Meet Your Hosts: Geoff and Jaclyn Share Their Creative Journeys

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

I'm Geoff,

Jaclyn: 00:00:03

And I'm Jaclyn.

Geoff: 00:00:04

and we're happy to be back with you today.

Geoff: 00:00:06

This one's going to be a little different.

Jaclyn: 00:00:08

That's right, we're the guests.

Geoff: 00:00:09

we're going to be interviewing each other, I guess.

Geoff: 00:00:11

in a bit of a transition, um, as we move from our first, uh, Season or our first round of guests that we spent a couple of months, scheduling and interviewing and then of course, uh, editing and publishing over the following few months.

Geoff: 00:00:26

we're kind of moving into the next round of we have scheduled and interviewed.

Geoff: 00:00:31

And so we just thought we'd take little break here and, uh, tell you a little bit about ourselves because we haven't done a whole lot of that.

Jaclyn: 00:00:37

Well, if you've been listening to this podcast, you've heard me talk a lot about the things that I've done.

Jaclyn: 00:00:43

Um, you know, I've been into music and screenwriting, but you haven't really gotten to know Geoff very much.

Jaclyn: 00:00:49

So I'm going to start with interviewing Geoff.

Jaclyn: 00:00:52

So Geoff, where does your journey in the film industry begin?

Geoff: 00:00:59

Well, I guess it probably begins more, um, we'll talk about creativity I was more into music growing up, uh, from a child.

Geoff: 00:01:08

I thought I would be a singer as a young child, actually.

Geoff: 00:01:10

I told everybody that I was going to grow up and make records, uh, but as a teenager realized I didn't quite have that voice.

Geoff: 00:01:16

Um, but in the meantime, I certainly became a musician, uh, played bass, drums, played saxophone, ended up starting to go into university for music, and later became a songwriter, but, I did end up.

Geoff: 00:01:29

Singing for kids.

Geoff: 00:01:30

I traveled across North America for a few years.

Geoff: 00:01:33

I did it from the position of children's ministry, actually, not from, becoming a kids singer with a record label or anything like that.

Geoff: 00:01:40

so I really enjoyed that.

Geoff: 00:01:42

And, uh, eventually wrote a kids musical, including all of the songs, lyrics and music.

Geoff: 00:01:48

And a few years later, while working at a church, we actually did film that for TV.

Geoff: 00:01:54

So I raised the budget, had the music produced professionally by a producer in England, and had a film crew come in.

Geoff: 00:02:02

It was aired on BBC.

Geoff: 00:02:03

Television locally and across the province in Canada.

Geoff: 00:02:06

So, that was kind of my first, um, film.

Jaclyn: 00:02:09

Mm

Geoff: 00:02:10

It was a kid's musical.

Geoff: 00:02:11

And it was a lot of fun, actually.

Geoff: 00:02:13

I really, really enjoyed that process.

Jaclyn: 00:02:15

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:02:15

That was actually the first thing that my kids saw.

Jaclyn: 00:02:18

uh, Geoff and I have been married for about ten and a half years at this point, and we met online, and we lived on opposite ends of the country in Canada.

Jaclyn: 00:02:27

And so one of the first things when I first met Geoff is he actually sent us the DVD of this program called Club 66.

Jaclyn: 00:02:37

And that was my kid's first introduction to him.

Jaclyn: 00:02:39

So I think that my kids thought that he was a celebrity.

Jaclyn: 00:02:44

So then when they finally did meet him, then they were all like excited because they saw him in a movie.

Geoff: 00:02:51

We actually don't have that available online or anywhere digitally.

Geoff: 00:02:55

Uh, just so you know.

Geoff: 00:02:57

From there, I did take songwriting a little more seriously for a little while.

Geoff: 00:03:01

Studied online with Berkeley College from Boston.

Geoff: 00:03:04

And began, through the process of my classes and some of the songs coming from there.

Geoff: 00:03:08

I had one song on a Canadian television show.

Geoff: 00:03:11

And, uh, spent a bit of time writing kind of with that goal.

