The Birth of a New Studio

Geoff: 00:00:00

there, welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:03

I'm Geoff,

Jaclyn: 00:00:04

And I'm Jaclyn.

Geoff: 00:00:05

and we're excited today and honored to have as our guests, George Escobar and Dr.

Geoff: 00:00:11

Joel Bunkowski.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

As a visionary filmmaker and co founder of Advent Film Group, George Escobar brings his expertise to Three Days Studios.

Jaclyn: 00:00:20

Known for the Oscar nominated Alone Yet Not Alone for Best Original Song, Escobar's experience ensures that every story Three Days Studios produces aligns with its values, Dr.

Jaclyn: 00:00:34

Joel Bonkowski is a Grammy, Dove, and Gold record winning attorney with over 30 years of experience in corporate and entertainment law.

Jaclyn: 00:00:43

Background in deal structuring and film finance ensures that Three Days Studios meets top industry standards.

Jaclyn: 00:00:50

Welcome to the podcast.

George: 00:00:52

Great to join you guys.

George: 00:00:53

Thank you for having us.

Jaclyn: 00:00:55

So tell me how you guys met and how did you get to where you are today?

Jaclyn: 00:01:00

Who wants to go first?

George: 00:01:02

Well, as any good storyteller, it starts with, it was a dark and stormy night.

Jaclyn: 00:01:06

Right?

George: 00:01:07

It was at night.

George: 00:01:08

It was, uh, raining a little bit, but, uh, we went to a Thai restaurant.

George: 00:01:13

Is that, is that, did I remember that correctly?

George: 00:01:16

And, um, we were, connected by a fellow producer, filmmaker, actress, and, uh, She said, hey, you guys need to get together because you have so much in common in terms of vision for filmmaking and also, uh, just a real passion for, for teaching and, creativity and technology.

George: 00:01:39

And we, were We had that dinner, and we've been friends ever since.

George: 00:01:43

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

George: 00:01:46

Sorry I keep dropping in these lines from movies, I

Jaclyn: 00:01:49

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:01:49

Geoff, you're

Geoff: 00:01:51

And how long ago was that?

Jaclyn: 00:01:52

I

George: 00:01:54

years ago, is that

George: 00:01:54

right Joel?

Geoff: 00:01:55

Goes back.

George: 00:01:56

Yeah, yeah, please, please add to that, Joel.

George: 00:01:58

I may have gotten all of that wrong.

George: 00:02:02

Dr. Joel: thought the Thai food was fantastic and the conversation was even better.

Geoff: 00:02:07

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:02:08

Good.

Geoff: 00:02:08

Well, let's look back, uh, even prior to that at the work that you've done, because obviously, each of you had work and experience that led up to that conversation.

Geoff: 00:02:19

Dr.

Geoff: 00:02:20

Joel, tell us about your history, how you got involved in entertainment law specifically, and some of the projects that you've worked on.

Geoff: 00:02:27

Dr. Joel: Well, I was actually a missionary kid, born and raised in Africa, Nigeria, and grew up in a village there.

Geoff: 00:02:36

Came to the United States my junior year in high school and, uh, I was a musician at that point, uh, really heavily into music, played drums and then guitar, keyboards, bass, you know, and got into recording.

Geoff: 00:02:50

Uh, actually went to Indiana University in their recording, program for a couple years.

Geoff: 00:02:55

Then I went off to Hollywood to become a rock star, which, didn't quite happen as quick as I thought it would.

Geoff: 00:03:02

But, through a lot of different things, God did his thing and led me to where he wanted to be.

Geoff: 00:03:10

Uh, ended up going to law school and, uh, studied securities law and corporate law and entertainment law, that was kind of my space.

Geoff: 00:03:18

And then, uh, came to Nashville, directly thereafter created a record company, and, uh, it was the dot com bubble at that point, uh, if, if you're old enough to remember that.

Geoff: 00:03:31

Uh, and so, you know, brand new attorney in town.

Geoff: 00:03:37

lot of doors opened.

Geoff: 00:03:38

I worked with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox from the Jimi Hendrix, experience and band of gypsies, uh, Eddie Kramer, who produced Led Zeppelin and, uh, Hendrix and Kiss and just a legendary producer.

