From Godzilla to God

Matt: 00:00:00

Yes, indeed.

Matt: 00:00:00

So as you have heard, this is the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast.

Matt: 00:00:05

Uh, excited to have you guys joining us today.

Matt: 00:00:07

You know, we've got a guest that I'm actually really excited to talk to because this is a guest who, if you go to his IMDb page, this dude's working.

Matt: 00:00:14

This dude is working.

Matt: 00:00:15

So, uh, Chris Kieffer, thanks so much for joining us.

Matt: 00:00:18

Appreciate you to take a little time out.

Chris: 00:00:20

Thank you.

Chris: 00:00:20

Thank you for having me.

Chris: 00:00:21

I appreciate it.

Matt: 00:00:21

So, Chris, I'm gonna kind of go over your bio for a second just so that the listeners can get to know who you are and what you do.

Matt: 00:00:27

Chris, you know, like all of us wears a lot of hats in the film industry.

Matt: 00:00:30

Writer, producer, creative director, creating faith-based content, story-driven content that really shares biblical truth through the powerful storytelling that we all aspire to tell.

Matt: 00:00:39

Chris is also a father of four.

Matt: 00:00:41

You may hear some of his kids in the background, like I told him, I don't mind that at all.

Matt: 00:00:45

'cause that's, that's the way our house sounds when we have several kids.

Matt: 00:00:47

So that's great.

Matt: 00:00:48

But, uh, Chris, you've been in.

Matt: 00:00:49

You bring 20 years of film and TV experience including 12 at Warner Brothers.

Matt: 00:00:54

I looked at your IMDB page and it is, yeah, go, go look up Chris on IMDB.

Matt: 00:00:58

I encourage you to do that 'cause he's led creative teams on projects such as the Mandalorian Gro Gu Westworld, interstellar, star Trek, the card, fallout Godzilla.

Matt: 00:01:07

Most recently I see you worked in the Naked Gun movie, which I'm excited to see that that's a reboot that I'm not sure they could have done with anybody else besides him.

Matt: 00:01:15

So, uh.

Matt: 00:01:16

Chris, you're, you're a guy who makes stuff.

Matt: 00:01:18

So, uh, let's, I just wanna kind of dive in and, and talk about kind of how you got where you got the most, the most common role I see in your IMDB is, VIDEOGRAPHIC supervisor.

Matt: 00:01:29

So let's just start there, and then let's go back to the beginning and, and let's talk about your journey on how you got here.

Chris: 00:01:34

So that's a, a job that nobody understands what it is, of course.

Chris: 00:01:37

Right?

Chris: 00:01:37

So,

Matt: 00:01:38

Here's your chance to correct the record.

Chris: 00:01:40

yeah.

Chris: 00:01:40

Right.

Chris: 00:01:41

So what we do for that particular role as video graphic supervisor, it, falls under the term video playback graphics.

Chris: 00:01:47

And in films and TV shows that can encompass a lot.

Chris: 00:01:51

What we do is we create content, um, for.

Chris: 00:01:54

If anything is minor as a phone, like when you see a phone call, even sometimes those are built because you can't show the date, the time, or you know, the carrier, things like that.

Chris: 00:02:03

So anything from a phone.

Chris: 00:02:04

All the way to like a police bullpen, you know, with 50 screens or a command center, a military base, or sci-fi, things like a spaceship.

Chris: 00:02:14

You get a cockpit or you got holograms or you know, anything that you see that is like tech.

Chris: 00:02:19

Interfaces, screens, holograms, all of those types of things that we create.

Chris: 00:02:24

And sometimes those are done in production or post-production.

Chris: 00:02:28

And so it, it, that's why they call it video playback graphics.

Chris: 00:02:31

'cause we actually try and play it back on set so an actor can interact with it if possible.

Chris: 00:02:36

Um, or you know, we do it later post.

Matt: 00:02:39

Doing that practically when you can really, really helps our, our editors and our post graphics folks.

