Episode 25 - Crafting Stories with Faith and Impact, with Cheryl McKay

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, hosts Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt interview Cheryl McKay, an accomplished screenwriter and producer known for her inspirational films and TV series. Cheryl shares her journey from aspiring actress to a successful writer, touching on the pivotal moments that led her to embrace her talent for writing and her path through education and practical experience, to her eventual move to Los Angeles. Facing a turning point after being released from an acting program, she redirected her path towards writing, fueled by a deep-rooted desire to impact the world positively through her work.  She recounts her professional progression, including writing children’s audio dramas for Frank Peretti and screenplays for films like 'The Ultimate Gift.' McKay also discusses her venture into producing with Stone Impact Media, revealing the development of 'These Stones,' a TV series merging biblical characters with modern-day challenges. The episode delves into McKay’s philosophy on writing with a purpose, her desire to leave a positive legacy, and the importance of creating content that impacts the audience meaningfully.

• Welcome & Introduction to Cheryl McKay
• Cheryl’s Journey from Acting to Screenwriting
• Breaking into Professional Writing and Moving to LA
• The Importance of Connections in the Film Industry
• The Acting Background's Impact on Writing
• Creating 'These Stones': A Dream Project
• Navigating Creative Control
• Portraying God in Films
• Where to Buy Cheryl's Book: Never the Bride
• Final Thoughts and Advice for Aspiring Writers

Since 1997, Cheryl McKay’s screenplays for television, cable, TV, new media, and inspirational feature films have attracted multiple awards, nominations, as well as top star talent like James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin. Her first film produced was The Ulitmate Gift. She co-wrote the feature films, Indivisible and Extraordinary, and most recently served as the producer/showrunner for a 6 episode TV series she wrote called These Stones, starring Madeline Carroll, Karen Abercrombie, Charlene Amoia, and Cameron Arnett. Her heart from the beginning has been to make an impact through words and change the world through writing. That’s the heart behind serving at the helm of the creative development for Stone Impact Media.  

www.stoneimpactmedia.com

https://www.facebook.com/thesestones

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

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Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

We've got a writer with us today, Cheryl McKay.

Jaclyn: 00:00:06

Since 1997, Cheryl McKay's screenplays for television, cable, new media, and inspirational feature films have attracted multiple awards, nominations, as well as top star talent like James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin.

Jaclyn: 00:00:22

Her first film produced was The Ultimate Gift.

Jaclyn: 00:00:25

She co wrote the feature films Indivisible and Extraordinary, and most recently served as the producer / showrunner for a six episode TV series she wrote called These Stones, her heart from the beginning has been to make an impact through words and change the world through writing.

Jaclyn: 00:00:43

That's the heart behind serving at the helm of the creative development for Stone Impact Media.

Geoff: 00:00:49

Welcome, Cheryl.

Cheryl: 00:00:51

Hi, it's really good to be here today.

Jaclyn: 00:00:52

I'm excited to get to know you because we've never actually met in person.

Jaclyn: 00:00:57

We kind of had a couple exchanges back and forth on Facebook, but, like now I actually get to have a real conversation with you.

Jaclyn: 00:01:03

So that's exciting.

Cheryl: 00:01:05

Well, thanks Jaclyn.

Cheryl: 00:01:06

I'm really glad to be able to be on your show.

Jaclyn: 00:01:08

All right.

Jaclyn: 00:01:08

So I know you started with screenwriting.

Jaclyn: 00:01:10

So how did you get into that?

Jaclyn: 00:01:12

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Cheryl: 00:01:13

I started off, writing plays when I was five years old, and I was inspired by my lunchboxes and the pictures on them, and decided to write little skits and I invited all the neighborhood kids over, and we would act them out, and, then from there, I mean, I never ever stopped writing, from that point forward, even though I had acting aspirations, and that's partly why I brought people over to sit on my lawn and pretend they were interested in what I was doing.

Cheryl: 00:01:39

But it was kind of one of those things that was always in me from the beginning.

Cheryl: 00:01:42

and my original dream was to be an actress and not a writer.

Cheryl: 00:01:45

So from around the time when I was 12 to 19, that's all I focused on.