Geoff: 00:03:52

And we got a, distribution deal through Warner brothers out of New York through a sub.

Geoff: 00:03:58

And, uh, so.

Geoff: 00:04:00

I was making these CDs with these legendary people in the best studios and then got the distribution deal and everything I touched turned to gold.

Geoff: 00:04:11

It was just the most amazing thing and I became.

Geoff: 00:04:16

pretty wealthy, uh, pretty quickly because I, you know, I knew securities law.

Geoff: 00:04:21

So I went ahead and, started selling securities and, everything went so well, um, until the dot com bubble burst.

Geoff: 00:04:31

I, I had a company in New York was going to take our, my, uh, record label.

Geoff: 00:04:36

Public, because the idea at that point I came up with was why don't we take an MTV and, uh, there's a little behind.

Geoff: 00:04:44

I actually produced television for seven years before, uh, ending up going to law school.

Geoff: 00:04:49

So producing directed television.

Geoff: 00:04:51

And so I thought, why don't I take my TV experience in music and create an online MTV and had never been done at that point.

Geoff: 00:05:00

So I was telling, you know, talking to investors about this online, MTV people were so excited.

Geoff: 00:05:06

A company in New York said, we'll value your company at $30 million.

Geoff: 00:05:11

Uh, so technically on paper I was worth $30 million at that point.

Geoff: 00:05:16

Uh, they're gonna take me public and uh, just up, up, up, up.

Geoff: 00:05:22

But what happens strangely is sometimes when you have too much success, too early.

Geoff: 00:05:29

You're like, you start thinking that, man, you're special and you've, got something great about you.

Geoff: 00:05:35

And, and so there were all these offers and I was taking some of them, but some of them I said, you know, that's not enough money.

Geoff: 00:05:42

You know, it's, it's not good enough.

Geoff: 00:05:43

Dot com bubble burst and I went from being technically worth thirty million dollars and selling stock at that valuation to owing half a million dollars because I thought, you know, hey, this is just a short little blip here.

Geoff: 00:05:59

There's, you know, it's not going to be a massive thing.

Geoff: 00:06:02

So I just took out my own personal credit, said I'm going to keep the company floating on my own credit.

Geoff: 00:06:07

And What God did at that point is just nothing short of a miracle, because my house was, uh, you know, at the point where it was going to be I was an attorney, went from 30 million to basically homeless, ready to be homeless.

Geoff: 00:06:25

And I just, you know In my kitchen, I laid on the floor and I said, God, I don't know what to do.

Geoff: 00:06:30

I didn't understand, you know, what a recession was going to do.

Geoff: 00:06:33

I was an attorney, but I wasn't a business guy per se.

Geoff: 00:06:37

I understood securities law.

Geoff: 00:06:39

Alright?

Geoff: 00:06:40

Uh, and then what happened is, I got up off the floor after praying, opened up the WAN ads.

Geoff: 00:06:46

Back then, they had newspapers.

Geoff: 00:06:47

If you

George: 00:06:51

The classifieds, I think they used to

George: 00:06:52

Dr. Joel: Right, classified.

George: 00:06:54

And, uh, I'm taking a while on this story, but it's, it's an important story for our listeners.

George: 00:07:00

I, I

George: 00:07:00

guarantee.

George: 00:07:01

And, and that is I had to be humbled.

George: 00:07:07

God had to humble me to the point where I didn't know what to do, even though as an attorney, I was down to my last credit card with just a few hundred dollars left on it.

George: 00:07:18

So I went to, um, an interview to be.

George: 00:07:25

Uh, a wills and trusts attorney.

George: 00:07:26

Now, that was the last thing.

George: 00:07:28

I was going to be an entertainment attorney.

George: 00:07:30

I wasn't going to be a wills and trusts guy, right?

George: 00:07:32

But I went to the interview.

George: 00:07:34

The attorney there said, you know, we'll hire you.

George: 00:07:37

can do this.

George: 00:07:38

And he said, but I got to tell you, this is my last day with the firm.

George: 00:07:42

I said, what?

