Lights, Camera, Faith: Meet the Dynamic Duo of Christian Filmmaking!

Keith Haney: 00:00:59

Today we're joined by a dynamic duo whose creative fingerprints are all over the faith based film theater.

Nathan D. Myers is an award winning creator and credits as an actor, director, designer and production designer for projects like A Matter of Time with Sean Austin and County Rescue for Great American Preflix. He's also the founder of Grafted Studios and co founder of Fort Worth Actors Studio.

D'Lytha Myers is a seasoned stage and screen actress, homeschool mom and creator and producer of upcoming feature film Area Appleton shines. With a background in music, theater and a heart for mentoring young artists. She brings depth and joy to everything she touches.

Together they're raising a family, building studios and telling stories that matter. So let's dive into their journey. Welcome to the podcast YouTube.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:01:50

Thank you for having us.

Nathan Myers: 00:01:51

Thanks for having us.

Keith Haney: 00:01:54

I am so forward, looking forward to this. I love having couples because they make the. It's so interesting when you have two people on at the same time.

Nathan Myers: 00:01:59

So, yeah, she makes me far more interesting than I really am.

Keith Haney: 00:02:05

That's what my wife does. My better half. She really, truly is. So I'm gonna ask you both my favorite questions.

You could pick who answers this question first, but what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:02:19

Okay, so I'll go first because he usually has better answers because he's like deeper. He's a thinker. He's a stinker. No, he's, he's great.

Um, so my answer is that I, when I, I trained to be a teacher, so I, I did musical theater for a while and then I realized, hey, I'm not paying all the bills, I need to do something better. And I thought, oh, teaching that pays so much money. Um, and so I went and trained to be a teacher. And during that I read a book, Love and Logic.

And from that I used it in my classrooms. And now that I have children, I use it on my, my kids all the time.

And the basis is if there's some sort of confrontation or something, you just, you give them a choice, you get, okay, so you don't want to do that. Well, I'll give you a choice. Here's this choice or this choice. And it gives them the power they think.

But I can live with both choices, you know, and so it's really helped me in life in dealing with people and dealing with people in the workplace. Just all over if you just say, here, here's your choice. Oh, I love that you have the power.

Nathan Myers: 00:03:23

So that's my, the best piece of advice that I have been given is A tough one, because I've been given many. I'm going to credit my dad, who did 40 years of church planting and ministry, for the piece of advice he gave me when I was 18 to 20.

And I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And. And I was considering going into ministry.

In fact, I. I went into a seminary program and I studied Bible and I studied Russian language, and I did mission work for a couple of years, and I did internships with churches, thinking that that's what I was going to do. And. And. But prior to all of that, my dad had made it very clear. He's like, if you can do anything else besides ministry, do it.

And of course, this is coming from a guy who'd been in ministry for nearly 40 years at that time. And so he. And as a minister, I'm sure you can appreciate this to some degree.

But that really did fuel what happened for me later, after I had done some ministry and I'd been in that space for a while. And then I realized that the cog of my particular wheel as an artist and a creative might not quite fit where I was trying to fit it. And I was.

And I was kind of doing that maybe out of obligation to the Lord or feeling like this is what God is calling me to do. But I remember when the Lord got me by the scruff of the neck, he was like, no, go back over here. Here's music, here's art, here's theater.

This is where you're going to be. And I went back to my dad and he reiterated that thing. He said, I always told you, if you can do anything else, do it, and you can.

He said, you're so talented to do these other things, pursue those things. And I really do believe that the pursuit of your talents and those desires really is how we do serve God best.

Keith Haney: 00:05:15

That's really good. I like that. And as a pastor, I never pushed my kids into ministry. I know some people are like, you have to go be a pastor.

I'm like, no, I want you to figure out your own path. If that's the path that God leads you on, great. I also celebrate that with you.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:05:30

But.

Keith Haney: 00:05:30

But I'm not going to tell you where God is leading you. I'll help you figure out where he's leading you.

Nathan Myers: 00:05:35

Yeah, that's good. That's what I feel like my dad did for myself. And I've got three brothers, that sort of ministry.

It's funny, everyone has been in ministry for a minute of some kind. My Older brother did the longest stint in youth and associate ministry for close to 15 years.

And everyone else has functioned in some paid ministerial capacity, usually worship ministry or music ministry in the case of the other brothers. But yeah, so everyone's been there, done that.

Keith Haney: 00:06:16

Great. That's awesome.

So, Nathan, you've worked on several incredible projects, including, I know you had a role in helping to formulate parts of something that was chosen and other things. But how did God use you to build Capernaum? Capernaum Studios?

Nathan Myers: 00:06:35

Well, I think God picked me as an available artist who was willing. I was also that guy at that time. Like, I was just talking about having been in ministry for a minute.