Matt: 00:02:45

I remember doing a movie once and we had a ton of shots the next day where the, the actor's gonna be looking at his cell phone, he can't get his call out, blah, blah, blah.

Matt: 00:02:53

And I'm, thinking, oh my gosh, I don't have any of that ready.

Matt: 00:02:55

And I. Don't want to just make it green until the post-production, that's four days of post right there.

Matt: 00:03:00

Having to, you know, track all that and after effects and that kind of thing.

Matt: 00:03:03

So when you can do it practically, it sure helps.

Chris: 00:03:07

Yeah, especially, you know, depending on the sets, like we just did a, a set where we had like 200 plus screens, uh, different variations in sizes, and we had a hundred and like, I think it was like 190 foot LED wall, right?

Chris: 00:03:18

Like that's where all the action's happening.

Chris: 00:03:20

It's like big command center.

Chris: 00:03:21

And post would kill us if we just made that whole room blue, you know?

Chris: 00:03:26

So a lot of the times what you might do is just fill that set, you know, all the, all the screens on the, on the floor, even on the wall, and then shoot as much as it you can in camera, especially when you know you're tight on an act actor and it's blurred in the background, or you get texture in the background, right?

Chris: 00:03:41

It doesn't have to be a hundred percent the content that you need.

Chris: 00:03:44

You may not have some of the content, right, depending on what you're shooting.

Chris: 00:03:46

So at least filling a lot of those holes for visual effects that they're very happy when we can do that.

Matt: 00:03:51

Well, there's a different look too.

Matt: 00:03:52

You can't just green screen.

Matt: 00:03:54

It goes flat sometimes, even if you're, you're trying to achieve a Boca.

Matt: 00:03:59

You put a blur behind them, but that, that's not the same as true in camera Boca with real graphics behind them.

Matt: 00:04:05

It's just not the same at all.

Chris: 00:04:07

Yeah, some of those, we cheat that too, but we might.

Chris: 00:04:09

Actually shoot it, uh, gray or black depending on what the VFX supervisor wants, or you know, the onset one.

Chris: 00:04:14

And they'll shoot it practical as well so that they have reference to try to get as close to the real thing as possible.

Chris: 00:04:20

You got lens distortion and all that kind of stuff, and if it doesn't match, it looks wrong.

Chris: 00:04:24

It looks placed.

Matt: 00:04:25

In doing what you do, that also means you have to have a, a good grasp of, of everybody on set.

Matt: 00:04:30

You gotta know how camera works, you gotta know how the lighting and grip works.

Matt: 00:04:34

You really have to have a mastery of some sort of all the elements of all the jobs on set.

Chris: 00:04:39

Yeah, we all, we interface with a lot of 'em actually.

Chris: 00:04:41

So a lot of times we'll be working with art department set deck, you know, even lighting, the cinematographer, the, you know, the DP and everyone, because like we have to color correct the monitors.

Chris: 00:04:51

Are we shooting 3,200?

Chris: 00:04:52

You know, like what are we shooting?

Chris: 00:04:53

So we've gotta balance the monitors for all of those things as well.

Chris: 00:04:56

And can we balance the monitors and then set deck.

Chris: 00:04:59

Like it just worked on the, the Mandalorian Grogu, I mean, we obviously have, you know, star Wars, right?

Chris: 00:05:04

So we've got spaceships, we've got all kinds of things and all of those weird bezels and cutouts.

Chris: 00:05:08

And so we have to build things that fit, you know, within those.

Chris: 00:05:12

And then how are they actually gonna put that?

Chris: 00:05:14

Is it a monitors, an iPad?

Chris: 00:05:15

Like how are we actually building it into the set and then can we wire it?

Chris: 00:05:18

And so we work with electrical and so we ended up touching a lot of the departments on a set.

Matt: 00:05:23

You know, I could go in for days and talk more and more and more, but I want to kind of go back to the beginning and, and learn more about kind of how you, how you got into all this, how did you get into the film industry and, and, let's talk about your faith journey and all that.

Matt: 00:05:36

So let's start from the beginning sir.

