Forgiveness, Foster Care, and Purposeful Filmmaking

Geoff: 00:00:00

Hey there.

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:03

My name is Geoff, and we've got a special episode for you.

Geoff: 00:00:06

Today we're gonna be talking about making an impact film and using it to create awareness about a cause or a need and how to do that.

Geoff: 00:00:15

And our guest today is Erin Dooley.

Geoff: 00:00:17

Hi Erin.

Erin: 00:00:17

Hello, how are you?

Geoff: 00:00:18

Good.

Geoff: 00:00:18

Good.

Geoff: 00:00:19

Erin is a writer and director who tells stories with the themes of forgiveness, family and faith, the good F words.

Geoff: 00:00:26

Erin has produced a scripted comedy podcast, two feature films, numerous short films, two comedy web series, a collaborative web series, and one feature documentary.

Geoff: 00:00:37

Erin and her projects have been featured in over 40 different media outlets.

Geoff: 00:00:42

Newsweek featured baked goodies in a guide of what to watch and decider.

Geoff: 00:00:47

Reviewed it as some of the Internet's most well done web content.

Geoff: 00:00:51

Erin is also a speaker traveling with her documentary, A Way to Forgiveness, giving talks about how to Forgive.

Geoff: 00:00:59

Welcome to the podcast, Erin.

Erin: 00:01:01

Thank you for having me.

Erin: 00:01:02

Good to see you.

Geoff: 00:01:03

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:01:03

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:01:04

We met actually last year at content.

Geoff: 00:01:06

Uh, Jaclyn and I, rented a car and shared that rental with a couple of other people.

Geoff: 00:01:10

Erin was one of them.

Geoff: 00:01:11

So we drove back and forth basically each day from, Weatherford to Capernaum Studios.

Geoff: 00:01:17

So.

Geoff: 00:01:18

Yeah, we did get to know Erin a little bit, but we're gonna find out more about her today, and in a few moments, we're gonna talk about her

Geoff: 00:01:26

short film, adopting Faith, and a lot of, uh, things surrounding that.

Geoff: 00:01:29

But first of all, Erin, let's talk about you so people can get to know you.

Geoff: 00:01:33

You do a lot of things based on, on your bio that we just read.

Geoff: 00:01:37

How did that start for you?

Geoff: 00:01:38

would you have considered yourself a writer first?

Geoff: 00:01:41

Or how did that all transpire?

Erin: 00:01:43

Yeah, it did start with.

Erin: 00:01:46

I mean, when I was a kid, you know, I have a lot of siblings and cousins and we would, you know, with the video camera.

Erin: 00:01:53

Do our little SNL sketches.

Erin: 00:01:55

And so I did like to be in front of the camera when I was young, but then as I got older I was like, no, I'll just be the one to write the stories.

Erin: 00:02:03

And started writing.

Erin: 00:02:05

And then I just haven't stopped.

Erin: 00:02:08

I've been writing for probably 15, 20 years and the first feature that I made is a Christian musical and I, like a lot of people in the audience

Erin: 00:02:18

probably can relate, you know, felt called by God to create something.

Erin: 00:02:22

And I audibly actually heard God on that one.

Erin: 00:02:26

I went for a run after I wrote it and I was praying like, okay God, what am I supposed to do with this now that I wrote it and I heard a voice say, well, you're gonna make it.

Erin: 00:02:34

And I actually stopped running and I looked up and down the road to see who was talking to me.

Erin: 00:02:39

'cause I like literally audibly heard it and I was like, well, I'm not a director.

Erin: 00:02:45

Surely you have thero, you know, the wrong idea.

Erin: 00:02:47

And I felt a hand on my shoulder like, no, you can do this.

Erin: 00:02:50

So I was like, okay, I guess I gotta do this.

Erin: 00:02:53

And so I did that.

Erin: 00:02:55

That was a very big undertaking.

Erin: 00:02:56

We had like 20 different locations.

Erin: 00:02:59

It was ensemble cast, there were a few children.

Erin: 00:03:01

And so, you know, working with miners.

