Faith, filmmaking, and community outreach

Thank you. Hi, you're listening to Positive Perspective, one of the most interesting hours in radio, where we shine the positive light of Jesus Christ on the scriptures, music, our communities, and world issues. We're broadcasting live from Skid Row Studios in beautiful downtown Los Angeles. Hi, I'm Willis Boyd, and in studio tonight we have Marilyn and Sarah. I'm going to say it like that. Before we get our show started tonight, I have a few things I want to get off my chest. And they have to do with Christians that I guess think they're above trying. I guess they're trying to, I guess, in my opinion, make themselves feel better about not participating in worldly things. And it's like they want to be around Christians for Christians and not expose themselves to, you know, the general public, I'll say. And, for instance, I'm talking about a function that Denise did. Whoa. Well, she did it last night. And very nice banquet they give for their church. She's a truck driver. She works for McLean's. And I have to give them congratulations for saying prayer before the supper. It was very nice, very nice prayer. And I just have to say hats off to a nationwide organization that still believes in doing that in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Anyway, what I have to say is that there was an entertainer there, and his name is Kevin. Kevin. Here, let me see. Okay. Well, Kevin, he calls himself a mind reader. And the guy is incredible. Viner, Kevin Viner. And the guy was incredible. He took me out in the hallway before the show started, and he marked himself with a felt pen in the palm of his hand. He closed his hand. He told me to close my hand. And then he passed his hand over my hand a few times and then opened his hand. And the mark was gone. And I opened my hand, and the mark was in my hand. Okay. I'm just a guy. Okay. There was no gimmick, no tricks. I don't know how he did it. But I don't think it was witchcraft, and I don't think he had a demon in him. Okay. So what I'm saying is this man was a very positive young man. His show was totally clean. He inspired me, and I'm sure he inspired everybody in that room. So now for a Christian or said Christian to try to put. That down or put themselves above that. It's like it doesn't even make sense to me. And you have real Christian people over dying. And I tonight I want to give on homage to our honor to the 21 Egyptian Christians that were beheaded by ISIS. And not only I mean, I this is like in the news, but ISIS has beheaded, you know, some people. I don't know if they're Christian or not, but ISIS knew. Where these people were there. They're poor fishermen trying to make money, earn money for their families in Egypt by going to Libya, I believe, and fishing. Okay. Now, ISIS knew that they were Christians and ISIS knew where they were. So what I'm saying basically is this wasn't a hidden thing. Okay. These people were proud of serving God. And what I'd like Marilyn to do, if she would, is to read off. I think we only. We only have 12 actual names that I was able to find on the Internet. So if she would just if we could just honor those names right now. Okay. Along with honoring, I know that all our hearts are open and giving of our love or praise to God. Right. And we, me, I ask that if I could be of service to the Lord in any way whatsoever, please do that with my life. And I send my prayers to these people. Their souls already are with the Lord, but their families and their loved ones. So I may not be able to say the names correctly. But I'm. I'm going to try my best. My name is Mylod McKinzeki. Abanub Ayud Atiyah. Kiro Los. Shokri Fazi. Bishoy Astafanas Kamel. Malak Ibrahim Sinwit. Jirjiz Milad. Milad Sinwit. Minia Faiz Aziz. Samuel Alham Wilson. Samuel Astafanas Kamel. Izat Bishri Nasif. Loka Nagati Anis. Munir Gaber Adli. Esam Fadir Samir. Malak Farag Ablam. Samir. Samir. Malak Farag Ablam. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Samir. Salah. Farug. Jiriz. Samir. Magli. These are the names. I'm saying them phonetically, but my soul is praying for their families. Yes. Amen. And I appreciate you reading that. I wouldn't have had a clue to handle that. But yes, this is what I'm talking about. And this is like only, you know, the tip of the iceberg. There's many people being murdered all over the world. And this, you know, the media gets a hold of this. But these sort of things are happening. And I mean, it's everywhere. And we have so-called Christians talking about not watching Harry Potter and these silly things that we want to, I guess, be a role model. Or an example for Jesus Christ. It's just ridiculous in my opinion. I'd like to read Revelations 20, verse 4. And it says, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them beheaded for the witness of Jesus Christ and the word of God. Okay? This is Revelations. And these are the things that are coming. And I guess what I really want to say is that this stuff is real. You know, nobody would believe that people would be, you know, be getting beheaded at this time. I mean, I'm going to cut your head off. It just sounds barbaric. You know, it's like... It is barbaric. I know. But it's happening. And I mean, for us sitting over here in the land of the free and all the riches and glory that we have, we don't think about those things. And this is really real. It's going to happen here. And it's going to happen all over the world. And I just wanted to give honor to these Christian people who stood up. They did not cave in. They got their heads chopped off for the name of Jesus. They did not cave in for the name of Jesus Christ. And that's what I want to get off my