CONTENT: Christian Media Conference.
Hello there, RBRN Crew! It’s Grace again.
Some of you may be wondering what we’ve been up to lately. Well, the reality is that we’ve been working hard behind the scenes - gearing up for RBRN Media’s first CONTENT Conference! This involved one-sheets, pitch preparations, and a long road trip across several states. But would you expect anything else? After all, when are we not out adventuring?
Now, to set expectations for this blog post, my goal is not to simply speak about a conference we went to and puff ourselves up into something we’re not. The reality is that we are building something - and in building things, there are really high highs, and sometimes, there are really low lows. My goal in writing this post is to encourage another “adventurer” out there. You’re not doing this alone. In fact, as long as you keep on the biblical path of Christ and seek to honor him by your actions, I think you’re doing better than you might feel you are.
If you’ve never been before, CONTENT is a Christ-focussed media conference, based out of Texas. It takes place on-site, at Capernaum Studios - where the first season of The Chosen was filmed - and offers up opportunities for faith-centered content to find its audience. Whether you’re an actor, a filmmaker, a producer, a director, a singer, a comedian, or a screenwriter - it’s a great way to meet with distributors, find exposure opportunities, and put your finished projects up for potential recognition.
This was my first time attending CONTENT, and while Carter was unable to make it, this meant that it was RBRN Media’s first time being represented among the CONTENT crowd! I had the honor of making the journey alongside some gracious and talented creatives. Let’s meet our Road Trip Crew:
Merri Beth Stanfield: Screenwriter + Director (https://m.imdb.com/name/nm9203626/)
Lori Stanfield: Actress (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11433276/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk or https://www.instagram.com/stanfield777/)
Drew Mosier: Cinematographer + Sound Designer and Mixer (https://m.imdb.com/name/nm15194888/)
Someone should write a screenplay about what happens when a bunch of Christian Creatives spend the week together. It’s the best kind of chaos.
Anywho.
To shift the tone here, I will tell you that we opened up CONTENT week with the most energy-draining, nerve-wracking opportunity of all - a BOOST pitch. For those who haven’t heard, BOOST is a program which any CONTENT-attendee can apply to participate in. If your project is chosen, you will be allowed to pitch for a potential donation to your project.
AMAZING. Right? Well, ABSOLUTELY YES. But also, wow - that’s a lot of pressure. And truth be told, I had a lot of peace leading up to it…until that day. That day, I’m not even sure I realized how tightly I’d wound myself up. Truth be told, I think it was the Lord - that minutes before my pitch, as I sat outside the board room door, I began to cry.
”WOAH. WOAH. WOAH. You…?”
Yep.
I can hear it now.
”That’s so unprofessional.”
”She can’t handle this, I guess.”
”Man. Can she actually be trusted to pitch?”
Or maybe that’s just what I assume some people would say. But remember when I said I felt that this sudden break was from the Lord? Let me tell you why.
It refocussed me. It calmed me down.
I wasn’t thinking about the pressure, or the words or I had practiced so many times. I was thinking about how grateful I was to be doing what I was doing. That kind of fruit? That sounds like a work of the Lord to me. Sounds like he was answering prayers in a way my intercessors weren’t anticipating.
One of the incredible conference volunteers got me a tissue. I got to speak with her a little bit before heading in to pitch. When the time came, I wiped my snot, dabbed my eyes, gathered myself, and walked in with a smile on my face. It was time.
After introducing myself, I can remember saying soemthing akin to, “Please forgive me if I sound a bit nasil-y! I started crying just before heading in here - but it’s because I’m just so grateful to be with you guys today!”
I went on to distribute our one-sheet - along with some small merch pieces, all tucked away in sleek, black envelopes. I shared the pitch I had been working so hard on - to memorize, and to master under the strict time-limit provided. I shared statistics about the audience we are trying to reach - and the need we see for our original TV concept, in a world of broken young adults and teenagers. I answered their questions, and before you knew it, I was out of there - with no clue as to what they thought, or how I’d really done.
I called up Carter, recapped how things had gone, and cried some more. He offered up some reassurance, but truth be told - I was just plain exhausted. There have been plenty of moments during which I could not imagine trying to handle this call on my own - without a business partner. So, I could not be more grateful for his part in all this. Nonetheless, in human terms, there are the moments where I have had to go in alone - and where he’s had to as well. CONTENT was like that - a period of time where I had to represent who we are without him. It’s a different kind of challenge.