Geoff: 00:03:15

Before moving on to something else, and uh, spent some time doing internet Christian radio.

Geoff: 00:03:20

It's something that Jaclyn and I shared after we met, and uh, expanded it to four channels, 24 hour, Christian internet radio.

Jaclyn: 00:03:27

Yeah, it was a big project, but we were ahead of the game for that.

Jaclyn: 00:03:30

It was before internet radio was a thing.

Jaclyn: 00:03:33

And so people were like asking us, you really think this is going to take off?

Jaclyn: 00:03:36

And we're like, well, yeah, but, uh, you know, we were raising a family and it takes a while to get businesses going.

Jaclyn: 00:03:43

And so it didn't work out for us to continue with it

Jaclyn: 00:03:46

because people had to

Jaclyn: 00:03:47

eat.

Geoff: 00:03:48

a

Geoff: 00:03:48

really good job.

Jaclyn: 00:03:49

we did

Geoff: 00:03:49

really well, but we did not

Geoff: 00:03:52

make it financially, So, again, we moved on.

Geoff: 00:03:55

And another thing, from a creative perspective, is, uh, voiceover.

Geoff: 00:03:59

So, we developed a voiceover business, complete with, uh, Homemade, but very professional vocal booth.

Geoff: 00:04:05

And, Jaclyn and I, I did some jobs.

Geoff: 00:04:07

Jaclyn ended up going further with that, and doing quite a number of audio books.

Jaclyn: 00:04:11

Well, you know, he, did all of the, uh, the research and basically set the business up.

Jaclyn: 00:04:16

So I thought, well, let me see if I could do something here.

Jaclyn: 00:04:19

And, uh, audiobooks seem to be something I fell into very easily.

Geoff: 00:04:23

And our next transition, actually was a pretty big one, but we'll go back in a few moments and let Jaclyn talk more about that.

Geoff: 00:04:29

At this point, of course, you know, me as a podcast host and producer, And also I'm the director of Faith and Family Filmmakers Association, which includes Faith and Family Screenwriting Academy, and the Faith and Family Screenwriting Awards.

Geoff: 00:04:42

so all of this of course, uh, crosses over with Jaclyn's story, especially as we talk about the Screenwriting Academy and such.

Geoff: 00:04:49

So Jaclyn.

Geoff: 00:04:50

Why don't you tell us, kind of how you got started?

Geoff: 00:04:52

I know it, your creativity didn't begin with screenwriting either.

Jaclyn: 00:04:55

No, um, I very much loved being the center of attention when I was a kid.

Jaclyn: 00:05:01

And I fell in love with music and the stage.

Jaclyn: 00:05:04

And, I actually thought that I was going to become a musician as well.

Jaclyn: 00:05:08

Um, And so all through my childhood and teen years, that was what I was pursuing.

Jaclyn: 00:05:13

However, when I was 11, I had a friend say, Hey, you want to write a script with me?

Jaclyn: 00:05:19

So we started working on this script, and we probably worked on it for a few weeks before, you know, we just moved on to something else because we were kids.

Jaclyn: 00:05:26

But I ended up keeping the notebook.

Jaclyn: 00:05:28

And every now and then, when I was cleaning my room, I'd end up finding it, and I'd read it, and I was like, Eh, this is actually pretty good.

Jaclyn: 00:05:36

And then I'd maybe write a little bit more or something like that.

Jaclyn: 00:05:39

So I started writing scripts when I was 11, and I continued writing other scripts as well, just for myself, like a lot of the time, I didn't even show anyone.

Jaclyn: 00:05:48

and even as I started writing bigger projects, I would share it with my parents, but that was about it.

Jaclyn: 00:05:53

So it was something that it wasn't even on my radar to be something that I would pursue as a career because I was already thinking to pursue music.

Jaclyn: 00:06:02

If I was going to pursue anything creative, it was going to be music.