George: 00:07:43

What are you doing?

George: 00:07:44

He said, well, Ford Motor Company got sued for sexual harassment and they're hiring a bunch of attorneys and they're paying really, really well.

George: 00:07:53

And so I'm going to go and apply for that job.

George: 00:07:56

And so I said, well, how much are they paying?

George: 00:08:00

He said,

Jaclyn: 00:08:00

And take me with you!

Jaclyn: 00:08:02

Hahaha.

Jaclyn: 00:08:04

Dr. Joel: a day, uh, and 1800 a day if there, it was a training thing.

Jaclyn: 00:08:09

You train two hours, two hours, two hours, so if you train the six hours and it's more than eight hour period, you get 1800 a day.

Jaclyn: 00:08:17

So, I took my last credit card with just enough money to get an airline ticket.

Jaclyn: 00:08:23

to Chicago where the hiring was going on, right?

Jaclyn: 00:08:27

I couldn't afford a hotel.

Jaclyn: 00:08:29

I couldn't afford to have my, shirt pressed.

Jaclyn: 00:08:31

I couldn't dry clean it.

Jaclyn: 00:08:33

So I stayed with my buddy, John Papillo, outside Chicago, uh, in Munster, Indiana, took the train in, had to borrow a shirt from him.

Jaclyn: 00:08:42

Went up, uh, this, uh, wonderful, tower where the law firm, Cypher Shaw, one of the largest labor law firm, up in the top, I mean, just like in a movie, right?

Jaclyn: 00:08:52

And I, I go in there, had to perform for the top Ford company brass, and I'd never taught before, right?

Jaclyn: 00:08:59

So, my first time, but they loved it, they hired me, my first week was 4, 500, my next week was 9, 000, and that went on for a year.

Jaclyn: 00:09:09

So.

Jaclyn: 00:09:10

What I want to say is that God is a God of miracles.

Jaclyn: 00:09:14

He will humble you, and that is a great gift.

Jaclyn: 00:09:19

Thank God for the humbling because when he decides and moves, guides your path down the road that he's chosen for you, watch out.

Jaclyn: 00:09:31

He will open the doors.

Jaclyn: 00:09:32

He opened the door.

Jaclyn: 00:09:33

He will take care of the problems that you cannot fix.

Jaclyn: 00:09:37

He's going to put you in a jam you can't fix to show that he is the God of the universe.

Jaclyn: 00:09:42

He is the creator and sustainer of all, and he will do what he wants to do.

Jaclyn: 00:09:46

And that's what he wants to do in the film industry.

Jaclyn: 00:09:49

This is a year of really the, the giants have been slain.

Jaclyn: 00:09:54

Mm-hmm

Jaclyn: 00:09:54

Dr. Joel: you look at what has happened with Kingdom Story Company, you look at happened, what's happened with Angel Studios.

Jaclyn: 00:09:59

You look at what's happened.

Jaclyn: 00:10:01

with his only son, the first theatrical from Angel Studios that I was attorney on by the grace of God.

Jaclyn: 00:10:07

And then, uh, Sound of Freedom, 250 million dollars at the box office.

Jaclyn: 00:10:12

These are things you couldn't, you couldn't predict.

Jaclyn: 00:10:15

I mean, we thought Passion of the Christ was big, right?

Jaclyn: 00:10:19

Uh, and now we're seeing that the Passion of the Christ can be repeated over and over by the power of Almighty God as we Christians.

Jaclyn: 00:10:31

Gather together and realize we don't have to rely on Hollywood.

Jaclyn: 00:10:36

We don't have to follow the ways of the world.

Jaclyn: 00:10:40

God will open doors to us.

Jaclyn: 00:10:42

And he has been opening those doors and part of it, like George, showed up in my house, a while back, about a year ago.

Jaclyn: 00:10:49

Is that right, George?

George: 00:10:51

Yeah, after, completing my tenure over at Focus on the Family as an executive producer.

George: 00:10:56

Dr. Joel: So that's my short, version of the story.

George: 00:10:58

It could be a lot longer, but a long, short version.

Jaclyn: 00:11:01

No, it's perfect.

