Ken Merritt with Off the Rails Productions

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I am your host, Sharon Cline, and I haven’t done a show in a bit because I’ve had a cold and it’s just been unbelievable. But hooray! I’m back and happy to be in the studio today. I have the CEO, director and filmmaker of Off the Rails Productions, which is a film and video production company based out of Georgia and Canton, created in 2020 right before the pandemic or right at the pandemic. Please welcome Ken Merritt.

Ken Merritt: Hi. Hi, Sharon. Thanks for having me.

Sharon Cline: Thank you for coming. I know we met briefly in the fall, so I’m really excited to have you on the show to talk about how much. First of all, Georgia gets involved in your productions, but also your story about how you became a filmmaker. And we were just discussing briefly before the show started, kind of some some deep isms, like little stories that we know. And I’m like, made me so excited to have you because I know that we’re going to talk about some things that are very important to the human condition, but also to give people out there some, um, inspiration on how they can follow their own dreams, too.

Ken Merritt: Very good. Well, I, I, um, kind of came to this point with a crooked road. I mean, it had a lot of dips and ups and downs and curves and one way streets, detours. Um, I know one thing. It didn’t come by means of shortcuts. Sometimes when you’re looking for the shortcut, it kind of backfires on you. Um, and I have come to, uh, to this later in life as well, and I often wonder what would have become of me if I would have, um, started a little earlier. You know, in life, um, and it seems like I could have gotten so much more done with youth and energy and time on my side, but, um, you know, then I’m reminded that people with more wisdom than I that things happen where they are at the time in life that that they need to happen. And because of the experiences in my life, I can bring a little bit different element to filmmaking that, um, maybe I didn’t have when I was young. It’s a great way to cocky.

Sharon Cline: Cocky, determined.

Ken Merritt: Yeah, right. Um, full of myself. Um. And, uh, but, uh, I’ve always had this connection to cinema. Uh, movies. I’ve always just enjoyed watching them. Um, and then a lot of times we would, we would go to a movie and then go to somewhere like IHOP or waffle House and break it down. And, uh, and so I wanted to be in it early in life. In fact, in college, um, I was in a lot of, um, uh, plays in college and, um, acting wise, and I thought at that time I wanted to act. I didn’t think about writing for the for film. I didn’t think about directing, um, shooting anything. Um, but, um, I went to college at Carson-Newman College on a, um, wrestling scholarship. And so I didn’t get to really pick out what college I wanted based on their, their film department or their acting. So the closest thing that that college had to being in film and Being on camera is a Communication Arts degree with an emphasis in journalism, broadcasting, speech and drama. Uh, hey, it sounds good. Not too many accounting classes there. So, uh, I think I I’ll sign that one. Sign up for that one. And I’ve always I’ve been one of these. That’s been a real hard decision for me to decide. What do I want to do for the rest of my life? I mean, you’re kidding me, right? You want me to take one occupation and do that one job?

Sharon Cline: Build your whole life, the future.

Ken Merritt: Till I die. There’s no way I can decide that. You know, in four years of college. And so I sort of envied some people that kind of knew what they wanted to do ever since they were a kid. And, you know, I went through the perfunctory, you know, fireman, you know, astronaut.

Sharon Cline: Well, you’re a wrestler, right?

Ken Merritt: I was a wrestler and and I played football in high school, but I was I was not big enough to be an offensive lineman and not fast enough to be like a linebacker. And so I, I just thought, well, and I had a few offers to small schools, but I knew I couldn’t make money at football. So so I took the wrestling route because it’s shorter season. Football in in the South is pretty much year round. Um, so I didn’t want to put that much into something that I wouldn’t be able to make money at, you know? So I thought, well, if it’s going to pay for my school, I’ll do the wrestling. And, um, and so I was, um, I went that route and then I was going to get my master’s degree in broadcast journalism. And I kind of pictured myself at this point going, being that person that goes overseas and getting that, that daring scoop, you know, um, and, um, and the danger, the peril, the adventure. And, um, but I met this girl in college, and it was she was coming in while I was going out. And, um, she had other, other things in mind for me and I. I soon got married. Long story short, started having children and got involved with life so that that dream of doing something big, large, fantastic.

Ken Merritt: Got put on the shelf for what you had to do. You know, that is make enough money to have insurance and a mortgage and enough for diapers and wipes. You know, we had three children all in a row. Wow. One year apart. And so it was it was more about what I had to do instead of what I wanted to do. At that point, it was it was survival. And it wasn’t a marriage. You see it sometimes where both of them kind of have the same deal. They they don’t mind this starving artist lifestyle. Hey, I’ll work, pay the bills while you do your thing, and then we can swap out. It wasn’t that. And so. And then when you have a lot of kids like my wife did at that point. Um, it was, um, you know, you’ve got a lot to do. You’re tired all the time, and you’re just, you know, trying to make it to the next pay day and the next nap, you know? Um, so, um, so that got put on the industry kind of changed when I was in college. It was more about, uh, um, it was, uh, it it changed to to digital format. Okay. It went from analog to digital, and I knew that I was going to have to rebrand and go back to school and learn different, the different technology.