Jaclyn: 00:06:05

Um, so it wasn't until my mid thirties, maybe like, 8 or 9 years ago when I showed, one of my screenplays to Geoff, and he, you know, he read it, and he enjoyed it, and he said, you know, you really need to make this, like, you need to do something with this, you're very talented.

Jaclyn: 00:06:22

And so then I had to think through, do I want to keep this as a hobby, or do I want to pursue it as a career?

Jaclyn: 00:06:30

And I did decide to pursue it as a career, but the reason why I had to actually go through that process is because it's important to understand that a hobby is something you do just for the joy of it.

Jaclyn: 00:06:42

And so, you know, whether you're great at it or not, it doesn't really matter because you're doing it for you anyways.

Jaclyn: 00:06:48

Uh, but if I wanted to pursue it as a career, I knew that I needed to, up my game and I needed to find a mentor.

Jaclyn: 00:06:55

I needed to find somebody that would help me to see where I was missing, you know, with my skills or, or whatever.

Jaclyn: 00:07:02

And so I, was able to find the perfect mentor.

Jaclyn: 00:07:05

It was amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:07:06

and He helped me to learn the things I needed to learn, and I actually talk about some of my, uh, time working with him in the book that I just wrote, uh, it's going to be coming out July 23rd, but, you know, one of the chapters talks about working with mentors, and, uh, it's a bit, um, I have funny stories because I like telling stories where I failed, Here's the thing.

Jaclyn: 00:07:30

Okay, I'll just tell this one.

Jaclyn: 00:07:31

So, I took him a script that I thought was absolutely amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:07:35

And, the way it worked is he would take the script, he would read it, and then we'd get together and he would talk through it and give me all of the feedback.

Jaclyn: 00:07:43

And so I was expecting, you know, when I met up with him again, he was going to be like, this is the best one yet, this needs to get made, and instead what happened was I sat down in the living room and he looked at the script and sighed heavily.

Jaclyn: 00:07:58

And he said, don't show this to anyone.

Jaclyn: 00:08:03

and I knew what he meant because he was saying like, if you show this to someone, it is going to destroy your career before your career even starts.

Jaclyn: 00:08:12

And I laughed so hard, which I'm, I bet he's happy about that because, you know, he wasn't, um, like he didn't really hurt my feelings, but I, I laughed because I knew that I was going to keep working at it no matter what and which meant that eventually I would get where I needed to be.

Jaclyn: 00:08:31

But I also knew that the time would come that I would have my own mentees and I would tell them this story.

Jaclyn: 00:08:39

you know, to encourage them so that they understand, like, this is where you start, right?

Jaclyn: 00:08:44

So anyways, it's one of the things that I love about mentoring is telling stories of my own, I guess, failures or struggle with getting started and stuff.

Jaclyn: 00:08:53

So anyways, that's where I'm at.

Jaclyn: 00:08:55

So I'm a screenwriter and I help people with their screenplays.

Geoff: 00:08:58

So then in the process of Jaclyn's screenwriting, taking off and moving ahead, we determined we wanted to start an online business and sold everything we owned in Canada, and moved to Mexico.

Geoff: 00:09:10

a big part of that decision.

Geoff: 00:09:11

Was finances.

Geoff: 00:09:13

We, uh, we did not have nest egg to start a business with, and it can take a lot of capital, especially to float you as you're getting started.

Geoff: 00:09:21

And, So we moved to an area where we have a low cost of living and it allows us to focus all of our time on our business.

Geoff: 00:09:30

In Canada, we would have had to continue working 50 hours a week and had no

Geoff: 00:09:33

energy left

Jaclyn: 00:09:34

We would have totally burnt out before we even really got things off the ground.

Geoff: 00:09:40

And we'd kind of tried that a couple of times before starting a new business while we were still working.

Geoff: 00:09:45

And, uh, you can only take it so far, uh, again, unless you've got a lot of capital, or investors to start,

Jaclyn: 00:09:51

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:09:51

So we dove all in with this, like our whole life, like yeah, we poured everything into it.

Geoff: 00:09:57

burn the ships, there's no going

Jaclyn: 00:09:59

Yeah, pretty much.