Geoff: 00:11:03

that's a great segway for us to talk about George, George, tell us your journey and, where you started and how it led to get to where you are today.

George: 00:11:12

I grew up in Southern California, next door to Hollywood in Orange County.

George: 00:11:16

And, uh, I've always wanted to work in film, but not faith.

George: 00:11:22

I mean, I was a nominal Christian, frankly, when I got accepted to the American Film Institute, which is a miracle in itself.

George: 00:11:29

It's one of the top film schools in the country, and they're competing with USC and New York University and UCLA, They're either number one for that year or one of the top three.

George: 00:11:39

So they accepted me and I got a job in different positions as a creative executive for small production companies.

George: 00:11:47

And I was doing really well in Hollywood.

George: 00:11:50

And I also began to assume the kinds of bad habits that I was hearing from other producers who to get the job, they would say anything, do anything to get it.

George: 00:12:01

And I slowly began to see myself, uh, even though I grew up, you know, with a fairly strong, family ethics, and I was saved when I was 16.

George: 00:12:13

Um, the Lord said, you know, George, I, you're gonna get corrupted.

George: 00:12:17

I'm gonna take you away.

George: 00:12:18

So he literally plucked me out of Los Angeles, where I, I'd worked on shows like, uh, Love Boat and Square Pegs with Sarah Jessica Parker.

George: 00:12:28

I still have my, my picture with her.

George: 00:12:30

He takes me out to the East Coast in Virginia, where I had my over 20 years wilderness experience where the Lord had to purge all of the desire for the secular world out of me.

George: 00:12:44

And it wasn't until, um, Facing the Giants came out, and it was starting to get traction that I met, Stephen Kendrick at, San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

George: 00:12:55

And, uh, we had a hallway conversation.

George: 00:12:57

I had my then 10 year old son with me and, and one of the things that Stephen is great at is really penetrating the motives behind what you're doing.

George: 00:13:07

And so he just, after we exchanged some pleasantries and background, he goes, so George, tell me about what you're doing for Christ.

George: 00:13:16

And I have to say, Absolutely zero.

George: 00:13:18

It was very, very convicting.

George: 00:13:21

So I had to go home and just cry out to the Lord, Lord, I've been useless to you.

George: 00:13:24

If there's anything that I can do, please show me the way.

George: 00:13:29

And three months later, he had me start Advent Film Group the world did not need another film production company.

George: 00:13:36

There's thousands, tens of thousands of them, but what he wanted me to do was create a, a way for us to train a next generation of Christian filmmakers by making movies.

George: 00:13:49

you know, learn by actually doing, and ever since then, he's blessed us, you know, I've worked on seven feature films, a dozen documentaries, and, worked on an Academy Award winning film, or nominated, not winning.

George: 00:14:01

I wish it had won.

George: 00:14:01

It could have won.

George: 00:14:02

I really think it would have won.

George: 00:14:04

Uh, that's Alone Yet Not Alone.

George: 00:14:05

There's a whole history behind that, too.

George: 00:14:08

But, at any rate, Joel and I met a time when, um, We were both, I think, looking at the next thing that the Lord wanted us to do, but it took 10 years, again, of maturing us before we got to this stage now where we could actually have this joint venture called Three Day Studios.

George: 00:14:27

And we're taking all of the learnings over the last 10 years, which is basically making high quality films, at the most sensible way possible.

George: 00:14:38

At the same time, bringing along young people, but partnering up with, you know, really top quality professionals.

George: 00:14:45

And then the Lord says, Hey, you know what?

George: 00:14:47

I'm just going to go ahead and really build up this whole streaming business behind the scenes.

George: 00:14:52

You guys don't have to worry about that.

George: 00:14:53

Oh, by the way, I'm also going to raise up a company called Angel Studios and this whole investor crowdfunding thing, which by the way, is all based on, um, somebody who knows a lot about Securities?

Jaclyn: 00:15:06

Hmm.

Geoff: 00:15:06

Okay.

Geoff: 00:15:07

Right.