chest tonight. And now I'm going to turn it over to Marilyn. And she has a very beautiful and interesting guest here. I've been blessed to have some incredible people in my life. And one of the things that I do and talk about and share is, how can you walk your talk? How can you incorporate your very core beliefs in everyday life? And I truly work on it. It's something not just to think I've got it right. It's something for me personally to think about and make sure I'm doing it on a daily basis. I take daily inventories to see that I have been doing that, walking my talk. Sarah, how do you do that? Sarah has been doing this for years and decades. She's an incredible artist. Wait a minute now. Just hold off on the decades thing. This girl looks all of 25. She is. Two decades. That's it. Okay then. Just like I've been doing it for only two decades. And I'm only 24. No, I'm a couple of years older than you. I'm 26 now. Right on. So she is an incredible woman. Thank you. Sister in Christ who has a passion. And she has created an environment where she can bring the honor that she has inside of her to others. And is a filmmaker. She's a dietician. And she's been working on her film for quite a while. So this is my appreciation. Of her work to have her here and share it with our audience. Sarah. Thank you all. My film is Jacob's Honor. And Jacob's Honor is a story of three veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And suffering from PTSD. I'm playing the main counselor. And there's an opposing counselor that has a more traditional view. And I'm playing the main counselor. That has a more traditional view of medications. And the more known way to deal with PTSD. But we've learned there's so many new therapies that have come out. Besides just counseling. Chroma therapies discussed. Music therapy. Art therapy. But the veterans are suffering so much in this film. That they encounter loss and devastation and substance abuse. And just a whole bunch of pitfalls that are common. To people coming back. And the idea is to get the people to talk about their suffering. And as we talk about our suffering. We start to feel relief. And we seek help. And seeking help can help you find solutions. And my only regret is we didn't have any animal therapy. Because I'm a big animal fan. Yeah. I was going to. You left that one out. So it's like. And yeah. It's really popular. Yeah. I don't really know much about any of it. To tell you the truth. But go ahead. Well my research began from when I was working on another short film. Called Soulmate Specialist. And I wanted to show my journey through Hollywood to Los Angeles. And working as an artist. How I felt I was under attack. So it had a lot of abstract exciting elements. That maybe they weren't ready for in a Christian film festival. We went over. Oh. Attack. Demons. Psychics. And I was playing a psychic in this film. Oh. Who was the soulmate specialist. And because I thought that was a really interesting term. And so a girl went through an experience of ascension. In the film. And I was basing my film on two verses from Isaiah. Isaiah 41 12. When you go look for your enemies you won't find them. When your enemies wage war on you they will be as nothing. And it was a really profound experience. And then right after making that film. I met a veteran who was a plumber. At my neighbor's house named Isaiah. Isaiah Canejo. And so my Isaiah in my film is Isaiah Mundo. And so the original title of the film was Isaiah's Talking to Me. But then Isaiah stopped talking to me. And so it was Isaiah's Talking. And then it morphed into Jacob's Honor. So it's been through a few revelations. And it's a real journey of faith. And guts. And honor. And real veterans. And real weapons. Because we didn't have any budget for fake weapons. And the scenes that are shot and sold at Canyon that looks like Afghanistan. And then just what the people's experience working brought forth a lot of emotions. There's a lot of drama and emotion working on it. Did you use a lot of real veterans? We did. We had two veterans that were Navy veterans. And this particular story is about veterans that are 30 years old. That have returned and are wanting to reintegrate. And they talk about making an adjustment. I have to make my adjustment to come back. And a lot of times they choose to just keep on going back into service. And that's what we're seeing in this American sniper. You know how many times they're. They're going and going. And then how the PTSD slowly creeps into their lives. And it's as if they can't really function without that much adrenaline. They feel like their life doesn't have the value it had before. Okay. Now these are. I'm just taking for granted. These are about the Iraqian war. Yes. And our veterans that fought in those wars in Afghanistan. Yes. And we did have one Vietnam vet. But. We know this is across the whole strata and age spectrum. But we just had to. In this 30 minute film just cover these three veterans. And we had a lot of cutting to do to make the story work. And so we're still in the throes of production. Post production doing sound. But it should be finished within the next four to six weeks. Okay. Now how did you get started in all this if you don't mind me asking? Well I have a film degree from 1985. I went to SMU. I'm from Texas. And so I came out really prepared to be a filmmaker. But I ended up spending a lot of time as an actress. And I got into martial arts. And I love self defense and all this type of stuff. So I did these martial arts movies. About eight of them. And then the martial arts movies led me to meet kind of a serious group of people. And down the road I just had this feeling that my ideas would be important. And that I should really consider being the filmmaker and with the ideas. But as a filmmaker. But as equipment got better and better. 