Erin: 00:03:03

So it was a big undertaking for my first project.

Erin: 00:03:06

That pretty much started me on also producing my own projects because no one wants it to just sit in a hard drive, right?

Erin: 00:03:14

We all wanna get our stories out there for people.

Erin: 00:03:17

So I've been self-producing a lot of things and yeah, things that are obviously are very important to me.

Erin: 00:03:23

I mean, I do also make other things that are just more fun, but a lot of my, as the bio says, you know, faith, family, and forgiveness, uh, the good f words.

Erin: 00:03:33

that are important to me and uh, that I think would resonate with people that are like-minded.

Geoff: 00:03:38

Mm-hmm.

Geoff: 00:03:38

So a bunch of producing, directing, creating things, and I'm guessing that they are the things that you've written as opposed to being a producer or director of other things for other people.

Erin: 00:03:48

Right.

Erin: 00:03:49

Yeah.

Erin: 00:03:49

I, when I first moved to la, um, I'm originally from Chicago, moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago I did just to start meeting people.

Erin: 00:03:57

I went to different networking events, so I did work on a few other people's indie projects as in various capacities.

Erin: 00:04:04

I. Just to start to get to know people, but then very quickly, you know, you realize you can either keep working on other people's projects and that's

Erin: 00:04:11

gonna take all of your time, or you can scale back and work on your own.

Erin: 00:04:15

And so I was like, no, I really, I want my own stuff out there.

Erin: 00:04:18

And if I'm gonna do all that hard work of producing, then I want it to be my ideas.

Geoff: 00:04:23

But you would've had a hard time doing it all on your own if you hadn't met people

Erin: 00:04:27

Right?

Erin: 00:04:27

Yeah.

Erin: 00:04:27

Yeah.

Erin: 00:04:28

You definitely have

Geoff: 00:04:28

it's very important

Erin: 00:04:30

a

Erin: 00:04:30

necessary.

Erin: 00:04:31

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 00:04:31

For sure.

Geoff: 00:04:32

Cool.

Geoff: 00:04:33

Uh, so the musical was first.

Geoff: 00:04:35

can you tell us the name or

Erin: 00:04:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Erin: 00:04:37

It's, it's called Broken and Beautiful.

Erin: 00:04:39

And it, because I had to license 23 songs that were quite popular, like on the radio at that time.

Erin: 00:04:47

Um, a lot of CCM artists, um, like third day, uh, 10th Avenue North.

Erin: 00:04:51

I used the number of their songs and I just strung stories to connect these songs essentially.

Geoff: 00:04:58

Okay.

Geoff: 00:04:58

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 00:04:59

Um, so because I had to license them, you know, music licensing is expensive, so I only got the rights because DVDs were just, when I finally was able to release it, DVDs were really

Erin: 00:05:12

falling out of favor a lot, and so I just have the DVD rights for a certain number of units.

Erin: 00:05:18

so yeah, people can want, if they still have DVD players, you can buy the DVD on my website.

Erin: 00:05:23

That is how you get to see my

Geoff: 00:05:24

Okay.

Erin: 00:05:25

And I did four wall, a bunch of places.

Erin: 00:05:27

I did like a 10 city tour and places that have, you know, strong Christian populations and I marketed it there and I did that.

Erin: 00:05:35

So at least it could at some point be seen on the big screen, but, um, yeah.

Geoff: 00:05:40

But right now you don't have the rights to, uh, to release it on streaming.

Erin: 00:05:45

Yeah, I'd have to renegotiate and pay and it's not,

Geoff: 00:05:48

Well that sounds really interesting.

Geoff: 00:05:50

So we'll we're gonna give your website at the end and I encourage people to take advantage of that and help Erin by purchasing this DVD.

Geoff: 00:05:57

It's the only way she has the ability to sell it right now and it's sounds really interesting.

Erin: 00:06:02

Yeah, thanks.

Geoff: 00:06:03

Cool.

Geoff: 00:06:03

And so what was next?

