Episode 175 - Wilson Hickman: The Role of Fantasy in Christian Filmmaking

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, Your host Geoffrey Whitt welcomes Wilson Hickman, a passionate young Christian filmmaker. Wilson shares his journey from writing stories as a child to creating "The Lost Healer," an award-winning proof of concept for a Christian fantasy TV series. Inspired by the topic of spiritual warfare, Wilson discusses weaving biblical themes into imaginative storytelling, the challenges of independent filmmaking, and the importance of authentic, God-honoring entertainment. He also opens up about his faith, creative process, and the collaborative effort behind bringing his vision to life.

Highlights Include:

• Passion for Storytelling
• The Lost Healer Project
• Creative Process
• Creating the Fantasy World
• Casting Process
• Experience as a Young Filmmaker

Bio:

Wilson Hickman is a follower of Jesus with a strong passion for storytelling. From a young age, he began writing books in a variety of genres, and his creativity soon expanded to screenwriting. Wilson’s latest project is The Lost Healer, an award-winning proof-of-concept episode for a Christian-themed fantasy TV series. Inspired by real-life spiritual warfare, the series transports viewers to an imaginative new world while weaving biblical themes throughout its narrative. Recognizing the power of stories to shape the culture, Wilson seeks to make compelling, God-honoring entertainment that can be enjoyed by a broad audience.

Website: thelosthealer.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelosthealerseries/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelosthealerseries/

Editor: Geoffrey Whitt

FAFF Association Online Meetups: https://faffassociation.com/#faff-meetings

Screenwriters Retreat - Mexico: https://www.faffassociation.com/writers-retreat

Jaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter’s Observations of LIfe, Character, and God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V

VIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship 

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

Support Faith & Family Filmmakers Our mission is to help filmmakers who share a Christian Worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. If you would like to assist with the costs of producing this podcast, you can help by leaving a tip.

Get Email Notifications

Enter the Faith & Family Screenwriting Awards festival

Faith and Family Screenwriting Academy: https://www.faffassociation.com/

Script Notes and Coaching: https://www.faffassociation.com/script-services

Copyright 2024 Ivan Ann Productions

Geoff: 00:00:00

Hey there.

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

This is Geoff and I'm really happy to be back with you today.

Geoff: 00:00:06

Our guest is a young filmmaker named Wilson Hickman Wilson.

Geoff: 00:00:10

Hickman is a follower of Jesus with strong passion for storytelling from a young age, he began writing books in a variety of genres, and his creativity soon expanded to screenwriting.

Geoff: 00:00:21

Wilson's latest project is The Lost Healer, an award-winning proof of concept episode for a Christian themed fantasy TV series Inspired by real life spiritual warfare, The series transports viewers to an imaginative new world while weaving biblical themes through its narrative.

Geoff: 00:00:38

Recognizing the power of stories to shape the culture.

Geoff: 00:00:41

Wilson seeks to make compelling God honoring entertainment that can be enjoyed by a broad audience.

Geoff: 00:00:47

Welcome Wilson.

Wilson: 00:00:48

Hey Jeff.

Wilson: 00:00:49

Thanks for having me.

Wilson: 00:00:49

It's great to be here.

Geoff: 00:00:50

Yeah, yeah.

Geoff: 00:00:51

It's great to have you.

Geoff: 00:00:52

I've had a number of conversations recently about.

Geoff: 00:00:54

Christian fantasy, uh, sci-fi, those types of genres have somewhat been missing, in the past.

Wilson: 00:01:02

Yeah.

Wilson: 00:01:03

Yeah.

Wilson: 00:01:03

And, and you know, Lord, willing, we're gonna, we're gonna

Wilson: 00:01:05

see that change.

Geoff: 00:01:06

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:01:06

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:01:07

I think there's been a lot of talk, um, and a lot of people who are kind of leaning in that direction, and I think we will see more of it.

Geoff: 00:01:14

Uh, but before we get into that, let's go back and talk about, your journey into filmmaking.

Geoff: 00:01:19

how did you get started?

Wilson: 00:01:21

Well, I've always loved creative writing as far back as I can remember.

Wilson: 00:01:25

Uh, when I was a kid, I would write short stories that grew into books.

Wilson: 00:01:29

And when I say write, I literally mean take a pencil and hand write them like before I ever learned how to type on a computer.

Wilson: 00:01:34

I was like, any means that I can get to translate ideas from my head onto the page, I will take that.

Wilson: 00:01:39

And, uh, that soon grew and took off into writing books once I learned how to type.