As tired as I was, I still watched the body of Christ do what it’s supposed to do - so that, even without my business partner’s physical presence, I got to see people rally around me. That volunteer who handed me a tissue before my pitch? Well, I saw her again later. And what did she do? She stood before her friends and described the way I’d walked into my pitch with energy, confidence, and a smile. She saw things from me that I was not feeling towards myself at that point in the day. Truly, I am so grateful for words and moments like those.
Later that night, my Road Trip Crew gladdened my heart in their own ways - and altogether, we geared up for the second day of CONTENT by taking some time to rest together. This is an often-overlooked part of the process - having people to gather with in between the growing and the stretching. Thankfully, we serve a God who knows when our hearts need a break - those moments when his medicine for us is a good laugh, and a scoop of ice cream.
I went on to attend a few different workshops over the course of the next couple of days. Only, my approach was a bit different from past festival experiences. Previously, I’ve tried to spread out my focusses in choosing workshops - opting for workshops based around topics I know nothing about. This time, I let myself lean into areas that I already love, along with areas I have a desire to grow in. Screenwriting, directing, and marketing. I don’t often let myself lean into my education as a writer - as if, in my mind, it’s more important to grow in the areas I couldn’t give you a single factoid about. In the hustle and bustle of CONTENT, getting to dwell on a piece of our craft that is so close to my heart was truly a soft place to land, and I believe that those moments will make me a better storyteller in the long run.
In the middle of the week, CONTENT does what is called “Worship Under The Stars,” and they hold it amongst the village set, from The Chosen’s first season. What a beautiful time to worship the Lord in the middle of everything - to watch his children praying, prophesying, and dancing. Again, just one more differentiator between a Christian film festival and a secular one. A set full of people seeking the Lord - hopefully, of people who want him more than we want funding for our next project. After all, is not all of this about and for him?
The week went on.
More laughter with my Road Trip Crew. Some fun film screenings. Networking amongst an amazing group of Creatives.
Finally, Friday came along. The Awards Banquet would be happening that night. But the morning? The morning was all about pitching to distributors and potential exposure opportunities. These pitches felt so comfortable. Sitting across from these strangers, I got to quickly share the heart and the vision behind what we’re building - RBRN Media, and Reborn: The Series, specifically. I could do it while looking one or two people in the face - truly maximizing what felt like a natural conversation. We knew we only had a limited amount of time, so they welcomed my fast-talking, and my quick cuts to the chase.
This is what I find, in the Christian context - that networking is mostly just sharing your vision for what the Lord has placed on your heart, and building intentional relationships with people who are on their own journeys in that regard. Learn how to cast vision. Learn how to put words to what the Lord gives you a burden and a draw for/towards. It matters. Learn how to communicate that it does.
Past the above, people love it when you show your work. Give them evidence that you’ve done more than consider an idea. Share the steps you’ve taken, and in these cases, enhance your visual storytelling. This can look like prioritizing the unique brand identity of pitch materials, or the website said materials link themselves to.
Friend, put in the work, pray, and trust the Lord to do more with it than you know yourself to be capable of. The wrong people may look at you and think you to be too young. They may find some other reason to discount you, too. No matter. Trust that he is able to orchestrate divine connections, and to settle the right things upon the hearts of your listeners, by his Holy Spirit.
Now. What were we talking about?
Oh, yes. Onto The Awards Banquet.
The Road Trip Crew? We all got dressed in our nicest outfits (actually, my dress was $7 at a Goodwill), and geared up for a night of anticipation. Did I spill a cup of tea on that aforementioned Goodwill dress? Yes. But Merri Beth and Lori were quick to remedy that situation. Real ones.
As RBRN Media, we had received a nomination for “Life and The Living” - a pro-life, feature-length screenplay - as well as “Life Instead” - a mini-documentary, sharing the true story of my grandfather’s struggle with depression, and of God’s subsequent work in the midst of that darkness.
Now, the truth is that we didn’t have any wins this time. The screenplay and the documentary - these too were left as only nominations. Furthermore, the BOOST program selections did not include Reborn: The Series - and in fact, a project that I thought might be a front-runner did not get selected either.
So here’s where I want to, again, go a little deeper with you, RBRN Crew.
If you’ve ever wanted to walk this road of Christian filmmaking, my hope is that this blog gives you a glimpse into what that process looks like for us. Sometimes, it means working desperately hard…but not getting to see the fruit of that work just yet. It means pouring your heart into a script, and believing that what you have to say matters…only to have it lose out on an award. It even means missing out on another opportunity towards funding, and somehow picking yourself up and trusting God for the next step.
