Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Movie Making in Real Life


I'm delighted to be able to bring you up to speed on some exciting developments for Treasure Blind. It seems other people like it too. What do you know! Beginning in February of 2009, Treasure Blind will be introduced to the world with the phrase, "from the producers of Left Behind: the Movie". Yup. We have signed a deal with Cloud Ten Pictures from Ontario and they are already busy with new artwork, some dressing up of the edit, and planning the promotional campaign through Koch distributors. Isn't that amazing? "The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes," as David said. We're very grateful, very excited, and ready to begin work on the next one. Whoa! Did I say that? It's true though. And to begin with, I'm headed off to a weekend screenwriter's seminar in two weeks to sharpen those nerves before heading into the next uncharted storyland. Can't wait.



Looking back, it was an education in so many things: film making of course, but also working with people of all types - easy to difficult - and mostly, trusting the Lord. It was a daily exercise of faith to literally give up my movie, to give it back to the Lord. "If you want it to never be made... but I can make that work if I just... if you want it to be made, it's okay with me. It's your movie, Lord. I'm giving it to you right now." That was literally a daily ritual from the first day of shooting to the day we mailed it to Canada. And what a great lesson! The truth is - as you already know - everything belongs to God anyway. Any success comes from God alone. His plan for me and my life is by far the best plan because He loves me, knows everything, and has all power. So giving Him the movie everyday was just a reminder to me of what was already true. But the result was unexplainable peace when the computer crashed to blue screen without explanation. Or when the hard drive quit working the day before it was due in Canada. Or when the worst storm of the season is forecast for your last possible day of shooting. I knew that peace because I reminded myself that it was all God's problem, not mine. It was His movie. And by the way, He worked all those problems out just fine. He's God, you know. I just hope I can apply what I've learned about movie making to real life.