Erin: 00:06:04

I did a number of shorts and then when I moved out here, I walked the Camino de Santiago, if you're familiar with that.

Erin: 00:06:11

It's a religious pilgrimage across Northern Spain, and so I wa Okay, great.

Geoff: 00:06:16

I'm not very familiar with,

Erin: 00:06:18

But you've heard of it?

Erin: 00:06:18

Yeah.

Erin: 00:06:19

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:06:19

there was a movie about that that I watched not too long ago.

Erin: 00:06:22

Okay.

Erin: 00:06:23

The, the way with Martin Sheen

Geoff: 00:06:25

Yes, that was it.

Erin: 00:06:26

Yeah.

Erin: 00:06:26

That they really popularized it in the United States, really to show, to talk about the power of media while walking a lot of, 'cause of course people are from all

Erin: 00:06:35

around the world while you're walking this pilgrimage and people from the states.

Erin: 00:06:39

Mostly would, would reference that movie.

Erin: 00:06:42

And then there's a, I guess a book in South Korea and another movie, I think a Germany.

Erin: 00:06:48

And it was just interesting to see that each country had this one standout piece of media that really educated people and, and got awareness about this pilgrimage.

Erin: 00:07:01

And that was what a lot of people would cite.

Erin: 00:07:02

But as a filmmaker, so I brought my camera along with me and I didn't want it to.

Erin: 00:07:08

Completely get in the way of just my natural experience of why I was going.

Erin: 00:07:12

I was, my marriage was ending and I was going to try to forgive and to heal.

Erin: 00:07:17

So I wanted to have that experience.

Erin: 00:07:19

But I also was like, but you're going to walk 500 miles.

Erin: 00:07:22

Like this is a big thing.

Erin: 00:07:23

So you have to film it to just,

Geoff: 00:07:26

So 500

Erin: 00:07:28

yes.

Erin: 00:07:28

Yeah.

Erin: 00:07:29

So I worked for 40 days, which I planned of course, because it's, you know, the biblical significance of that number and I walked past, so the city is like

Erin: 00:07:38

not quite to the ocean and after you've walked that far, you're like, let's just keep going and say I walked across an entire country instead of falling short.

Erin: 00:07:46

So I joked between that and getting lost.

Erin: 00:07:48

'cause I am directionally challenged.

Erin: 00:07:49

I round up to like 550 miles.

Erin: 00:07:52

But, so yeah, I had my camera along the way and I interviewed people that I met about their experiences of forgiveness or just their thoughts on forgiveness and.

Erin: 00:08:00

Still wasn't sure, you know, if I would make it into anything.

Erin: 00:08:03

And I thought at a minimum it'll be a, like a video diary for myself.

Erin: 00:08:07

But then when I got home, I was rewatching it and there was a gentleman from Spain, so he didn't know at first because of the language barrier, what we were talking about.

Erin: 00:08:16

But then by the end He was very against forgiving somebody in his life.

Erin: 00:08:20

And then at the end of the half hour conversation he said, well, it's interesting.

Erin: 00:08:24

I think I'm gonna think about it.

Erin: 00:08:26

And even though that's a small pivot, I thought, well, again, the power of media that just this conversation, I. Was opening his mind to

Erin: 00:08:34

the possibility to forgive, and so I decided to make it into a film.

Erin: 00:08:38

And so it's on Amazon and I do tour and I give talks on forgiveness.

Erin: 00:08:42

So it's again, kind of an impact film itself to spread the message of forgiveness.

Geoff: 00:08:48

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:08:48

So it's a documentary and that's where that

Geoff: 00:08:50

came From from.

Geoff: 00:08:51

that pilgrimage.

Geoff: 00:08:53

I wasn't aware of

Erin: 00:08:53

Yeah.

Erin: 00:08:54

So it's called A Way to Forgiveness because the pilgrimage is called The Way, and so it's a little play on words.

Erin: 00:09:00

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:09:00

And it's on Amazon Prime.

Erin: 00:09:02

Yeah, that and Tub B, Roku and a couple of other smaller platforms and, and of course DVDs.

