Patience in Production: Filmmaking with Brett Varvel

Geoff: 00:00:00

Hey, this is Geoff.

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome back to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:03

We're excited to be with you again today, and we've got a special guest, Brett Varvel.

Jaclyn: 00:00:08

From the age of five, Brett knew he wanted to be a filmmaker.

Jaclyn: 00:00:11

The son of an internationally known cartoonist meant that Brett was constantly surrounded by storytelling.

Jaclyn: 00:00:18

The love of the craft propelled him to chase his dreams from a young age.

Jaclyn: 00:00:22

After graduating college at Ball State University, Brett had already won a regional Emmy award for directing and was also a two time David Letterman scholarship winner.

Jaclyn: 00:00:32

Brett went on to create his own production company, House of Grace Studios, and is now a director, actor, and writer.

Jaclyn: 00:00:39

Brett has the unique ability to excel both behind and in front of the camera.

Jaclyn: 00:00:45

Welcome to the podcast, Brett.

Geoff: 00:00:47

Welcome.

Brett: 00:00:48

you guys so much for having me.

Brett: 00:00:49

It's a, it's an honor.

Brett: 00:00:50

' Jaclyn: So, how did you even come up with Get started.

Brett: 00:00:53

I mean, I, I read in the bio that your father was a cartoonist, but that doesn't necessarily launch you into this career.

Brett: 00:01:00

So where did that all start for you?

Brett: 00:01:01

Wow.

Brett: 00:01:03

a, as a child was the fact that I grew up in a, not only a Christian home, but a very creative home.

Brett: 00:01:09

Uh, so the fact that my dad drew cartoons for a living, uh, it was not, you know, out of the realm of normal possibility for someone in our family to want to chase an artistic career.

Brett: 00:01:20

And so we were, we were encouraged from when we were really little to, to draw, to write, to, act, to pursue music and all kinds of different things.

Brett: 00:01:29

And we loved movies.

Brett: 00:01:30

Uh, I've always loved movies as a kid.

Brett: 00:01:32

And, And it was just one of those things that I was constantly drawn back to story, constantly drawn back to the art of film, and my dad really encouraged us to, you know, pursue that, and so that, took shape in grabbing the home video camera, um, Making a lot of mistakes along the way with that home video camera and figuring out how to edit on, this is back on like VHS and, uh, how to, you know, start and stop recording at the same time to transition the data and, um, all kinds of different, you know, techniques that I'm grateful to have learned that way.

Brett: 00:02:07

but was constantly fascinated with how do I take this, this medium of, art and how do I tell a story?

Brett: 00:02:14

And when I was 18 years old, I had an opportunity here in Indiana.

Brett: 00:02:18

they used to have these statewide arts competitions where anyone from the state of Indiana who's a high school student could submit a piece of art, and it could be a 2D, 3D piece of art, it could be music, video, performance, dance, whatever the case is, but we all had to create that piece of art based on a theme or a word, and the year that I was a senior in high school, the word was change.

Brett: 00:02:42

And immediately, I had these flashes in my mind of creating a short film that depicted what it was like when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.

Brett: 00:02:51

And so I made this short film and I entered it into the competition and To my shock and amazement, I ended up winning first place in the state of Indiana for this movie that depicts becoming a born again believer.

Brett: 00:03:03

And at the awards ceremony, I heard about a janitor who peeked his head in while my film was playing and heard that he ended up giving his life to Jesus.

Brett: 00:03:12

And all of a sudden my, um, my young, you know, dreams and, aspirations of going to Hollywood and becoming a film actor or film director, it all changed in that moment.

Brett: 00:03:25

And it was this clear call from the Lord of taking the talents and abilities that He's given me to proclaim His, gospel and His message to a lost and dying world through the art of film.

Brett: 00:03:35

And it was almost as if, if, if I had heard an audible voice, it would have been something like, Brett, imagine what I could do through you.

Brett: 00:03:42

And ever since then, I've been, trying to be faithful to the call that God has in front of me.

Brett: 00:03:47

And to use, whether it's in front or behind the camera, to be faithful and serve him the best I can.

Jaclyn: 00:03:53

Wow.