I knew all too well how to present myself to the Lord and say, here I am. Send me where you need me to go.

ife, it would have been about: 2008

I was touring with my brothers in a band in those years and doing various other things. And I was also working part time at Starbucks.

And I remember the day that she walked into my Starbucks, which Tammy, in our community in Dallas, Fort Worth, is, you know, fairly well to do, well known. And. And for her to step down into my Starbucks was a choice, like she would. That was not something she normally.

She was not in her neighborhood when she came to my Starbucks, let's just put it that way. And when she walked in, I smiled, I said, what are you doing here?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:07:54

And.

Nathan Myers: 00:07:54

And she said, I need your help with something. And she said, do you remember the village that we did?

year that I worked for her in: 2005

It was one of those big build it and they will come projects that we didn't really understand at that time that she was putting on me then going, I want. I want to build this someday. I want to do this eventually. And so we talked a lot about it in that year.

And of course in 08 when she came back in and said, I need your help. I went out and met her at their 2,500 acre ranch, which is west of Fort Worth, which belongs to her dad, Bobby Cox.

It's a working cattle and racehorse ranch. And.

And there's a 40 acre property there that had been dedicated to Tammy has a home on it and built, you know, developable for this purpose for what became Capernaum Studios.

And I met her there and there was a small building built down in where the village is today, which is, that building is still part of the village, but it, and all we had done in the years prior is selected this location. We knew this is where this village is going to be someday.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:09:17

And.

Nathan Myers: 00:09:18

And I walked up and this building is there. And she said, what do you think? And I said, well, it's pink, it looks terrible. And I said, I know what you did.

You went to the Rosa's Cafe guys and you got those guys to come over here and stucco this, which their family owns this Tex Mex restaurant which I love, which we love, called Rosa's. And she said, yeah, that's exactly what I did. What do you think we should do?

And I said, well, you should put two palm trees out out front and sell tacos because it looks like a taco stand. And she's. I'm just teasing her. And we were, we were laughing about it. And she said, well, can we fix it?

And I said, yes, we can fix it, but why don't we just bring me on the team again and I'll oversee the rest of this installation. And, and that's where. That's kind of where it started.

r iterations. And then in, in: 2009

I mean, the village and the gardens are both featured in seasons one through three of the TV series the Chosen. But the, the gardens themselves are pretty massive and they're featured less. But that was a two year near.

nd then I left the company in: 2010

And then the, the rest is history in terms of the Chosen Chosen kind of put them on the map in terms of global awareness of this set or this village. And then. But there's been 170 plus faith based for Christ center movies shot at Capernaum Studios outside of the Chosen.

So it has a great legacy of reaching people for Christ. It's a pretty incredible place.

Keith Haney: 00:11:25

What an amazing story. So what draws you to faith based storytelling?

Nathan Myers: 00:11:31

Jesus draws me to faith based storytelling.

Keith Haney: 00:11:34

Good answer. I love that answer.

Nathan Myers: 00:11:36

That is the Truth.

I mean, Jesus is the ultimate bearer of truth in story and he's the one who gave us these incredible parabolic stories that contain truth and they contain power and they contain life changing information.

But they're fictional stories, probably for the most part, not fiction in the, from the standpoint of they're false, they're, they're just, you know, they're stories.

It's like, I mean, the camel going through an eye of a needle is not a literal story unless we're talking about the gates of Jerusalem or something, which people have surmised. But it's like those are, those are just stories and they, but they are true. They are true to the core of the nature of what they communicate.

And so I've always loved the parables and Jesus's stories and stories from the Bible, but, but then I got involved in reading people like Dorothy Sayers and Madeleine Lingle and other people who've written on the subject of true storytelling.

And, and those people have fascinated me too in terms of how do you, how do you use story as a capsule for the delivery of a truth and the delivery of, and, and truth not being propaganda, truth not being just ideological nonsense, but truth being truth being truth universally true. How do you deliver it in a story?

And I love that, that concept so that I'm attracted to faith based storytelling too because there's a lot of people in the, in the faith based space writing maybe with a Christian motivation. And I'm not going to call out or name names, but I think there's a lot of immaturity in the storytelling process.

And so the stories on the other side of the telling really, if you're being honest about what they are, well, they're just dogma. It's just a dogma that's packaged as story or it's truly ideological nonsense packaged as story.

It's some doctrinal principle package to story and in worst case scenarios it's just pure false teaching packaged a story.

And so I, I'm attractive faith based because I want to, I would prefer or I enjoy being a part of things that I know are true, that I know are going to make an a kingdom impact or things that are at least going to inspire conversations, they're going to make the world a better place, they're going to bring light and not darkness. That's really what, why I'm, why I'm fascinated by all of that great Delilah.