Chris: 00:05:38

Okay.

Chris: 00:05:39

Before I got into the film industry, I was working, doing graphic design and um, doing print and stuff like that.

Chris: 00:05:45

And, um, but I've always wanted to do motion graphics and, and I've always wanted to do film, but I was moving over into motion graphics and animation and things like that while I was working in print and that kind of stuff.

Chris: 00:05:56

I had just been just working on a, on a demo as much as I possibly could, you know, and submitting it to all the places and, you know, never hearing anything back.

Chris: 00:06:04

Like most people, you know, just send it to a void and, you know, hope for at least get a response.

Chris: 00:06:09

Like, yeah, we got it, but nothing, you know.

Chris: 00:06:11

And then sure enough, you know, one time, uh, it, it was a, uh, hey, a, uh, friend of a friend who works in this department, you know, heard that they needed somebody and he's like, Hey, I play in a band with this guy and I think his son does graphics and, you know, one of those kind of things, right?

Chris: 00:06:27

And, uh, I went in for an interview at Warner Brothers and it was a, uh, kind of triage mode.

Chris: 00:06:33

Like one of their main guys got sick and they were just looking to, to fill that spot as fast as possible.

Chris: 00:06:39

So I went and I, helped him out on this, project.

Chris: 00:06:42

And then it was a, uh, definitely a grind, a weekend grind, like 24 straight hours a day just trying to get this done over a weekend.

Chris: 00:06:50

It was for something that shot the, the following, you know, week.

Chris: 00:06:53

And that was my entry into trying out the film industry.

Chris: 00:06:57

And that was that it, it just ended right after that.

Chris: 00:06:58

It was just like a weekend's worth of work.

Chris: 00:07:00

And then I didn't hear back for like six months.

Chris: 00:07:03

I was like, oh, well maybe I didn't do very good or something, you know, I had no idea.

Chris: 00:07:07

But then, you know, the, the movie is coming out and I'm like, oh, cool.

Chris: 00:07:10

Like I'll get a credit, you know, all that kind of stuff, you know?

Chris: 00:07:13

And, and then I go to the movies to watch it and.

Chris: 00:07:16

Of course my scene's cut from the whole movie, the one thing I did.

Chris: 00:07:19

And, you know, no credit, nothing like that.

Chris: 00:07:21

And I was like, oh, oh, I see how this works now.

Chris: 00:07:23

You know what I mean?

Chris: 00:07:24

It was interesting.

Chris: 00:07:25

I learned a lot doing that.

Chris: 00:07:26

And uh, it was funny though.

Chris: 00:07:27

And then I was like, all right, well I'll keep looking, you know, and see what I could find.

Chris: 00:07:31

And then, um, I can't remember how much later it was.

Chris: 00:07:33

It was a while later though.

Chris: 00:07:34

Um, then it called me back and they were like, Hey, we're doing a project and uh, we wanna see if uh, you wanna come in and help.

Chris: 00:07:41

And at the time I was running an art department for a print company.

Chris: 00:07:44

And then I went down and talked to 'em again, and it was one of those things where they bring me in and they're like, Hey, we really need help with the programming side of this.

Chris: 00:07:52

And I know you like, you know, animate, like programming and stuff like that.

Chris: 00:07:56

What sucks is I didn't know any of that.

Chris: 00:07:58

I don't know why they thought I knew that.

Chris: 00:08:00

And so I go down there thinking that like, it was all about just graphics strictly, but it was, it was about programming all the graphics.

Chris: 00:08:06

And um, for some reason they thought I did that.

Chris: 00:08:10

And I was like, bombed out.

Chris: 00:08:11

'cause I'm like, oh, now I'm, you know, they're just gonna be like, nevermind, you know?

Chris: 00:08:14

And I was like, well, I mean, I could do graphics though, you know?

Chris: 00:08:16

And they're like, yeah, we're, we're a little behind, or we, we will put you in a room and we'll see what you can do.

Chris: 00:08:21

You know?

Chris: 00:08:21

And I was like, ah, awesome.