Jaclyn: 00:03:53

That is incredible.

Jaclyn: 00:03:55

What a testimony.

Jaclyn: 00:03:56

And I mean, isn't that, I think for myself anyways, like, I think a lot of us, we feel that way where.

Jaclyn: 00:04:03

if we can touch someone and if we can, direct someone toward the Lord, it's like, okay, it's all worth it.

Jaclyn: 00:04:09

because it's never easy, right?

Jaclyn: 00:04:11

Like there's so many, uh, hurdles that you've got to get over.

Jaclyn: 00:04:15

And so, you know, there's that, Perseverance that keeps you going.

Jaclyn: 00:04:18

so what were some hurdles that you had to get over?

Brett: 00:04:22

Well, there's been many, and there continues to be many.

Brett: 00:04:25

this is not an easy path of life that we've chosen to be filmmakers.

Brett: 00:04:31

It's a risky cutthroat.

Brett: 00:04:34

It's, it's all of the things that, um, a lot of industries face, but with, entertainment specifically, you are at the disposal of people's acceptance and people's, um, voting of confidence, but they're, you know, buying your product or saying that you're worthy or valuable enough and all of these things that can be really damaging especially someone who is a father of Jesus, where we seek to have our identity in him.

Brett: 00:04:58

Um, I think that was one of the things that I faced very early on in my career was Was this constant tug of war in my heart of, not seeking the praise of men, but only trying to be faithful to who I am as a Christ follower.

Brett: 00:05:13

And because I'm already accepted and valued in the eyes of Jesus.

Brett: 00:05:17

and that, that was, that's a hard struggle and continues to be difficult, in trying to create content, but.

Brett: 00:05:22

The thing that I continued to come back to was, um, the Lord, through His Word, through people, through circumstances of, me making movies, continued to affirm to me that He had given me a specific skill set that He hasn't given to other people.

Brett: 00:05:39

The question is, how faithful will I be?

Brett: 00:05:42

And, and also to a certain extent, how badly do I want it?

Brett: 00:05:46

Um, I think that, you know, the amount of times that, uh, I've been faced with a, a time in, you know, in, in the year where I'm looking at the finances or I'm looking at nobody's, hiring me or whatever the case is and you start to Votes you're banging your head up against the wall trying to figure out man.

Brett: 00:06:02

How do I keep doing this?

Brett: 00:06:04

This doesn't make sense How much more at risk do I put my family all of those different types of questions?

Jaclyn: 00:06:11

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:06:11

Very, very real.

Jaclyn: 00:06:13

Just like the realities and responsibilities.

Brett: 00:06:17

yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:06:18

yeah, yeah, and it's definitely one of those careers that it, it doesn't have that promise of consistency and, you know, like you're just always out there having to hustle and find the work.

Brett: 00:06:29

Yeah.

Brett: 00:06:30

Yeah, and but the thing that I have seen time and time again in my story is God's provision

Jaclyn: 00:06:36

Mm.

Jaclyn: 00:06:36

Mm

Brett: 00:06:37

faithfulness in the whole time, I mean, some of the drier seasons of life for me, in terms of work, have been some of the most refining moments of my life, where the Lord is refining my heart to shape me more into the image of Jesus.

Brett: 00:06:50

So that when I do have an opportunity to be on a film set or to promote a movie or whatever the case would be, that I'm his ambassador.

Brett: 00:06:58

I'm then now filled up by his word to go out and speak boldly on his behalf and so I, you know, any time that I look at those moments, it's, yes, it is a moment of testing because your faith is tested of, do you really trust the Lord?

Brett: 00:07:13

Um, but also it's those moments of, asking the Lord, okay, what in my heart right now needs to be taken out?

Brett: 00:07:20

are you refining in me that does not mirror Jesus.

Brett: 00:07:24

So I, I think that's, it's kind of a both hand.

Jaclyn: 00:07:26

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:07:26

And asking that question is the important part, because I think, especially when I think back to in my early walk with the Lord, it was more just like me freaking out, like, what's happening?

Jaclyn: 00:07:38

Do you see this?

