Filmmaking and Storytelling: What This Journey Teaches Me.

Filmmaking and storytelling have taught me many things about hard work, discipline, characters, teamwork, God, and the strange and wonderful journey of becoming a storyteller and now a filmmaker. What this journey teaches me is… Hard Work, Discipline, and the Story. (sub heading) Hard work pays dividends – not the kind of dividends you would think – but dividends nonetheless – things like self-awareness – ability to communicate with and surrender to God – Ether! And its vast storehouse-warehouse of uncollected and untold stories – tales and ideas – personal devotion to things that others cannot see nor ever will comprehend. Disciplines – submitting your will and mind and heart to this storyline that first invades your life – and then captures your life – this devotion to this grand realm and galactic arena that perhaps is known – at least at first – only to you. This is one of the strange gifts of filmmaking and storytelling: the story can begin as something that exists only inside you, something that others cannot yet see or comprehend. And then, through hard work, discipline, devotion, and persistence, it begins to take shape. Characters, Team, and the Universe of the Story. (sub heading) Characters and their influence(s) – I suppose this one characteristic is the most surprising – for you find these men – women – creatures – locations – realms – become your personal companions that – to quote scripture – “stick closer than a brother” – I have indeed built this timeless and unbreakable bond with a few of the many characters that I have created – that is an untrue statement – that I have been permitted the high honor and deep courtesy of becoming acquainted with each of them. Team – to see a Team show up – to witness the storylines and the characters build their own internal campgrounds into the lives of others – who either stumbled upon them through some relationship with me – or found them because of their own searches – and to see the TEAM embrace and immerse themselves into this universe not of my own making has been a surprise and a constant source of delight and unexpected and exceeding pure – Joy! There is something extraordinary about watching a story move beyond its creator. The characters begin to live in the imagination of others. The story finds its way into other lives. The filmmaking and storytelling journey becomes something shared. God, the Storyteller, and the New Day. (sub heading) God – his reluctance to bless – and yet my constancy of effort remains a dark mystery – God sends funds to those who build the most vexatious and vacuous and even vile stories – and yet – the tales I build – he ignores – please change the course of this river Dear Father! Send an avalanche and floodtide of funds and abundant cash – amen! Storyteller and now Filmmaker Extraordinaire – what surprises me the most I suppose is that no one cares about my storytelling except me – and then – maybe God will pay attention – please help me, Dear Father, Amen. So, the new day begins. Please help me today, Dear Father, Amen. And so the work continues. The stories remain. The characters remain. The team grows. And the journey of filmmaking and storytelling continues, one day, one story, and one act of faith at a time.