Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp 2020

This photo has all of our acting students, but two of the

filmmaking students left before this photo was taken.

Photo courtesy of Pete P.

We had what we as faculty thought was our smoothest Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp to date! This was the 12th year of Film Camp, and I've taught there annually since 2013.



We were concerned that we'd be shut down by the coronavirus lockdown, but we kept moving forward, and though we lost a few students, we had the ones who helped make it such a smooth week.



We completed three films! After taking out a day for pre-production and auditions on the front side and auditions for some upcoming professional projects on the last day, we completed one short film per day, three days in a row! Our first day had 17 setups! It's really extraordinary, and we know the hand of the Lord assisted us. All three films glorify Him, and I can't wait to let you know once they're released. The rough cuts look fantastic!



It was such a blessing to escape lockdown and spend time in the Colorado Rockies at Ministry Haven and co-teach with Ken Lawrence and his son, Zack Lawrence. We reminisced about how Zack, who was working as the gaffer on Indescribable, wore a shirt with the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp logo. I told him I'd love to teach there someday, and it's been such a tremendous blessing!



In addition to a full filming week we had a couple of guest artists who enhanced our experience.

The producer and director of the series Vindication, Jarod O'Flaherty, did a video conference with our students, and he talked about how it went from a single short film to a series because the right people saw it at a film festival and encouraged him to keep going. Now they're in pre-production for Season Two!



My mini-review is at www.RichDrama.com/Vindication.

Our acting students were so blessed to have Mimi Sagadin join via video conference! Mimi played Corrie ten Boom in Return to the Hiding Place. I've taught with Mimi at the Christian Worldview Film Festival Guild performed with her in Princess Cut and Skydog. I had her speak to our acting students because they were working on a short film I wrote that alludes to Corrie ten Boom's book The Hiding Place. Mimi was kind enough to read the passage our film mentions with the accent she learned while playing Corrie. It was AMAZING! You can see a brief clip from her talk with us below.

The film also deals with loss, and my friend, Chad Moore, was kind enough to create a video clip for our acting students and happened to do it the day after severely damaging his leg! He talked about how he and his family lived through the same loss our screen family was dealing with in the film. It was a powerful addition to our work!

Our newest

screen children!

And speaking of screen families, I added three to our roster of screen children! Though Joyce didn't play their mother, I did a sociodrama with her to help prepare to play my character, so we're adding them to the list, bringing our total up to 28.



My favorite moment actually came after camp was over, when a filmmaking student wrote to me to let me know she was pursuing the Lord more deeply because of a talk I'd done on revival! I had shared a video about the Asbury Revival of 1970, where chapel went for eight days straight around the clock. You can check it out at www.DayAndNight.org/thegreatexperiment.



Here's a short excerpt from our video conference with Mimi. Future students of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp will be able to see the entire session.

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"Reflection"

Joyce and I got to work on a short film by Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers and Actors Camp alumni William and Morgan Willer (It's a Life Worth Living, "There").



It's now available for viewing:





REFLECTION from William Willer on Vimeo.



We were greeted with my favorite verse, which Morgan remembered from Film Camp and wrote in calligraphy on a card!

I'm playing the role of the father of a young woman played by Joanna Ferbrache (Celebrity Confessions), who is being seduced by my character's arch nemesis, played by Andrew Hurt (Polycarp, "One Day"). I'm also serving as acting and accent coach. We've set it in Florida in the late 30s, so the cast (and some of the crew) were speaking in Southern accents all week. One of them said to me, "I don't know if I'll be able to stop talking like this when we leave!" We were all having a ton of fun in the Florida sun!

On Day Two I got to drive this 193 Chevrolet nicknamed "Ethel," and it was an AMAZING experience!



The production value has been astonishing! The cars, costumes, furniture, and especially the locations, almost all donated in order to help tell the Lord's truths in film. It's going to look like a much more expensive production than it is.



We were particularly grateful for The Banyan Estate, which was a 1927 school house that was refurbished just over a year ago. It's an amazing event space for weddings and business events.



This time last year many of this same crew created the short film, "There," which you can watch here: www.RichDrama.com/There.



You can find this page at www.RichDrama.com/Reflection. We'll announce when the film is released through emailings to which you can subscribe at www.RichDrama.com/Updates.



Click to see the best of the photos Joyce and I took on and around set.



Here are our Production Diaries filmed and edited by Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmaker alumna Morgan Willer...



Day 1





Day 2 (This shows the 1930 Chevrolet named "Ethel" I got to drive.)





Pre-Rigging at the amazing Banyan Estate (I was performing "The New King" on Epiphany while they were setting up.)





Day 3 (Filmed at the Banyan Estate.)





Day 4 (More footage of me driving Ethel.)





Day 5 (This has my favorite line that won't make it into the film.)





Day 6 (We wrapped by lunch! Unheard of!)

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There are still openings for the 2019 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Have a blessed Christmas Season!