Erin: 00:09:08

So if they are on the site to buy the other one, they can get a two package deal.

Geoff: 00:09:12

there you go.

Geoff: 00:09:13

Okay, well that sounds great.

Geoff: 00:09:15

I'm gonna take a look at that myself

Erin: 00:09:16

Yeah.

Erin: 00:09:17

Great.

Geoff: 00:09:18

Okay, so let's jump ahead and talk about adopting faith.

Geoff: 00:09:22

Uh, this is your most recent project and it's a special one.

Geoff: 00:09:25

Tell us about

Erin: 00:09:26

yes.

Erin: 00:09:26

Actually, I wrote it a few years ago while I was again listening to God's voice, feeling prompted this time to foster and.

Erin: 00:09:35

as I was discerning at first, I volunteered at a group home once a month, and then I was like, all right, I need to do more.

Erin: 00:09:42

So then I mentored a young lady who had aged out of the foster care system for a year, and I thought, well, yes, okay.

Erin: 00:09:48

I helped her, but I could have done more if I had a child like under my roof.

Erin: 00:09:52

And so, and.

Erin: 00:09:53

In the end, I decided to get licensed to be a foster mom, and I fostered a teenager for 14 months and she's actually in the movie my former foster daughter.

Erin: 00:10:01

So I just have a big heart to help foster kids.

Erin: 00:10:04

There's almost 400,000 in the United States children that need homes.

Erin: 00:10:09

And so I thought, well, let's use the gift of film.

Erin: 00:10:13

You know that I enjoy making films, I enjoy writing stories, so let's.

Erin: 00:10:16

Get this out there.

Erin: 00:10:17

And so I made the short film.

Erin: 00:10:19

It's about 15 minutes long and it was interesting.

Erin: 00:10:23

I ended up asking the cast and crew and I think two thirds of us, and I didn't only cast people or hire people that had a connection to foster adoption, but in the end, two thirds of us have.

Erin: 00:10:37

Someone in our family or you know, personal experience with foster care or adoption.

Erin: 00:10:42

So I thought that was, yeah, you just never know who's involved in that.

Erin: 00:10:46

And so gonna be utilizing this film to have events.

Erin: 00:10:49

So the first one will be in Los Angeles and inviting the local foster care organization.

Erin: 00:10:55

So it'll be a fair, we'll show the film and then all the organizations are gonna have tables so that people can walk around and learn how they can help foster kids.

Erin: 00:11:02

Most people think, oh, I just.

Erin: 00:11:04

The only thing I can do is to foster, and that's not the case.

Erin: 00:11:08

Like I just said, I mentored, I worked at a group home, or you know what?

Erin: 00:11:12

Some people, they don't have a lot of time, but they might have some money that they wanna donate.

Erin: 00:11:16

Well.

Erin: 00:11:17

There's a lot of things that foster kids need, and there's some really wonderful organizations that, give prom dresses to the foster kids or give

Erin: 00:11:23

suitcases to them, because a lot of times they just have their stuff in a bag.

Erin: 00:11:26

So I'm really trying to use this film to make an impact and, uh, just spread the message of the need for foster people.

Geoff: 00:11:33

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:11:34

Let's talk about your approach.

Geoff: 00:11:35

How would you have approached this differently from another, uh, let's say a comedy or another of your projects?

Geoff: 00:11:43

What about.

Geoff: 00:11:43

The impact that you were going for affected your filming

Erin: 00:11:48

I think one is my mindset.

Erin: 00:11:50

I mean, with the short film, of course, very few, if any, are gonna be good return on investment.

Erin: 00:11:55

It's more for directors to, to stand out, to get attention, to move on to that next thing.

Erin: 00:12:00

Or maybe it's a proof of concept for a feature.

Erin: 00:12:03

And for me it was just, you know, just changing my mindset.

Erin: 00:12:06

Look, okay, this is not about.

Erin: 00:12:08

Any of that.

Erin: 00:12:09

This is really just me trying to give back to the community and if, if it's going to open doors for me personally, then that'll would just be some icing on the cake.