Cheryl: 00:01:49

but the problem was I wasn't very good.

Cheryl: 00:01:51

And I, I ended up in a, you know, provisional BFA acting program in a university, and they were only accepting a handful after that first year, and I am one of the lucky ones who got kicked out.

Cheryl: 00:02:04

Um, but it ended up really being a blessing, because I really, at that time, I think that was God's redirection on my life to say, like, because I had a teacher who pulled me aside and said, you really belong behind the camera, and I don't think she was trying to make an insult about my looks or anything.

Cheryl: 00:02:17

I think she saw that organizational stuff in me and the other sides of creativity where I was just better at the behind the scenes stuff, including the writing, so I ended up switching and it was a really good change in my life that, was also tied to me, rededicating my life to God.

Cheryl: 00:02:34

I'd been a Christian since I was a little kid before I can remember, but the move back home after getting kicked out of that program, was when I really decided to make that Christian journey a decision on my own.

Jaclyn: 00:02:45

that's amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:02:46

So, how did you get into, writing professionally?

Cheryl: 00:02:50

Well, I finished my theater degree even though I really didn't need it and I realized I was going to have to go get a master's, and I went off to get a master's at Regent University.

Cheryl: 00:02:59

Their motto was Christian Leadership to Change the World.

Cheryl: 00:03:02

And I'm like, well, I really want to change the world and I felt like I was going to be able to do that with writing, but I needed the training first because I had spent, you know, my whole young life in acting, I really needed to start to learn and understand structure and character and all that.

Cheryl: 00:03:13

So I went to school there and, after that, eventually had the guts to move to Los Angeles, which can be scary for, um, for some of us, but I had gone through another writing program called Act One, where I asked all those teachers, do I need to live here to do this?

Cheryl: 00:03:28

And in the year when I, asked that question...

Cheryl: 00:03:30

it was around 1999.

Cheryl: 00:03:31

I was in their first class, all of them said, yes, you have to be here if you want to do this.

Cheryl: 00:03:35

So I packed up everything from North Carolina and moved out to LA.

Cheryl: 00:03:40

Um, I would live there for 15 years.

Cheryl: 00:03:42

But my first professional writing job was writing kids books for Frank Peretti.

Cheryl: 00:03:46

Also audio dramas...

Cheryl: 00:03:47

we did both, and I got to write 40 scripts for him.

Cheryl: 00:03:50

And the same people who hired me to do that remembered me about five years later when they had the opportunity to adapt The Ultimate Gift into a feature film.

Jaclyn: 00:03:59

Yeah, that's a really good movie.

Jaclyn: 00:04:01

If people haven't seen it, please go watch it.

Jaclyn: 00:04:03

It's a really good movie.

Cheryl: 00:04:04

Thank you.

Jaclyn: 00:04:05

I enjoyed it.

Jaclyn: 00:04:06

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:04:06

What were the Frank Peretti, um, what was the series?

Cheryl: 00:04:10

It was called The Wild and Wacky Totally True Bible Stories, and Frank got to play all the characters, the women, the men, the animals, the whatever, like he would just change his voice for all those characters, and he was so funny, I would write those scripts into maybe seven, eight minutes each episode, and we put every, um, at the time, it was so long ago, it was tapes.

Cheryl: 00:04:32

We would pick a theme for the tape, like courage, which I actually got to do all that...

Cheryl: 00:04:35

map out the show bible for the series and pick the four, episodes that would go into a tape about courage, and then we would pick another theme, like trust, and we would do four more.

Cheryl: 00:04:44

Um, it was really a fun project to do with him.

Cheryl: 00:04:47

We did turn them into children's books, but that wasn't, that wasn't my strongest writing suit at the time.

Cheryl: 00:04:52

Um, I was much better at doing the scripts for the audio.

Geoff: 00:04:55

I have an interjection there.

Geoff: 00:04:57

Um, a few minutes ago, you said you asked your teachers about whether you needed to be in LA to do what you were doing.

Geoff: 00:05:03

So I'm going to ask you, now from our listeners point of view, who may have that question in their mind.

Geoff: 00:05:09

What is your answer?

Cheryl: 00:05:11

Well, I don't think it's as necessary as it used to be.