Wilson: 00:01:44

And then throughout my teen years, I started, I continued writing books, but I started expanding into screenwriting.

Wilson: 00:01:52

And I started thinking around, you know, the age of 14 or 15 that maybe I would be a filmmaker when I grew up, i'd pursue that.

Wilson: 00:01:58

And I've always had two.

Wilson: 00:02:01

Overwhelming passions.

Wilson: 00:02:02

I've had a passion to, to serve God and follow God and, and get to know Him first and foremost.

Wilson: 00:02:07

And then I've had a secondary passion for creativity.

Wilson: 00:02:10

And so my prayer was that I could honor God and, bring others into his kingdom using creativity as the means of opening the doors for those conversations.

Wilson: 00:02:19

and sort of, um, mission.

Wilson: 00:02:21

And so I always thought that I would be a, a filmmaker to tell stories that don't preach at people, but actually open their hearts and minds to feel and think in different ways because of the compelling nature of the story.

Wilson: 00:02:35

And I've always been very convicted about that because growing up I enjoyed several films that, you know, opened my mind and made me think certain ways.

Wilson: 00:02:41

Um, and it's like art and storytelling have such a power to.

Wilson: 00:02:48

Impact people's hearts, impact people's minds, and they don't do it through argumentation.

Wilson: 00:02:52

The minute you start lecturing people in a film, they, check out because they don't wanna be lectured to.

Wilson: 00:02:56

But instead, if you take me on a well-crafted journey with characters that I come to care about, and you see the twists and turns they go through and the journeys they go on and the struggles they overcome, you start to reflect on your own life, your own flaws, and maybe some lessons you can learn from that, and it's one of the reasons why so much of the Bible, I believe, is recorded as historical narrative rather than just being didactically told, Hey, here's all the messages you're supposed to believe.

Wilson: 00:03:20

Were also given many historical narratives that while there were talking about actual events that happened to actual people, you can see little types and shadow.

Wilson: 00:03:29

Of Jesus woven all throughout them, and that ultimately points to the message of the gospel, which is the centerpiece of the Bible.

Wilson: 00:03:34

And so I thought, Lord willing, I can do the same thing through filmmaking.

Wilson: 00:03:37

I can tell stories that feel authentic, that feel like these could happen to real people, and they're believable characters that will draw the audience in, but they have types and shadows of Jesus woven

Wilson: 00:03:46

throughout them.

Geoff: 00:03:46

Yeah, that's very well said.

Geoff: 00:03:48

And I, I believe it's something that we all, uh, feel a need for more understanding, with regards to, quality storytelling.

Geoff: 00:03:55

It makes a big difference.

Geoff: 00:03:57

Tell us briefly about your project, the Lost Healer.

Geoff: 00:03:59

give us just a synopsis and tell us where it came from.

Wilson: 00:04:02

Sure.

Wilson: 00:04:03

So the Lost Healer is a live action Christian fantasy adventure, and it tells the story of a young princess who is searching for a lost relic that can free her people from the grip of a murderous tyrant.

Wilson: 00:04:14

But the difficulty is that not only is she being o ppressed by her enemies who've conquered her kingdom.

Wilson: 00:04:20

But she's also struggling with how to share the truth of what she's discovering with her beloved brother because he's fallen under the manipulation of the conquering empire.

Wilson: 00:04:28

And this is born in it really from my inspiration of actual struggles that I face as a, as a Christian and the other believers around me have experienced.

Wilson: 00:04:37

And I think one of the core struggles is how do you share the gospel with a close friend or a family member?

Wilson: 00:04:44

Because you're afraid of saying something wrong and they end up rejecting Jesus because of you.

Wilson: 00:04:47

That's, that's a huge weight that I think we carry.

Wilson: 00:04:50

It's, it's easier to share the gospel with strangers 'cause there's no relationship at stake.

Wilson: 00:04:54

And oddly enough, it puts us in this difficult situation where the people we love the most, are the ones who are hardest to reach sometimes.

Wilson: 00:05:00

And, uh, princess Kiva in the Lost Taylor experiences, something very similar where she's on this forbidden quest.

Wilson: 00:05:07

She wants to turn to her brother.

Wilson: 00:05:08

He's the only family she has left.

Wilson: 00:05:09

She wants his help and she wants to share the truth with him, but she can't because he's under the manipulation of the people who've invaded them.

Wilson: 00:05:16

And he's adopted their ideology, and now his intentions are good.

Wilson: 00:05:19

His intentions are just keep the peace and, you know, not start another war, but sometimes there's a battle worth fighting.