Jaclyn: 00:07:40

You know, um, and then having to go through that and getting a track record with the Lord to see, oh yeah, okay, I can trust him.

Jaclyn: 00:07:47

But even now, like, My flesh still wants to freak out and have that little tantrum, but, you know, being able to step into my faith and look back and be like, okay, so he's done this and this and this and this.

Jaclyn: 00:07:59

He's fully aware of what's going on.

Jaclyn: 00:08:01

He already has a plan.

Jaclyn: 00:08:02

I just have to trust it.

Jaclyn: 00:08:04

And also, I'm going to ask, how what am I supposed to be learning right now?

Jaclyn: 00:08:09

And is there something I'm missing?

Jaclyn: 00:08:11

Like, help me understand.

Jaclyn: 00:08:14

Because sometimes, sometimes he is waiting for us learn something or grow before he moves us into the next phase so that he knows that we can handle it.

Brett: 00:08:21

Absolutely.

Geoff: 00:08:22

So Brett, you've got quite a variety of projects in your, uh, in your history.

Geoff: 00:08:26

Of course, as an actor, our listeners have seen you in, in numerous movies, but also as a director and a producer.

Geoff: 00:08:32

Tell us about some of the projects you've done and are working on with regards to, your own productions.

Brett: 00:08:38

Yeah.

Brett: 00:08:38

So this has been kind of a crazy stretch of years for me.

Brett: 00:08:41

the interesting thing is that, you When I went off to college, acting really wasn't even on the, the horizon for me.

Brett: 00:08:48

Um, I didn't go to college to learn the trade of acting.

Brett: 00:08:52

I'm not professionally trained as an actor.

Brett: 00:08:54

That was always the childhood, you know, first love when it came to film.

Brett: 00:08:58

but I really fell in love with directing and wanted to learn that craft specifically.

Brett: 00:09:04

And so.

Brett: 00:09:05

made my first feature film called the war within in two thousand and fourteen and when that went out and people started calling me and asking me to audition for their projects it was a bit of a shock to me just because i didn't really think that was a possibility and i've always had this.

Brett: 00:09:21

Open handed approach with the Lord when it came to the acting side of my career and that I wasn't going to go down You know knock on every door and turn over every leaf if he wanted me to be a part of a project I wanted him to be the one opening those doors because I know that you know, how easy it can be as an actor to be swayed into ego driven, um, seeking the praise of men and all of these things.

Brett: 00:09:43

And I just wanted to protect my heart against that and, but God and His goodness has opened up lot of cool opportunities for me to do what I love to do in the form of acting, by being able to work with the Irwin brothers on American Underdog, I play Steve Mariucci, Or whether it was working with Jimmy Womble and Marty Roberts, on running the bases where I got to be the lead of that film, or Rich Cristiano, where I got to be the lead of his film, Play the Flute, and others as well.

Brett: 00:10:07

Um, and it was all of those moments were divinely led, moments in my life where I was either, I believe commissioned by the Lord to, to be his ambassador, to preach the gospel to someone on set, or to, in some cases, preach the gospel through the movie itself, or.

Brett: 00:10:24

There were moments where people were pouring into me and, um, and it was just, yeah, that mutual, like, discipleship and evangelism kind of going hand in hand that I, I praise God for all of those opportunities that He's given me.

Brett: 00:10:36

And, all, you know, for the past, like, 10 years, I've been working on a lot of other people's projects.

Brett: 00:10:42

And it's been a blast, but in the back of my heart and my mind the whole time, I had this movie that was just, I had a big burden on my heart about called Disciples in the Moonlight.

Brett: 00:10:52

Um, and I wanted to see this movie come to life so badly, and we tried year after year to get the funding, to get it off the ground, and it was just like this elusive thing that I didn't know if it was ever gonna happen, and By God's grace in 2022, the funding finally came in and a team, the team that God wanted to be a part of this project.

Brett: 00:11:13

And I truly do believe that our cast and crew were divinely placed.

Brett: 00:11:17

They were assembled, we shot the movie, edited the film, got it, you know, through 2023 through post production.

Brett: 00:11:22

And now I can't believe I'm saying this, but in July 17th, the movie hits theaters nationwide.

