Pajama School Blog

Today, I am thrilled to welcome Victoria Emmons to the Pajama School blog for an interview! Victoria starred as Rachel Morton in the film, Come What May. If you are just joining us for this series, you can catch up on some of the other posts here: Intro Post | Win a Free Copy of the DVD | Interview with George Escobar – Part One | Interview with George Escobar – Part Two | Interview with George Escobar – Part Three

Pajama School: How did you come to be cast in one of the lead roles in Come What May?
Victoria: In high school I was involved in speech and debate. June of 2007, I went to speech Nationals in Texas. I was offered a chance to audition. So I did…and I got the part. 🙂

Pajama School: What is the heart of the message that you want others to take away with them after watching Come What May?
Victoria: The overarching theme of Come What May is one of doing what’s right, no matter what the outcome may be. While each of us may have different challenges and situations that we are faced with, Come What May encourages us to glorify God in all we do.

Pajama School: What similarities are there between you and your character, Rachel, in Come What May? What differences?
Victoria: At first, when I read the script I said to myself, “Rachel is a perfect person, I can’t play her. I don’t know how to give her life.” But as I studied her and learned her habits and interests, I realized how similar we really were. So then I could basically just act myself, with a little more seriousness. Rachel and I are pretty similar and that shows you what a good casting director they had. Both of us are very passionate about the unborn. We both like apple pie. We both are really bad at throwing paper balls at people. 🙂 We both love speaking in front of crowds. We both love music.

How are we different? Rachel is a little more serious than I am. She is very studious and thrives on research. I’m a little less intense and more laid back. While I did compete in speech events in high school, I never actually did the debate part. So I had to do a lot of research to learn how a moot court debater speaks. I watched videos and talked to moot court coaches to see how a round works and how animated I should be while speaking.

Pajama School: What experiences and training do you think best prepared you for your acting role?
Victoria: Ever since I was very young, I’ve enjoyed participating in musicals and different stage shows. My sisters and I were always putting on little shows and hamming it up in front of the family video camera. Competing in speech really helped bring out my dramatic side. Also, performing with my sisters in the band in front of live audiences really helped me feel comfortable acting in front of a more experienced cast and crew.

Pajama School: How has homeschooling helped shape your worldview and motivation for being a part of the Christian film industry?
Victoria: I am passionate about Christian film making and I believe homeschoolers will be a major force in producing great family films. As a Christian, I want to live my life so that it is a glory to the Lord. This carries right over into film making. I think the movies we make should impact the world for the better.

Pajama School: What advice would you give to other girls who have a desire to become actresses?
Victoria: Mr. Escobar, co-director and producer of Come What May, always says that if you want to act…then act. Don’t wait for people to let you act, but instead, make your own films and act in them. It’s really the best way. Local communities usually have a small theater group that is a great start for ambitious actresses. Even though it might seem like a small step, it’s a step forward, not backward. Try it out and see if acting really is something you love to do, and keep your eyes open for other opportunities.

Before you do start acting, check to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. The film industry can be such a weird place for actors. If your priorities aren’t right, then you’ll either get a big head, or you’ll get overwhelmed with the work that goes with the role. No matter what you do, do it for the glory of God. Seek His will for your life, don’t just get in the industry because you want people to know your name. But rather, make the name of the Lord your ultimate mission.

Pajama School: Tell us a little bit about “The Emmons Sisters.”
Victoria: My three sisters and I have a bluegrass gospel band called The Emmons Sisters. We’ve been performing together for almost 7 years and we have 4 CDs out and one on the way. We’ve been so blessed to be able to share our music through performances up and down the west coast. There is nothing quite like sharing a stage with your sisters. It’s been such a good thing for us. You can learn more about our band on our website: www.theemmonssisters.com.

Pajama School: Any additional comments or thoughts you’d like to share?
Victoria: I am so blessed and thankful to have been able to work on this film and meet so many wonderful people. I am so excited about the release of Come What May! The best thing that the home school community can do for the AFG team is to simply see the film and tell others about it. We really appreciate your support and interest. May the Lord bless you!

In Part One of our interview, George Escobar shared specifically about Advent Film Group’s latest movie Come What May. In Part Two, he gave some wonderful advice for homeschool students interested in the film industry. Today, we’ll look at projects and vision for the future.