Wilson: 00:05:26

And that's why I love fantasy as a genre in particular, because it really does amplify the distinction between good and evil.

Wilson: 00:05:33

And it encourages us to reflect on the ways that we can, we participate in the Battle of Good and Evil in our own lives, in spiritual warfare and in just day-to-day living, which oftentimes those

Wilson: 00:05:42

are the same.

Geoff: 00:05:43

Yeah, fantasy is such a powerful

Geoff: 00:05:45

tool for,

Geoff: 00:05:46

uh, exploring good

Geoff: 00:05:48

and evil.

Geoff: 00:05:48

we've got some big

Geoff: 00:05:49

examples, of course,

Geoff: 00:05:50

like

Geoff: 00:05:50

Lord

Geoff: 00:05:51

of the

Geoff: 00:05:51

Rings,

Geoff: 00:05:51

Chronicles

Geoff: 00:05:52

Narnia

Geoff: 00:05:53

and so

Geoff: 00:05:53

on.

Geoff: 00:05:54

it really does allow

Geoff: 00:05:55

for it

Geoff: 00:05:55

quite well.

Wilson: 00:05:56

Yeah.

Wilson: 00:05:57

And in making this, um, springboarding

Wilson: 00:05:59

further, another of my inspirations was just the encouragement that I've seen in my personal walk with Christ, which is

Wilson: 00:06:05

that you may

Wilson: 00:06:06

not always be reaching the people closest to you.

Wilson: 00:06:10

Because of just, you know, familial complications or social pressure or some combination

Wilson: 00:06:14

thereof.

Wilson: 00:06:15

But nonetheless, if you're consistently walking with Christ and you're living what you believe, you're not just preaching yet, you're actually living it, that will make an impact on those around you, even if it's someone that you weren't consciously trying to reach.

Wilson: 00:06:26

And so that's why in the, in this first episode that we made of the Lost Healer, there is an enemy knight, somebody who's on the opposing side.

Wilson: 00:06:34

He witnesses kiva's faith that she's going on this journey and she's living out her faith in the craftsman who is sort of a, a divine figure that represents Christ.

Wilson: 00:06:42

And he sees that and

Wilson: 00:06:44

he's intrigued by it and she doesn't even know that he's

Wilson: 00:06:46

watching her.

Wilson: 00:06:47

and

Wilson: 00:06:47

then at, by the end of the episode, he goes on a character arc where he's actually willing to risk his life to

Wilson: 00:06:52

actually protect her.

Wilson: 00:06:53

And all the

Wilson: 00:06:53

while she's just focused on trying to reach her brother and doesn't realize that her faith is actually impacting this other person who's on the opposing side.

Wilson: 00:07:00

and,

Wilson: 00:07:01

because a lot of our daily lives can be so monotonous.

Wilson: 00:07:04

They kind of numb our awareness to the spiritual warfare that's actually occurring.

Wilson: 00:07:07

And we think that, you know, God isn't necessarily in the mundane details.

Wilson: 00:07:11

He certainly is.

Wilson: 00:07:11

It's just not very apparent to us.

Geoff: 00:07:12

Mm-hmm.

Wilson: 00:07:13

us.

Wilson: 00:07:13

But fantasy really amplifies the distinction between good and evil.

Wilson: 00:07:17

And a lot of times with its larger than life stakes and world

Wilson: 00:07:20

building, it kind of forces our imaginations to stretch and see the grander implications of the struggle between good and evil.

Wilson: 00:07:28

And that expanding of our understanding of the implications of the struggle between good and evil can be then carried over into the real world.

Wilson: 00:07:34

And we recognize that even our so-called mundane day-to-day struggles are actually having spiritually significant consequences, even if we don't recognize it.

Wilson: 00:07:44

And that's one of the reasons why in the first episode of the Lost Healer, we have a, uh, one of the main characters is actually an enemy knight.

Wilson: 00:07:52

He's someone who's on the side of the conquerors, who've taken over Princess Kiva's land, and she doesn't realize that he's observing her and watching her live out her faith.

Wilson: 00:08:02

as she goes on this forbidden quest to pursue the healer.

Wilson: 00:08:05

And he sees that he sees her faith in action and he's moved by it.

Wilson: 00:08:09

And he actually ends up slowly turning against his evil masters and she has no idea that she's making this impact on him.

Wilson: 00:08:15

So, and that's meant to reflect that as you and I live for Christ, we may not necessarily be reaching the people in our immediate circle as we hope and expect to, but as we live out our testimonies for Christ, other people are gonna see it and other people can be moved

Geoff: 00:08:27

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:08:28

Um, I have watched your, uh, your proof of concept.