Keith Haney: 00:14:22

You created and produced. Aria Appleton Shines. What inspired this story and what about it brings it to life and Your family involvement.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:14:31

So, Aria, I started writing it, and I just started writing. I got a download and I wrote what I knew. So I knew musical theater. I knew actors and actresses who are motivated by greed, right?

They want the lead and the musical. I know Mean Girls, sadly, because if you're a person, you've probably met one in your life. And I certainly did in. In middle school and high school.

And so I knew these things, but then I also knew the homeschool world, and I knew of what it is like to be a part of a loving Christian family who. Who tries to, you know, reach unbelievers. And so I just.

The story came about based on the things that I was around, things that I'd been a part of, things, people that I'd met. And this. This lovely little story came out.

And once I had the first draft, I handed it over to Nathan because at that time, I had a very small child, very preoccupied, and I didn't have the patience to sit and do a second draft.

So I handed it over to Nathan, and he and his buddy J, and our other friend Molly, they, you know, massaged it and worked out some of the jokes and kind of layered in some more depth that I don't think I really had in there. And what they ended up creating after the seed starter is Aria Appleton shines. And it's been. It's making.

It was fun because we got to come together as a couple and produce it together. Before we made it, God told Nathan to sell. Sell our house and sell a car. That was fun. And so we just.

We went through lots of different trials and celebrations throughout the process. And what's beautiful is that now my daughter is that middle school age, and it's like, I made it for her, you know, and she loves it.

And it is exactly what I wish she got to watch over and over and over again. I wish there was more of this sort of thing, which is movies and TV shows that have Christ at the center of the message that she wants to watch.

You know, it's relevant, it's culturally relevant. It's not just a Bible film with, you know, animated Jesus Christ in it. It's not what she wants to watch at 12.

She wants to watch things that she wants to watch, you know, with people. She likes live action. She likes allegories. And so I. I do.

I wish there were more allegories out there that were relevant to this middle school and high school age.

Keith Haney: 00:17:21

So, Nathan, kind of, since you took over, kind of the work she was doing, tell us what that creative process was like for the two of you working together. I know as husband and wife, sometimes that's a little different. Tell us kind of what that process. Look.

Nathan Myers: 00:17:35

It was dangerous. Those of you that are married know what I'm talking about.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:17:40

And.

Nathan Myers: 00:17:43

Not that dangerous. But it was the pro. It was something we had never done together at that point. We had directed music for some musical theater shows together.

We had led worship together. We had. We had done certain things together, but we had never written together. And then, of course, we had never produced a film together.

And so it was all new territory. We were breaking new ground as a couple. And so we had some. I think one of the reasons she kind of handed it to me is I'm an external processor.

Oftentimes, like, I'll process externally and I'll.

And she's a very literal, more internal processor, and she will take something that I'm brainstorming about, and she'll start to write it down and codify it like it's law. And I'll go, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, I'm just thinking out loud. I don't think that's what we should do. But I'm just processing out loud. And so we.

We had some interesting edge, getting to know each other deeper.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:18:53

We went through premarital counseling at around, you know, year. Yeah.

Nathan Myers: 00:19:00

And. But so there were some things we had to work out. But I think she understood about that.

She understood that about us enough that she wrote the seed screenplay. She would share it with me while she's writing it, but. But not. She didn't want a whole lot of feedback at that point. You know what I mean? She didn't.

It was like, I just need to get this out. Don't give me a whole lot of thoughts or feedback. Just, do you like what I'm doing or not? And I'd be like, yeah, I like where this is going.

This is funny, you know, and. Or this is interesting.

Once she turned it over to me, it was kind of like, don't bother me with it anymore, and don't ask me for permission to change something or to. And I still did. Like, I mean, I still went back and said, here's kind of what we are thinking. This is what Jason Davidson and I are doing with it.

How do you feel about that? And she was generally approving of just about anything we wanted to do.

And at that point, too, I had decided, I think it would be more interesting because this is going to be for tweens and teens. It'd be more Interesting to maybe do this particular scene as music. Can we. Can we write a song? And we have.

We met doing musical theater, so it was kind of like, why don't we have a song that represents this particular thing instead of this scene? And so the. Just musing about whether or not it could be a musical became another conversation.

And then she was kind of like, well, if you're going to do that, you're going to have to write all those songs. And so that, that became another. Another lift that, that we had to deal with. And. And she handed that to me as well and just said, go for it.

So I, of course, would take all the songs back to her. What do you think about this direction? What do you think about this concept?

And so she, she fed back into that process, but she really did what people do in Hollywood. She created a character set. She created a story concept, the.

The major plot points, and then turned that over to other writers who then took it in a writer's room.

And we pushed and pulled on it and tested it and tried it and made it, you know, tested the comedic beats and changed some jokes and added some music. And, you know, it's just a very, very typical writer's room process from creator to writer's room. So that's kind of how it worked out.