Erin: 00:12:20

So I think that is the primary shift that I had to do just as a filmmaker and to still elevate it.

Erin: 00:12:27

I mean, this is probably gonna be my best looking project, honestly.

Erin: 00:12:31

So I just am self-funding it myself because I just have such a heart for.

Erin: 00:12:36

Kids, and I just didn't wanna wait to try to raise funds because everything takes time and.

Geoff: 00:12:40

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 00:12:41

you know, if you use Kickstarter or whatever you know, to have people donate.

Erin: 00:12:44

That's just more time.

Erin: 00:12:45

And I was like, I just wanna get this out there.

Erin: 00:12:47

Um, and then as I'm looking to get it out there, then you have different ways you can do the Festival circuit.

Erin: 00:12:54

You could, you know, just put it up on your YouTube and I'm thinking, how is it gonna get into the places where it's gonna have the impact?

Erin: 00:13:02

And so I designed these foster fairs.

Erin: 00:13:06

So part of what I've been doing while the editors have been editing is putting together this kit where I lay out everything that they're gonna need so that people could host these fairs

Erin: 00:13:17

in their own cities and utilize it and just make this film available to people to do that.

Erin: 00:13:23

And so that was also, you know, just an additional piece that you wouldn't normally do that's not part of a film, but when you do films that are these impact films.

Erin: 00:13:33

you know, some people make a study guide to have discussions or things like that.

Erin: 00:13:36

So it was just another thing that I had to create and artwork to promote this fair.

Erin: 00:13:42

And as I'm sending out press releases now, it's, it's interesting to think, okay, which am I stressing more like the availability of it and inviting them to this specific fair.

Erin: 00:13:55

Or also trying to get out the idea that I would like other people to host these in their cities again.

Erin: 00:14:01

And so that makes it interesting to have slightly nuanced language in the marketing piece of it.

Erin: 00:14:08

So there's a few points that are Yeah, they're, they're different about what the focus is.

Erin: 00:14:13

' cause anytime you make a film, you know, it's helpful to start with, well where's this gonna end up?

Erin: 00:14:18

What is my goal?

Erin: 00:14:19

Is this gonna be on streaming?

Erin: 00:14:20

Is this gonna, am I gonna four wall places?

Erin: 00:14:23

What am I gonna do with it in the end?

Geoff: 00:14:25

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:14:25

And with a specific mission and goal and purpose for impact from this film, I mean, that would've started right at the writing stage because that was the whole purpose.

Erin: 00:14:35

Yeah.

Erin: 00:14:35

And even when I was writing took off of that, when I wrote it, I had not yet fostered.

Erin: 00:14:40

I. Then when I reread it, I had been, you know, doing, helping foster kids, but I hadn't had a child in my home yet.

Erin: 00:14:47

And so then I reread it and changed a few things.

Erin: 00:14:51

And then I had a friend who I met through fostering.

Erin: 00:14:54

She did adopt her daughter out of foster care.

Erin: 00:14:57

And so I said, can you please read this?

Erin: 00:14:59

I don't want it to be schmaltzy.

Erin: 00:15:00

I don't want it to be all of that.

Erin: 00:15:02

I want it to be real.

Erin: 00:15:04

And not scare people off, but I want it to be to really show the experience.

Erin: 00:15:08

And so she read it and she was like, yeah, this is accurate.

Erin: 00:15:13

And one of the foster organizations read it and thought it was an accurate portrayal of what can happen.

Erin: 00:15:20

Yeah.

Erin: 00:15:20

I just wanna be honest with this experience.

Geoff: 00:15:23

Well, this whole foster fair, I believe that's the word you used.

Geoff: 00:15:28

This whole concept is really cool.

Geoff: 00:15:30

I have been aware of this type of impact films.

Geoff: 00:15:34

I know, uh, for example, Tyler Sanso has been producing films and the way their church, 'cause uh, their films are produced as a part of their church

Geoff: 00:15:44

does follow up and outreach to specific groups that the film is related to.