2012 it turns out was a good time to start. Because for women we don't have to carry the heavy equipment anymore. Everything's done on these tiny little cards. Right, right, right. And it's pretty exciting what's going on out there in independent filmmaking. Yeah. I work with a man. If you can call him that. The man, the myth, Gaze of X. Over at the Vortex. And his classes are about engineering. And I'm a professor. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. I did not know how to use it. camera can is reduced now to like something that only costs a thousand bucks or something as far as a digital quality and and those whole things and mixing and all that kind of stuff now i know i'm probably messing that all up but that's basically what you're saying that's what i'm saying i'm saying when i was in school i tell the kids this you know i had the film canisters on my back and a backpack on my bicycle like film canisters and they look at me like i'm a dinosaur but i'm explaining i actually had to cut the film you know and it was really thought-provoking because you can't get it back you know that was like you were you know and editing was really mystifying and difficult but now with digital you can shoot pretty much these scenes unlimitedly you can edit right from the set you can make a film in a week that's this christian film festival project 168 that i grew out of i did a project in 2010 and then 2012 i took on the soulmate specialist you know i'm a little bit of a film and um i i got a scholarship to do it so a lot of it's your ideas you're writing how equipped you are and how bold and how ridiculous are you right you're i mean you're writing i'm writing and just catering producing directing wardrobing acting acting yeah and i'm also getting the um sound in the movie um we did like a little class on that and i didn't i never knew that when they say act 24 scene something and they click that thing that's to match the sound up with the actual movie so they have a reference right to to um match the the if when they're going to do the i guess the score or the the the vocals or whatever right is to match that up i never knew that that that click was yeah the old clapboard and now it's digital it's really interesting they have digital ones and and um just everything's so progressively fast with new equipment and new things and and you're loving that and i really like it i like the the tech side of it i have these tech friends and i feel like they're kid brothers to me and and then um you don't long for the old ways the old school not at all i'm ready to you know move forward ahead with the idea and then you know it's it's just it's the knowledge base that you get from start to finish where each person has their specialty be they smart or not it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's sound effects or be they, you know, if somebody's really good at anything, you know, they bring it into the story of the film. And it's just an exciting process. You know, if you don't know anything about cameras, we'll spend the day with the cameraman. You don't know anything about editing, you know, talk to the editor and describe what you want. And we work remotely a lot. My editor doesn't, I'm not even looking at the film and sees anything. I just remember different pieces. So being good with your memory is really important. And also just visual and having enthusiasm. And this is where my faith came in. Because if I didn't have faith, I wouldn't be able to do any of this. And it really showed me in 2010 to then the second project 2012. And then this one started 2013. When you get in the trenches, and people, people are not doing what they said they would be doing, or they there's all these mishaps along the way, you have to pull together like, you know, one of our cameraman didn't show up on a really important critical day. And so the sound guy went home, got a camera, and we got the assistant girl to run the sound. So the sounds a little ridiculous from that day, but was there she never did it before. And these are all things that we never did before that we knew we could do. And, and the whole time I was feeding people like the fishes and the loaves. I mean, I would go in my cabinet and somehow feed people for you know, $55 15 people, like all day long. It's called spaghetti, spaghetti, salad, health bars, you know, but everything as a dietitian people, I couldn't in, you know, I could come up with these sauces and things that people would and I knew the food was safe. So it was very therapeutic to be catering and chopping right before I would shoot. And we shoot only like, you know, on the weekends, or like a couple times a month. So it took eight months of filming. Now I can ask you, if you if you don't want to ask, you know, answer these questions, just you know, look at me crazy. And I will, you know, it's gonna be it's all right, just laid back and you know, as everything's casual, we're all you know, the beginning of your faith. Can I ask about that? Yes, I grew up in, in Texas, where you know, it's part of the Bible Belt. So most of our friends are all Christian and, and we got to experience, you know, going to church and, and it's very social there. When you say church, non denominational Christian or a lot of it, my parents actually love to go to a lot of different churches. So but you know, I mainly Methodist Church, but we always had international Thanksgiving international friends and people of different faiths. But I just came to my own beliefs. And I started a real