George: 00:15:08

thing I'm gonna do for you guys that you don't even have to worry about is I'm gonna build up the whole digital cinematography technology so that the cost will be really dropped down and Then the Lord says and there's one more thing which is Great people that are gonna come alongside Like what you guys are doing in faith and family you know, I've had a chance to work with the Kendricks, in teaching.

George: 00:15:34

We haven't had a chance to work yet, but John Irwin and, Andy Irwin, they actually worked on Alone Yet Not Alone, um, and I know, Joel has a whole bunch of other credits that he can tell you about, but then the Lord is not done yet.

George: 00:15:47

Then he says, you know what?

George: 00:15:50

You guys need some new tools.

George: 00:15:52

I'm going to go ahead and bring about.

George: 00:15:55

AI.

George: 00:15:56

So you can actually accelerate not just the tool sets that you have and bring down costs more.

George: 00:16:01

So my point in saying all that is there is absolutely no excuse for anyone who the Lord has said in your heart and he's given you enough passion and talent to forge forward and not be afraid to step into the world of filmmaking.

George: 00:16:18

And this is specifically talking to parents out there.

George: 00:16:22

where their fear that their, children are going to be endangered by this profession, which is absolutely true.

George: 00:16:28

It can happen,

George: 00:16:30

but there are enough of us that will help them.

George: 00:16:32

To protect you.

George: 00:16:33

But more importantly, there's now enough work out there and audiences and mechanisms to actually make a living.

George: 00:16:40

But we have to do it together and not, get split apart by what the secular world wants to do to split us apart.

George: 00:16:47

They don't want us to succeed.

George: 00:16:49

So we have to build this army.

Jaclyn: 00:16:51

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:16:52

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:16:52

And I, I like what you're saying too, for the youth that would want to come into this, um, for people like you, well, both of you and the Kendricks brothers and, you know, with what we're doing at FAFF association and, other people like Laura Mae and, and Onward, that heart and that humility, because we've all gone through that moment of feeling like, Oh, I get it.

Jaclyn: 00:17:15

It's not about me.

Jaclyn: 00:17:17

You know, and, and that humbling experience that when we do pursue what God has called us to, that we have that spiritual maturity, um, to be able to give that glory and that honor to God and, and, to know that yes, we're working hard, but still God is the one that is bringing about the opportunities and the, inspiration and all of that.

Jaclyn: 00:17:37

And so for the youth that are coming in to be mentored by people with this mindset, it's very different than the Hollywood mindset where it's like, I will use you as long as you're useful to me.

Jaclyn: 00:17:47

And then I will throw you to the curb.

Jaclyn: 00:17:49

This is a very different kind of environment where it's more about mentoring and fostering and guiding and guarding, as you said.

Jaclyn: 00:17:57

So, yeah, I, I would agree with you that for parents that are wondering, you know, is this going to be a good opportunity for my child, I think that when you choose the right environment, it's going to make all the difference.

George: 00:18:09

Yeah,

Geoff: 00:18:09

When we get into the second half of our interview in part two, we're going to talk a lot more about Three Days Studios and your guilds.

Geoff: 00:18:17

But for a moment, you kind of alluded a moment ago when you were talking about Angel Studios and there's a connection here because we're, we're talking about a guild and, you mentioned that Some of their crowdfunding strategies were initiated by someone who knows about securities.

Geoff: 00:18:34

I'm guessing we're talking with him right now.

Geoff: 00:18:37

And, Joel, perhaps you can tell us a little bit about your involvement with regards to Angel Studios.

Geoff: 00:18:43

Dr. Joel: Well, it was really just a gift and, and that is, some filmmakers reached out to me and hired me as an attorney.

Geoff: 00:18:50

And so I have a lot of clients in the space and that

Geoff: 00:18:53

that's basically has become my space until George showed up.

Geoff: 00:18:57

I was just, you know, having fun, relax.

Geoff: 00:19:00

I got to work with tons and tons of people on lots and lots of wonderful projects.

Geoff: 00:19:05

And so they called me, asked me to be the attorney on that.

Geoff: 00:19:09

And Angel had never.

Geoff: 00:19:11

put out a theatrical release at that point.