Brett: 00:11:29

And it's just been kind of a whirlwind of, uh, of an experience to see how God was in the midst of all of it and all of the confusion and frustration that I was experiencing over those 10 years of wanting to do my own movie, seeing how he was shaping my heart to be ready to make it, but then also preparing the culture, I think, to receive it as this movie is very much a, um, uh, what if scenario.

Brett: 00:11:56

And, you know, if we had made it 10 years ago, I don't think the culture was ready

Jaclyn: 00:12:00

Yeah, I was just going to say, if this came out earlier, it may not have the same impact that it would today.

Brett: 00:12:07

absolutely not.

Brett: 00:12:08

Absolutely not.

Brett: 00:12:09

In fact, we were told when, um, our first big attempt at launching this movie was back in 2015.

Brett: 00:12:16

The premise of the movie is, what if the Bible was illegal?

Brett: 00:12:19

And it specifically focuses on the seven Christians in the United States of America Who are tasked with a mission to smuggle the Bible to underground churches in neighboring states.

Brett: 00:12:30

And when we pitched this idea to investors or, potential, crew members or whoever we were trying to get a part of the project, people thought, no, that's a, you know, it's a clever idea, but that'll never happen.

Brett: 00:12:40

And then people got so hung up on it'll never happen here in the United States that they didn't even really take time to look at the story because the story Is not so much focused on this, what the, you know, we're like, we're watchmen on the wall saying we need to change this or persecution is going to come or, you know, it's persecution is happening now or that wasn't really a driving motivation for us.

Brett: 00:13:01

The driving motivation was for people to examine their heart.

Brett: 00:13:05

How would you respond if the Bible was illegal?

Brett: 00:13:08

What would you do?

Brett: 00:13:09

And once the culture changed and the Lord has allowed certain things to happen, even here in the United States, all of a sudden people have been so much more receptive to the story and those who have seen the movie so far have told us They felt like they were in the story because it felt very relatable to them.

Brett: 00:13:27

And that's just a testimony to God's providence, throughout the making of this movie.

Jaclyn: 00:13:32

amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:13:33

And yeah, like, the thing as a storyteller is to ask those what if questions.

Jaclyn: 00:13:38

Not would this ever happen, but what if it did?

Jaclyn: 00:13:40

did happen.

Jaclyn: 00:13:41

You know, like just suspend that disbelief for a moment.

Jaclyn: 00:13:44

What if it did happen?

Jaclyn: 00:13:45

Then let's follow that through to the end to see what are the different outcomes that there could be.

Jaclyn: 00:13:51

cause the different characters are going to respond differently and stuff like that.

Jaclyn: 00:13:54

I'm very curious, to see it because some of the people that we've actually had on our podcast are involved in this project.

Jaclyn: 00:14:00

We've had, Stephanie Parker and Zachary Horner.

Jaclyn: 00:14:03

They're part of the project.

Jaclyn: 00:14:05

Stephanie is one of the actresses.

Jaclyn: 00:14:07

What role does she play?

Brett: 00:14:08

So she plays Danelle Thornton in the movie.

Brett: 00:14:11

And, uh, so she's the wife of one of the other main characters in the story.

Brett: 00:14:16

uh, she, she plays a little bit of a rough character, uh, which is, you know, out of the, a little bit out of the norm of the types of characters that Stephanie usually plays, but she.

Brett: 00:14:25

She just knocked it out of the park.

Brett: 00:14:27

Uh, I mean, she was incredible.

Brett: 00:14:30

Um, gives us such a powerful and emotional performance and a relatable performance.

Brett: 00:14:34

I think to, to your point of her character response to the scenario very differently from some of the other ones.

Brett: 00:14:41

And, she's a broken person.

Brett: 00:14:44

And I think that, you know, we live in a day and age where, um, it's sunshine and rainbows for everybody.

Brett: 00:14:50

In fact,

Brett: 00:14:51

people are starting to be a lot more honest in the society about how broken they are, and how desperately in need of help they are.

Brett: 00:14:57

And that's Danelle in the movie, uh, and Stephanie just did an amazing job bringing her to life.