belief I had not had none of those old belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief belief Hollywood and I joined Hollywood Presbyterian Church when I was 26. Oh okay so you just um from your upbringing knew that you had someone that you could fall back on and um I guess get that piece that you needed to to pull it together. Yeah a lot of frayed edges I I have a new script I want to write it's called Fringe Elements because I really like the outsiders and you know even though I'm girl next door type of a person I really respond to outsiders and how you know people's struggles and you know I'm interested in their stories and you know I grew up going to ballet and the struggle of that and then people choosing different lifestyles and maybe my lifestyle you know and and then I got exposed to artists that really live you know as a fringe element and and I call them outlaws sometimes but I find that I witness to them you know here's a story I'm going to tell you about this and I'm going to tell you about this and I think it's not going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going to be the answer I think it's going have, but we have today and to really celebrate today. Yeah, that's awesome, that thinking. So Marilyn, I mean, you've got that big, pretty smile on your face. You're going to take it anywhere? I'm going to take it someplace. First of all, for me, it comes down to being, it can come down to the most simplistic scripture. Today, this morning, I was doing some witnessing and with a young man who was going to be working at the Oscars today, so he couldn't go to church. So we did some Bible reading and just sharing. And one of the first things I said to him was, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. For me, that is a core because I don't need to want, God knows all my needs, everything that I will ever think, ever have thought, every path I will ever go, every person I will talk to, every experience. I'm ever going to have already is known. And if I stay God centered, then I don't have to want for anything because it's already taken care of. Yeah, but that's kind of, I mean, it's easy to, you know, grab a hold of that, but it's not always that easy of a, you know, a thing to, to be surrounded by, like you say, the Oscars and the fame and the riches and the temptations and to hold on to that. How, how old was this young man? He's in his forties. Oh, okay. Young man to me. Okay. So, okay. The point that I was making was that he says that he goes to things like this. He works in these kinds of events. And sometimes his mind, as you were talking about earlier in the beginning of the show, gets a little righteous about the people that he's dealing with. And I wanted to take that and say, that's not necessarily why you were there. You were there as an example. Remember that everything you do in public can be seen by someone else. And you are being a witness 24 seven, whether you know it or not, but you need to be aware of it. So if you're going to have a conversation with somebody, be respectful. And if they don't respect you, there's ways of dealing with it. I actually had, for the day for today's scripture, if you don't mind me reading this, I don't. Good. Because I was going to do it, whether you did or not. So today's scripture for me was Romans 12, 10 through 18. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be conceited. Do not repay another evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. That says so much for me because it keeps me from being arrogant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have to stay humble no matter what my belief system is no matter what I think I know I am but one of the billions of children on earth I am but one of the people who has an education that has experience and whatever I say is from my point of view and it's just one point of view I do not know what's right for everyone I do not know what path each person I don't even know on a daily basis what God wants for me I have to stay centered in my belief that God wants the best for me so that every day every possible experience I have is an opportunity for me to be kind honest loving um respectful I had a situation on the way here where I have I have I have I have I have on the way here where I have a little bit of body handicap and I was trying to get off a bus and my cane is in front of me and I was trying to get around someone well this woman starts cursing at me cursing mm-hmm effin you and blah blah blah you could have just said excuse me before you even got up and I and I didn't even say anything to her I continued with my focus is on my faith I do not look back I do not talk to her I do not respond to her because I feel sorry for her that she is so hurt inside that she would do that to somebody else she doesn't know me she doesn't know my circumstance or how I can stand or walk or anything like that and yet this is what she did mm-hmm and while I was in the vehicle listening to her she said she had just come from church oh she had just come from church goodness gracious me so I need to not turn around and and say sorry yeah you know you got something something something something no beautiful woman I'm sorry no because I wasn't feeling that good oh I got you saying oh you had to just I had to keep my mouth shut I got you I got I had to say oh my gosh I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm not going to answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her I could not answer her Often, I have to keep myself in check all the time. 24-7. 