Chris: 00:08:22

So they, at least they gave me a chance.

Chris: 00:08:24

They said, we just we're only gonna guarantee you a week's worth of work.

Chris: 00:08:26

That's it.

Chris: 00:08:27

And so I went back to my job and I was, Hey, I'm gonna take a week off, you know?

Chris: 00:08:30

And they're like, okay.

Chris: 00:08:31

You know, that's fine.

Chris: 00:08:32

and then, but at the time I was, you know, looking for other jobs and I got a call from a company I interviewed at and they were like, Hey, you got the job if you want it.

Chris: 00:08:41

And I was.

Chris: 00:08:42

Awesome.

Chris: 00:08:43

Gimme a week.

Chris: 00:08:43

You know, like, and they were like, no, we need you to start right away.

Chris: 00:08:47

And I was like, nah, I need a week.

Chris: 00:08:49

And then I was like, I at least need a week to tell a two week notice to at least tell my company, you know, that I'm leaving.

Chris: 00:08:53

And they were like, no, you know, and this job was almost double what I was making at the other company.

Chris: 00:08:59

And they were like, if you don't take this now, we're gonna move on.

Chris: 00:09:02

And I was like, well, I just need a week.

Chris: 00:09:04

You know, and they're, they were really pushing and I didn't know what to do.

Chris: 00:09:08

And, um, this is before I'd turned my life over to Christ.

Chris: 00:09:10

I was, you know, I was praying and thinking right in my head, you know, and, and they literally just said, all right, we'll give you a $5,000 sign on bonus and you start tomorrow.

Chris: 00:09:18

And

Matt: 00:09:18

I quit.

Chris: 00:09:20

well, no.

Chris: 00:09:21

I was like, okay, so do I take the, the, the 5K bonus and just take this job I was making more than I'm making, or just one guaranteed week at Warner Brothers, you know?

Chris: 00:09:29

And of course I, you know.

Chris: 00:09:31

Did what I probably most people wouldn't do.

Chris: 00:09:33

I was like, yeah, I'll take the WB thing and, and so I was like, I can't, I'm gonna go do this for a week, and if you're not willing to work with me, then I'm gonna pass.

Chris: 00:09:40

And they were like, fine, then you're out.

Chris: 00:09:41

I was like, all right.

Chris: 00:09:42

Went to wb.

Chris: 00:09:43

And then they put me in a room and they're like, all right, go.

Chris: 00:09:46

You know, they kind of just go, you know, left me in a room and I was there for like 12 hours just going, you know, and came back at the end of the day and he's like, what do you got?

Chris: 00:09:53

And I was like, this is what I have.

Chris: 00:09:55

And he's like, most of my good designers will get out, you know?

Chris: 00:09:58

3, 4, 5, maybe six screens a day, you know, full completed pieces.

Chris: 00:10:02

And, and uh, he's like, how many you got?

Chris: 00:10:04

I was like, I got like 20 or 30.

Chris: 00:10:05

And he's like, no, you don't.

Chris: 00:10:07

And then I was like, yeah, I dunno if they're good enough, you know?

Chris: 00:10:10

And he looked at it and he is like, all right, you're not going anywhere.

Chris: 00:10:13

And so my contract with WB was for one week.

Chris: 00:10:16

And it stayed that way for 12, 13 years,

Matt: 00:10:18

Wow.

Matt: 00:10:19

Well, you, you had mentioned something earlier about, you said you knew graphics, but they said you needed to program graphics.

Matt: 00:10:24

What, what's the difference in programming graphics and designing graphics?

Chris: 00:10:29

Yeah, so there's a process of like designing, animating, and then programming.

Chris: 00:10:33

And the programming comes into play where that's how we're gonna actually interact with it on the set.

Chris: 00:10:38

And so sometimes, depending on the device, you know, whether it's a phone or a laptop or a computer, or.

Chris: 00:10:45

Sometimes back then they would use tape.

Chris: 00:10:47

You know, they would record the graphics to a three quarter machine tape or something, and they were just queuing tapes or, or DVDs.

