Jeff Conway from Taxi. And I just got everybody famous I could think of to be in the movie called Eye of the Storm. And we ended up doing two, four, eight, fifteen films for Billy Graham. And that's how I learned to make movies was just kind of oh, what does a producer do? He puts people together and then he gets out of their way and lets them use their gifts to glorify God.
SPEAKER_01:So that was your very that was your very first, very first film you produced.
SPEAKER_03:Eye of the Storm. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Yeah, can you explain to people? That's that's so cool. I didn't I I I remembered some of the other films. I didn't really can can you just explain to to our audience a little bit about Worldwide Pictures? Because I don't think people like back in the was it the 50s, Worldwide Pictures was actually a a pretty big deal. Like when they first started make and then and then, like you said, they took a little bit of a different. Can you can you just explain to people what Worldwide Pictures was and kind of its influence back in the day?
SPEAKER_03:Well, Dr. Graham, Billy Graham, so he wanted to set up a ministry for people who would never step foot in church, but they'd go to the movie. I love Barbara Nicolosi has a quote on her website or used to about how she thought that's a it's a quote about vaudeville, but maybe you've read it. It says, Theater is the church of the masses where people go sit in the dark, watch people in the light tell them what it is to be human. And I think Dr. Graham was a little prescient in the idea that, hey, maybe people won't come to church, but they'll go to a theater, and we could get them that way if we had an evangelistic message in a movie. So worldwide was set up to reach the world for Christ through evangelical films, evangelistic movies. And Billy Graham was usually in every one of them. There was a four spiritual laws sort of altar call, demonstration of a we had a very specific criteria of things we had to include, demonstration of a changed life. But they were famous for making a movie called The Hiding Place about Corey Tenboom. That was probably their biggest. But they worked with a lot of great people. You know, the prodigal was theirs, and there was some really fantastic talent in that movie. And so they were a big deal back in the 50s and early 60s. But then slowly but surely they they started to wind down once Franklin took over the ministry. I think he circled the wagons a little bit, concentrated more on Samaritan's Purse. But what was cool was suddenly all these young upstarts, you know, the uh the Downs brothers, Bobby Downs and Kevin Downs and the David White and Michael Scott started pure flicks, and Christians started going, well, why do I have to wait for permission to do my job? Maybe I'll raise the money, maybe I'll just go make a movie. And that was kind of what I did was I realized as an actor, you have very little, unless you're Brad Pitt or Matt Damon, you're not going to be greenlighting movies. But if you're a producer, you don't have to ask permission. You just go get the money and make it. So we started making movies. But worldwide had a beautiful building here in Burbank on Olive that's now owned by the Teamsters Ayattsy. But we had a theater and mixing stage, and they did great films and great ministry, and a lot of tremendously talented actors and actresses passed through those doors to be in their films. And millions and millions of people have made decisions for Christ through a Billy Seem a Billy Graham film, which is uh gratifying.
SPEAKER_01:And those films were, and I don't think a lot of people really like they told modern stories, they weren't, you know, biblical stories. They told stories about real people, and like you said, that even back in the day, they were using like you know, well-known actors, well-known talent behind the scenes as well, in front of the camera. So it had this great reputation for a long time. The the catch was Billy would he he would, they would like you'd walk into a room and like he'd be on the TV preaching or something. Like there was always a scene, right, where he had to present the gospel or something. Wasn't that the rule? He had to be on, like, and and so it was like, how do we find ways to get Billy Graham into the right? Is that how it worked?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, we had a very strict criteria about how we we had to refer to either be an appearance by or reference to Billy Graham in the movie. And you know, it's funny, one of their most successful films, The Hiding Place, did not have that. And they just had Corey Tenboom at the end, who was great, but that as a ministry tool, they didn't look at it as nearly as successful as where Billy closes or gives an invitation because they were counting decisions. You know, that was their focus. And then Christian filmmakers said, you know, we don't have to have every film have an altar call at the end. You know, you can glorify God looking at a beautiful sunset. Doesn't need to have the four spiritual laws. So people started making movies like I remember seeing Chariots of Fire, just going, I want to do this, I want to make this kind of a movie that just is true, it's historic, it's significant, it's inspirational, you know, it sarees oil for me in many ways. I want to reach a mainstream audience. There's a call and a need for films that preach to the choir for for those that entertain believers. And then there's ones that do evangelistic outreach, like the Jesus film that Campus Crusade put out all over the world, where millions of people have come to Christ through seeing the story of Christ. Now we have the chosen, which is doing a beautiful job. And congrats to Dallas Jenkins and their team. But, you know, I really felt like I want to tell mainstream stories. Having been through the Graham training, and you know, that's where I cut my teeth. I wanted to do movies that spoke to my friends who are seekers and very open spiritually and not hostile, but they're never gonna, they just don't want to, you know, it's this generation now, too, that sits back and go, okay, don't preach to me. I I see