24-7. I'm feeling you 100% there. I'm a human. I was raised on the streets of New York City. I was a street rat. Ghetto person. So my first response is not, oh, bless your heart, I'm sorry, excuse me. No, that's not my first response. My first response is blanky blank and blank and blank. So I have to hold on to my faith that says, you do not do that. Well, I'm glad you got your blankety blank out of there. I did. I did. And I did. And as I was walking down the street, I was praying for her. Well, yeah, this world is crazy. And people who call themselves Christians, yeah, like I was saying, they put themselves above other people. And I'm, but I want to know, what's the big deal about veterans? Why are your movies about veterans? I mean. Well, I got called. I just feel that when I met Isaiah, it's really this Isaiah faith journey I'm on. And I really feel that Isaiah the prophet is talking to me. And I can't wait to interact with him if I ever get upstairs. But I just want to know. They say there's no lines. Yeah. Why does he want, what does he want with me? But it's just this message, this constant message of Isaiah. And then when I met a guy named Isaiah, and then he was a veteran, and then it just. You felt like that was. I felt like that was the way to go. And then all these other things fell into place. But it's been, there's a lot of hurt. And it is hard to overcome the hurt that you're talking about. Like how we pray for people on our journey. And how I find it, you know, the rage. You know, like we all have this inner rage. Okay. But this is the second movie about veterans that you're doing? This is my very first movie about veterans. But it has something about it where it could turn into a TV series. Or it could turn into a bigger movie. Or I keep saying if Michelle Pfeiffer wants my part, she can have it. And so it's something really nice that I've written for, to represent. The struggle. Anyone in your family, veteran or been in the service? I found out actually, we're a 15th generation American. So I have relatives from the Revolutionary War that were color bearers. So my dad's family came across the Oregon Trail. And they settled into Idaho. And they, the women were so strong. They carried, they had 12 kids that made the trip twice. With six and then the other six. And so they built greenhouses and had tomatoes and strawberries. And then they also became builders. So that's my dad's family. And my grandfather fought in the Korean War. But it's just this journey that feels really familiar. And I think it's the outsider thing. Like I'm interested in why did they become a veteran? What are they doing? I'm basically started out anti-war. I want to do it. I want to be a war protest. But in order to do that, I have to understand what it is. What is war? So, but it wasn't basically something that was pulling you from your family or from the history of your family that got you started on this project. It's just that you. By divine appointment? I felt that God blessed me with a story. And then, so first it was Isaiah talking to me. And then it was this really. I was talking to a very distinguished veteran named Steve Kiesel. And that's how it. And he was talking to me. And then they're all just starting to talk to me. But it wasn't any influence like your, like you say, your, your family history has a history of, of war veterans. I believe that there's something to discover from that. But generally. Right, right. They can help you. They can help you. But basically, Isaiah is what. Giving me the story. Yeah. The, the, the. The, I guess the incentive or the, I'm sorry, I'm at a loss of words. Inspiration maybe? Yes. Yes. The inspiration. So yeah, that is so awesome. I pretty much live my life according to the understanding I have, which is that God guides me, gives me assignments, where to go, what to do, how to do it, when to do something and when not to do something. Because I choose to say God centered. I choose that. And that's something that isn't sometimes. I am unpolitically incorrect. I'm not politically correct. I don't let what I believe in be disrespected by other people's belief systems. And so if I say something and someone tells me that's not right. That's not politically correct. I went, well then you don't have to say it, but I just did. And that's in my heart and that's in my soul. And I'm not apologizing for who I am. Right. I feel that this is what's right for me. I'm not telling you to be right for what's right for me is right for you. Yeah, I know but still we have to, we kind of have to watch that. I mean, you know, I mean, we can't just say what we want because, and I know that I'm not trying to paint a, you know, a picture of what's right for me. I'm not trying to paint a picture of you being out there all ignorant just because I think this way, this is what I'm going to say and this is what I'm going to do. But I think that all of us have to be mindful of the things that we say and even though we believe in what we're saying, we can't always say it. Well, like I said, I listen to what I'm supposed to say when I'm not supposed to say, when I'm supposed to do something, when I'm not supposed to do something. So I really feel quite centered, healthy, balanced. Right. That you're not going to say something that you shouldn't. That's not appropriate. Right. I think all of us have that in the Holy Spirit that we have a sensor that those of us that have the Holy Spirit, if you believe that way, that he's in there and he's sensory, you know, it goes through your mind before it comes out of your mouth, you know, your whole spirit. For me, it goes through my head, my heart, my soul. Right. Before it comes out of your mouth. Right. And I think the lady on the bus, unfortunately, that came from church is missing something. She was and she was giving an example of something that she was saying and I was looking at her thinking okay, that's her point of view because that's what I do. I listen to you and I say that's your point of view. I may not agree, but I don't have to disagree. Right. That's how I live. We're going to take a moment to find out what's going on out there. And we're going to see what happens. Hey. Hey, what's up now? All right. I'd like to say the best impression start at home. Elite furniture for affordable prices. Living large furniture. That's living large furniture. For more information, contact Richard Boyd at 951-625-7000. 