Chris: 00:10:53

And there's so many different ways you can do it.

Chris: 00:10:54

But the programming side of it, a lot of it back then was Adobe Director.

Chris: 00:10:58

There was Director Flash, there's a, you know, a bunch of other programs.

Chris: 00:11:03

But the big ones back then, when I first started were it was, it was Director and Flash.

Matt: 00:11:07

Adobe.

Matt: 00:11:07

I'm not sure that's even still in the

Chris: 00:11:09

No, no.

Chris: 00:11:10

That's all gone.

Chris: 00:11:11

Yeah.

Matt: 00:11:11

or even what it does.

Matt: 00:11:12

One of those things you had to learn on the fly.

Matt: 00:11:14

Sure, I can do that.

Matt: 00:11:15

Let's

Chris: 00:11:16

Yeah.

Chris: 00:11:16

Yeah.

Chris: 00:11:16

That's kind of how it went.

Chris: 00:11:17

But I, I definitely leaned more into the design side.

Chris: 00:11:19

They had a really good programmer there.

Chris: 00:11:21

I was like, I'll let him do that.

Chris: 00:11:22

I'll just, you know, I'm good.

Matt: 00:11:23

Make the good designs.

Chris: 00:11:25

Yeah.

Chris: 00:11:25

I was better in there.

Chris: 00:11:26

I, I'm not a good programmer for sure.

Matt: 00:11:28

Well, you mentioned that was kind of before you, you had given your life to Christ, so you're already in the industry.

Matt: 00:11:33

You're a grown man.

Matt: 00:11:35

sounds like you probably have a kid or two, at least at that point in time.

Matt: 00:11:38

How, how, how did the faith journey intersect with your professional journey?

Chris: 00:11:41

Let's see.

Chris: 00:11:41

I was, actually, yeah, I think we are just getting close to my wife and I, having our first kid as this journey took off, uh, you know, working in this industry.

Chris: 00:11:49

And it was easy at first, you know, especially having like one kid that's, you know, newborn, like they can.

Chris: 00:11:55

Up let's go.

Chris: 00:11:55

Like I think my first big film I had where I was on set, they said, you're going to New York?

Chris: 00:11:59

I was like, not without my family, you know?

Chris: 00:12:01

And they're like, all right.

Chris: 00:12:02

So my wife and our three month old son packed up and went to Manhattan for like three months, which was, it was a cool experience, you know, and at first it's, you know, you're in this industry and it's like kind of that, you know, a little bit of that glamor is kind of like, cool, I'm on a set, I'm working on these projects.

Chris: 00:12:16

And I was grateful to be doing all those things.

Chris: 00:12:18

And then I started grinding just nonstop and, you know, thinking that I'm doing the right thing and.

Chris: 00:12:23

Working 40, you know, to 80 hours a week sometimes.

Chris: 00:12:26

So like I'd be, because I live in near la, near Burbank, but an hour away from it.

Chris: 00:12:30

And so like every day I would drive about an hour and a half to to Burbank and then an hour and a half back home if there's no traffic and you live in LA there's always traffic.

Chris: 00:12:38

So minimum three hours a day driving, plus, you know, working all night and every day.

Chris: 00:12:42

So that started to kind of work its way into.

Chris: 00:12:45

My family and stuff, and that's gonna cause problems over time, you know, and my wife and I had more children and been going on for a long time and, and working way too much.

Chris: 00:12:54

And, uh, it gets to a point where you can't really, you run outta gas at some point.

Chris: 00:12:59

Right.

Chris: 00:12:59

You know, working that much.

Chris: 00:13:00

And

Chris: 00:13:00

yeah, I mean, I've always had this, you know, I always felt like there is more, but I just hadn't found it.

Chris: 00:13:06

And my wife's father, he ended up, you know, I, I feel like planting that seed, you know, where me and him would get in there.

Chris: 00:13:13

You know, I wouldn't say arguments, but conversations, you know, get deep into conversations.

Chris: 00:13:17

I had lots of questions and we would always get, go back and forth in it.