And we're still married. We just. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary. It did not end our marriage.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:21:32

It didn't. And I think actually I've come a long way because I'm. I'm writing something right now, and I can't get enough feedback.

Like, I'm like, no, please stop. Focus on me. And this.

Nathan Myers: 00:21:41

That's true. It has changed.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:21:42

Yeah. So it's. It's been an interesting evol evolution.

Nathan Myers: 00:21:46

Well, I think she's also learned that my external processing or my comments are not criticism. It's just like she. It took her a minute to get on board with me. And the way I process to understand we're both on the. We're.

We're on the same team and we're both attempting to get from point A to point B. I. And. And I'm not emotionally attached to who's responsible for what.

And I don't think she was necessarily early on, but I do think perhaps in that writing process, someone else's idea is automatically perceived as a threat. So it's like, well, a threat to what? And so I think we worked out a lot of those kinks pretty fast. And I keep my distance. I know to do that.

I don't offer a Whole lot. Unless she's chasing me down like she's been doing this week. She has a binder that she's attacked. She's.

She's actually attacked me, Keith, like three or four times, like a ninja. Like, we'll get in the car.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:22:48

It's always in the car because he can't escape. He's stuck there.

Keith Haney: 00:22:52

You go.

Nathan Myers: 00:22:54

And she'll get in the driver's seat and put me in the passenger seat. And then I'll realize, oh, and she pulls out the binder and puts it under my nose and says, read this. And I go, oh, we're reading now. I understand.

I understand. I've been. My moment has been hijacked, but in a. In a really good. In a really good way, you know? But I'm.

I'm not inserting myself into her creative process unless she's inviting me in. And these days, she's inviting me in a lot more than she used to. So.

Keith Haney: 00:23:25

So what was that moment where you said it was okay, that you trusted him enough to say, I can turn this over?

Because I know as a writer myself, you're very, sometimes very possessive of your work, and you have an idea and a concept in mind, and you don't want to lose that.

How do you have the trust to go, okay, this is safe to give to someone who's going to take what I started and maybe improve it, maybe change it, and it's still going to be okay?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:23:52

I think for me, I don't feel like I'm that great at much. I mean, I know it sounds like what was me, but I'm not. I don't feel like I'm a great writer.

I don't feel like I. I wrote this and it's so good and, you know, poo poo on your ideas at all. I feel like he's really great. He is a great writer, and he is such a great thinker and a great reader and researcher, and he knows.

He knows scripture so well that. And I've always trusted him. So for me, though, what it was is having the second child.

Because once that second child came out, a lot of my brain went with it and a lot of my. I don't know, just, like, ego, it left me. I. You know, like I had two children. Here they are.

Nathan Myers: 00:24:43

It's all in him now.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:24:44

It's. I don't know. I really. It's like I let go of the second child. It came out of my body, and I let go of a lot of things, too.

And I think I've also grown, um, in. In just me and some of my insecurities that I, I once had. And I do, I trust him and I know he's good and really smart.

Um, and so I, I want his input, especially in the thing I'm writing right now, because I know he can make it better, you know, And I also know that if he likes something I wrote, then other people are probably gonna like it. Cause he does have a tight filter.

Um, and Aria, I think it was different because it was the first thing I really wrote and it was kind of like, oh, here's a. Here's a baby. Is she pretty, do you think? You know, like, she kind of go and do great things or. It was just very new to me.

And through the process of Aria and getting it out there and hearing feedback, both good and bad, I don't know. I've let a lot of things go. And so I do treasure what he thinks and how he can help. Add to.

Keith Haney: 00:25:51

That's amazing.

Nathan Myers: 00:25:52

Thanks. I've never heard you say that.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:25:54

I feel like we're in a counseling session. So, you know, how does that make.

Nathan Myers: 00:25:58

You feel for just a moment?

Keith Haney: 00:26:01

That's right. And the doctor is now in. You can go.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:26:04

Yes.

Keith Haney: 00:26:07

So what's it like doing faith based content in this culture, in this environment? Because I know some filmmakers are struggling with it. Because, you know, it's. It's probably.

I would say it's kind of making a revival because people are tired of some of the things that are on television, in the theaters. What's it like trying to do faith based content now.

Nathan Myers: 00:26:29

For us, I don't think that we have a whole lot to compare it to. We do favor working in that space.

But I really do feel like things are very divided to a large degree between people's people whose process is money driven, which is Hollywood right now. It's all, bottom line, money driven. Or it's like I was talking about earlier.

It could be ideological, it could be propaganda, could be any number of things that they're creating. And those are very different motivators. They're very different motivators.

So when someone is trying to honor God through their work and they just sit down, I think that they get a better quality product. Probably they get something more true and honest.

Doing that philosophically from that position is very different than the way most people are producing. Because I really do believe Hollywood. If you could take a picture.