Pajama School: Can you tell us about any future film projects that are in the works?
Escobar: We are focusing on three subjects for our next three films: 1. The importance of fatherhood (addressing the problem of absent dads. Dad may be at home, but his heart and mind is somewhere else.). 2. Knitting families together (promoting family unity by showing a “great” accomplishment that only a family can achieve if they work together for kingdom purposes.) 3. Loving our neighbor (tackling immigration).

Pajama School: Any additional thoughts/comments you’d like to share?
Escobar: Advent Film Group (AFG) has an integrated, dual mission: Being and growing great filmmakers for Christ. AFG aims to make solid, entertaining films that are good for families and affirm biblical values and principles. Making good films is not a mere end in itself. It is also AFG’s means for giving high school and college-age young people hands-on exposure to the craft of filmmaking. In this way, AFG seeks to inspire them and help them discern whether God has sent them to serve in this critical message-making and culture shaping field of endeavor. Forty young people participated in the making of Come What May! If AFG’s vision is fully realized, God will have used AFG to:
• germinate the seeds of filmmaking vocations He has sown in the hearts of many young people;
• through long term relationship with these chosen seed bearers, nurture, train and encourage them to grow in skill and Godward vision for their work; and
• help seed and establish them in the field of filmmaking —
so that within two generations the field will be overtaken with faithful, fruitful, gospel affirming story tellers for Christ.

A huge thanks to Mr. Escobar for taking the time to give us a peek into the vision of Advent Film Group and their newly released film Come What May. I’m so excited about the work they are doing to advance the kingdom of God. Be sure to catch the next post, where I’ll be interviewing Victoria Emmons, a 19-year old homeschooler who starred as Rachel Morton in Come What May!

Remember to enter the special giveaway for a chance to win your own free copy of the movie Come What May.

Yesterday, we caught a glimpse into the vision behind Come What May and the incredible ways God worked to bring together the right people at the right time. Today, Mr. Escobar joins us again to share more about why and how other homeschool students can become a part of the important Christian film industry.

Pajama School: Why do you think it’s important for homeschoolers to be involved in the film industry?
Escobar: The Lord has already blessed the homeschooling movement immensely by allowing it to succeed way beyond what government schools could accomplish in educating our children. In effect homeschoolers have turned the public school monopoly upside down. Who but homeschoolers are better qualified to now turn the Hollywood monopoly right side up?

But it’s not really a battle against Hollywood we are fighting. It’s much bigger than Hollywood. We’re fighting against a humanist secular worldview that denies God, His truth, His sovereignty. It permeates everything now. It’s a Cosmic Battle. On our own, there is no way we can win this fight. All we can do is stand firm. To take a stand and let God fight the battle.

Pajama School: What qualities and skills should homeschool students focus on developing if they are interested in pursuing filmmaking?
Escobar: Every student who contacts us say they are “passionate” about filmmaking. That’s nice. But frankly that’s not good enough. That’s a given. What we look for is teachability, humility, and a servant attitude. We look for students who are serving their local church in a media ministry, for example, or are volunteering to do media work for charitable organizations.

Filmmakers are rebellious by nature. They think they have something important to say. They want that god-like power of creating something for the world to witness up on the big screen. The world nurtures that attitude by heralding the filmmaker as an artistic icon or genius. Christian filmmakers are not immune to this adulation. I see it all the time when a young filmmaker who’s never made a movie before will put “A Film by
” at the beginning of their 5-minute movie. Even the great filmmakers of the past never had the audacity to do that.

Christian filmmakers need to be the opposite of their secular counterpart. We need to be as good in our filmmaking skills and craftsmanship, but our heart must be one of servanthood not rebellion. We should not seek fame for ourselves but glory for Christ alone. Soli Deo Gloria!

Pajama School: If a homeschool student is seriously interested in getting into the film industry, what steps should they take to make that a reality?
Escobar: Get a real education in literature (so you know all the great stories), in English (so you can write or recognize good stories), in history (so you know the historical context for the great stories), in art history (so you can see the visual manifestations of classic literature done by the great masters). But only go to a Christian college that will teach these subjects from a Biblical worldview. Patrick Henry College (PHC) is a great school for filmmakers because they focus on the classics, storytelling skills, and leadership training. Then you need to take basic courses in accounting, marketing, and business finance. To be clear, PHC does not have a film school program. Their mandate is to shape culture and train leaders. That’s why PHC has the perfect environment for filmmakers. Look at your film training from God’s perspective, not the world’s point-of-view.