Chris: 00:13:20

And I think that kind of, that seed had sprouted at at a point with him and then he had passed away untimely, and so that kind of pulled me back out of it.

Chris: 00:13:29

Right At that point it was like back to the grind and just start going again.

Chris: 00:13:32

Right?

Chris: 00:13:32

Because like it started, but it.

Chris: 00:13:34

I didn't know what to do with it at that point.

Chris: 00:13:35

We had nowhere to go with it really.

Chris: 00:13:37

And then my wife, you know, she was, we couldn't really find any churches or anything in our area, and we were both going through a lot of things.

Chris: 00:13:43

And on a whim, she just was driving and just stopped at this church randomly.

Chris: 00:13:48

And she's just like I say randomly, right.

Chris: 00:13:51

Um, but uh, she had felt the urge just stop at this church and went in and start talking to these people.

Chris: 00:13:56

And, and then I went to go talk to them.

Chris: 00:13:58

And I mean, it was just.

Chris: 00:14:00

It just never stopped from there.

Chris: 00:14:02

And then after that, this was in, skipping a lot.

Chris: 00:14:04

Sorry.

Chris: 00:14:05

My late thirties, you know, so I'm already in my late thirties.

Chris: 00:14:08

We have four children already.

Chris: 00:14:09

You know, we've, we've been living a life and going.

Chris: 00:14:12

Just going with what I thought was the normal thing.

Chris: 00:14:14

You know, like I'm, I'm working really hard, I'm provided for my family doing these things and thinking that that's working and, you know, and that once I, I let that seed flourish in this church and it is just been nonstop since, you know, everyone's just like, you know, I've talked to my pastor.

Chris: 00:14:25

He's like, oh, you know, some days say like, that's the honeymoon phase, right?

Chris: 00:14:28

It's gonna run out.

Chris: 00:14:29

And I'm like, it's still hadn't happened.

Chris: 00:14:31

You know, like it's just going, you know, nonstop.

Chris: 00:14:34

Yeah.

Chris: 00:14:34

I don't know if that answered that question.

Matt: 00:14:36

That's beautiful, uh, because I hear this, this theme over and over again, and I'm wondering.

Matt: 00:14:40

Is it as true as, the rumors have it that, I mean, you're working in an almost antithetical biblical worldview or by a worldview that's almost antithetical to biblical worldview.

Matt: 00:14:50

Have you, have you come into that conflict in the industry at all, or is that just, uh, my own kind of, I'm, I'm from the Southeast, so obviously we have a different view of, of California, but maybe it's not a, maybe it's not a fair view.

Chris: 00:15:03

Well, I think I can only speak to the time since I've given my life over to Christ and, you know, before that industry I wasn't really thinking about that, right?

Chris: 00:15:10

So it, it didn't come up in any way.

Chris: 00:15:12

But since then there is projects I'll turned down, you know, and some people don't like that I'll turn down a project, um, like whether it's that person who came to the project or whatever, and some of 'em are totally fine with that being where I'm at in a Hollywood ish area.

Chris: 00:15:26

There's definitely a lot.

Chris: 00:15:28

Less like, you know, there's very few film and television things out here that are Christian based or faith-based.

Chris: 00:15:35

You know, you like Kappa Studio and stuff like that and they're awesome.

Chris: 00:15:38

Um, and so I'm meeting some of those people and just trying to, to network into it.

Chris: 00:15:42

But like, I've never had anyone, I've been on sets and things like that.

Chris: 00:15:45

People know where I stand.

Chris: 00:15:47

I know where they stand and everyone's been respectful.

Chris: 00:15:49

Maybe it's just, the crews I've worked with that I've never had any issues with it like that, you know?

Chris: 00:15:52

I mean, yeah, we definitely disagree on things, but.

Chris: 00:15:55

If you get a good crew, we're there to tell that story.

Matt: 00:15:57

I found that to be definitely the case.

Matt: 00:15:59

There is something beautiful about set culture.