Geoff: 00:19:13

Um, Kyle Saylors, who a lot of people know, he kept pushing, because he was involved, he kept pushing them, Angel Studios to, you know, do a theatrical release for his only son.

Geoff: 00:19:26

And, you really have to give him the credit for having the, uh, you know, the, just continue to work, go for it, and just be persistent in asking them to do it.

Geoff: 00:19:37

Finally, they agreed, and at that point, well, they needed an attorney, and we sat down, and we prayed about it, and we talked about it, and said, hey, is this a good idea?

Geoff: 00:19:47

Can we, you know, put this out with ANGEL?

Geoff: 00:19:50

And to be honest, I'm a conservative evangelical Christian.

Geoff: 00:19:54

Most of us are in the film world.

Geoff: 00:19:56

A lot of us are anyway.

Geoff: 00:19:58

And so there is a little bit of a question there because Angel Studios is owned by the Mormons.

Geoff: 00:20:04

And so, depending how you see things, you know, the Mormons and the Evangelicals don't always see eye to eye on how things go.

Geoff: 00:20:12

And so there's a question.

Geoff: 00:20:14

Should we do this?

Geoff: 00:20:15

as Christians, is it okay for us to do it?

Geoff: 00:20:18

And my response there was, Would you let Warner Brothers put your movie out?

Geoff: 00:20:24

And everybody said, Oh yeah, of course!

Geoff: 00:20:26

And so I said, are Warner Brothers, they a Christian company?

Geoff: 00:20:29

You know, do they care anything about goodness and light and truth and anything at all?

Geoff: 00:20:35

And they said, No, but they're, they're good at doing what they do.

Geoff: 00:20:38

And I said, Well, maybe we should, think of this as that same format.

Geoff: 00:20:42

Are they good at what they do?

Geoff: 00:20:44

And I said, yeah, they seemed pretty good.

Geoff: 00:20:45

They've done great with the chosen.

Geoff: 00:20:47

So I said, why don't we take the risk and go for it?

Geoff: 00:20:52

And we prayed about it and everybody said, yes, we'll do that.

Geoff: 00:20:55

So I was able to obviously work with their team with, you know, negotiating all the contracts and all the deals, regarding that distribution.

Geoff: 00:21:04

And we had to take a significant risk, uh, the filmmakers had to take a significant risk as well, because, you know, if you do it and it doesn't work, actually they're on the line for a significant amount of money, So, the same thing I said there is, you know, you've come this far.

Geoff: 00:21:21

It is a risk, but you've got to take calculated risks in this industry.

Geoff: 00:21:25

That's all there is to it.

Geoff: 00:21:27

And they did.

Geoff: 00:21:28

so here you have a film made for half a million dollars.

Geoff: 00:21:32

Uh, David Helling did an incredible job.

Geoff: 00:21:35

And when I saw it the first time, I just said, this is phenomenal.

Geoff: 00:21:38

This has got to be out there.

Geoff: 00:21:40

I mean, that was it.

Geoff: 00:21:41

I just saw it and I just knew.

Geoff: 00:21:43

And God took it and made 13 and a half million dollars in three weeks, three, four weeks.

Geoff: 00:21:50

at the box office.

Geoff: 00:21:50

And if you think about a half a million dollar film making 13 and a half million dollars, that, where, where can you get that return on investment anywhere in anything?

Geoff: 00:22:02

I'm a business guy, right?

Geoff: 00:22:04

I have a PhD in business and an MBA in business.

Geoff: 00:22:06

Where can you get that return on investment?

Geoff: 00:22:09

Only God.

George: 00:22:10

don't forget about the Guild part and the whole, investor crowdfunding, Joel, because God built that up

George: 00:22:17

Dr. Joel: well, George and I, George showed up at my house with, another wonderful project.

George: 00:22:22

Uh, there's, uh, some People that he knew, Morrison Brothers.

George: 00:22:26

And the Morrison Brothers were, at that point, I think it's like 18, 20, and 22 or something like that.

George: 00:22:32

Maybe it's been a year since then.

George: 00:22:34

But they put together a teaser trailer for a thing called Victory Swing.

George: 00:22:40

And really, it was just something that they did for a I think it was a weekend event.