Cheryl: 00:05:14

I think for me it really helped to go there first because in the beginning if you don't have the contacts and you have no way of even...

Cheryl: 00:05:20

well, both contacts and training, you need to have a vehicle to do that.

Cheryl: 00:05:24

So what a lot of people will do now, the same program that I took back in 99 still exists today.

Cheryl: 00:05:29

They do a remote version.

Cheryl: 00:05:30

I even still teach for that now.

Cheryl: 00:05:32

I teach their adaptation class.

Cheryl: 00:05:34

That way people, can make the contacts they need.

Cheryl: 00:05:37

Like, the university, curriculum was wonderful, and I learned how to write, but I learned the business and writing within the context of actual jobs when I went to L.

Cheryl: 00:05:45

A., so that definitely helped.

Cheryl: 00:05:47

But I did hit a point when about eight years ago, my husband and I decided we wanted to relocate to Georgia, which is considered little Hollywood these days.

Jaclyn: 00:05:55

Mm hmm.

Cheryl: 00:05:56

Um, or it was then.

Cheryl: 00:05:57

Now it's big Hollywood, practically, because we actually have more movies here than they do in L.

Cheryl: 00:06:01

A., but eight years ago, that wasn't necessarily the case.

Cheryl: 00:06:03

But we just didn't want to be in L.

Cheryl: 00:06:05

A.

Cheryl: 00:06:05

anymore and felt like we wanted to get closer to our North Carolina family.

Cheryl: 00:06:08

And I've worked way more since I left L.

Cheryl: 00:06:11

A.

Cheryl: 00:06:11

than I did ever in L.

Cheryl: 00:06:12

A., and most of my clients while I lived there were from other states like North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, um, Texas.

Cheryl: 00:06:19

Like I just didn't get a lot of work while it was there and it's very expensive to live there.

Cheryl: 00:06:22

So I think the transition was very good for us.

Cheryl: 00:06:25

I've been hired about 24 times in the eight years since we moved here for different scripts or treatments or kids shows.

Cheryl: 00:06:31

So I think it's okay.

Cheryl: 00:06:33

As long as you have a way of making those connections

Cheryl: 00:06:35

. Jaclyn: Right.

Cheryl: 00:06:36

Yeah.

Cheryl: 00:06:36

We've talked about that, um, in some other, interviews, about making connections and how important that is.

Cheryl: 00:06:42

One of the strategies for that would be film festivals, you know, where you can actually meet people, or even Facebook, you know, like and I met on Facebook.

Cheryl: 00:06:50

Yes.

Cheryl: 00:06:51

Yeah, it's like once you have that first job, it becomes a referral system.

Cheryl: 00:06:55

I mean, I don't even have a writing agent.

Cheryl: 00:06:57

I have had them in the past, or a manager, and most of the time the jobs that come to me, come to me because someone else told them about me.

Cheryl: 00:07:04

Mm hmm.

Cheryl: 00:07:04

Yeah.

Cheryl: 00:07:05

Same for me.

Cheryl: 00:07:06

So, I have a question.

Cheryl: 00:07:07

Like, you said that you, first you started with acting and then you moved into writing.

Cheryl: 00:07:11

Do you think that having a background in acting affected your ability to write?

Cheryl: 00:07:17

Yes, and the way I still use that, I don't consider any of that a waste, so that's a great question.

Cheryl: 00:07:22

Um, I took a class at Regent that was about, acting for the writer, and that was the beginning of the foundation of understanding how we have to understand what we're putting actors through when we put words on the page.

Cheryl: 00:07:33

Why do they need subtext?

Cheryl: 00:07:35

How come all the lines can't be on the nose?

Cheryl: 00:07:36

And why do they all need their own voices?

Cheryl: 00:07:39

And When I am stuck on something, I will often act it out and see if I can get myself into the emotional place of the character.

Cheryl: 00:07:46

I did that once during Ultimate Gift, for example.

Cheryl: 00:07:48

Um, I was a little stuck on something I was working on related to Jason, the grandson and the grandfather, and so I just left my apartment in Glendale, California at the time, walked to a cemetery and had a conversation with him as if I were Jason, and it unlocked some things that I found like, How did Jason feel about the fact that he wanted to make amends with somebody who wasn't here anymore.