Geoff: 00:08:31

First episode, and, while you're saying a lot of spiritual things here they are indeed in allegory.

Geoff: 00:08:38

and going back to what you said earlier, it's not preaching, it's not saying those things, on the nose.

Geoff: 00:08:44

It's leaving it for the people to experience, to feel and to kind of understand and apply to themselves without actually being told.

Geoff: 00:08:53

it doesn't preach at them in any way.

Geoff: 00:08:54

It just tells a story you do a very good job of that.

Geoff: 00:08:57

What is your creative process?

Geoff: 00:08:59

how do you develop these?

Wilson: 00:09:00

Well, my creative process usually starts with coming up with characters rather than plot lines.

Wilson: 00:09:06

And for me that's important because going back to what I had mentioned earlier, the characters need to feel real.

Wilson: 00:09:11

They need to feel like real people making authentic decisions in the situations that the story throws at them.

Wilson: 00:09:16

'Cause if They stop feeling like real people and they're, and it, becomes obvious that the screenwriter is just making them do and say things because he wants the story to go in that direction, then we check out because they no longer feel like real people.

Wilson: 00:09:27

They feel like props.

Wilson: 00:09:28

And we can't connect with props.

Wilson: 00:09:29

We, we need the characters to feel like real people who are.

Wilson: 00:09:31

Being put in difficult situations and making actual decisions based on their established characters.

Wilson: 00:09:36

And so my inspiration for, uh, princess Kiva and Prince Ian, they were the first two characters I came up

Wilson: 00:09:42

with, started with, uh, me and my own sister who were both believers.

Wilson: 00:09:47

We've been best friends our entire

Wilson: 00:09:48

lives, and I wanted

Wilson: 00:09:49

to

Wilson: 00:09:50

do a story that explored the

Wilson: 00:09:52

depth of the sibling bond.

Wilson: 00:09:54

And then of

Wilson: 00:09:54

course you complicate that by saying, well, what if they were best friends?

Wilson: 00:09:57

But there was this rift between them, namely the prince has been manipulated into the ideology of this invading kingdom.

Wilson: 00:10:03

And the princess still has hope.

Wilson: 00:10:06

that their true king can return and their land can be put at peace from these evil conquerors.

Wilson: 00:10:10

And so they're divided by that.

Wilson: 00:10:12

But nonetheless, they still love each other.

Wilson: 00:10:13

They just have opposing ideas of how they should be going about keeping the peace in their land.

Wilson: 00:10:18

And that was really the catalyst of the story.

Wilson: 00:10:22

And then it grew into What if there was this enemy knight who sees the princess's faith in action and is moved by that, and we're not sure which side he's gonna ultimately take, but he's gravitating towards her side.

Wilson: 00:10:32

But again, he's held back by fear of what will his masters do to him if he openly betrays them.

Wilson: 00:10:36

And, uh, those three characters were really the, the engine that launched this, this whole writing process of like, okay, I can do a lot with those characters.

Wilson: 00:10:44

I can take them on this journey and I can throw different things at them that will challenge them and grow them.

Geoff: 00:10:49

so tell me what do you hope your audiences will take away?

Geoff: 00:10:52

what do you hope they'll feel or learn or think as they leave watching the Lost Healer?

Wilson: 00:10:58

Well, I obviously hope that they, you know, connect with the characters and they care about what happens

Wilson: 00:11:03

next.

Wilson: 00:11:03

But more

Wilson: 00:11:04

than that, I want them to

Wilson: 00:11:06

feel a sense of.

Wilson: 00:11:08

Inspiration.

Wilson: 00:11:09

Something that they can take away from the story and be thinking that, I can apply this in my own life.

Wilson: 00:11:15

I can live for good, even when lies are all around me.

Wilson: 00:11:18

I can stand for truth, even when society has embraced lies.

Wilson: 00:11:21

I can courageously pursue God in a world that has largely rejected him, and I can cave to social pressure like Prince Rian does.

Wilson: 00:11:28

And these messages might be subconscious at

Wilson: 00:11:30

first.

Wilson: 00:11:31

I think a lot of us can relate to the feeling of leaving a movie theater, especially as a small child, having just watched a really compelling film that stirred us.

Wilson: 00:11:38

And we can't even necessarily put into words what it makes us feel inspired to do, but it's a sensation of having journeyed into this larger world.

Wilson: 00:11:46

And now how can I take a little bit of that larger world, that larger meaning, and bring it into my everyday life?