Jaclyn: 00:15:02

Fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:15:03

Yeah, and Zachary did the music for it, like the composing, right?

Brett: 00:15:08

Yes, yes, Zachary is just an incredibly talented young man.

Brett: 00:15:12

Um, it was one of those really difficult tasks, to find somebody who could take, um, so just for some, you know, insider baseball, since this is a filmmaker podcast, this was the first movie that I have edited that we did not use temp music or anything throughout the course of the edit.

Brett: 00:15:29

So it was dry and raw when it came to

Brett: 00:15:33

Zachary.

Brett: 00:15:34

And so for him to literally have nothing to go on other than the visuals and my direction, He brought a score to life that is so gripping, so emotional, and so big, which is one of the things that I think is really intriguing about this as a faith based film is there's not many action, suspense, thriller, you know, faith based movies, and you would never guess that this was a low budget independent production, and that's really attributed to Zachary's incredible music.

Jaclyn: 00:16:04

Awesome.

Jaclyn: 00:16:04

I can hardly wait to see it.

Geoff: 00:16:06

Music and sound make a big difference in the, um, in the perceived production value of a movie.

Geoff: 00:16:11

Absolutely.

Geoff: 00:16:12

our sound designer, Nathan Ashton, who has worked on so many movies, just did an unbelievable job bringing the sound to life.

Geoff: 00:16:19

And that was one of the things that I sat down with, my whole team before we started this process and showed them my director's mood book, where I explained to them the various aspects of the movie and what my vision was.

Geoff: 00:16:30

And one of the, aspects of the movie I called sound as one of the characters and in the audience to experience the world through sound itself and Nathan did an unbelievable job immersing you in it And I think that's attributed to some of these audience reactions that we've gotten where people have said they feel like they're in the story.

Geoff: 00:16:49

And I think the sound and the music have a lot to do with that.

Jaclyn: 00:16:53

Mm.

Geoff: 00:16:53

I was going to ask, actually, you mentioned something a few moments ago about editing.

Geoff: 00:16:58

While most of the people listening to this are hearing audio only, I can see interview here some pretty big monitors behind you.

Geoff: 00:17:05

And I was going to ask what, personally, your part is in post production.

Brett: 00:17:09

Yeah, so I obviously served as the film's director, but then I also edited the movie.

Brett: 00:17:14

I took on that task and was blessed to have Josh Strakowski, who's the writer, and my brother, who plays, Uh, so Josh wrote the movie and then also plays one of the characters and then my brother plays JJ, uh, who's my character's brother in the movie, uh, but my brother is also an unaccomplished editor and so they were kind of my editing team as well to give critiques and feedback and, um, shape the story before we passed it off to visual effects, music, sound, and, color.

Geoff: 00:17:43

ground, and them

Jaclyn: 00:17:44

need more movies like that.

Jaclyn: 00:17:46

You know, more of the action and the thriller and, you know, I think it's great to expand because it's not, I don't think that there's necessarily a just specific Christian genre.

Jaclyn: 00:17:57

It's like, okay, so it has a Christian message.

Jaclyn: 00:17:59

But there's a lot of genres that we can put that message into, right?

Jaclyn: 00:18:03

So yeah, I appreciate that you, um, that you pursued this project, that you didn't give up on it, even though it took a long time to come through.

Jaclyn: 00:18:10

And it's interesting when I hear so many people saying, Oh, it took a long time to get off the ground.

Jaclyn: 00:18:14

I didn't know if it was ever going to go.

Jaclyn: 00:18:16

And, that's actually encouraging for me because I have a lot of projects that I want to get off the ground and I want to see them go.

Jaclyn: 00:18:21

And of course I'm impatient.

Jaclyn: 00:18:23

I don't want to wait, but it, you know, this reminds me like, These kinds of projects take time, and I just need to be patient and wait on the Lord for His timing.

Jaclyn: 00:18:31

And, you know, like we were saying, it means more coming out now than it would have if it had come out ten years ago.