Well, if you, if you had the, the scripture where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing and you put a picture next to it, it'd just be the Hollywood sign. And that's what it represents it so very well that so much is ego driven, it's ambitious, it's ambition driven, it's money driven, it's power driven.

All very false motivators. And so working in faith based, you would think should be the flip side of that. And sometimes it is, sometimes it is.

There are some really wonderful people making faith based content who I think are well, well motivated.

But there are also people in the Hollywood scheme over here who are also involved in faith based because they again are trying to make a buck and they found an audience that they think will buy something. And so they're trying to figure out how to write that.

And curiously, they will go hire Christian writers who have Christian education and a Christian background and they understand these things and they'll go find those people so that they can't write it because they're not that, but they'll go hire somebody who can and they'll put them under a work for hire contract so that the, the thing they created now belongs to their company or their entity or to themselves. And so working in faith based for us is a choice. But I, I was kind of trying to get out of the movie industry in general.

ked on both sides until about: 2014

The difference was don't. In our, our motivator wasn't go make Christian films. It wasn't what it was. It was just go make movies.

Go do what you're gifted to do, go do what you dream to do. But just please keep me in mind.

And it was, I think that's a very different motivator because if you are weak and you're willing to sacrifice or compromise in the process of all of that creativity, you will probably succumb to the darker side of what's going on in Hollywood.

You'll be led astray, you'll be led down some primrose path by some producer or some project or something and you'll turn around and it will have been ultimately, and I tell a lot of our students that part of Actor Studio in Fort Worth, I tell them, if you're not careful, God will use this industry to discipline you because he's after you. And if you're just in the space of ambition, it'll come back on you, it'll come Back to become a disciplinary action from him to you.

And so I think I live now in a creative space where I'm just attempting to be God's man, regardless of, regardless of who's producing it or what the project is. Just do it and, and keep Jesus in mind as we go. So. And whatever the byproduct of that is, if that's a mainstream movie, so be it.

If it's an actual film that turns into something that people considered, they, they consider it faith based for Christians, so be it. We didn't know what we were writing when we, when we wrote Aria.

It was just, let's write a movie and let's keep the Lord in mind while we write and the movie. It's funny, it's like you don't know when you get pregnant with a child, you don't know what this child's gonna look like.

You just know you're pregnant and you're having a baby and then it comes out and go, oh, that's what it looks like. And that's the same when you, I think you produce authentically and you produce from a true creative authenticity.

You, you don't know what it's going to be until you see it. And then you go, oh, that's what we made.

But, but if your heart's in the right place and you are attempting to be of service available to the Lord, to be of use, and you're saying, here I am, send me. Or you know what, what can we write that will be of service to the world and a pleasure to make because it's, that's part of it.

What would be fun to make? I think you get a better product. I think you get prettier kids.

Keith Haney: 00:32:10

I love that. So every movie is fraught with challenges. How did you see God's hand in the process of making a movie you made?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:32:20

One of my favorite stories that Nathan tells is about day four or five. We were in the, the, the school and we had all these extras. We had over 100 extras that day, 100 extras as children. Children extras. So.

Nathan Myers: 00:32:36

And parents.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:32:36

And parents. And it was big, big day on set.

And the guy who was our dp, our director of photography came in that morning and said he had to go back to his real job and he could no longer be on the project. And so he took the cameras with him and he left. And that was the first thing we were supposed to do that day.

We had all these people there looking at us and no camera. And then what happened, Nathan? You tell it.

Nathan Myers: 00:33:01

Oh, yeah. He. He stepped out, and my producers, Danielle and Jason stepped in and they said, what just happened? And I said, well, we just lost camera.

And they went, that's not good. And I said, yeah, I not sure what we need to do. And that day, though, Jason had a friend of his on set just as a.

He was just on set as a friend, a guy named Dean Davis, who just happened to be the media arts minister at a church in North Richland Hills, Texas. And he leaned into the conversation. He said, I'm sorry to interrupt, but what do you need? And I said, we just lost camera. I explained the situation.

He said, give me a second. And he walked to his car. And he came back in the school holding two Sony FS700 cinema cameras and all the equipment. And he said, let's do it.

And I remember him floating down the hall like an angel with two camera wings coming to our rescue. But every day of production was a bit that way for us, where God was just leading us to trust him.

And the irony of that situation, too, is that the cameras that our former DP had were lesser quality than the ones. And so it's like the wine at the wedding feast of Cana, it was, you know, it was like, wait a minute, you're serving the best wine last.

And that's what he did for us. And he did that a hundred times across production. And I would tell them, guys, we have to trust the process. We just trust the process.

What we think is going to happen today may not be happening. If it doesn't happen, let's pivot and let's just trust the process.

And I said that so many times that Danielle Wheeler made me a T shirt that says, trust the process. And which. The process is God, the process is him. He's in it.