Cheryl: 00:08:07

And it really helped inform some of the future scenes that I wrote after that experience.

Cheryl: 00:08:11

And even today, as I'm working on any of my projects if I'm not laughing and crying with that character, I'm not going to be able to affect my audience that way.

Cheryl: 00:08:21

So, I like to act things out as I'm writing it, and that's a good cry, it's not the bad cry, like when you're sad or upset in your real life, but when I'm crying, if I'm writing a scene, I'm like, if it's touching me, that's a good sign.

Jaclyn: 00:08:30

Yes, absolutely.

Jaclyn: 00:08:32

I do the same thing where, I can be sitting literally by myself in a room, just me and my laptop, and I burst out laughing, and I'm like, oh, that must be a good line.

Jaclyn: 00:08:40

Okay, it worked.

Jaclyn: 00:08:42

I can't help but laugh.

Jaclyn: 00:08:44

So much about acting and writing is about perspective taking.

Jaclyn: 00:08:48

And if you can get inside that person's head and see the world how they see it, and see whatever's happening the way they see it, then you can act authentically, you can write authentically.

Jaclyn: 00:08:58

And so yeah, I love that, that also affected you...

Jaclyn: 00:09:00

We have so much in common.

Jaclyn: 00:09:02

Acting was one of the things I wanted to do when I was younger too, but writing was kind of like my secret hobby.

Cheryl: 00:09:07

I wrote myself monologues and acted them out in the mirror.

Cheryl: 00:09:10

That was the only time I was a good actress.

Cheryl: 00:09:11

Isn't that funny?

Jaclyn: 00:09:13

we have a lot in common.

Jaclyn: 00:09:14

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:09:16

So tell me about your current project.

Jaclyn: 00:09:17

You're working on...

Jaclyn: 00:09:18

it's called These Stones?

Cheryl: 00:09:20

Yes.

Cheryl: 00:09:20

So, this has been a dream project for me.

Cheryl: 00:09:23

You know, some of my past projects, like Ultimate Gift, was a work for hire.

Cheryl: 00:09:27

So you, get a book and you are asked what is your take on this book and how would you adapt that into a film?

Cheryl: 00:09:32

In this case, I, I was very frustrated by the lack of being able to get stuff made on my own.

Cheryl: 00:09:37

And even though I love writer for hire jobs, those are really fun, there was a part of me that also has some passion projects that I want to also steward over.

Cheryl: 00:09:44

I don't even really like to call it producing, but rather stewarding, because I like to, make sure the vision stays in place.

Cheryl: 00:09:50

And there's a different project of mine, we haven't made it, yet called Never the Bride, that's been my passion project for literally 14 years now or so.

Cheryl: 00:09:57

I have the novel that came out in 2009.

Cheryl: 00:09:59

I had a recent opportunity where it could have gotten made...

Cheryl: 00:10:02

this was before these stones, and I had to turn down the option agreement.

Cheryl: 00:10:06

And there's times when you should compromise, and there's times when you shouldn't, and if somebody's vision is so different...

Cheryl: 00:10:12

It wasn't in this particular case of why I rejected this one , but a prior time when I rejected it, someone told me I needed to diminish God's role.

Cheryl: 00:10:19

Well, God is the co lead character in that script, and I'm like, you can't tell Never the Bride and diminish God's role.

Cheryl: 00:10:24

And I could tell that they didn't want to make the same movie that I did.

Cheryl: 00:10:27

That was one in the way past that I've, I think I've gone through 12 of those where I had rejected some option agreements on that project, and I really want to make that one myself.

Cheryl: 00:10:34

Well, I went to a friend of mine, Jeanette Town, who had hired me for another project, and I was complaining to her about this very issue.

Cheryl: 00:10:40

And she's like, well, what do you need to be able to do this?

Cheryl: 00:10:42

And I'm like, well, I need a production company and someone who knows how to find money to make stuff, and she ended up partnering with me on that aspect of it.

Cheryl: 00:10:49

I voluntarily set Never the Bride aside because we were in that post COVID era where everybody was just watching streaming.