Geoff: 00:10:01

And, uh, we started, as.

Geoff: 00:10:03

Family Friendly Screenwriting Academy.

Geoff: 00:10:05

And Jaclyn began teaching workshops and classes.

Geoff: 00:10:08

We eventually changed the name to Faith and Family Screenwriting Academy and Faith and Family Filmmakers Association because we wanted to be more focused, on our target audience, I guess, and be more specific.

Geoff: 00:10:21

and as mentioned, we also have the Faith and Family Screenwriting Awards Festival.

Jaclyn: 00:10:24

And so then in the process of all of that, we decided let's throw in a podcast.

Geoff: 00:10:31

Uh huh!

Geoff: 00:10:32

that's a big one.

Geoff: 00:10:33

We actually didn't realize how much work it would be.

Geoff: 00:10:35

I'm sure most people don't.

Jaclyn: 00:10:37

Well, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:10:38

And, and not only that, It's not just about the work, it's, you know, we want to make sure that we're providing amazing content.

Jaclyn: 00:10:46

And we are putting out two episodes a week, which actually, for those that have not been members, you've been missing out on half of our content because every second episode would go to our members only.

Geoff: 00:10:59

sometimes the better half.

Jaclyn: 00:11:00

Most oftentimes, yes.

Jaclyn: 00:11:02

And so we've decided to change how we're doing things because we want everyone to have all of this amazing content.

Jaclyn: 00:11:10

and so instead of having memberships, we're going to make all of those episodes available to every listener.

Jaclyn: 00:11:18

So you can go back and listen to, you know, whoever was your favourite guest, you can go and hear another episode by them.

Jaclyn: 00:11:25

but what we would ask is for those of you that are enjoying the content and are able to leave a tip for us, which is, you know, a little donation.

Jaclyn: 00:11:33

It does help us with the costs because it's not just about the time and the energy in putting this podcast together.

Jaclyn: 00:11:39

There actually are literal financial costs involved.

Jaclyn: 00:11:42

And so, If everybody left a little tip, it would really help make everything, go smoothly and, and be paid for and we could just continue bringing you amazing content and amazing guests.

Geoff: 00:11:53

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:11:53

And so that link would still be the same at faffpodcast.

Geoff: 00:11:57

com slash support, but, um, immediately you can go find those episodes that you've missed.

Geoff: 00:12:04

Sometimes those second episodes are where the guest went deeper, gave some concrete, uh, practical advice and tips and things that can help move your career forward.

Geoff: 00:12:14

So I'd encourage you to take a look at your podcast player and look back through and find ones that.

Geoff: 00:12:19

Show, they've not been listened to yet.

Geoff: 00:12:21

You'll find some great content there.

Geoff: 00:12:23

And as Jaclyn said, there was just so much valuable stuff there that we wanted to make sure it was available to everyone.

Geoff: 00:12:29

And that was one of our big announcements from this episode today

Geoff: 00:12:32

so here's something that you may not know, 90 percent of podcasts that start out never make it past the third episode.

Geoff: 00:12:41

I told Jaclyn this yesterday, she was quite shocked,

Jaclyn: 00:12:45

I know.

Jaclyn: 00:12:45

I told him you should have said that on air the first time and then that way you'd get my, you know, my authentic, Oh, really?

Jaclyn: 00:12:51

Okay.

Geoff: 00:12:52

here's the interesting part.

Geoff: 00:12:53

90 percent that go beyond the third never make it past 20 episodes.

Geoff: 00:12:58

So 99 percent never make it past 20 episodes.

Geoff: 00:13:02

And we're on, well this will be episode 57.

Geoff: 00:13:06

Since February.

Geoff: 00:13:06

So I think we're doing okay.

Jaclyn: 00:13:08

Yeah, and we've got an entire season two lined up.

Jaclyn: 00:13:12

several of them are already in the can.

Jaclyn: 00:13:14

So we're going strong and not slowing down, which is great because the listener feedback we've gotten so far, is amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:13:23

And actually even from our guests, they've said that people have contacted them saying, I loved your episode.