And when we're in submission to that and we're willing to step and just believe, it's pretty incredible what can unfold. But we were kept very close the whole time to the manna and the daily provision. We really were. And that is some of the miracle.

When people ask us, how did you get it made?

We go, five loaves, two fish, manna from heaven, angelic intervention, inexplicable things, miraculous things happened every day that are only you can only give God credit for.

Keith Haney: 00:35:30

That's an awesome story. I've seen a lot of Christian films in my life. Sometimes the Christian films get to the point where they're so canned, you know, the outcome.

How do you, as a Christian filmmaker, how do you get to the point where you tell authentic stories that are still faith based and inspiring but are accepted by, you know, the Christian filmmaking industry. If it's a little bit different than.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:35:58

What they're used to, it's hard. So we made Aria and it's very authentic, very organic how we made it.

Um, I remember one of the first distributors we presented the movie to, they said, yeah, but this doesn't follow the formula, you know, Cause it's supposed to be, here's the story, then the story stops. We preach from the pulpit and then we get back into the story and we wrap it up.

And you don't have that moment where someone's preaching from the pulpit.

Nathan Myers: 00:36:29

And we said, which is ironic.

And I jokingly asked that guy, I said, so are you telling me I need some country artist to come sit on a park bench with somebody to deliver the gospel to them in every movie? Is that what we need? And, and you guys know what I'm talking about.

But the, in fact, the, we broke the mold that that moment still somewhat exists in our movie, but it's in a song. And, and so I, I'm, I'm a bit of a rebel. I think people ought to break the mold. And that formulaic mold is only a thing people have come to expect.

Because when it comes to faith based or Christian film, those movies are FUBU movies. I say they're fubu, they're, they're for us, by us, church movies. And there's a place for that. There's worship music.

And worship music is for us, by us, it's for the church, and that's fine. Can other people be affected by it though? Yes. And does it affect unbelievers? You know, it does. And the word goes out through worship music.

That was not intended for them, but it does affect them. The same can happen for faith based or Christian films made by the church. For the church. But there, but not everyone's going to watch that.

And our movie was not made for the church. And that's the big difference.

And so when you look at the formula for these things, there is kind of an expected formula within faith based of how something might look. But it is the reason, Keith, why you watch it. And it plays as kind of flat or uninteresting or predictable because they're following a formula.

Why are they doing that? Well, it worked last time. It worked last time and we made big box office returns, so, you know, got a lot of downloads on that one.

And so we better don't change anything. And this is the problem with Hollywood today. Because Hollywood, it can't come up with an original idea. And I think it's really sad.

So if you, if you see the church doing the same thing, and the church is making the same thing over and over again, well, they've fallen prey to the very same thing that's going on over here. Which means their motivator is money. That's it. That means their motivator is money. And if their motivator is money, you cannot serve two masters.

And that is part of what's going on in faith and Christian film is they are serving two masters. They're trying to. Trying to say they serve Jesus, but some of them don't. They serve the bottom line.

And those of you listening who need to repent, repent. But do you know what I'm saying? It's like, that is the big. To me, that is the big. The big issue is the bottom line. It's the money.

In, in lesser case scenarios, there's propaganda and ideological doctrine or whatnot being made by a church group. You know, there it's like, this is our denominational positionalities on these thoughts, these doctrines.

And so we're going to make a movie that houses that. I've seen a few of those. And I watch them. I go, huh, that's weird.

It's like a little microcosm of a belief system, you know, I don't believe that, but it's interesting to look at sometimes. But, but when it comes to writing something really good, that's organic, that's true. You got to break the mold. And you've got to let.

You've got to let the. The creative process be the driver in that. And you're being true to that. You're being true to what God's calling you to do.

And you're not motivated necessarily by the money. And I hear people talk about it all the time. And it in. In faith based festivals, on panels.

I hear people talking about writing for the audience and writing to give them what they want because they, you know, I'm always just like, we're missing the boat. We're missing the boat, y'. All. Jesus didn't do that. He who has ears to hear, let him hear, right?

I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you a story and you're not gonna like it. So I, I wish there was more of that going on out there.

Keith Haney: 00:40:18

It's funny. Cause I've had three different Christian filmmakers on who have put together three different kinds of movies. And one was about addiction.

It was really a raw Hard to watch movie because you could actually feel it. And another one put together kind of a Christian fantasy movie and what you guys are doing. And I asked the same question because I watched the movie.

I'm waiting for the youth pastor to come in with his Dockers on and, and do the sermon you just talked about. So I commend you for making movies that are not just for church people.

Not that we don't love those, but if we want to take the message outside of the people who are already converted, this is a way to do that, to have a genre that will draw people into the wonderful message of the gospel.