you're trying to sell me something, right? They're very skeptical. But man, if you can root a story in reality and it's it it look, all truth is God's truth. People respond and are challenged by films that make them think and ask questions. And and that's what Sarah's role kind of does is you want to learn more about this little girl. Well, movies that really do a good job for me are ones that were I keep talking about it the next day and it sticks with me, and I want to research that more. So, truth, beauty, you know, goodness, these are values that we espouse at Act One and Master Media. And um, we have to be excellent at what we do. You know, I think the other cool thing about worldwide not being the only game in town is now we're competitive, sometimes too competitive as Christians. But I like the fact that we challenge each other to raise the bar and do better. We just need to do a better job of encouraging each other and supporting one another and not shooting our wounded, but but really helping one another as other communities in the industry have done. Christians tend to be very, I can't tell you who my investor is. I I I can't help you on your project because I'm doing my project. And if we could just, you know, unify and come together in prayer and and support and encouragement, it's kind of like just spreading the good news. I think we'd reach everybody for Christ. Instead, they see us bicker, fight, and sue one another, and it's like, oh, they're no different than us. In fact, in many ways, they're worse.
SPEAKER_01:So I hope whoever's hearing this hears that and takes it to heart because we do need to do a better job of working together. John, I remember when I first met you, I used to tell people all the time, they they used to, you know, say, who who have you worked with, or who who you know, who the Christians in the business. And I would just always say, John Shepard's the nicest producer, because most producers I met were not nice. And I said, John Shepard is the nicest producer I ever worked with. You I was I was just out of college and I was a PA. Do you remember this? You were you were doing redemption high. For those who don't remember, before the dot-com bubble burst, there was uh something called DIM, the digital entertainment network, which if I remember correctly, John, you can you can fix my memory here. This was when colleges were just now getting wired to the internet. So if people can go back and think about the time before everyone, before you know, internet and Wi-Fi was ubiquitous and it was everywhere at all times. College dorms were just now getting wired for the internet. And so these guys had an idea of creating uh what they called, they called it then the digital entertainment network, where they would create all these different shows that would that would be just for the internet. There, they were they were gonna be an internet network, and you, a bunch of people were hired to make a bunch of all different kinds of shows. And you were making one called Redemption High. Do you want to tell people a little bit about that experience?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'd done a Billy Graham movie called The Ride with a young boy named Brock Pierce, terrific actor. He had been in first kid with Sinbad, and he was probably, I don't know, 15, 16 years old. And after we did uh the Billy Graham film, he said, Hey, I'm launching a network. I'm like, you're like 18 years old. Well, you're not even 18 years old. You're a teenager. He goes, Yeah, well, got some money from you know Microsoft and Apple, and we're going to we're gonna blow up broadcast television. I'm like, what? What are you talking about, Brock? So I went over to a launch party at their house in Encino and it was rocking, and security guards everywhere with the little earpieces and they're giving out chocolate Macintoshes. And I was like, what the heck is going on? They said, We're making shows for underserved teenagers. And they had a show that was for gay teenagers, for black teenagers, for Chinese teenagers, for gang. I mean, they had all these different shows. They were eight-minute episodes. And I said to Brock, why don't you do a show for Christian teenagers? He goes, Well, you know, there's not enough that we are, you know, where you have to do what you got to do first. But I said, you know, that's what you guys should focus on if you're trying to look for an underserved audience. Well, a couple of years later, or maybe a year later, David Newman from UCLA, a friend of mine, who used to run, I think NBC, got hired to for programming, called me and said, How about a Christian show? I said, I'd love to do it. So I came up with this idea for Redemption High, which was basically hosted by the devil. It was it was screw tape letters. So all the values were inverted. Judge Reinhold played a youth pastor. I had a wonderful actor, David Hunt, um, of Patty Heaton and David Hunt fame to play The Devil. And it started off with a great opening, you know, just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe. So to are there spiritual laws that govern the spiritual world, my world. Welcome to Redemption High. And we had these demons that only one girl in the school could see. They were dressed like little English schoolboys. And Rocky Lane, a fantastic director, came up with the concept and Bobby Garibedian directs some episodes. But what's funny was people made fun of me at the network, Digital Entertainment Network. What are you doing? A show for Christian teenagers for? What are you gonna have? Online confession or something. And of course, the show blew up, and a wonderful producer named Lindsay Duran took it under her wing, and we got it written up in Time magazine as the show to watch. And that led to a gig at uh DreamWorks. DreamWorks Imagine started their own internet streaming company doing content that was called pop.com. So suddenly I went to working from for for in the den of iniquity to working for Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Jeffrey Katzenberg. It was amazing. And we were uh kind of pioneering, you know, back when you were heading having to buffer shows and wait.