Brett: 00:18:37

And throughout, throughout a lot of this process, I kept going back to the story of Joseph and Genesis and was just struck with

Brett: 00:18:47

how often throughout Joseph's life, in the midst of moments when he's, betrayed by his brothers, sold into prison, betrayed by Potiphar's wife, in prison, and it says that the Lord was with Joseph.

Brett: 00:19:01

And the Lord was not shocked or confused by anything that was happening to Joseph, but he was preparing him for something that he had for him years down the road.

Brett: 00:19:11

And that's something that in our American society is hard for us because ready for it now.

Brett: 00:19:16

We want, you know, we have a very fast food mentality to the way that we do life.

Brett: 00:19:20

But that's not the way that God works.

Brett: 00:19:22

God works in various ways and different timetables.

Brett: 00:19:26

And, I, I believe, you know, again, not, just from the, the refining that he was doing in my heart over the course of those, years, but preparing the artists that were going to be a part of this project.

Jaclyn: 00:19:37

Mm

Brett: 00:19:37

that I didn't know yet and would not have known if if we were successful in 2015.

Brett: 00:19:42

And, and that was something that was so emotionally overwhelming for me.

Brett: 00:19:46

Our first day on set, um, every day that we, we had production, I would, um, my first ad, Carrie Fabian and I would call the casting crew together.

Brett: 00:19:57

Carrie would give kind of some marching orders for the day of what we were gonna be accomplishing.

Brett: 00:20:01

and then I would.

Brett: 00:20:02

Challenge them with some, uh, either a passage of scripture or something to, set our hearts and our minds on why we're doing what we're doing.

Brett: 00:20:10

so my first day on set, was my first time seeing the entire team assembled and I got so emotional because I'm looking in the eyes of people that, I saw God's hand in bringing them to this project, and then seeing creativity and their talent, elevating the story to a whole different level, it was just like this very cool peek behind the curtain for me to see what God was doing.

Brett: 00:20:35

And, um, and it was just such a cool thing to be a part of it.

Brett: 00:20:38

And, and so I know for you, you know, the Lord is going to be preparing you and for anyone who's listening to this podcast, you may have these, dream projects I know for me, I, there were years in the waiting of this that I started asking the question, like, is, is anyone going to take a chance on me?

Brett: 00:20:55

Is there something wrong with me?

Brett: 00:20:57

And it's the wrong question

Jaclyn: 00:20:59

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:21:00

That's a tough question.

Jaclyn: 00:21:01

It's not

Jaclyn: 00:21:01

the right

Brett: 00:21:02

Lord is the one who's at work in preparing and, um, providing, and even some of our investors who I had, I had prayed that God would bring the money, but then my, prayers changed from praying for money to praying for the people that would bring the money, and the people that have helped fund this movie, Are the right kind of investors that you want on this project because their first and foremost desire in investing in a movie like this is for the kingdom, not for necessarily just a return on investment monetarily.

Jaclyn: 00:21:33

Right.

Brett: 00:21:34

and you don't find those people unless God brings

Jaclyn: 00:21:36

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:21:37

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:21:37

That allows for your creativity.

Jaclyn: 00:21:40

because I know like when investors are thinking more about the money, I think that they're going to be focused more so on making sure that you have this element and this element and tweak this this way, you know, cause that's going to make more money.

Jaclyn: 00:21:51

And, so

Brett: 00:21:53

yeah, it was just, it's just that reminder that, time is different to the Lord, He created He's outside of it, and so, I mean, just take encouragement from the 10 year journey of Disciples in the Moonlight, and, I mean, I blink and it was 10 years, I mean, it's, I can't believe it's been that long, um, now granted, I pray that the next project doesn't take 10 years to get off the

Jaclyn: 00:22:14

exactly.

Jaclyn: 00:22:15

It's not necessarily the

Jaclyn: 00:22:16

goal.

Brett: 00:22:18

if it does, I know that it will be for a reason.

Jaclyn: 00:22:21

Right.

Geoff: 00:22:21

I did hear a lot of encouragement in what was said in the last few minutes, and I think there's potential for that to have impact on a lot of our listeners, and I appreciate hearing that.

Geoff: 00:22:31

When we get into the next, uh, portion of our interview, one of the things I'd like to talk about is the aspect acting and directing, at the same time.