In a time when darkness, strife, and division seem to reign--very much like the time Jesus was born--we pray Joy to the World!

Joy to the World; The Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King:

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.



Joy to the Earth, The Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, Rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding Joy.



No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground:

He comes to make His Blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.



He rules the World with Truth and Grace,

And makes the nations prove

The Glories of His Righteousness,

And Wonders of His Love.

As darkness increases, His Light shines brighter. "He comes to make his Blessings flow / Far as the Curse is found." We've seen his blessings flow in large measure in 2018! I performed in 15 states and eight nations, and Joyce spoke in six of those. Here are a few of the highlights:

January

Rich played Walter and served as acting coach, while Joyce was a key crew member, keeping actors warm between takes in "There," a short film that takes place during a rain storm! Joyce also played the mother of my character's daughter during a sociodrama to help her get ready for an emotional phone call, so we're counting Moriah's character as our 22nd screen child! You can watch "There" now: www.RichDrama.com/There.

February

A 20-year prayer was answered, and Rich got to perform at Christian Cultural Center.



March

Annual workshop at Princeton University, where we visited Jonathan Edward's gravestone which inspired a post about revival.



April

Performed Jonah for a gang unit on Rikers Island.

May

Performed in It's a Life Worth Living and The King's Messengers on the same day! That was a first! Later that month I performed several roles for The Adventum, a wonderful audio drama of the Book of Genesis, which is now available.



June

Taught, coached and performed at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp, where we produced "Return on Investment."

A revival broke out in the theatre

department on our last night of the

Lamplighter Guild for CreativeDisciplines.

July

Taught and directed at the Lamplighter Guild for Creative Disciplines.



August

Performed in Denmark and Sweden on the same day! That was a first!



September

Performed in Norway, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Iceland.

October

Performed at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival.



November

Performed I Dreamed I Was Free in New Mexico, the 43rd state in which I've taught and/or performed. Another first!



December

"Milk and Oranges" released, which was our film at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2017 and the directorial debut for Joyce. Joyce shared the Christmas Eve eve message at Westchester Chapel.



Here's my prayer for the Mastermedia Christmas party, which is for us all... though we don't wish a broken boiler on anyone! Click the arrow below, or if you're getting this through an emailing, visit www.RichDrama.com/Christmas2018.

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Registration is now open for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp June 23-29.

There

Joyce and I joined my former students William and Morgan Willer who directed and produced the short film, "There."



Joyce served on crew, and I played a father in search of his daughter during a storm who finds that he has to decide between getting her to safety and bringing a woman in labor to the hospital in his two-seat car.





You Should Be THERE: A Short Film from William Willer on Vimeo.

Joyce played my character's wife while the cameras weren't rolling. It was a sociodrama to help get our 22nd screen daughter ready for an emotional phone call. We were all deeply moved by the experience, and hopefully you'll hear that in her performance.

It was an official selection at the Christian Worldview Film Festival and the International Christian Film and Music Festival, where I was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film.



They created this brilliant fundraising video for the project:

William and Morgan attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2016. William was on the filmmaking side, and Morgan was one of my actors. Our film for that year, "Felicia's Pledge": www.RichDrama.com/FeliciasPledge. The next summer the siblings switched places and I got to work with William. Our short film that year was "Milk and Oranges": www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.

We also got to work with other Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp alumni: Rebekah Stought, who plays the expectant mother, did both camps in the summer of 2015, when we offered two week-long camps back-to-back. Click here to see the film Rebekah directed and the two in which she performed.

Gwendelynn Martindale was a filmmaking student, and she wrote, produced and directed her own short film, "One Day."



Though RMCFC alumna Gabby Campana needed to be out of town during filming, she helped with pre and post-production. While we were there we got to see her in a really fun short she starred in with the Willers.

McKenzie set up a performance and

workshop for me in her church in

Albuquerque. Her brother, Matt,

also worked on "There."

While we were on set, RMCFC alumna McKenzie Harris got a call-back to play the lead in a Lamplighter Theatre production, of The Treasure of the Secret Cove. The production team listened to over 250 auditions without considering who the actors were. They were shocked to discover McKenzie was also an alumna of the Lamplighter Guild, where I got to teach this summer.

Of course, my own bride attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp as well. The short she directed (...for one scene, and she did cinematography, lighting and sound for other scenes) is now online: www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.



Here's a great review of "There":

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Sign up for the announcement that registration is open for the next Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

All God's Children

Robert Puncher played our 21st screen child.

Joyce and I performed in this short film by Joseph Holmes. Joyce played an anxious woman, and I got to play the role of God, for which I was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film at the International Christian Film Festival and Best Comedic Performance at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival.



Here's a great article on our director: Meeting God Halfway.





All God's Children from Joseph Holmes on Vimeo.



Though we didn't play husband and wife. Her character had a son, and I played [Spoiler alert! Highlight the following text to see my role: the Heavenly Father of the young man], so we're counting him as our 21st screen child.

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See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.