But it may not look like the typical Christian movies you've always seen with the youth pastor and the, the crisis moment where the guy comes in and he does a prayer and everybody leaves happy and it all works out just perfectly. The two movies I saw before, it was messy, it wasn't pretty. But there's not always a happy ending.

Nathan Myers: 00:41:26

That's life, right?

Keith Haney: 00:41:27

Life isn't always a happy ending.

Nathan Myers: 00:41:31

Yeah, it's true. It's tough though. People, they become accustomed to things too. They become accustomed.

I mean, we have, think about it, we were accustomed to seeing movies in a 90 minute format in a 16 by 9 orientation, you know, now in HD and they're 90 minutes long and there's three acts and these are where the beats are. And who came up with that? You know, where, why, why do we do it that way? Well, that's just, that's.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:42:01

I can tell you about theater history.

Nathan Myers: 00:42:02

And tell you it's just become that.

And, and that's unfortunate too, that we have enough Christian and faith based movies that we now have a pattern that, you know, you can, you can look at and tap into. But I, I'm not interested. I know I wasn't interested in that. I wasn't doing that when I never have been.

In fact, I would watch several big faith based movies of the past. I remember my parents putting on one at church years ago going, hell, you've got to watch this, you got to see this.

They showed it to the whole church and I was already working in theater and film and have a pretty tight filter like, like she said. And they, they showed it and I remember my mom coming up, what'd you think? What'd you think?

And I was like, well, do you really want to know what I think? I think it's from a filmmaking standpoint, it's a train wreck. And the acting was bad and the acting's great. The script is all over the place.

It was like, I can't. I can't get into it. But I appreciate the reaction that the church had for that particular movie. And I'm cool with it. Like, I'm like, great.

And I do believe in the principle of foolish things. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

And so I think we have to be careful as filmmakers and creators to not be so puffed up about what we're making, to try to make it as cool and sexy as possible, to try to accomplish something when God has made it very clear that he often chooses the other thing to shame the wise and to. To make us all stand back and dumbfounded by what he's. What he's able to do. So I think we have to have a.

A relative amount of humility approaching that creative process.

Keith Haney: 00:43:50

So speaking of humility, how is the movie done?

Nathan Myers: 00:43:54

Well, the movie's been out since June 13th. That was our official launch date. Though we did go live on Prime Video a little earlier than that.

We are only available in transactional VOD and rental at Prime Video, which is great. It's a really wonderful international kind of portal where people could access the film.

It's technically like, you know, a true theatrical release where you can only watch it here.

It's not being distributed anywhere else at this point because the distribution contracts that were pitched to us in most cases were untenable or criminal. And so we backed off of several distribution offers to self distribute. And so we are, from a return standpoint, it's fairly nominal.

But that's because we're grassrootsing all of our marketing. Those of you listening to this are probably a handful of people that will hear about the movie today.

And so we would appreciate you go watch it and let us know what you think. But. But in terms of its returns right now, I don't think we're going to really see anything dramatic until early next year.

I think we'll know a little bit better about how it's doing because it's going to have to take off from a grassroots standpoint. We're doing a lot of pods like this one here with you, Keith, and just sharing the movie. A church at a time, a pot at a time, a few people at a time.

And that's. That is still an aspect of the five loaves and two fish that we've invested, where we're still passing it out.

We're still passing out the five loaves of two fish. Twelve basketfuls of leftovers. We haven't seen that quite yet, but at least not in terms of dollars. If it's gonna.

And if it doesn't equate to dollars, that doesn't. That's not the end of the world for us.

Keith Haney: 00:45:53

So tell us again where we can find the movie and the name of the movie for those who want to look it up and see it.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:45:58

You can go to Prime Video and search for Aria Appleton Shines. A R I A apple let you eat. And then T O N and it'll pop up and you can rent it or buy it.

And then we have music out that's on Amazon music and itunes and that sort of thing. You can find us on most of the social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, that sort of thing.

And if you can only remember one thing, go to ariappleton.com and that will take you to all the places that your heart could ever want to go in the social media world.

Nathan Myers: 00:46:31

Yeah. And if you and Keith, if you want to host a screening, we'll come to Iowa.

You can show it to your kids and family ministry and use it as a magnet, and we'll come do Q and A. And we'd love. We'd love to do stuff like that, too. So if you're looking, do you know where Iowa is?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:46:46

I've done Music man, you know.

Keith Haney: 00:46:49

Oh, yeah. Mason City. Yeah.

Nathan Myers: 00:46:52

Yeah, that's right.

Keith Haney: 00:46:54

That's amazing. Thank you. So I'm gonna ask you my favorite question as we kind of wrap this up, and you can decide who goes first. What do you want your legacy to be?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:47:03

Okay, so again, I'm going first because we have to end with him because his answers are always better. Not that it's a competition. I just know that I always go, wow, that was good. No pressure. And so mine is just. I want my legacy to be with my kids.