214-8555. Now, Drama Stage Qumran has a weekly veterans theater workshop led by Melvin Johnson and Earline Anthony, but they're not doing that workshop right now. They're doing a once a month thing called Tech Talk and it deals with the, actually, the host. Okay. And he's the studio host of Skid Row Studios. And I can get more information on that, but what I'm, I guess, basically trying to say is that he's not doing the weekly veterans workshop at this time. I'd like to thank our professional engineer. She's doing an awesome job, Cheyenne. And if you would like to be a part of our show through sponsorship, contact us at 951-725-7000. Okay. And if you have any questions, please feel free to email us at info at 1046-789-1046. You would like to learn more about Positive Light Ministries and donate, please visit our website, positivelight.org and like us on Facebook at facebook.com slash we are positive light. Oh, also Judy Bowman had a show last night. Oh, yeah. She was praying that it was very successful. And I just want to congratulate her on that and just for the beautiful work that they are doing in the community and just for the preservation of story reading and radio. All right, back to our beautiful guests, Marilyn and Sarah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I want to tell you, I want to tell you, tell people about a play that I'm in, it's called Rock, Paper, Scissors. I'm one of the co-writers, there was eight of us, that put it together, a homeless woman in Skid Row, and we gave our backgrounds, what it was like, what it is like now, what our future is, what we think our future is going to look like, what we're doing to get there. It is going to be at the Pasadena Armory on March 8th and 15th. I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, at 3 p.m. And we invite anyone to come visit and see the show production of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Okay. Sorry, I'm like so spellbound and odd about this. Can you give me that address and the date again? Yes. It's at the Pasadena Armory. It is on March 8th and March 15th at 3 p.m. Now, the reason I'm saying it besides that I'm letting everybody know who can possibly know and would like to come is that when I connected with the director and the producer, I told them the reason that I was doing this project was because I believe that our faith, because most of the women in the group are faith-based Christians. My faith is everything. That's what I am. There is no difference between me and my faith. It's one, it's a package deal. And the reason I was doing this and helping them and supporting them was because I want people to see the different faces of God. I want them to see that Christ comes in many different packages and sometimes we're homeless and sometimes we're not. But it's the biggest reason why I'm part of this production. Oh, okay. Well, you know what? I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I am really going to, try to get out and see you front and center. Looking forward. Now, I want to ask you if you don't mind, obviously you had a good upbringing and I mean, you've been in eight Kung Fu movies? Yeah. Can you, I mean, can you name just a couple? Because I'm into... The first one I did was called Street Angels and I was in the movie, I mean, are these big movies or just... They're all, they went straight to video back then. And so now there's some of, there's one on a compilation about women that kick butt. And so basically, you know, I had like a real good high kick from all the ballet. And so they give me a tall guy and say, kick his head and run, you know. And my mom, who's a drama teacher, she was like, wow, nice hair. And I'm like, well, what about my acting? And it's like, well, you know, I knew it would like take me somewhere and I like the athleticism of it. And, but basically it gave me this core group of friends. And I was at the Marsh Arts History Museum yesterday. And so... For a big presentation. Uh-huh. So these Marsh Arts experts are, you know, they're, you wouldn't believe they're all these grandmasters that are my friends. Okay. And because of the movies or because of your good technique? All of it is all intertwined and just, and some of them share my faith. And we pray a lot. And some of them talk about healing because of martial arts. You need to know healing as well as, you know, the other side of it. And some of it, we're just on some amazing journey together and they support me as a filmmaker. And how far did you, I mean, as far as belts, did you go or did you, I mean... I made it to studying for brown belt in Ishimaru Karate. It's Okinawan style. That's more of a hard style. Yeah. And then I went on to this show which was a hybrid style of Shotokan. But they use Taekwondo in the movies because the kicks... Because they are fancy. And then the Kung Fu has just been, you know, kind of a godsend to me. I took Sun Tzu when I was a young man. And yeah, it's very interesting. I'm going to get... Well, name the movies. Can you name them off the top? Yes. I was just starting with Flight to