Another significant consideration is that film school training does not provide sufficient value for what you pay for, which could be $10,000 to $30,000 per year. All you do at film school is practice making short films or student films, which have no market value except for film festival recognition. You can get the same production training as you would get in film school by working on several feature films as a volunteer or intern. Save your film school money over a 4 year period and apply it to making your first full length feature film. By the way, no one cares whether you went to film school or not, employers will want to see your reel. That’s the proof of your competence.

This is some great advice from a homeschool Dad who has more than 20 years of experience in film, television, and interactive media. Tomorrow we’ll be wrapping up our interview with Mr. Escobar by looking at some future plans that are in the works.

Remember to enter the special giveaway for a chance to win your own free copy of the movie Come What May.

Today, I am pleased to welcome Mr. George Escobar, homeschool Dad and Founder/Executive Director of Advent Film Group for part one of an interview he graciously agreed to do here on Pajama School Blog. This is part of our week-long series on the newly released movie, Come What May. Mr. Escobar led the way into the production of this movie, and I’m sure you’ll find yourself getting more and more excited, not only about this film, but also about the potential for homeschoolers to be involved in the Christian film industry, as you catch a glimpse into the people and vision behind Come What May.

Pajama School: What is your vision for Come What May?
Escobar: Making this movie available for “such a time as this” is truly providential. None of us working on this movie had a vision clear or wide enough to see the reasons for Come What May (CWM) being made and distributed at this time. Only God’s vision is good enough and trustworthy. That means wherever we see Him leading, we should follow, obey, even if we don’t fully understand His direction. Back in mid 2007 when we began production, then later by mid 2008 when we had our final cut edited, we didn’t fully comprehend God’s vision for CWM. But now we know.

The political climate has changed dramatically. Barriers to abortion are being torn down piece by piece by a President and Congressional leaders who do not understand the sanctity of life. CWM was made as one of the tools to educate people about when life really begins and the legal arguments necessary to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

We also model an answer to preventing pregnancy in the first place, which is abstinence through purity, modesty, and chastity. It’s exciting to see God’s vision for Come What May come into clearer and clearer focus.

Pajama School: How did you go about recruiting the cast and crew that were a part of Come What May?
Escobar: Finding our adult cast for “Don and Judith Hogan” – We didn’t want to cast the normal way (open casting call over the internet or open auditions) because when we did that we got a lot of “unsavory” submissions. We just didn’t know the true character of the actor/actress. We could see what they did before, but there’s no telling what projects they would do next. So we prayed about it. A very specific prayer: Lord please bring us: a) professional actors; b) that they would be married; c) they would be Christian; d) they would know homeschooling or are homeschooling parents; e) they love teaching acting to young actors; f) they would have 5 weeks to work with us; g) that we could afford them. The Lord answered everyone of those very specific prayers and He brought us Karen and Kenny Jezek. That’s a miracle. But stop to think about this, God knew we were going to need the Jezeks, so He began preparing them to be ALL of these thing 15 years ago when they began their own walk in Christ.

Finding our student cast
We went to the source of great communications talent for homeschoolers, which is the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA), the speech and debate league for home schooled students. We held auditions at the NCFCA National Championship where I auditioned 30 young ladies for the role of “Rachel” and 6 young men for “Caleb.”

Here’s how Victoria and Austin got their parts: Victoria answered an online request for people to audition for roles in CWM. She contacted me and realized we would both be at the NCFCA championship in Belton, Texas since my son, Gregory, was also competing in debate. We decided that Victoria should audition there. The audition took a little twist. The person who was to read with Victoria was called away, so she had to find someone else. She raced across campus through a thunderstorm, to the dormitory of an acquaintance, Austin Kearney. She arrived at his door soaked, and asked him to read with her for her audition. Austin said yes, and both Austin and Victoria ended up receiving leading roles.

Pajama School: When did you begin homeschooling your sons, and what led you to that decision?
Escobar: We began homeschooling our three sons before they were born. The Lord led us to have lunch with Mike and Elizabeth Smith and their two kids, Erin and Andrew. This was over 20 years ago, before my wife and I even had children. We were so impressed by Andrew (12) and Erin (9), who were so articulate and engaging that we asked, “how do you raise kids like them?” That innocent question opened a discussion about homeschooling. It turned out that Mike was Vice President of Home School Legal Defense Association. (He is now the President). We committed to be homeschooling parents during that lunch. It was the best decision we ever made for our family. We also began a life-long friendship with the Smiths.

Join us again tomorrow for part two of this interview as Mr. Escobar shares practical ideas for homeschool students who are interested in getting more involved in the film industry...

And don’t forget to enter the drawing to win your own free copy of Come What May!