SPEAKER_01:It was so funny because I remember because I was the remember, I was the target audience. I was like 21 or something like that. And and and uh I couldn't watch it because the internet was so slow every episode, you'd have to wait forever to get it to watch, but uh the stream. I remember a couple of things about that. One is yeah, David Hunt, very sweet, very he was great as the devil. But you I was the PA and you, we had a I think, I think the devil, if I remember correctly, the devil drove a Jaguar, a convertible Jaguar. And and and I remember I got to pull it onto set, and I was so excited that I got to drive a I was the one that got to pull from the parking lot or whatever, like onto set. And I was so excited. I remember calling home and telling my mom and dad that I got to drive a convertible Jaguar.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I would tell people when they'd say, Who's that guy, Jimmy Duke? I said, I you know, he works for us. I don't know what he does, but he drives a he drives a vehicle for the devil. I can tell you that.
SPEAKER_02:So thank God you've been redeemed and now are driving a vehicle for the Lord. But the devil has all the good cars and a lot of the good music.
SPEAKER_01:I know, that's right. I remember we had to return it. We had to return it, and I thought I was so excited because I thought he was gonna let me your production manager was gonna let me drive it. And he was like, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna be driving it. Dang it. But I remember we you you guys kept me on. So after production, you needed help just kind of cleaning up the production offices. And we were meet we were officing in Santa Monica and at the Digital Entertainment Network, and they used to feed us every day. They'd have these like amazing spreads that every and we're talking for people who don't know. I mean, it was like there was at least a hundred people working in this business building every day, minimum. And and it was like a huge spread, and they were just spending money. Like, and you'd walk in the door and they would always have their they'd have their Maseratis and their Lamborghinis parked out front, and and they would always have somebody washing them. I'll never forget that. It was just like money, and then I I don't know, I don't know if you were there or because you I know you were kind of in and out doing all this other stuff, but I I I there was like all of a sudden, all of a sudden, like the the cars were gone, the food was gone. Like it was like, and those guys just kind of, you know, people can read about that and find out what exactly happened. You can Google the the downfall of the but but some very shady things took place that very quickly the money dried up. It was very it was a very interesting time.
SPEAKER_03:So well, you can read scripture, it's it's the story of all this stuff that's shiny that we think is gonna last forever, and they're and all of a sudden it's gone like grass, you know. It's and you just think, oh my gosh, this is an empire we're building here, and that quickly it can downfall. And that's why we don't trust in you know, in riches, or you know, don't build up and store for yourself treasures on earth where moths come in and you know, thieves break in and just you know destroy. And it's a hard lesson because I've been at companies like that. You just think, oh my gosh, my trust is in this company and my paycheck and these men. And Jeremiah 17 says, cursed. Cursed is the man who trusts in man. You know, we often read the good part about blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, but cursed is the man who trusts in, you know, a man's like strength or the legs of a horse. It's like this this stuff is gonna burn. And the sooner we learn that, the more freeing, the better artist, the better actor, the better producer, the better writer, the better person human you'll be because you realize my identity is not in what I do. It's who I am. Chosen, adopted, blessed. I want to be Sarah. I want to know that what's been given to me, as worthless as the world may say it is, has great value. Therefore, I have great value and a high price has been paid for me. To live with that kind of mindset is so freeing. I'll tell you one last story and then we should probably wrap up. But when I was working on a movie called Bobby Jones, I was working with Jesus, Jim Cavizel, who was in my Bible study, or I was in his. He he'd been, he just finished The Passion. It hadn't come out yet, so we didn't know it was going to be the success it was. But as a producer, we didn't get along very well because suddenly my buddy from Bible study was now my employee, and I was management, he was labor, and the two did not get along. I was not a liked person, and he was difficult for me. And by the way, I love Jim and I have the highest respect for his talent abilities, and we have a great friendship. But I'll tell you a funny story is that he was mad at me and felt I'd lied to him and you know, the typical things producers do, you know. How do you know a producer's lying? His lips