Danger is the first one I took over as a director. So if you were to IMDB me, Sarah Matthews and the International Movie Database, you'll see a few of these ones. And Public Enemy was another one where I got to shoot the bad guy. And so there's a few Public Enemy ones. And then I went on to doing comedies. So I would ask them, why would you hire me as a comedian? But they were just, because we love your martial arts. Oh. You know, and so there was, you know, this other one, Too Good to Be True, where I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to be a gangster. And I got to transform myself into this tattoo kind of person that took like 45 minutes for me to, I really love wardrobe. And so I did the wardrobe and the hair and the tough look on myself. And I had this skeleton inside a spiderweb tattoo on my arm. And the girls were like, wow, is that real? And I was like, yeah, it's real fake. And I was just like, but I was still like, so, you know, like I would go and then I got killed with a rock in that one. This girl, like I'm going after this girl. You know, scaring her. It was fun to be scary. But when I look at some of the scarier roles I did, I'm still too smiley. Oh, yeah. Having a blast. Out there running around Chatsworth and all these crazy places. That's where Denise is from. Gosh, where's my mind? Chatsworth. What's the college out there? Is Chatsworth College? I think so. And it's just a great place to film because there's all these good. And that's the thing. I even got paid recently to do location. It's like I did all the locations for my film. And like people are like, wow, Soledad Canyon. I go, doesn't it look like Afghanistan there? And then I just did a music video there too. So I'm kind of spinning off. I've done a few music videos as well. And that's directing? Directing, producing, you know. And then I was like a saloon girl and this one is like country western one. So I always create a little like supporting role for myself. And now, and the question I wanted to originally ask was money. I mean, when you, when you started out, I mean, the stuff you're talking about is, it's not cheap to do these things, especially if you do it right. Yeah, actually the veteran for this last one, this is my biggest budget. And so I had investors for that. Well, I want to talk about starting at the beginning. At the beginning, I got hired. They hired me to finish a film. So here's this martial arts film with all these girls in it, Flight to Danger, and it wasn't ever finished. And so I went to the production company and I said, would you consider me? As a director to finish it, here's what I can do. And they go, well, we'll give you $4,000 and all this rental equipment. And I was like, I think I can shoot it in four days. So I lost seven pounds. It was so much work. And my mom was like, wow, I think I want to do that. I'm like, no, you don't want to do this. Because I had to carry all the equipment back then. This is a 90, in the 90s. So it was heavier equipment, like to go rent all that. I didn't have any, I had to put it in my car, take it in and out of my car every day. Because you don't want to hire somebody to. I did. I did want to hire them, but they just weren't around. Like it was just like, oh, we got to muy pronto and make this happen. And so then they would be there on set and run it all. But then I would just be like, oh man, I got to, can you guys load my car? And then, but there wouldn't be anybody to unload my car. And then plus I was doing the martial arts, but it was a four day deal. And I was like, wow. Yeah. You know? And then I was like, wow, it's kind of cool to be slim that fast. Talk about slim fast. Yeah. But anyway, but I, I guess for, you know, younger people out there listening to this or that might see this, Shante's so interested in, in movies and, and all that stuff. When I say like money and, and you said you went to school for it. Yeah. I had a grant to go to school. I, as an exercise teacher, I trained a diabetic lady. So it's, she gave me, she gave me this amazing grant to go like $50,000 film school. Goodness gracious me. And then I went to, I've been to Europe. I've been to Cannes. I've been to. So God has just really blessed you. Yeah, really blessed me. And it's not, I mean. From my artistry. And then I even, you know, I had a mentor in 2012 after I got the scholarship to do this film. I was like, wow, how am I going to do this film? Like I, I just, you can go onto Craigslist and get people to donate, like especially for 168. It's a one week film festival. And a lot of people are noticing the faith part of it. And people wanted to assist and be an editor and different things. So it's ways the artists branch out and reach each other. And you know, you can get a crew for like, we were shooting these $500 days, which is unbelievable. Nobody. And then my film as low budget as it is, it looks like a much higher budget. Like we were shooting in a hospital, but it was basically a senior home where I work. When they were all asleep, we're like shooting around in the hallways. Oh. Uh huh. And so it looks like a great hospital. And that would be like $5,000. Like my crew would show up and go, I'll just meet you in the lunchroom. I go, there's no lunchroom. This is, this is, this is set here. You know, like I'm bringing you the lunch. There's no lunch here. Right. And you know, and then we'd be walking in the hallways and the seniors would come out and they'd be going, doctor, can you help me with this? And we're like, we're not, we're TV doctors. Not even doctors. You gotta go back to bed. You know, but it was, it was, it's real interesting. Like how, like shooting in live set, like I've shot in