Geoff: 00:15:49

I know the last film they produced, which is uh, just recently, it's not out yet, will actually be used to, uh, support families with

Geoff: 00:15:57

autism and they will go based on what they did with their previous film.

Geoff: 00:16:02

They will spend a lot of effort and time using it to.

Geoff: 00:16:06

Help create a support system for those families.

Geoff: 00:16:08

So, uh, sounds like a very similar thing to what you're doing and not just creating it and hoping that it's helpful, but actually creating

Geoff: 00:16:17

the events that will help move it forward and create awareness for it.

Erin: 00:16:21

Yeah.

Erin: 00:16:21

Yeah.

Erin: 00:16:21

Just trying to build as much of a structure and a blueprint probably rather for people Yeah.

Erin: 00:16:26

To take it and run with it, because I have.

Erin: 00:16:29

Done some of this to a lesser extent with, even with my comedy podcast, I leaked up with, um, young adult groups to say, listen, you can listen to the episode, you can share it,

Erin: 00:16:41

and then here's a study guide so that you guys can have some fruitful discussions about it.

Erin: 00:16:45

And so I do like that idea of having it just more than passive entertainment for people, you know, that it's really to.

Erin: 00:16:53

See how they can integrate it into their lives with a, a number of the projects that I've done, you know, definitely with, you know, the, forgiveness one that I'm going out and I'm giving

Erin: 00:17:02

talks and I'm engaging with people, and people reach out to me and, and say how it has helped.

Erin: 00:17:07

And that's also, besides having that impact, it's just nice as a creator to know that you can see it more directly that, oh, this really is something that is influencing people and

Erin: 00:17:20

you don't always.

Erin: 00:17:21

Get that, except if you're just like at a premier and then you're sitting in a room full of people reacting, you know, to seeing your film on the big screen,

Geoff: 00:17:30

Well, it's a whole mission on its own.

Geoff: 00:17:32

Uh, kind of separate, obviously tied, but separate from making the

Geoff: 00:17:35

film what you're doing with it after the fact is, uh, is quite a, a venture so.

Erin: 00:17:40

Yeah.

Erin: 00:17:40

And there's so many, yeah, different pockets of different stories that need to be told.

Erin: 00:17:44

And as people might be creating something, you know, they'll say, write what you know, and I do have, you know, foster kids in other scripts

Erin: 00:17:52

that I've written, but it wouldn't lend itself to something like this.

Erin: 00:17:55

But just as people are creating their own things to, to think about, oh, is this something that could be done in this way I did reach out to some

Erin: 00:18:04

organizations to try to see if they would sponsor it, and that didn't work out, but they're still willing to help promote it and to help spread the word to make

Erin: 00:18:13

it

Erin: 00:18:13

available.

Erin: 00:18:13

So that's great.

Erin: 00:18:16

It's all like money, you know?

Erin: 00:18:17

They don't wanna front the money, but they're happy to help once it's already been created, which I, I get.

Geoff: 00:18:22

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:18:23

So tell us what advice you would have for others who may have a missional project in mind.

Geoff: 00:18:30

Something that's, uh, dear to their heart, that they have the ability to create a, a film, short film, whatever the case may be.

Geoff: 00:18:37

For what advice or tips might you give them or inspiration for others who might wanna do what you're doing?

Erin: 00:18:45

Yeah, well definitely, you know, we'd start.

Erin: 00:18:47

With what you are already doing.

Erin: 00:18:49

You know, don't just think of something because you want to necessarily make something that makes an impact, like something that really is close to your heart.

Erin: 00:18:58

You know, if you already do volunteer somewhere, because it is a lot more work.

Erin: 00:19:02

It's additional work.

Erin: 00:19:03

And so if you already have connections like here locally.

Erin: 00:19:07

I have connections with some foster care organizations because I volunteered for them already.

Erin: 00:19:13

So that is already helpful.

Erin: 00:19:15

So definitely doing something that's gonna be impactful to yourself and, and starting early, laying.

Erin: 00:19:22

The groundwork as you're starting to create.