Cheryl: 00:10:55

And so, it was 2021 when we were brainstorming our company, Stone Impact Media, and what project we would make.

Cheryl: 00:11:01

We were going to make Never the Bride, but it was supposed to be a feature film.

Cheryl: 00:11:04

And I was like, we can't spend money on a feature film in 2021.

Cheryl: 00:11:07

I just didn't think that would be a very wise investment.

Cheryl: 00:11:09

I'm like, well, what about if we do a series that could have the potential of being ongoing?

Cheryl: 00:11:13

I would write it to be a mini series so we could sell it as is, even if we never made another episode, but it has such a clear through line that we could move forward 10 years, like Touched by an Angel.

Cheryl: 00:11:23

It's kind of a modernized Touched by an Angel.

Cheryl: 00:11:25

And so, that was what we ended up doing.

Cheryl: 00:11:27

It was based on a play that Herb Haster had written and co written with one of his congregation members.

Cheryl: 00:11:31

And he had such a brilliant idea, the seed idea of this concept.

Cheryl: 00:11:35

Bible characters show up today to help people through problems that people have.

Cheryl: 00:11:38

mimic what they went through in the past, but they're undercover.

Cheryl: 00:11:41

And we matched them with people who are going through issues today.

Cheryl: 00:11:44

Like, um, for example, we did an episode about a teen cutter who had a problem with promiscuity, and we matched her with Rahab, who goes undercover as a guidance counselor.

Cheryl: 00:11:53

So that's just one of the six examples that we got to do this first season.

Cheryl: 00:11:56

I wrote six episodes . I did the show Bible first to map out the whole series and the rules of the world because there's a whole supernatural world to this that's at work.

Cheryl: 00:12:03

That we had to come up with the rules for so that I could make sure I followed them in the scripts and then eventually break them, of course.

Cheryl: 00:12:09

But we did six different scenarios, six different Bible characters with modern day challenges that everybody today will relate to.

Cheryl: 00:12:16

Our tagline is You're Never Alone, and that's the kind of message we want to leave with people.

Cheryl: 00:12:20

Whether you're dealing with alcoholism or promiscuity, fear, loss, grief, you have a place here where you're going to know that you haven't been left alone in the pain that you're feeling.

Cheryl: 00:12:29

So that has been our, desire from the beginning with the show.

Cheryl: 00:12:32

I wrote around the resources that I had, or knew that I could possibly get when it came to like, Locations and actors.

Cheryl: 00:12:39

I location scouted for this show in advance, so I was writing to all the beautiful places here in Georgia that I knew I could possibly afford on our budget, and then wrote to specific actors that I had relationships with, or my director had relationships with.

Cheryl: 00:12:52

And so we ended up with a fantastic cast, who just knocked it out of the park, including like Madeline Carroll, the lead on I Can Only Imagine, so thank you Madeline.

Cheryl: 00:12:59

She was in my movie Indivisible, so I got to invite her I wrote it for her without telling her, and then six months after writing, I handed her the scripts and said, would you please come play, and thank God she said yes.

Cheryl: 00:13:08

And then Karen Abercrombie...

Cheryl: 00:13:10

she played Miss Clara in War Room.

Cheryl: 00:13:11

I already knew her.

Cheryl: 00:13:12

She had hired me to write something for her in the past.

Cheryl: 00:13:14

Cameron Arnett, and then, um, my director knew the two that play Madeline's parents, which is Rusty Joyner and Charlene Amoia, who are tremendous.

Cheryl: 00:13:21

We just had an all star cast put together, especially some that are recognizable in the faith based realm, but also have done mainstream projects as well.

Cheryl: 00:13:29

We wanted a little bit of a blend of that so it wouldn't be all the usuals that you might see every time you turn on Pure Flix . We love Pure Flix, but we wanted to also branch into some actors, too, that maybe you haven't seen all the time.

Jaclyn: 00:13:39

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:13:40

Mm hmm I want to go back for a second.

Jaclyn: 00:13:42

When you were saying that you had to turn down an option for that passion project, The feature film and you know, I really like that you came at this from a very honest perspective and, and even just like the reality of things.

Jaclyn: 00:13:55

Right?