Matt: 00:16:02

It is a very, it relies on, uh, mutual respect and as few people as possible bringing egos to the

Chris: 00:16:09

for sure.

Chris: 00:16:09

For

Matt: 00:16:09

So.

Matt: 00:16:10

That I have noticed that when it goes well, when it's run by the right producer and the right director, that you can have a set culture where people come from different points of view and all still respect each other.

Chris: 00:16:21

A hundred percent.

Chris: 00:16:21

Yeah.

Chris: 00:16:22

and, and that's when you get, you see it when, when you're there on set.

Chris: 00:16:25

I've been on films that are the exact opposite.

Chris: 00:16:27

I mean, it is just, you're there for a check and that's all anyone cares about.

Chris: 00:16:31

And there's no love or passion in that project.

Chris: 00:16:34

And it sucks.

Chris: 00:16:35

And you know, sometimes you just gotta finish the project, but then when you're on the opposite side of it, and it's, it's so, it's, it's so polarizing different.

Matt: 00:16:43

Most definitely.

Matt: 00:16:43

I mean, I've been on sets that are for a Christian movie in which most of the crew is are not Christians, but when that, set culture is right, even they are, they know, they are there to help tell a biblical story.

Matt: 00:16:55

And, and most of 'em are fine with it because again, it's about dropping ego and all working together toward a common goal.

Chris: 00:17:02

Yeah, the, the welcome that we've had, like my wife and I worked together a lot on projects and so the welcome we've had, like we went to our first film festival, Christian film Festival about a month ago.

Chris: 00:17:12

If, if that, and, um, the welcoming.

Chris: 00:17:14

It's overwhelming, you know?

Chris: 00:17:15

And it, it's a completely different culture.

Chris: 00:17:17

It's the same culture because we all wanna make films and tell stories, but you could definitely feel that shift, right?

Chris: 00:17:23

Like when I walked into that, those, festivals and things like that, like, one of the differences I've noticed is not all, but a lot of the industry and the way it's set up is you meet everybody because it's like, how am I gonna use that person to get what I need out of them?

Chris: 00:17:35

It's all about like, how can I get something out of these people?

Chris: 00:17:38

And walking into those festivals and talking to everyone, it's all about like, how can I help you?

Chris: 00:17:43

And it's a completely different dynamic.

Matt: 00:17:45

It's a much more beautiful dynamic for sure.

Matt: 00:17:47

Which, which festival did you make it to?

Chris: 00:17:48

The hard Faith film festival, uh, that's like the only one in LA There's like none out here.

Chris: 00:17:52

So my wife and I are looking and it's like North Carolina and, and Texas and so yeah, I mean, we will go.

Chris: 00:17:58

It just, we had a plan for that.

Matt: 00:17:59

Yeah.

Matt: 00:17:59

Especially with four kids.

Matt: 00:18:00

I get that.

Matt: 00:18:02

Totally.

Matt: 00:18:03

Well, so have you had a chance to, to work on some faith-based projects that you'd like to talk about?

Chris: 00:18:08

Yeah, it was awesome actually.

Chris: 00:18:09

So, I mean, how I got to this podcast, you know, for faith and Family, that was the thing.

Chris: 00:18:14

One, as I started this journey, I, I just, you know.

Chris: 00:18:16

Been in praying like, like open the doors, like if this is what you want me to do, please help guide me.

Chris: 00:18:20

'cause I don't know anybody in Hollywood that wants to do these types of projects.

Chris: 00:18:24

And so I'd love to meet people and the Faith and Family is one of the first places I'd found I started gonna, their like their meetups and you know, we're just networking.

Chris: 00:18:31

You know, they got like network meetups.

Chris: 00:18:32

It's been great and definitely opening up some doors and first few of those that I went to, I ended up.

Chris: 00:18:37

Jumping on one of the calls randomly, and there was a, a guy in there named Jared.

Chris: 00:18:41

He, I think he does a show, Vindication.

Chris: 00:18:43

And, um, I'd never heard of it.

Chris: 00:18:45

I was like, never heard of it.

