CWVFF Bonus episode with Laura Mae from Christian Casting

Jaclyn: 00:00:00

This is Jaclyn with the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast and we are actually at the Christian Worldview Film Festival in Albany, Georgia this week.

Jaclyn: 00:00:09

I have with me right now Laura May from Christian Casting.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

We're going to get into Christian Casting in just a minute, but Laura May, how long have you been coming to festivals?

Laura Mae: 00:00:17

Goodness, I probably went to my first festival about seven years ago.

Laura Mae: 00:00:21

And for a while I was doing them all over the country and loved them.

Laura Mae: 00:00:25

I found that my heart lies with the Christian Worldview Film Festival.

Laura Mae: 00:00:28

All of them are very special in their own way, but there's something really, really neat about the family that is based here at Christian Worldview.

Laura Mae: 00:00:34

So it has become my favorite festival.

Jaclyn: 00:00:36

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:00:36

Yeah, I'm excited.

Jaclyn: 00:00:37

This is actually my first time here.

Jaclyn: 00:00:39

Oh, yay!

Jaclyn: 00:00:39

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:00:40

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:00:40

And I know, because I know you, you have a lot of children.

Jaclyn: 00:00:43

So, how have you been attending so many festivals when you have so many kids at home?

Laura Mae: 00:00:48

Prayer and sacrifice.

Laura Mae: 00:00:50

They say that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Laura Mae: 00:00:53

and no excuses.

Laura Mae: 00:00:54

We make time for the things that we want to make time for.

Laura Mae: 00:00:57

We make money for the things that we want to make money for.

Laura Mae: 00:01:00

And so it's really been just a trading off of things.

Laura Mae: 00:01:02

And sometimes I trade off my sanity.

Laura Mae: 00:01:04

And, you know, we just show up and I go, Lord, I don't know why you want me there, but I know you do.

Laura Mae: 00:01:09

So I set my own agenda aside and just say, You want me there.

Laura Mae: 00:01:12

we're just going to leave it at that.

Laura Mae: 00:01:13

We're just going to show up.

Laura Mae: 00:01:14

And let you be you and let you guide my steps because you promise you will and so we just come and we show up and god shows up every single time conversations in the hallway getting behind people at the coffee shop and So many people don't attend film festivals because they say well I don't I don't know what I would do there, right?

Laura Mae: 00:01:29

I said well if the lord calls you you just show up and you leave the rest up to him And it's incredible.

Laura Mae: 00:01:34

I mean you've seen the networking already day one.

Laura Mae: 00:01:36

Absolutely, and it's amazing

Jaclyn: 00:01:37

Yeah, I think it's just been a few hours and already like so much is happening Yeah, but then what do you do with the kids?

Laura Mae: 00:01:43

Um, that's

Laura Mae: 00:01:44

interesting.

Laura Mae: 00:01:44

We, typically, I have older ones and younger ones.

Laura Mae: 00:01:47

I have nine, so they go from 22 down to four months old.

Laura Mae: 00:01:50

This is her first festival.

Laura Mae: 00:01:52

Her first film was at 17 days old, so that was kind of exciting.

Laura Mae: 00:01:55

She's part of the industry.

Laura Mae: 00:01:55

She's seasoned, I know.

Laura Mae: 00:01:57

She was born into it.

Laura Mae: 00:01:58

Um, but we actually, Christian Worldview has two festivals.

Laura Mae: 00:02:01

Offering child care for a couple of hours a day.

Laura Mae: 00:02:04

So that's amazing.

Laura Mae: 00:02:05

Um, and I didn't actually have kids that needed child care this time.

Laura Mae: 00:02:08

But, we just make it happen.

Laura Mae: 00:02:10

I mean, it means that we don't get into sessions every time that we wish we could.

Laura Mae: 00:02:13

It means that sometimes we're bringing peanut butter and jelly because we can't all afford to eat at the coffee shop.

Laura Mae: 00:02:17

You know, but we show up and just make it happen.

Laura Mae: 00:02:20

And it's just sacrificing, um, What we expect out of life and then opening our hands to receive Lord What do you want for me from this conference?

Laura Mae: 00:02:27

And then my big kids have baby duties.

Laura Mae: 00:02:30

They just do So we trade off on that and I'll go nope.

Laura Mae: 00:02:33

This is mom's hour So you guys figured out buddy system don't come find me for an hour you know And then I go into my mood I do yes almost every day.

Laura Mae: 00:02:41

Enjoy it They love it.

Laura Mae: 00:02:42

It is, it is a family reunion for my kids as well.

Laura Mae: 00:02:45

In fact, one of my kiddos, there's a Bob Jones table here.

Laura Mae: 00:02:47

They have a great film program and one of my kiddos is already convinced at 10 years old he's going to Bob Jones because he comes and he helps work the Bob Jones table every year.

Laura Mae: 00:02:55

He's done it for three years now and so they have actually found their own place too which I love because as young kids they're getting networking that I would have, I would have paid good money for, you know, and instead my kids are just being brought right into that and it's awesome.

Laura Mae: 00:03:08

Go Yeah, fantastic.

Laura Mae: 00:03:09

Okay, so tell me about Christian casting.