Wilson: 00:11:52

And I believe that God has wired us that way as his image bearers.

Wilson: 00:11:55

'Cause we are intrinsically designed to seek something higher than ourselves for inspiration and meaning and growth, and cinema can tap into that.

Wilson: 00:12:03

And so I hope that people leave The Lost Healer wanting to know what happens next, but also feeling inspired to face struggles or challenges in their lives, however big or small they may seem, with the same courage and faith that Princess Kiva demonstrates.

Geoff: 00:12:15

Mm-hmm.

Geoff: 00:12:16

so important in our society today, all of what you just said is so relevant.

Geoff: 00:12:21

I, really look forward to this, series.

Geoff: 00:12:23

I think it's got a lot of potential for doing good.

Geoff: 00:12:26

Um, so let's get into the filmmaking process a little bit.

Geoff: 00:12:28

the physical challenges with creating a fantasy world, uh, it's a a little different.

Geoff: 00:12:33

And how did you do that for the lost healer, especially like the castle scene, for example.

Wilson: 00:12:38

Yes.

Wilson: 00:12:38

Okay.

Wilson: 00:12:39

So the castle scene was the most challenging in interior and exterior, but it also the most fun, I would say.

Wilson: 00:12:45

So for the exterior, uh, I'm blessed to have a friend who makes, miniatures just for fun.

Wilson: 00:12:50

He's very good at it.

Wilson: 00:12:51

And so, uh, he made a miniature castle, much like in Lord of the Rings, almost significantly smaller than the ones they used for that film.

Wilson: 00:12:58

But intricately detailed, like when he first showed it to me, uh, I was looking at it up close and I was like, all these.

Wilson: 00:13:04

Amazing details that you put on these tiny bricks that are like smaller than a human fingernail.

Wilson: 00:13:08

it's incredible.

Wilson: 00:13:09

And so what I did was I shot some, clips of that castle outside under a real sun.

Wilson: 00:13:16

With, you know, blue screen behind it, and then that gets composited into the live action footage of the film and you just marry the two together and you, you have to shoot them at the same time of day, keeping in mind which angle the sun is hitting it from and all those things.

Wilson: 00:13:29

But it looks more real than CG because it's an actual object really getting hit by sunlight..

Wilson: 00:13:33

And if you have sufficiently similar weather conditions and you keep the angles in mind and you get the angle of the two shots the same, then it comes off across very well.

Wilson: 00:13:41

And then of course we shot some actors playing Knight on a green screen and just composited them onto the wall at different places.

Wilson: 00:13:48

So that was the exterior shot.

Wilson: 00:13:50

The interior was even more fun.

Wilson: 00:13:51

So we actually just released a, a few months ago, a behind the scenes video for how we made the interior of the castle.

Wilson: 00:13:59

And I mentioned in that video that I almost wrote it out of the script

Wilson: 00:14:03

because we had an outdoor location already, black acre, state Nature Preserve in Louisville, Kentucky, and it was for all the forest scenes..

Wilson: 00:14:10

And so I thought to myself, well, maybe Prince Ian could come out of the

Wilson: 00:14:13

castle and

Wilson: 00:14:14

meet Kiva just outside the castle, and they could have their outdoor conversation.

Wilson: 00:14:19

But I thought to myself that doesn't really fit his character.

Wilson: 00:14:21

His character is very cautious and reserved.

Wilson: 00:14:23

And so I want to introduce him inside a dark, claustrophobic castle library.

Wilson: 00:14:27

That's just thematically how he needs to be introduced.

Wilson: 00:14:29

But I'm like, well, now I need a castle library.

Wilson: 00:14:32

And, uh, we looked at like some castle themed hotels or anything like that and, and realized it would be cheaper just to make our own set.

Wilson: 00:14:38

But how do we do it?

Wilson: 00:14:39

We ended up, Combining several different YouTube tutorials and just a bit of our own creative outside the box thinking.

Wilson: 00:14:45

We got these, pink foam boards, like you can put insulation in your wall like Home Depot, and we just taped them up along the wall of our basement.

Wilson: 00:14:53

We took a Sharpie marker, drew the outline of.

Wilson: 00:14:56

Castle rocks on them.

Wilson: 00:14:58

And then we took a drill head that, uh, that's like a wire brush, and we carved around the outline to make it look like mortar.

Wilson: 00:15:03

And then we painted it different shades of gray and dinked it up with some, we took some foil, crumpled it up to make rough edges, and then just grounded against the foam until it looked rough like rock.

Wilson: 00:15:13

And then if it's dark and the room is filled with haze and there's candles everywhere.