Erin: 00:19:25

Um, so I already had let, my former social worker, she already knew before we filmed.

Erin: 00:19:31

I was like, Hey, I've got this project and once we have this, this is what I'm gonna be doing and I'd love your agency to be part of this.

Erin: 00:19:37

And she'll, she already knows what's gonna happen, that I'm gonna be asking her something in a few months.

Erin: 00:19:41

So, you know, laying some groundwork ahead of time and you know, as much buy-in as you can get and you're not asking.

Erin: 00:19:47

For something, you're just, you're asking to help people, which should be an easy yes for them than to say, oh yes, you're making this.

Erin: 00:19:54

That will help me.

Erin: 00:19:55

Yes.

Erin: 00:19:56

How can I utilize it and

Erin: 00:19:58

tell me more.

Geoff: 00:19:59

I'm guessing the earlier you bring organizations into the picture, the better.

Geoff: 00:20:04

you know, as opposed to creating the film first and then approaching them and saying, here's something you can use, or

Geoff: 00:20:11

would you agree,

Erin: 00:20:12

It's a little tricky because people, they do wanna see, they can't read a script and then visualize it, right.

Erin: 00:20:18

If they're not

Erin: 00:20:19

in it.

Erin: 00:20:19

So they really did like the one, it's a national organization that I'm not sure how they're gonna be involved yet.

Erin: 00:20:26

So I don't wanna put the cart before the horse by saying, um, but I've been in contact with them and so I feel like something is going to happen.

Erin: 00:20:33

But they still, even though.

Erin: 00:20:35

It's ready.

Erin: 00:20:36

They're like, but we still need to see the final thing to know because they don't know me from anyone.

Erin: 00:20:42

So, you know, I could have these grand ideas and it could look terrible, and it could actually even have something that doesn't a hundred percent align with our mission.

Erin: 00:20:50

And maybe big organizations, nonprofits have to be careful.

Erin: 00:20:53

So I get it.

Geoff: 00:20:54

Yes, of course.

Erin: 00:20:55

So it may take longer, I think is what people should be prepared for.

Erin: 00:20:58

That it may be baby steps and just that continual communication and to be prepared for that to say, this is what's gonna happen.

Erin: 00:21:07

I'd love for you to be apart.

Erin: 00:21:08

What would be the next step on your end?

Erin: 00:21:10

And to be ready for it to maybe take some time, but as long as you're on their radar, then when you come back around, you've already planted some seed.

Geoff: 00:21:19

And I'm guessing that it is something you have to be prepared for a commitment of time beyond the film, this whole organizing of these foster fairs.

Geoff: 00:21:28

In some cases, someone else hopefully might have a team of people to work on, that type of thing.

Geoff: 00:21:33

But if you're doing it yourself, there's probably quite a lot of work there.

Erin: 00:21:36

Oh yeah.

Erin: 00:21:37

I mean, I have my dry erase board next to my desk with, you know, a litany of things that I had to do for this, and I was like, okay, you'll just check one off at a time to prepare for this.

Erin: 00:21:46

This is its own separate to-do list than the film, but thankfully because I have a team working on the film.

Erin: 00:21:54

I have typically, I've edited a lot of my own stuff and having somebody else to edit this has been very wonderful so that I can shift gears and be working on the fares while that's happening.

Erin: 00:22:04

So both things are happening at once.

Erin: 00:22:06

So def to go back to suggestion for people to definitely get as many people involved as you can, you know, afford to do, because many hands make light works and.

Erin: 00:22:16

If they just take everything else besides this impact piece from you, that was enough to help you to free your time.

Geoff: 00:22:23

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:22:23

Well this is really an amazing thing that you're doing.

Geoff: 00:22:26

I wanna commend you on that.

Geoff: 00:22:27

I know this short film is in post-production right now, so when you have somewhere available that we can, uh, direct people to watch it, make sure you contact me and give me that

Geoff: 00:22:38

information, and we'll put it in the show notes depending when this, uh, particular episode is.

Geoff: 00:22:43

Published, they may or may not be able to go watch it right away, but, uh, it's possible.