Chris: 00:18:46

I didn't know who he was and I was just in there meeting people, networking, and I just explained what I do and he was like, we gotta talk after this.

Chris: 00:18:53

I was like, okay, sure.

Chris: 00:18:54

Like, I don't know who you are, let's we'll chat.

Chris: 00:18:56

And we ended up jumping on a call and chatting afterward and he told me what he was doing and he's working on a project and that project has a ton of this stuff in it.

Chris: 00:19:02

And he's like, I didn't know what to do.

Chris: 00:19:04

You know, like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this.

Chris: 00:19:06

He's like, you jumped under that call and it was like God lined you up.

Chris: 00:19:08

Like here you go, you're looking, how are you gonna do this?

Chris: 00:19:11

And so we ended up talking and got into it and my wife and I jumped on the project and helped him out for his, uh, special episode he is gonna do for vindication and stuff.

Chris: 00:19:19

And it went really well.

Matt: 00:19:20

That's awesome.

Matt: 00:19:21

Yeah, it's, you'd be surprised how much Jared's name comes up on this podcast.

Matt: 00:19:25

He's a popular guy.

Matt: 00:19:26

I will say that if you're ever in Dallas, Texas, give him a call.

Matt: 00:19:30

'cause he'll take you to some of the best barbecue you can find in

Chris: 00:19:33

I would definitely do that.

Chris: 00:19:34

Yes.

Chris: 00:19:34

He's already offered.

Chris: 00:19:35

He's already

Chris: 00:19:35

offered.

Chris: 00:19:36

If we're in Texas, there's gonna be barbecue.

Matt: 00:19:38

He and I ate our, our body weights in whatever it was, about three different meats.

Matt: 00:19:43

I loved it.

Matt: 00:19:43

He's a great guy.

Matt: 00:19:45

And that's the, that's exactly what this is all about with Faith and Family Filmmakers Network really is all about, is just having filmmakers who otherwise wouldn't have a chance to get to know each other, to be able to.

Matt: 00:19:54

To network and, and work together.

Matt: 00:19:56

So when, when you see that happening, not just in theory, it actually happens.

Matt: 00:20:01

So not to be too big a commercial for Jaclyn and Geoffrey, but I think that anybody listening like come to those meetups, they will be very fruitful if you bring that attitude of not what can these people do for me, but hey, how can I help?

Chris: 00:20:13

I mean, that's how it started is, I mean like even you mentioning it, it helped me because when I first, how I found Faith in Family was I was just, oh, podcast we're some Christian filmmaking podcast.

Chris: 00:20:22

I just

Matt: 00:20:23

How.

Chris: 00:20:23

looking for 'em.

Chris: 00:20:24

That one popped up.

Chris: 00:20:24

I opened it up just on a whim, like sure.

Chris: 00:20:27

I started listening to 'em and then I was like, what is their website about?

Chris: 00:20:29

Looked into 'em and it's come full circle now.

Chris: 00:20:31

I started, found the podcast and now I'm on it, I guess

Matt: 00:20:33

Now you're on it.

Matt: 00:20:34

Yep.

Matt: 00:20:35

Well.

Matt: 00:20:36

That's, you know what, I, I wanna bring you back for another episode 'cause I've not dived nearly as deep as I want to dive into your story.

Matt: 00:20:43

And, and kind of what I like to do is really get into the details of what it is that you do in order for you to kind of share your wisdom and offer some advice for other filmmakers.

Matt: 00:20:52

So, if you would like, come back for another episode and let's, uh, let's dive deeper into it.

Chris: 00:20:58

Yeah, I'd love to.

Matt: 00:20:58

Chris Kiefer, filmmaker graphics guy.

Matt: 00:21:01

He's part of the, some of the most fun movies.

Matt: 00:21:04

Uh, he's got a better IMDD resume than most of us, so go check him out and we will see you next time on the Faith and Family Filmmaker Podcast.

Chris: 00:21:10

Looking forward to it.

Chris: 00:21:11

Thank you so much for your time.