George: 00:22:46

It was the promo for a weekend event.

George: 00:22:49

We saw it, George brought it to me, he showed it to me, and I said, this is brilliant, we have to do it.

George: 00:22:54

And that's what started 3 Day Studios.

George: 00:22:57

him showing up with that trailer and said, you know, hey, what do you think?

George: 00:23:01

And I said, yes, absolutely.

George: 00:23:04

So the whole thing, we dived into, okay, what do we do?

George: 00:23:08

Do we just put out the film?

George: 00:23:09

Do we build a studio?

George: 00:23:10

And we started looking at that.

George: 00:23:12

and then George did a lot of great investigation.

George: 00:23:15

I did investigation and we looked at the Angel studio model and what they're doing.

George: 00:23:20

And we were able to see that we can do everything that they do, but we can do it and add a little bit to it, some of our own secret sauce, if you will.

George: 00:23:30

And that's, it's a big lift.

George: 00:23:32

It's not going to be easy, but sometimes God just lifts you up and prepares you again.

George: 00:23:40

I have a PhD in business administration, I have an MBA, uh, as well as a JD, and George has all this experience in filmmaking and mentoring people, and so between the two of us and all of the work I do with all of my clients with securities, it's and, uh, Film Finance and Contracts and everything.

George: 00:24:01

I don't, I don't think, other than the ones who are already really, you know, hitting home runs, like the Kendrick Brothers and the Irwin Brothers and, you know, the Chosen, uh, folks like that, I think we have perfectly been positioned to do this work.

George: 00:24:17

I forgot to mention during that, quote, wilderness experience, the Lord was still blessing mightily because he allowed me to work in technology.

George: 00:24:26

So I worked on early streaming platforms and actually ended up getting seven patents.

George: 00:24:32

And one of those patents is in what's called predictive browsing.

George: 00:24:36

Which eventually became Recommendation Engines, which is what you guys use on Netflix, and when you go shopping on Amazon, how it sort of predicts what you want to watch, or what you want to buy.

George: 00:24:49

I'm one of the folks that are guilty for bringing that to

Jaclyn: 00:24:52

Wow.

George: 00:24:53

But also, I worked on some advanced technology projects for Discovery, for AOL, Time Warner, um, Bell Atlantic, which became Verizon.

George: 00:25:03

So, the Lord grounded me in the, the technology and business and operations and production on top of or alongside the creative field.

George: 00:25:14

So, between Joel and I, I think the Lord made a complete, nearly complete package.

George: 00:25:21

Um, that when we first had that dinner, and we were matching up, you know, our experiences and the Lord was doing, we were just amazed because there's no way we could have stepped into those roles and, and taken, on those, projects without him.

George: 00:25:35

Dr. Joel: Well, let's, jump real quick back there.

George: 00:25:37

Uh, you, you got that patent on predictive analytics and it was sold.

George: 00:25:42

And how much did, how much was it sold for and how much did you get out of that?

George: 00:25:46

Well, it, it was a, it was a, portfolio of patents, not just mine, but I think it was sold by AOL for 3 billion is what I remember.

George: 00:25:56

Dr. Joel: was your cut?

George: 00:25:56

What was your cut on

George: 00:25:57

um, well, because I was working, it was a work for hire, even though I invented it like five years before I actually started working for AOL, I got a really good steak dinner.

Geoff: 00:26:08

ha

Jaclyn: 00:26:08

Oh, no.

George: 00:26:10

Yep, and basically I remember the attorneys telling me, Well, you know, you either sign it over or you're fired.

George: 00:26:19

It's like, okay, I'll, where do I sign?

Jaclyn: 00:26:22

Wow.

George: 00:26:23

how things work.

George: 00:26:23

Yep.

Jaclyn: 00:26:24

Wow.

Geoff: 00:26:25

Well, along with 3 Day Studios, it's been mentioned already that you have started a guild.

Geoff: 00:26:30

Jaclyn and I actually attended your first meeting a couple of nights ago.

Geoff: 00:26:34

You've got some really exciting and innovative, things ahead where you're going to include people.

Geoff: 00:26:39

a lot of filmmakers.