Geoff: 00:22:50

Please, if you're listening, take a look at the show notes and we'll have the information there as soon as we get it.

Geoff: 00:22:55

So you can watch this film and also tell us your website where they can get your musical, and I believe your documentary as well, right?

Geoff: 00:23:04

If they wanna get it on DVD.

Erin: 00:23:06

Yeah, and the trailer is available for adopting faith, so that for sure whenever this comes out people can watch the trailer, so that's great.

Erin: 00:23:13

I'll send that link.

Erin: 00:23:14

But my website's kind of long.

Erin: 00:23:15

My company is Dash Entertainment, so it's Dash, and then an actual dash hyphen entertainment.

Erin: 00:23:21

Weebly because it's the free weebly.com.

Erin: 00:23:24

I'll send it.

Erin: 00:23:25

Definitely go on the show notes and just click it 'cause it's long.

Erin: 00:23:27

Or if you just Google my name Erin Dooley, then it should pop up as well.

Erin: 00:23:31

And it has, yeah, all of my film projects there that are

Geoff: 00:23:35

cool.

Geoff: 00:23:35

So the word

Erin: 00:23:36

Mm-hmm.

Geoff: 00:23:37

then entertainment@weebly.com.

Geoff: 00:23:40

Good.

Geoff: 00:23:41

Good.

Geoff: 00:23:41

Now, just before we go, you mentioned your podcast as well and how you also connected with young adult groups and created a study guide, I believe that's the word you used.

Geoff: 00:23:52

So tell us a little bit about that.

Erin: 00:23:54

Yeah, it's called Confessions of a Catholic Single.

Erin: 00:23:56

So it is a comedy about dating in today's world while maintaining your faith.

Erin: 00:24:01

And the main character lives in Vegas.

Erin: 00:24:03

The worst place for a Christian to live.

Erin: 00:24:06

It's a scripted comedy podcast, you know, like an old time radio show.

Erin: 00:24:10

And so

Erin: 00:24:10

there's two seasons we're working on.

Erin: 00:24:12

Mm-hmm.

Erin: 00:24:13

And we're working on the third season right now.

Erin: 00:24:15

We're just in the brainstorming sessions right now.

Erin: 00:24:18

But, uh, it's on Spotify, pod bean, wherever people listen.

Erin: 00:24:22

When I first started it, I actually didn't listen to a lot of podcasts and if it wasn't on YouTube, I didn't watch it.

Erin: 00:24:29

And so I made sure that.

Erin: 00:24:31

All of these episodes are also on YouTube.

Erin: 00:24:33

There's nothing visual.

Erin: 00:24:34

There's just pictures, and yeah.

Erin: 00:24:36

And then, so then I have a question guide for if people wanna use it with a group of people.

Erin: 00:24:41

So that's also on my website.

Geoff: 00:24:42

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:24:43

Well, Erin, it's been great talking with

Geoff: 00:24:45

you and it's been great to talk about making films of impact and, uh, your cause of course is very, very important.

Geoff: 00:24:52

And also just talking about how other filmmakers, giving them ideas of how they can make an impact as well, especially if they have a, a mission towards something that's on their heart.

Geoff: 00:25:03

And so I really thank you for sharing that with us today.

Geoff: 00:25:06

Anything you'd like to add or any final words before we go?

Erin: 00:25:09

No, just people keep making great films and think about also, yeah, if they wanna be involved with foster care, there's lots of ways they can help children.

Erin: 00:25:17

And there's almost 400,000 children that need help in the United States.

Erin: 00:25:19

So my website also has resources for different ways people can get involved.

Erin: 00:25:23

So

Geoff: 00:25:23

We will definitely put all of those links in the show notes if you want to find them and you just don't remember them from what you heard a few moments ago.

Geoff: 00:25:31

Check out the show notes and take a look at Erin's resources.

Geoff: 00:25:34

Thank you so much.

Geoff: 00:25:35

It's great talking with you today.

Erin: 00:25:36

Yep.

Erin: 00:25:36

Thanks so much for having me.