Wilson: 00:15:18

Convincingly passes for stone.

Wilson: 00:15:20

And that was a, that was an awesome like three month process we took to make that room and shoot it with different lighting to figure out what would work.

Wilson: 00:15:25

And it it was incredible.

Geoff: 00:15:26

Wow.

Geoff: 00:15:26

That is very interesting.

Geoff: 00:15:28

Tell us about your cast.

Geoff: 00:15:30

Um, how did you cast, where did you find them?

Wilson: 00:15:33

Oh, that was, that was definitely, a blessing from God.

Wilson: 00:15:36

Every single one of the actors were amazing.

Wilson: 00:15:38

Okay.

Wilson: 00:15:38

So in college, I went to film school in Arizona and we used a website called Backstage Casting.

Wilson: 00:15:43

And so I posted a casting call there and

Wilson: 00:15:47

got a surprisingly large amount of submissions.

Wilson: 00:15:49

I wasn't expecting very many because, you know, I'm an independent filmmaker and I, I don't have a lot of credits to my name.

Wilson: 00:15:55

And so, uh, I posted it and within a few weeks had almost a hundred submissions just for Princess Kiva alone, and all the actors have told me that.

Wilson: 00:16:03

You know, as a, as an up and coming actor, you don't get that many fantasy projects and the fantasy element really excited them.

Wilson: 00:16:09

And I took that as just a, a positive sign from the Lord that yeah, fantasy is a, viable genre where you can reach a broad audience and you can reach them with the Christian message by way of the, of the fantasy genre.

Wilson: 00:16:20

And, so

Wilson: 00:16:21

I.

Wilson: 00:16:22

I did, hold several auditions.

Wilson: 00:16:23

Um,

Wilson: 00:16:24

the first

Wilson: 00:16:25

major character I cast was Princess Kiva,

Wilson: 00:16:27

'cause she's, really the heart of the story.

Wilson: 00:16:28

And, uh, Allison, the actress who I cast to play her, was fantastic.

Wilson: 00:16:33

I don't know if you've watched any of our behind the scenes videos with her, but she's just absolutely, her enthusiasm for the role is so contagious and she was absolutely a, a joy to work with on set.

Wilson: 00:16:42

And, um, same goes for, uh, Evan, who actually looks like her brother, but isn't.

Wilson: 00:16:46

The first thing she said when, um, when I, after I cast Evan to play Prince Rian, uh, she was like, he actually looks like my brother, like, even my mom thinks he looks like my brother,

Geoff: 00:16:54

Wow.

Wilson: 00:16:55

and so they had a real sibling chemistry on the set instantly.

Wilson: 00:16:59

And it was, it was incredible just to see how that, came to life.

Wilson: 00:17:02

And then,

Wilson: 00:17:02

um,

Wilson: 00:17:03

casting Russell to

Wilson: 00:17:04

play general Graham was fantastic.

Wilson: 00:17:06

He was.

Wilson: 00:17:07

Such an amazing actor to work with.

Wilson: 00:17:08

Um, and totally not at all like the villain he actually plays.

Wilson: 00:17:11

we actually did a little cast game post shoot and asked, okay, which of the characters do you think is least like their character?

Wilson: 00:17:17

And every single one of them said, Russell, because in real life he's, you

Wilson: 00:17:20

know, funny, outgoing, telling jokes, being very lighthearted.

Wilson: 00:17:23

But then as soon as you say action, he gets the death glare in his eyes and he totally goes into villain mode, but it totally not like that in real life at all.

Wilson: 00:17:31

and,

Wilson: 00:17:31

and

Wilson: 00:17:32

then, uh,

Wilson: 00:17:32

Griffin was actually a late addition to the cast.

Wilson: 00:17:35

one of the challenges of pre-production was we actually had an actor who's originally scheduled to play Aaron.

Wilson: 00:17:39

He had a conflict and had to actually drop

Wilson: 00:17:41

out.

Wilson: 00:17:42

And so, um, just a few weeks before the shoot, we had to start looking at casting a different Aaron and found Griffin.

Wilson: 00:17:48

And he was fantastic.

Wilson: 00:17:49

I mean, it was a huge blessing to found him.

Wilson: 00:17:51

So everybody was just great.

Wilson: 00:17:52

they threw themselves into the dialect coaching, did it with such passion, such consistency.

Wilson: 00:17:57

And it was absolutely a joy to work with

Wilson: 00:18:00

every single one of them.

Geoff: 00:18:01

I was gonna ask about the, uh, accents.