Laura Mae: 00:03:11

Uh, so Christian casting was born out of idea probably seven years ago, where I was looking at backstage.

Laura Mae: 00:03:17

com, casting networks, um, you know, actorsaccess.

Laura Mae: 00:03:20

com, and I said, faith film is coming up, but where is the platform for us?

Laura Mae: 00:03:24

why aren't we able to find in one place our casting notices for the Kendrick Brothers films, for the Irwin Brothers, for, for all of these projects?

Laura Mae: 00:03:30

There's no lack of Christian talent, and there's no lack of Christian projects, but we're majorly lacking a place to combine those two things.

Laura Mae: 00:03:37

And so that's actually what Christian Casting started out as.

Laura Mae: 00:03:40

And then we found that we were building a community.

Laura Mae: 00:03:41

Well, now our Facebook group has almost 10, 000 people in it.

Laura Mae: 00:03:44

And, you know, we're, we're developing an app out of that to further network people.

Laura Mae: 00:03:47

And it's just been really cool to see.

Laura Mae: 00:03:49

It was just a dream to bring folks together and say, Hey, if you're part of the faith based world, this is where we gather.

Laura Mae: 00:03:55

And, you know, no limitations, no boundaries, like, this is where we're at, come join us.

Laura Mae: 00:03:58

And so it's a single place to just unite us all, and that's what the app is going to do too.

Laura Mae: 00:04:03

Okay, and

Jaclyn: 00:04:03

what's the best place for people to go to find out about Christian Casting and see if that's something that they want to get involved in?

Jaclyn: 00:04:09

Sure, we keep it easy.

Laura Mae: 00:04:10

ChristianCasting.

Laura Mae: 00:04:11

com.

Laura Mae: 00:04:12

That's it.

Laura Mae: 00:04:12

You can find out about the app, you can find out about coaching opportunities, you can see the development company behind our app and the website, and so there's a lot of fun stuff.

Laura Mae: 00:04:20

It's always, it's always going to be on ChristianCasting.

Laura Mae: 00:04:22

com if we've got it going on, so.

Jaclyn: 00:04:23

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:04:24

Sounds like fun.

Jaclyn: 00:04:25

Well, thank you.

Jaclyn: 00:04:26

All right.

Jaclyn: 00:04:27

Enjoy the rest of the festival.

Jaclyn: 00:04:29

My goodness, there's so many amazing people here.

Jaclyn: 00:04:31

I hope I get a chance to talk to all of them, although I probably won't because you know how it is, but I'm going to go home with a ton of business cards.

Jaclyn: 00:04:37

Right.

Jaclyn: 00:04:38

And then I'm going to contact everyone.

Jaclyn: 00:04:40

for those of you that have been to a festival, you know that that's how it is.

Jaclyn: 00:04:43

you can take home those business cards and say, Hey, I didn't get a chance to talk to you at the festival, you know, and then carry on from there.

Jaclyn: 00:04:49

Because people expect to get followed up with after a festival anyways.

Jaclyn: 00:04:52

So, it's a fantastic open door.

Laura Mae: 00:04:54

Well, and for people like me who are always looking for opportunities, for actors, filmmakers to jump in and get involved.

Laura Mae: 00:05:01

I'm looking at your table and I'm finding that you're doing a 90 minute workshop.

Laura Mae: 00:05:04

47 for actors to write their own demo reel.

Laura Mae: 00:05:07

And that's an incredible resource.

Laura Mae: 00:05:08

That is something that I want to tell every single actor in that Facebook group.

Laura Mae: 00:05:12

I'm like, you guys, We all need real material.

Laura Mae: 00:05:14

Like, go!

Laura Mae: 00:05:15

Write your own reel.

Laura Mae: 00:05:16

Write to your strengths.

Laura Mae: 00:05:16

So I love that you're doing that.

Laura Mae: 00:05:18

And, of course, you and I talk away from the festival, but here I'm reminded, like, No, this is, we need to offer this to our community and pour into each other and celebrate what each other is doing because there's so much amazing stuff going on.

Laura Mae: 00:05:29

So, little hint, if you guys are listening and you don't know about that, seriously, go to their website.

Laura Mae: 00:05:34

Because I'm going to be promoting it to our Facebook group and on our app and, I'm going to personally take the class as well.

Laura Mae: 00:05:39

It's going to be awesome, so thank you for offering that.

Jaclyn: 00:05:40

Yeah, yeah, awesome, thank you.

Jaclyn: 00:05:42

Okay, great, well, guess we'll wrap up this interview and, uh, we'll see you guys back here soon.

Jaclyn: 00:05:48

Alrighty, have a great day.

Jaclyn: 00:05:49

don't

Jaclyn: 00:05:50

know how to end it.

Jaclyn: 00:05:52

I never do.

Jaclyn: 00:05:53

I should be like, this is Jaclyn Whitt signing off.

Jaclyn: 00:05:56

Right?

Jaclyn: 00:05:57

You've been listening to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:06:00

My name is Jaclyn Whitt.

Jaclyn: 00:06:01

See?

Jaclyn: 00:06:02

We'll see you next time.