Jaclyn: 00:13:28

I learned so much.

Jaclyn: 00:13:29

so yeah, it's, it's amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:13:31

Some of the feedback I've gotten is people telling me that, They have to take notes when they listen, which means that obviously there is actual practical advice or insight or, or whatever.

Jaclyn: 00:13:43

And, yeah, I'm just, I'm excited and grateful that I get to be part of that process.

Geoff: 00:13:48

and as we transition to our new season, our new round of guests, uh, we've got actors like Brett Varvel, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Kirk Wohler of The Chosen, and um, festival directors, casting directors, writers, a set chaplain, we've got a lot of interesting content.

Geoff: 00:14:05

coming up in the next few months.

Jaclyn: 00:14:07

If you want to take a look at our upcoming guests, you can go to our Facebook page and you can see our header has all of their faces on there, so you can, you'll recognize several of them, I'm sure.

Jaclyn: 00:14:19

You can see who's coming up.

Geoff: 00:14:20

One other feature we want to talk about that is going to be something new are paid pitch and promote bonus episodes.

Jaclyn: 00:14:29

And that is basically exactly what it sounds like.

Jaclyn: 00:14:32

So we're going to be doing segments where it's maybe like a ten minute segment where people can actually talk about their project, whether they're pitching it or promoting it.

Jaclyn: 00:14:40

So if it's something that's just coming out and you want to promote your project, you want to let the community know what's going on.

Jaclyn: 00:14:46

Because we do want to support each other.

Jaclyn: 00:14:48

And I love watching Christian content, so I want to see, you know, where the, the projects are.

Jaclyn: 00:14:54

And whether it's faith based or faith adjacent, you know, it's the same thing.

Jaclyn: 00:14:57

I want to know about it.

Jaclyn: 00:14:58

? The other thing is if people have projects that they want to pitch, like maybe they have a book that they want to turn into a movie and they want to pitch to producers.

Jaclyn: 00:15:07

Well, where are they going to meet producers?

Jaclyn: 00:15:09

There are listeners, right?

Jaclyn: 00:15:10

You guys.

Jaclyn: 00:15:11

And so whether you're a writer, producer, actor, whatever, if you're listening to a pitch and you're like, Oh, I want to be part of that project.

Jaclyn: 00:15:17

You wouldn't know about it unless they were, you know, pitching to you.

Jaclyn: 00:15:21

So this is the kind of thing that we want to provide.

Jaclyn: 00:15:23

Um, we definitely want to get to know more people in the industry, but we also want to see what people are working on

Geoff: 00:15:28

These will be short bonus episodes alongside our regular episodes, of course our Our mission and our goal with Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast is to provide content for, as we say, filmmakers with a Christian worldview, to help them stay in touch, informed, and inspired.

Geoff: 00:15:45

So we want to provide valuable content that will help them learn, move forward in their career, and be inspired by the journeys of our guests.

Jaclyn: 00:15:52

And also to create connections.

Jaclyn: 00:15:54

Our regular episodes, we don't actually typically get into, um, a lot of promotion.

Jaclyn: 00:15:59

We do talk about projects for sure, but it's from the angle of learning and growing and sharing about the process, uh, rather than, you know, hey, here's my movie, go watch it here.

Jaclyn: 00:16:11

But we want to make sure that we provide that opportunity.

Jaclyn: 00:16:14

as well without it cutting into our initial and our main focus for the podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:16:19

So we've created this other segment, and so there might be one a week, there might be one a month.

Jaclyn: 00:16:24

We'll have to see how it goes.

Jaclyn: 00:16:25

That's kind of up to you guys and who pitches to us.

Geoff: 00:16:28

Yeah, we'll get information on our website about that, before too long.

Geoff: 00:16:34

please contact us.

Jaclyn: 00:16:35

We've actually got a great example of exactly what we're talking about.

Jaclyn: 00:16:39

If you listen to episode 50 with Mark Stewart Iverson, he's talking about his movie coming out.