Geoff: 00:26:41

And we're going to talk a lot more about that in our, second interview, So I'm really excited about that.

Geoff: 00:26:46

And your, your series that you're planning on filming, that would be your first project or is Victory Swing the first

George: 00:26:54

It's simultaneous, uh, because, yeah, the Morrison Brothers, we've, um, made sure that we partner up with people who are doers, uh, and Morrison Brothers are doers, so we are, helping them, navigate through the creative process, the business side, you know, all the aspects of filmmaking, because this is their first time out, but on the, the creative responsibility is going to rest on their shoulder, and, and, so they're, they're taking the responsibility of, writing the, screenplay, uh, doing all of the prep work for production, from storyboarding to all the production elements.

George: 00:27:30

And in fact, most recently they, are going to partner up, I'm not going to disclose it yet, but they're going to partner up with a university that have a 3D modeling program so that we can begin to utilize some of the expertise of, uh, the students there.

Geoff: 00:27:43

Mm hmm.

Geoff: 00:27:44

Just, uh, once again pointing out how collaborative this whole, industry is, and how it needs to be, especially in our circles, so, we're gonna really look forward to talking more about all of that in, in just a few minutes.

Geoff: 00:27:58

I just also want to point out That Jaclyn and I watched Alone Yet Not Alone since that meeting because we actually weren't aware of it before and we really enjoyed it.

Geoff: 00:28:07

Good job with that, George.

Geoff: 00:28:09

And, uh, I also want to mention briefly before we go that George has taught for our screenwriting boot camp in the past and again has a workshop coming up.

Geoff: 00:28:18

In January, uh, January 26th is our next screenwriting bootcamp.

Geoff: 00:28:23

George is one of the instructors.

Geoff: 00:28:24

Tell us about that, workshop.

George: 00:28:26

I'm really excited to talk about that because, um, you know, the area of storytelling to me, sometimes we look at it in a very contemporary sense that we're the be all, end all of storytelling now because we're doing it now.

George: 00:28:42

But the Lord has been working on storytelling since the beginning of time,

Jaclyn: 00:28:46

Right?

George: 00:28:47

and to have this mindset that, you know, we can only mine from our own minds or from others around us is foolish, because He has established great storytellers and great storytelling in the past that are in the public domain.

George: 00:29:02

I mean, the entire Disney industry was built on making public domain material be part of their early days.

George: 00:29:11

And so I want to challenge us as Christians to look at the past as a great source of what the Lord was doing with respect to writers and other creators of that period and the stories that He wanted to tell that we can now bring forward.

George: 00:29:27

That not only will it resonate deeply, because I think the writers of that era, as more I read about them, very much more up front about their faith.

George: 00:29:39

And also, telling those stories in that era, it's more organic.

George: 00:29:44

It doesn't feel preachy, because that's just the way people were, and that's how they lived.

George: 00:29:49

not that, you know, they're a secular world that was not part of that landscape, so that's what we're going to talk about.

George: 00:29:54

I'm really excited about it because I'm going to bring some, some, uh, titles and some authors to that discussion and, and then you guys can, the students will be able to mine that, that gold and hopefully make projects out of them.

George: 00:30:07

I already am.

George: 00:30:08

I've got two projects that I'm working on, um, I'll hold back, and I will reveal them only if you attend the Faith and

Jaclyn: 00:30:18

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:30:18

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:30:19

Well, that's really cool, partially because we get to, uh, when we do our bootcamps, we have such variety

George: 00:30:24

Mm

Geoff: 00:30:25

in the workshops.

Geoff: 00:30:26

And this one will certainly be unique and valuable, for any writer.

Geoff: 00:30:29

So thank you so much.

Geoff: 00:30:30

And it's been great

Geoff: 00:30:31

talking to both of you, hearing a little of your, uh, your history and your background.

Geoff: 00:30:35

and you're not going to want to miss this next episode, uh, about the guild that they've created.

Geoff: 00:30:40

It's going to be, something of interest to everybody.

Geoff: 00:30:44

Thank you so much, guys.

Geoff: 00:30:45

God bless.

George: 00:30:46

to be with

George: 00:30:46

you.