are moving. He was not happy with me. And I would go to church on Sunday, and there's this big banner on the altar on the pulpit up front. It's a picture of Jesus, Jim Caviesel, and he's looking at me and he's mad at me. And I was like, I can't go to church here. This Jesus is mad at me. And I was telling this to a good friend of mine, an actress named Marietta De Prima, who I adore. And she says, John, when you were an actor, what was your job? I says, Well, I don't know, get everybody to like me. She said, Right. What's your job as a producer? I said, Well, to get the get the movie done. She said, Right. Jim is not Jesus, Jesus is not mad at you. He's just an actor. And by the way, if you're a producer and everybody likes you, you're probably a pretty blankety blank producer. So get over it. Get the movie done. And you know what, Jim and I, of course, reconciled and have been fast friends since. And but it it was a real lesson that, you know, when you mentioned to me earlier, oh, everything about John Shepard, you'd heard he's such a nice guy, such a nice guy. You know, my job is not to be nice, and sometimes I'm not. My job is to be faithful, to be obedient, to get the job done. And sometimes you have to be tough to do that. I'm not good at that. I don't like confrontation. I want everybody to like me. But as believers, not everybody is gonna like us all the time. In fact, it says in scripture, those who desire to live godly will be persecuted. I don't want to be persecuted. I don't want to be disliked. I want to get great reviews for Sarah's oil. But you know what? Even if they're bad reviews, even if they we're not gonna bow down and worship, even if we get thrown into the fiery furnace, we're still gonna serve God. And guess what? We go into the fiery furnace, there's a fourth guy in there with us. And that's the comfort I take. That's the encouragement I've got from people like you who've been in this business and around this business and ministered through this business and Act One, Master Media, Hollywood Prayer Network, guys I'm with today, this morning, we're we're iron sharpeners. We need each other. We're not equipped to be isolated, but we're not alone. I would say my final thoughts are just you know, keep the faith, don't get faint-hearted or grow discouraged and doing good in due time. Jimmy Duke, John Shepard, anybody listening, in due time you will reap reward. But you can't quit, can't give up. You gotta keep the faith. So I think I love that.
SPEAKER_01:It's such a good word, John. You're uh I I th I don't know of a better description of a of a working producer in this town other than faithful perseverance. It just it's just you just gotta keep going. And I love that. And you're and and you are. I you know, you you can take whatever you you can you can do whatever you want with that comment, but I but I didn't mean it. I wasn't just trying to you are you're a kind man, and I think that the way we treat people, and that's what I was trying to get across, is thank you, you know, the way you treat, of course, of course, there's always, you know, sets have tension, there's always going to be disagreement, but you you have a reputation of being kind, even in the midst of those challenging conversations. So I'm grateful to you, grateful for your friendship, your leadership. And hey, if you get a chance, please check out Sarah's oil. It's playing in theaters everywhere at the beginning of November 7th. John, I always like to close these times by praying for my guests. Would you allow me to pray for you? Be grateful for it. Thank you, Jimmy. Helly Father, we just thank you, God. We just want to stop and pause in the midst of everything else and just thank you. Thank you for being a loving God that that actually cares about who we are and what we do. And God, we're just so grateful for John, so grateful for his uh kindness, the way he treats people. God, we're not none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes, but John continues to just seek to be faithful for you and in in a business that is full of a lot of unfaithfulness. And so, God, we thank you for that. Uh, I thank you for his friendship to Act One and to me personally. I thank you for just the way he seeks to tell these stories that of the underdog of of those who are who oftentimes the world and culture misjudges. And and God, we just uh I just pray, God, that you would give more opportunities for John, more stories like that for him to tell. And we're grateful for this opportunity for this film. And we just pray your blessing upon all of it and anyone who gets a chance to watch the film. And we just thank you for this chance to talk. I pray a blessing upon John, his family, his work. And God, I just pray that this would be a tremendous season of fruitful reward through through the through the this film and and other kind of films to come. And we pray this in Jesus' name and your promise as we stand.
unknown:Amen.
SPEAKER_01: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 Act OneProgram.com. And to learn more about the work of Master Media, go to MasterMedia.com.