Brett: 00:22:41

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:22:42

perhaps some things that would be, um, maybe some challenges that you faced, on your set.

Geoff: 00:22:47

Some interesting stories that, people would like to hear.

Geoff: 00:22:50

Um, Some advice, some tips, some things that would be helpful for perhaps newer or, or younger, filmmakers, aspiring filmmakers.

Geoff: 00:22:58

And, um, I'm sure you've got lots of great, great stuff that would be helpful for them.

Brett: 00:23:03

Yeah.

Brett: 00:23:03

So, um, acting and directing and the same project.

Brett: 00:23:07

This is my second time doing this in a feature film.

Brett: 00:23:10

My first feature film, The War Within, I directed the movie and I played the lead actor and this time around with Disciples in the Moonlight, I directed the film and I play the supporting lead in the movie.

Brett: 00:23:21

so this time around, I knew a little bit about what I was getting myself into.

Brett: 00:23:25

and part of what I did in the pre production process was really pressed into trusting my team and casting a vision in their minds, making sure that what I saw and heard in my head, they understood and they could take that and run with it.

Brett: 00:23:41

and it got to the point where, you know, a lot of days on set.

Brett: 00:23:45

I was not so concerned in having to go over the shot list with my DP constantly, or check, balances with my gaffer, or my wardrobe department, or whatever the case would be, because they already had the marching orders, so to speak, and I did my best to try to just encourage and inspire them To go do what God has gifted them to do.

Brett: 00:24:05

and then it was kind of a similar thing with my actors spending a lot of time in conversation with them ahead of the production schedule and trying to be available to answer their questions and to dig into these characters are so when we got to set, we were just.

Brett: 00:24:20

We were kind of executing it at that point.

Brett: 00:24:22

It was less about discovering it and just bringing it to life and feeling those moments.

Brett: 00:24:27

and it was, you know, I'm not quite the type of director that Clint Eastwood is, but I've heard these stories of Clint Eastwood, who he doesn't like rehearsals and he doesn't do a lot of takes, uh, because he just focuses on hiring and casting the right people and then expecting them to show up and do their job.

Brett: 00:24:42

Um, And so that was a big part of me being able to do both things, was casting the right actors, hiring the right crew, and then letting them know I trusted them, and that I wasn't lying when I say I trusted them, and that confidence boost in them really freed me up to focus on the directing and acting at the same time, but I will say that The challenges that I experienced was, it's very difficult to be present in a scene as an actor when you're also directing the scene.

Jaclyn: 00:25:16

Mm.

Jaclyn: 00:25:17

I can imagine.

Brett: 00:25:18

there were times that I, I worried that I was shortchanging my, scene partners.

Brett: 00:25:23

And that I wasn't giving them everything as an actor because I'm also got the gears turning as the director in the back of my head.

Brett: 00:25:31

Um, you'd have to ask them how that, how, what they thought about if they, if I was shortchanging them as an actor, But at the same time, I had lived with this story for so long that I knew what I wanted and there were a lot of scenes that, I didn't even have to go look at monitor or see a playback.

Brett: 00:25:46

I knew we had captured it just by the feeling of it, um, which was a very rewarding experience to, not only see a lot of these scenes come to life behind the monitor, but to live it.

Brett: 00:25:57

Um, something that had only existed in my head for, at that time, seven years, but then to actually experience it come to life physically was a very, very cool experience.

Brett: 00:26:07

and it wasn't uncommon for me to ask for feedback From my actors in those moments of saying, Hey, how'd you feel about that?

Brett: 00:26:13

and I love it when an actor asks for another take because that tells you they've got another idea or something else in the tank that they want to exhaust before we move on.

Brett: 00:26:24

and so it was, that kind of dual thing of trusting your team, but then knowing when I needed to stop and take a moment.

Brett: 00:26:33

There was one day on set that were at a location that I had not scouted.

Brett: 00:26:37

there were some changes in the schedule and we had lost the location.

Brett: 00:26:41

And so there I am, I'm at a location I'd not scouted, not prepared for.

Brett: 00:26:45

And I'm in these scenes and they're very emotional scenes.