That's what matters most to me. And so I want them to, when. If I. Whenever I die, you know, that they just speak highly of me and that I was a good mom. I was there for them.

I was present, and that I listened to all of the things they wanted to tell me.

Nathan Myers: 00:47:36

That's good. I'm not sure I can outdo that.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:47:39

Well, you could just say the same thing. You have the same kids.

Nathan Myers: 00:47:42

Well, I mean, when you have kids, your priorities do change, and what you do want to leave behind as legacy does shift dramatically. I do believe, though, that if your goals are meta, they're. They're kind of big.

And, you know, your goal is to be first belonging to Christ and serving God, then Hopefully, as a byproduct of the authenticity of that your kids will be affected by it. And the kids will. They'll. I hope. I hope they will be.

I hope that they'll look back at the choices we made as artists, what we did put our energy into versus the things we turned down and the things we decided not to do for moral reasons or whatever, and that those things will speak to them as well. But to. To live is Christ, to die is gain. I. I hope that what I contribute will not just affect my kids, but I hope it will leave.

Leave a lasting impact on anyone who sees my work. I hope that it'll. That it will point them to the blessings and abundance of a life in Christ. That's what I hope and that we've.

I just got a letter from a girl who I've been pestering for several years. She's part of Fort Worth Actors Studio. She's an actor. Just got a letter from her. And I've been attempting to help.

Help her or help get some truth to her. She's been depressed, anxious, miserable in her own. In her own life.

And she's pushed me away multiple times when I've tried to share God's love with her. But I just got a letter today from her saying that she went through something recently.

She had a chaplain in a particular group that she's working with who shared the gospel with her in a very direct way to time that caught her off guard and she was in need of that and open to it. And it. And had a really interesting experience and has given her life to the Lord and is now writing me back saying, I know you've been passionate.

I know you've been trying to get to me. And so. And it baffled. It kind of dumbfounded me because just. It's one of those people I was just like, what?

It's like, this is crazy awesome, because it's just one of the. Somebody that I just, you know, you don't. I don't know. I just. It caught me off guard with somebody that I just would never expect the story from.

So God can do anything and he. He can use even the little bits and pieces of influence that we have on people to. To change their lives or influence them.

You know, one man plants, another waters. And I think a lot of us as artists, we're just. We are planting sometimes, but I think we're doing a lot of watering. Like, we.

We create refreshing and we. We create. We add to an idea, we add to a thought. We take a seed that's been planted in someone and we put something.

We fertilize it in a way with story that maybe brings it to life for them. And so I hope that. And I've prayed this.

We pray this every day on our movie set that God would take the work that we did to do more, say more, and become more than we could have ever imagined. And so I hope that's the legacy that, you know, I hope I look back on our days and we realize we affected more than our kids. I think it'd be.

I want my kids along for the ride. I do. But I hope that our impact is. Is substantial.

Keith Haney: 00:51:32

Oh, that's great. So as you wrap this up in season six, we're doing something new. We're having a surprise question. Pick a number between one and.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:51:42

What?

Nathan Myers: 00:51:43

You can have it.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:51:44

I'd love. Well, we would like three, please.

Keith Haney: 00:51:48

All right, three. And the question is, if you got stuck in an elevator and were forced to listen to only one song, what song would you pick?

D'Lytha Myers: 00:51:58

I mean, I know it should be Christian, but mine is Come away with me by Nora Jones because I listen to that almost all the time. Anyway, that's our song. It's. This is my favorite. That's what I do. I'll just be mellow.

Nathan Myers: 00:52:13

I'm gonna choose hey there, Delilah.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:52:18

You would really want to listen to that all day long.

Nathan Myers: 00:52:21

That's a terrible choice. I was trying to honor you.

D'Lytha Myers: 00:52:24

Thanks. We're in it together. I think we're in the elevator together.

Aren't you glad I didn't pick a musical theater song to, like, wail at you for the rest of our lives in an elevator?

Nathan Myers: 00:52:37

You know, a song that I listened to on repeat that I really love is Andrew Peterson's. Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Do you know the song? Is anyone worthy? Is anyone who. Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The lion of Judah who conquered the grave. And I love this.

Keith Haney: 00:53:00

Yeah, I do.

Nathan Myers: 00:53:01

I could listen to that forever.

Keith Haney: 00:53:04

Well, that's awesome. So, guys, thanks so much for being a guest on the podcast. Thank you for sharing your journey, your creativity, and your heart.

Your work is a beautiful example of how faith, family, and storytelling can come together to build bridges and inspire others. For our listeners, keep an eye out for Aria Appleton shines. It's a musical comedy with heart, humor, and hope.

Look for it on prime and download it, rent it. Host of showing in your church. Invite these two to come out and help us. One for you, but share this.

Share the message of hope that they've put together. Have a blessed day, guys.