restaurants where the people are actually eating. Right. And I have to go up to them and say, look, we're shooting over here. Mainly we're going to hear you, but if you walk over here, you're going to be on set. Oh, right. And so now you can actually do that. You can shoot live sets and, you know. I mean, do you have to get signatures and that kind of stuff? You should. But I'm telling you, I'm an outlaw too now. I've broken every single rule there is to get these things done. And I just had to show the youth how you do it. What they told me, my mentor told me, is once you get the idea, just start shooting. I'm like, wow. How does that work? But there's a way. How does it work? You, first you have to recruit like a tech crew. You may, you know, you can do like a $500 a day like I did. Like some, there is a minimum, you know, or you can buy your own camera and then shoot that way. But I've never bought my own camera because I don't even really know how to run a camera that well. But I can support somebody running it. And I know inside how it's supposed to look. My film degree helped me be a great encourager, motivator, and overview person. OK. So your film degree, when you say it taught you to be an encourager, I mean, they teach that? They do. They teach you. I had a great film school. So, you know, but we were a small group. So there were only 43 graduates that year. And SMU is a pretty elite school in Dallas. And now the film department's huge, but before it was little. And so you have to work in small groups and, you know, work with each other and work with your neighbors. We didn't have Craigslist or casting back then. And so you're just a cute waiter the next day they're in your movie. Oh, yeah. So you have to find talent like that. Right. To just be forward enough to ask. Yeah. And so now, you know, you can get amazing talent just through casting services. Like now casting is now casting service. Now when you talk about getting money through or donations through Craigslist, how does that work? Well, what you do is you get money. You get money. I think it's not going to be the answer I asked, but it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. I think it could be better. When you use things like Indiegogo or you use Kickstarter or things like that, and they have like, anybody can go in, set up a project and a deadline, and then you get funds. Wow. And so my alumni ended up helping me. So these Texans are really behind me. When you see me, there's a whole bunch of Texans behind me. But that's awesome. I mean, it's a blessing, and it's, I guess, awesome to me to see people. So when I'm doing this radio show and just various things that I'm doing in the Skid Row community and L.A. community and just in church, you see these positive people that want to encourage and to help and to teach and to learn. And it just seems like there's so many people that don't want to do those things, and they're just looking for a free meal, a free ticket. They're looking for a free ride. And they don't, they're not interested in the knowledge that you could possibly give them that might, it might not put them where they want to be, but it might drop them off right down the street from where they want to be. You understand what I'm saying? And it just seems like that, and I can't say just young people, but I'm talking about mostly young people. Oh, yes. Okay, thank you. But it just encourages me and inspires me every time I see this young lady. And your story is so awesome, and I'm going to get some information on you so I can watch every single last one of your shows. And I would love to invite you to all my screenings, too. Oh. I have screenings coming up. Okay, then I'll give you my information. And I have things that people can look online. If you want to see my trailer right now, anybody can see Jacob's Honor. Can you give us that information right now? Yeah, I can. Yeah. Yeah. So you just, I have my own YouTube. We all have YouTube, but you just go to Jacob's Honor, YouTube Jacob's Honor, and you can see that one. And there's also a music video there for it. It's the Ballad of Jacob's Honor, Sarah Matthews. Okay. And then there was an opera inside of this film. It's called Sarah's Opera. Okay, and you just told us how to do that. Yeah, you get to YouTube, and you just put Jacob's Honor. You can put Sarah's Honor. Sarah, Sarah Matthews, Jacob's Honor. And that'll get you where you want to be. Okay, that seems easy enough. Now, what do you have to say, young lady? Well, we've got 42, 41. Do what you want. You know what? Make yourself at home. Do what you want. I'm going to say that I really appreciate the opportunity. The Lord has given me so many places, people to just share my love of God. And I appreciate that. I'm in gratitude of that. And that I've met so many wonderful, fabulous people. Sarah's been in my life for a couple of decades, and I just adore her, and I'm grateful to God for her. Can you give us the scoop on the play again? Okay. Let me worry about the time. It's Pasadena Armory, and that is March 8th and March 15th at 3 p.m. The play is called Rock, Paper, Scissors. It is the Game Girls production. It's a documentary about Skid Row women. And our backgrounds, how we got there, how we've gotten out, what we're doing to help support each other and help each other. And we want the world to know we have many different faces and many different backgrounds. That's awesome. So I'm going to say in closing, we are never more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ than when we are loving, forgiving, and creating. We have not had the possibility of estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar estar Thank you.