Jaclyn: 00:13:56

Um, and how you weren't desperate.

Jaclyn: 00:13:58

Cause I think that that's part of the struggle when you're wanting to build yourself into a career.

Jaclyn: 00:14:03

And maybe perhaps it's part of the fact you already had the experience, you were already working, you weren't desperate.

Jaclyn: 00:14:09

But you, you made a choice based on what you believed was the best choice rather than, Well, I've been working so long.

Jaclyn: 00:14:16

It needs to get done.

Jaclyn: 00:14:17

Let's just do this.

Jaclyn: 00:14:19

You had a very clear vision and you did not want that to be derailed.

Jaclyn: 00:14:23

And I really appreciate that you shared that.

Jaclyn: 00:14:25

Cause it's, not easy sometimes.

Cheryl: 00:14:27

Well, it's, it is actually based on my life, so that might be a little bit of a part of it, but it's such a fun project with a big twist in it that everyone who's come to the table to say, I want to make this, that's the part they love the most, and it's also the part they almost want to wreck.

Cheryl: 00:14:42

And I don't understand that.

Cheryl: 00:14:45

How I'm using God is the thing that most people just really respond very well to.

Cheryl: 00:14:49

So, hopefully we'll be able to also make that under the banner of my own company, so that we can steward that as well and I would love to also make that here in Georgia.

Jaclyn: 00:14:59

mm hmm, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:15:00

And I know, for myself, one of my scripts, I made the Holy Spirit a character also, and it's so hard.

Jaclyn: 00:15:07

Yeah, it took me so long to figure out how am I going to tell this story, because the amazing part of the story is the fact that I was not wise.

Jaclyn: 00:15:18

Like, I did not have any of the answers, but God gave me answers when I needed them.

Jaclyn: 00:15:23

And so, he needs to be a character because how can, there's no way I could take the credit for all the amazing things that I ended up saying to people because I didn't think of them.

Jaclyn: 00:15:34

You know, if the Holy Spirit told me what to say and I said it and then amazing things happened, I can't just write the story without that part of it being there and make it look like I'm some hero when really it was just I'm stepping out in obedience, that's it.

Cheryl: 00:15:49

And do you mean in the dialogue you're using the wisdom to put words in the Holy Spirit's mouth, that that's where you felt like God gave you those answers?

Jaclyn: 00:15:57

Uh, well I'll just give you a quick scene here.

Jaclyn: 00:15:59

So I used to work in a prison and I was teaching a life skills class and I heard myself say something.

Jaclyn: 00:16:05

Cause one of the, inmates was saying, um, why do I do things like, you know, he's got a wife and a couple of girlfriends and he's trying to figure out what to do with his life.

Jaclyn: 00:16:13

And, you know, he knows that it's not working for him, but he didn't really know any other way.

Jaclyn: 00:16:17

So...

Jaclyn: 00:16:18

for some reason, I heard myself say, It's not complicated.

Jaclyn: 00:16:22

And so he and all of the other inmates kind of sat back, like, tell me why it's not complicated.

Jaclyn: 00:16:28

And, and in my head, I was like, Oh God, why is this not complicated?

Jaclyn: 00:16:33

This seems very complicated.

Jaclyn: 00:16:35

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:16:35

And so, I'm like thinking, okay, well I don't remember thinking that thought before it came out my mouth.

Jaclyn: 00:16:41

So I walked over to the chalkboard, picked up the chalk, and I was like, God, help me

Jaclyn: 00:16:47

. And then I heard a word, like just one word came to me.

Jaclyn: 00:16:51

Love.

Jaclyn: 00:16:52

So I wrote love on the board and then we talked about what real love is, like sacrificial love not just like lust and stuff like that but like real love.

Jaclyn: 00:16:59

So that motivates decisions.

Jaclyn: 00:17:01

Then I went back to the chalkboard, I heard Fear.

Jaclyn: 00:17:04

So I wrote Fear.

Jaclyn: 00:17:05

And then you know we talked about that.

Jaclyn: 00:17:07

And then I went back and Pride.

Jaclyn: 00:17:09

So I wrote Pride.

Jaclyn: 00:17:10

We talked about that I went back to the chalkboard silence.