I had a moment after the banquet was over. Sitting at a table on my own, as the festivities were winding down, I thought about how much easier it would be to quit - to not do all this anymore.
WOAH. VERY UNLIKE ME.
See, I’m a very high-capacity person, I like to think. I can run at a million miles per hour, I can do everything I need to do, and I can somehow still get up and function the next morning.
So, when things don’t seem to pay off?
Man. It’s like hearing that - even after all of that - it still wasn’t enough. And then the question becomes…will it ever be?
My friend, let’s evaluate our measuring sticks. Of course we want to win an award. And not just for a trophy - we want to further this thing that we’re building. We want something that we can point to and say, “Look! This outside source said that my work was good! So, I’m hoping you’ll think it’s good, too!” At the end of the day, getting recognition for something we create can add credibility.
While the above is true, we cannot measure our success using the same measuring sticks that the rest of the world uses. If I write something which honors the Lord, is it not still worth it without the shouts of man? And if one person is moved to tears by a single line, is it still not worth-it to write that line, just because a panel of judges pushed the entirety of that same work aside?
Friend, we have to measure success differently or we will crumble.
What I know is that I have been entrusted with certain things - talents that I can either steward or bury (Matthew 25:14-30). The Lord has placed things in each of our hands, and the decision is ours. We desire that our projects would please him, and with every opportunity he gives us, we decide whether we would prefer to step out in faith - believing that, if he wills, he can multiply - or stay where we are.
See, when I read the parable of the talents, I notice that there is no servant in that story who tries to multiply and fails. There are, instead, two servants who try to multiply what they are given, and who do - and then, one singular servant who buries what he was given, intent on returning it just as he was given it. I’m not saying that things will always work out in the way we think they should. Rather, I’m saying that I think that, if we would just give God our openness to what he wants to do with what’s in our hands, then perhaps we would actually see him move in miraculous ways. Perhaps we would see more in our hands if we actually let ourselves believe that he could do something with what we trade.
This brings me to the point of hope. See, there’s this verse in Ecclesiastes - Ecclesiastes 11:4. It says that, “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” I read this verse at the beginning of last year, and came to the realization that I was not expecting anything from God. My apathetic and depressive refusal to believe that anything could change almost hindered my willingness to plant, and in turn, to reap.
See, it takes hope to move forward, believing that God can do something you haven’t seen yet. It takes trust to plant something again. It takes surrender to fill up the water jars, even when you’ve never seen Jesus turn water into wine before.
In practical terms? It takes faith to quit your day job. It takes hope to pay for that next festival submission. It takes trust to face the next month when contract work is your way of paying your rent.
Truth is, only God can author these things. And when he does, we have to commit ourselves to holding onto them. Because, while he can author them, we can choose what voices we listen to. We can choose to take another step, or to not. We can bury our talents. We can become candles under bushels. Or? Or we could choose to illuminate the rooms he puts us in, and move forward with the stubborn belief that it’s worth-it to plant again. We can bury the talents, or we can trade them, and multiply what we were given. Why? For the sake of giving it all back to him in the end.
Now, let’s be clear. If God ever asks me to put these things down in favor of a new season’s call, then my investment is my obedience. The dream is not RBRN Media. It’s him. He is the dream. The point is that, in everything, we would measure what we do by his interpretation of success. That, indeed, if he gives us a script idea, we would steward it well. If there’s a line that needs to be in there, we would add it. If he prompts us to film something, we would shoot it. If he wants us to share one of our products with a freind, then we would send it over. And whether it’s one or one thousand, that we would trust him to do what only he can, and move by his Spirit, to give to people exactly what they need. Because that’s the plentiful harvest at hand - people (Luke 10:2). And we’ll get there only by honoring him.
In ministering to him and meeting his desires, we will make something so much more worthwhile than if we measure our deeds by man’s applause.
He is the dream.
And remember when I asked the question of if what I do would ever be enough? Friend, it won’t. But his grace is sufficient, and his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). So, in my lack, I just get to see the Lord show up time and again. He is enough, and I am not.
To close out my story of the Awards Banquet, I will let you know - once again, the body of Christ showed up. I had a new friend push me to get a photo by myself, in my Goodwill dress. People prayed for me in my discouragement. Out of nowhere, one newcomer handed me what she called “seed money” - ten dollars in cash. The Lord gave glimmers of hope by his Church. And with the right measuring sticks, we push forward to see what he’ll do next. The journey might be hard, but it really is beautiful.
We’re not done yet.
The best is yet to come.