Geoff: 00:18:03

so I assumed, you know, being, young people working in your

Geoff: 00:18:08

area

Geoff: 00:18:09

that,

Geoff: 00:18:09

these weren't their

Geoff: 00:18:10

native

Geoff: 00:18:10

accents.

Geoff: 00:18:12

So I gotta admit, they did an incredible job with it.

Geoff: 00:18:14

They were very,

Geoff: 00:18:15

very

Geoff: 00:18:16

believable.

Geoff: 00:18:17

Um, and, you

Geoff: 00:18:17

know, you've heard

Geoff: 00:18:18

those, independent, uh,

Geoff: 00:18:20

Low

Geoff: 00:18:21

budget shows where the

Geoff: 00:18:22

accent just

Geoff: 00:18:22

sounds so fake.

Geoff: 00:18:24

And

Geoff: 00:18:24

it did not,

Geoff: 00:18:25

it was really really good.

Wilson: 00:18:26

Well, thank you.

Wilson: 00:18:27

That was another huge blessing.

Wilson: 00:18:28

So that was

Wilson: 00:18:29

one of the things that I decided very early on in pre-production was that I need to hire a professional dialect coach because I don't want, you know, different actors just giving me their idea of what this accent sounds like.

Wilson: 00:18:40

That's gonna be very sloppy and inconsistent.

Wilson: 00:18:42

And, you know, I wouldn't want the actors to do that.

Wilson: 00:18:44

I would feel uncomfortable putting them in that

Wilson: 00:18:45

situation.

Wilson: 00:18:46

So I had a... several weeks, I, if not months, uh, search for a dialect coach.

Wilson: 00:18:52

And I was blessed to find, Pamela, who's in, uh, California actually.

Wilson: 00:18:57

And it's just incredible the, caliber of talent and commitment that, she brought to the shoot because, uh, she agreed to, to coach them a month in advance.

Wilson: 00:19:06

And, you know, she said it has to be at least a month in advance because I want them, you know, to work on the accidents consistently.

Wilson: 00:19:11

And then I didn't even ask her to do this.

Wilson: 00:19:13

It wasn't in our agreement, but she then volunteered to be on call on the set.

Wilson: 00:19:18

So the days that we were shooting, she was available by phone call if we changed the line or wanted to add something.

Wilson: 00:19:24

And we ended up changing the line and Allison was able to call her and, and get her coaching there on the spot.

Wilson: 00:19:28

And it was just.

Wilson: 00:19:29

One of the many incredible blessings that God did that I never could have.

Wilson: 00:19:33

I never could have anticipated or, thought ahead to.

Geoff: 00:19:35

tell us about working in the industry as a young filmmaker, first of all, how old are you, Wilson?

Wilson: 00:19:41

I am 28.

Geoff: 00:19:43

OK, 28.

Geoff: 00:19:44

do you find there are any challenges or perhaps even advantages one way or the other?

Geoff: 00:19:48

What, what's been your experience with regards to being a young filmmaker, any thoughts or experiences to talk about?

Wilson: 00:19:55

Well, certainly in terms of, uh, challenges, the, the challenge would starting out in any field when you're young is that you don't have prior experience.

Wilson: 00:20:03

And a lot of times people don't, you know, necessarily want to work with people who don't have prior experience.

Wilson: 00:20:08

So there is that difficulty of, you know, proving yourself when you don't have a track record to point to yet.

Wilson: 00:20:13

Um, so there's, there's that.

Wilson: 00:20:15

Then another challenge would just be not having many connections.

Wilson: 00:20:18

This is an industry of connections and I'm, I was blessed to go to film school and still be in touch with one of my film professors.

Wilson: 00:20:23

He's been an invaluable source of just advice that he's given me along the way.

Wilson: 00:20:28

And without him, I honestly don't think this project would exist.

Wilson: 00:20:31

So I'm very, very grateful to the Lord for that.

Wilson: 00:20:33

But outside of him, and he's, across the country in Arizona, so, um, outside of him, I really didn't have any.

Wilson: 00:20:39

Any contacts going into this outside of some friends from work who were on the crew.

Wilson: 00:20:43

And so I was just blessed that such amazing actors wanted to be part of the project when I put the casting call out, and that I was able to find, um, Sean Lindsay, who was our, local, first AD, and he was able to like double

Wilson: 00:20:55

the size of the crew who brought me a steady cam op and a new sound guy when our original sound guy got sick just before the shoot and.

Wilson: 00:21:02

all that to

Wilson: 00:21:03

say that when you're starting out in this, especially

Wilson: 00:21:05

as a

Wilson: 00:21:05

young person, you really have to depend on God, and you have to be in constant prayer and constantly committing it to him.