Jaclyn: 00:16:44

It's called For Profit.

Jaclyn: 00:16:45

that's exactly what we want to do with these 10 minute pitch and promote episodes.

Jaclyn: 00:16:50

you can see exactly what that's about and you'll be able to see the difference between that one and our regular podcast episode.

Jaclyn: 00:17:05

All right.

Jaclyn: 00:17:06

So, Geoff, as we close out this episode, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners?

Geoff: 00:17:12

Well, uh, I can point people towards some of our programs.

Geoff: 00:17:16

Our website is faffassociation.

Geoff: 00:17:19

com and you can kind of find an overview there and our screenwriting academy.

Geoff: 00:17:24

We've got a bootcamp, a screenwriting bootcamp coming up on July 28th.

Geoff: 00:17:29

You've probably heard the ads that we've placed in the podcast that's still open for registration and you can find that on our website.

Geoff: 00:17:37

And what about you, Jaclyn?

Geoff: 00:17:38

Do you have any final thoughts?

Geoff: 00:17:39

I think you should tell them about your book.

Jaclyn: 00:17:42

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:17:43

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:17:44

We'll close with that.

Jaclyn: 00:17:46

So, Alright, I always thought I would just be a screenwriter, that's the only thing that I was interested in for writing, I never wrote short stories, never wanted to write a novel, uh, but here's the thing, people kept encouraging me to write a book, and I thought, what in the world am I gonna write a book about, you know, I'd rather just write a movie,

Jaclyn: 00:18:06

so, This is a combination of fiction and non fiction.

Jaclyn: 00:18:10

It's fiction because I include segments from my screenplays, my fictional screenplays, I include in the book.

Jaclyn: 00:18:18

So the book in a nutshell is understanding God from a creative perspective.

Jaclyn: 00:18:24

Understanding God as your author, which means understanding ourselves as characters and what that relationship dynamic looks like.

Jaclyn: 00:18:34

Uh, and how understanding storytelling techniques can actually improve our walk with the Lord and help us to understand how to recognize when he's communicating with us, understanding even plot points in our lives.

Jaclyn: 00:18:46

Uh, there's a lot of practical stuff in there.

Jaclyn: 00:18:48

The people that have already read it.

Jaclyn: 00:18:50

before it's been published have given me a lot of amazing feedback saying that.

Jaclyn: 00:18:55

it gave them very practical, uh, advice or insights into their own current situations.

Jaclyn: 00:19:03

And, you know, I'm, honored that it's doing exactly that.

Jaclyn: 00:19:06

I was just sharing from my own heart, and I'll be honest, I get quite vulnerable in there.

Jaclyn: 00:19:10

My testimony is actually weaved into the book throughout, so, um, it's something that is definitely from my heart and people that have read it that didn't already know me, uh, said that they feel like they know me now because I do share a lot of my own stories.

Jaclyn: 00:19:25

So, if you want to learn how to see God as your author, I would encourage you to read my book.

Jaclyn: 00:19:32

There's also going to be a lot of really great storytelling stuff.

Jaclyn: 00:19:36

Cause I also have friends who said that they've taken a ton of notes and it's helped them with their screenplay.

Jaclyn: 00:19:41

So there's also that.

Geoff: 00:19:43

so why don't you tell them the title?

Jaclyn: 00:19:45

Oh, yes.

Jaclyn: 00:19:46

It's called In the Beginning, Middle, and End.

Jaclyn: 00:19:49

A Screenwriter's Observations of Life, Character, and God.

Geoff: 00:19:53

Yes, and it will be published on July 23rd

Jaclyn: 00:19:57

Yep, on Amazon.

Geoff: 00:19:59

and we'll probably update you about that.

Jaclyn: 00:20:04

Thank you for sharing this episode with me, Geoff.

Geoff: 00:20:08

thank you Jaclyn and thank you listeners for journeying with us over these last few months and we look forward to offering you more great content in the months to come.

Jaclyn: 00:20:19

God bless.