Jaclyn: 00:17:15

And then I realized, oh, that's it.

Jaclyn: 00:17:17

So I stepped back and I was like, "That's why it's not complicated".

Jaclyn: 00:17:20

But I did not know that before all of that happened.

Jaclyn: 00:17:24

So, so yeah, there's no way that I can just have a story, make it seem like I have all this wisdom.

Jaclyn: 00:17:30

I did not.

Cheryl: 00:17:31

Well, that's good because I think you give that as a great example of I like to call God my co writer.

Cheryl: 00:17:36

But I also remind people that none of us are writing the Bible, so we're never going to write a perfect first draft, you know?

Cheryl: 00:17:43

But also being open to listening to what he has to download.

Cheryl: 00:17:46

Like, even the twist we came up with, for Never the Bride, and I say we because I asked him.

Cheryl: 00:17:50

I just asked him a question about why am I making you this way in this script?

Cheryl: 00:17:54

And the answer he gave me shocked me.

Cheryl: 00:17:56

I almost fell off my bed.

Cheryl: 00:17:57

And I'm like, no one's going to guess that . I won't say what that is.

Cheryl: 00:18:00

But it was really cool because if it surprises me, it has a chance of surprising an audience . And so far, the responses we've been getting is there's very few people who figure out the twist.

Jaclyn: 00:18:09

Wow.

Jaclyn: 00:18:10

And so the book's out though, right?

Jaclyn: 00:18:12

Okay, where can people get the book?

Cheryl: 00:18:14

I think it's, um, easily on Amazon or Random House was the publisher.

Cheryl: 00:18:18

I think they still sell it on their website.

Cheryl: 00:18:21

Um, and then hopefully at some point we'll do the movie.

Jaclyn: 00:18:24

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:18:25

I'm excited.

Jaclyn: 00:18:25

I would totally watch the movie.

Jaclyn: 00:18:27

All right, so we're going to go into, the members only portion soon, and we're going to get into some more advice and things you wish you would have known, you know, when you first got started, stuff like that.

Jaclyn: 00:18:38

But for now, as we close out this portion, is there anything that you would like to share with our listeners?

Cheryl: 00:18:44

One of the things I really like to make sure that I encourage writers to think about is how they want others to respond to your work.

Cheryl: 00:18:53

And it's very important that we know that we, have a way of impacting people through what we put out there, but that can also be for good or evil.

Cheryl: 00:19:01

And I want to make sure that anybody that I work with as writers, um, or teach, that they ask themselves those questions . What's the action point you hope someone takes after seeing your work?

Cheryl: 00:19:11

And how might they be changed for the better by what you have put on paper?

Cheryl: 00:19:15

Same thing with your crew and your actors that come to the table, to bring your vision to life.

Cheryl: 00:19:19

So the number one thing I love to suggest to writers is to make sure you keep that in the back of your mind during all of your projects when you're writing.

Cheryl: 00:19:27

There's a quote that I love by William James that says, The best use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.

Cheryl: 00:19:33

And just remember, this is your legacy that you're building.

Cheryl: 00:19:35

What do you want that legacy to be or say?

Jaclyn: 00:19:38

Wow.

Jaclyn: 00:19:39

That's very wise.

Jaclyn: 00:19:40

Very wise words.

Jaclyn: 00:19:41

Thank you so much.

Cheryl: 00:19:42

Thank you.

Jaclyn: 00:19:43

nAAnd nAd thankou for sharing with us today.

Jaclyn: 00:19:45

I look forward to hearing more in the members portion.

Geoff: 00:19:48

And we will also make sure we get any, information, links, that you would like to direct people toward.

Geoff: 00:19:53

We'll get them in the show notes,

Cheryl: 00:19:55

Okay.

Cheryl: 00:19:55

Yeah.

Cheryl: 00:19:55

We'd love for people to follow us on social media for the TV series in particular.

Geoff: 00:20:00

Excellent.

Geoff: 00:20:00

Well we'll make sure everybody has an opportunity to find those links.

Cheryl: 00:20:03

Okay, thanks.

Geoff: 00:20:04

And we'll look forward to talking with you more.