Wilson: 00:21:11

Because at the beginning, if you don't have God opening doors and forging connections, you're, you're not gonna get very far.

Wilson: 00:21:19

One advantage I will say to being young though, is that.

Wilson: 00:21:23

I feel like I'm closer to that awe of storytelling that you have as a kid.

Wilson: 00:21:30

You can go to the theater as a kid and just be totally transported into the film and it feels like a, an amazing experience that

Wilson: 00:21:36

just

Wilson: 00:21:37

children

Wilson: 00:21:37

have just

Wilson: 00:21:38

a naturally higher capacity for

Wilson: 00:21:40

awe.

Wilson: 00:21:41

And I feel like there are some movies, especially what's coming out of, Secular Cinema right now at the moment where it just feels like "content.".. It's just there to make money and take up space, but it doesn't feel like any authentic joy went into making it.

Wilson: 00:21:55

And I feel like as a, as a young filmmaker, you're less prone to falling into that rut because it's just, it's still so fresh and awe inspiring to you.

Geoff: 00:22:03

That makes sense.

Geoff: 00:22:04

And something you touched on a moment ago, is team, you have to have a team, uh, you have to have people you can trust, And often I think as a young or new filmmaker of any age, um,

Geoff: 00:22:15

there can be benefits to working with other people who are also up and coming, and also want to, forge a team, put a team together and, and work together.

Geoff: 00:22:25

Um, because you can't always afford to hire, you know, those with many years of experience.

Geoff: 00:22:32

Uh, and, if you have other people who also want to, make something beautiful and get experience, then you know, it has the financial advantages as well.

Wilson: 00:22:41

Yeah, and a lot of our, not just the cast, but a lot of the crew for the Lost Healer were all under the age of 30.

Wilson: 00:22:47

They were just, you know, fantastic, young people like myself who wanted to get, experience and be part of telling the story.

Geoff: 00:22:52

Uh huh.

Geoff: 00:22:53

Well, Wilson, this has been really interesting today, uh, from the, spiritual aspect, and motivation behind what you do, to the stories, about your show, the making of it, and your experiences as a filmmaker.

Geoff: 00:23:07

I really appreciate you talking with us today.

Geoff: 00:23:09

Of course, you've been involved in our, weekly meetups at FAFF Association as well.

Wilson: 00:23:14

I have been, and I wanna say thank you so much for those.

Wilson: 00:23:16

Those have been an amazing encouragement and great networking opportunities.

Geoff: 00:23:20

Well, that's Really good to hear.

Geoff: 00:23:21

Really good to hear.

Geoff: 00:23:21

It's good to have you.

Geoff: 00:23:23

Before we go, how can people get involved.

Geoff: 00:23:25

How can they support the show?

Geoff: 00:23:27

Uh, where can they find more information?

Geoff: 00:23:30

What would you like to tell 'em?

Wilson: 00:23:31

Okay, so the best way to get more information is to go to our website, the lost healer.com, and become an insider by signing up for our series newsletter.

Wilson: 00:23:39

You're gonna get a lot of exclusive behind the scenes info and series updates there.

Wilson: 00:23:43

And you can also follow our socials.

Wilson: 00:23:45

So we're on Facebook and Instagram at the Lost Healer series.

Wilson: 00:23:49

And, um, that's also the best way to, to support the show as well, is just to follow us on social and help spread the word.

Geoff: 00:23:55

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:23:56

And of course they'll find the first episode, the proof of concept at those locations, I'm guessing.

Wilson: 00:24:01

yes.

Wilson: 00:24:02

You'll find that on our website.

Geoff: 00:24:03

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:24:03

I encourage our listeners to do that.

Geoff: 00:24:05

Check it out.

Geoff: 00:24:05

that.

Geoff: 00:24:06

And maybe someday we will get a chance to talk again and get an update, down the road, because I know you've got, Lots of plans ahead.

Geoff: 00:24:13

So, uh, what are the next steps?

Wilson: 00:24:15

Yes, producing partner is what I'm currently looking for, and as part of this marketing campaign that I'm currently in, the episode is making its rounds in festival circuits and by God's grace.

Wilson: 00:24:24

It's been doing very well film festivals this year,

Wilson: 00:24:26

so I'm encouraged by that.

Geoff: 00:24:27

Well, that's awesome, Wilson.

Geoff: 00:24:28

Thank you so much and, uh, take care.

Geoff: 00:24:30

God bless you.