Brett: 00:26:50

And, about halfway through the, shoot day, I just, I asked my first AD, I said, Carrie, I need like, five to 10 minutes by myself.

Brett: 00:26:58

And I just need to go, like, collect my thoughts and go pray,

Brett: 00:27:02

um, because I knew if I just, kept bulldozing through it, I was going to jeopardize the scene, both as an actor and a director, and so I was able, was able just to kind of quiet my heart, and thankfully I had a very patient team, and um, And when I came back, we were ready to roll and, and the scene ended up coming out better than I had, you know, originally intended, which was another stroke of the incredible team that I had around me.

Brett: 00:27:28

Um, so yeah, I mean, it's something that, for whatever reason, the Lord has, gifted my brain to be able to at the same time as an actor and a director, um, and I think, part of it is having directed movies before I acted and then acting in movies while I, I'm directing other projects, those two, muscles, so to speak, inform the other, um, my acting informs my directing and vice versa.

Brett: 00:27:52

And, um, I, I don't think I'll do it for every project.

Brett: 00:27:56

it's exhausting, but for those types of moments where the Lord.

Brett: 00:27:59

Again, puts that in front of me.

Brett: 00:28:01

I go back to what I said earlier.

Brett: 00:28:02

I,

Jaclyn: 00:28:02

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:28:03

Mm

Brett: 00:28:03

faithful and knowing that it's, not about me.

Brett: 00:28:06

And if, there's moments where I should only direct or only act, I'm going to serve the Lord, however I can in those moments.

Jaclyn: 00:28:12

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:28:13

Well, thank you.

Geoff: 00:28:13

before we move on and finish first part of our interview, let's take a moment to tell our listeners about Disciples, the release dates, any information or links that you'd like to send them to.

Brett: 00:28:26

Yeah.

Brett: 00:28:26

So I'm so excited because we've partnered with pinnacle peak pictures and fathom events to bring the movie to theaters nationwide, July 17th.

Brett: 00:28:36

So the cool thing about, you know, so a typical fathom release traditionally is.

Brett: 00:28:40

Two nights in the theaters.

Brett: 00:28:42

Um, but they believe in this project and are very excited about it.

Brett: 00:28:47

And they've, guaranteed us a week at the box office.

Brett: 00:28:50

So the movie is guaranteed to run July 17th through the 24th.

Brett: 00:28:53

In theaters across the country.

Brett: 00:28:55

Right now we're in a thousand theaters and that list can continue to grow.

Brett: 00:28:59

Um, and the other cool thing right now is that tickets are already on sale.

Brett: 00:29:02

So people can go right now.

Brett: 00:29:05

Yeah.

Brett: 00:29:05

Thank you.

Brett: 00:29:06

People can go to fathomevents.

Brett: 00:29:07

com and, go to Disciples in the Moonlight.

Brett: 00:29:11

I have Fathom Events, and you can buy your tickets right there, and you can even just enter your zip code into, um, the website there, and it'll pull up any theaters that are around you.

Brett: 00:29:21

and so we're, we're encouraging people to buy tickets early, that lets theaters know that this is a movie that they're gonna sell popcorn at, and

Brett: 00:29:28

that, you know, it's a movie that they might wanna show for multiple days after,

Brett: 00:29:32

uh, the 24th.

Brett: 00:29:33

And so, yeah, we're encouraging everybody to go to fathomevents.

Brett: 00:29:37

com now, buy your tickets, or you can also go to disciplesinthemoonlightmovie.

Brett: 00:29:40

com.

Brett: 00:29:41

We've got a bunch of clips, and images, and articles, and endorsements, and all kinds of things that people can find at that website.

Geoff: 00:29:49

We'll get those links in the show notes as well, so, if anybody's needing to look that up, please take a look at the show notes and you'll find the links.

Geoff: 00:29:56

Well, thank you so much, Brett.

Geoff: 00:29:58

Um, I, I've really appreciated this conversation.

Geoff: 00:30:01

Some very interesting things and, valuable information for our listeners.

Geoff: 00:30:05

And we'll look forward to talking with you more in our, uh, next half.