Ken Merritt: And, um, life didn’t afford me that. Um, and so I think the big wake up call was later on in life, I had, um, now I’m, I’m on my second marriage. The first one, um, just just didn’t work out as planned. Taught me a lot of life lessons. Um, and, um, so, um, my, my son, who, um. Now I’ve moved on. I married another woman. She had a son as well, but we’ve not had children together. But, um, he, um, he wanted to be an actor, and he wanted to move to California. And at that time, I was living in in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I said, um, not one to to squelch anyone’s dream. I didn’t I didn’t hound him with a well, where are you going to work. Where are you going to live? How are you going to do this? You know, kind of thing. Yeah, I was just going to going to pay the bills, you know, and I just just encouraged him. And he wanted to to go to California. And I said, well, how about we go together? We just have a father son bonding trip, you know, on the way. And I’ll, we’ll ride out together and I’ll fly back. And, um, he really, honestly did not know where he was going to live. He didn’t know, like just show.

Sharon Cline: Up to the.

Ken Merritt: City. He was going.

Sharon Cline: To just look when you get there, right?

Ken Merritt: I mean, we’ll figure it out. Okay. And, um, so, um, he lived in his car for about a year and a half, and, and I guess that kind of told me seeing how he sacrificed for his dream. Um, you know, it it showed me because the kids were all gone now. Um, you know, the child support payments were made, and I had a little bit more clearance now in my life to do something maybe I wanted to do. And at that time, I was, uh, I owned my own commercial cleaning business, and, um. And I thought, what? What is it if if I had to choose what one job I’d like to do above anything else, despite everything else, despite the cost or the schooling or anything else? All that aside, what? What’s the one dream job that I’d like to do and that that was make a movie and, I don’t know, some way, somehow write it, direct it, I don’t know, act in it somehow and didn’t really even know where to start. And so then I learned about all the the filmmaking going on in Atlanta. It’s been kind of a hotbed. It’s just kind of been building. Um, and I’m from Georgia, originally from Warner Robins, and I’ve got family still here, so I thought that I’m going to just move. I’m going to pack everything. We’re going to sell the house. We’re going to, um, to, to create this new life in the Atlanta area.

Ken Merritt: But, you know, it was such a big, crazy dream that I didn’t really tell a lot of people about it, about that end of it. They knew I was going to going to leave it. And they’re like, um, I could just hear them now, you know, a guy that’s, you know, in his 50s that’s going to leave his business in Knoxville and go and chase this, this wild dream of making a movie. Okay, it sounds, you know, and, um, I really didn’t want to get get laughed at too much. And I, you know, if there’s anybody that can maybe encourage me, but I didn’t really find anybody that I thought I trusted with that. So it was more like, I’m going down to Atlanta to be closer to the family. Parents are aging kind of thing. They need to be closer. It’s reasonable. Mhm. Just a different different outlook. A change of pace. And if anybody has ever gone through a hard divorce with children involved um they it, it is rough and it’s, it’s, it’s hard on the children. It’s hard on, on the parents. And I had gone through this craziness and, um, through false accusations to try to get control of the children and things like this. And it was very, uh, and I felt like I just, I needed a new scenery. Just a change of pace and. And get rid of a lot of.

Ken Merritt: Just flesh it out and start new. And that’s that’s what this, this journey has been about. And I didn’t know exactly where to start, so I, I, I looked around and researched. I didn’t care about having a degree. I just wanted to kind of learn something about the film industry so I could get my foot in the door. Um, and so I came across, um, Georgia Film Academy, which is not about a degree, it’s about a certification. And you, you just it consists of like two, um, fields that you get certified in and then an internship, and then you get your certification. So it starts with intro to film production. Um, that was in Norcross, and I was making that trip on a weekly basis. Um, ended up getting through that. But it wasn’t. It was more technical. It wasn’t very creative. It didn’t. It was really, um, a staffing agency for these film companies that are coming. Okay. Interesting lower level work, you know, for and I don’t don’t when I say lower level, I’m not demeaning those jobs. But it was more, um, they call it even below the line or above the line. Below the line is more like the grips, the gaffers, those that that are doing a lot of the heavy physical work. And then above the line jobs are more like directors, writers, producers. Yeah, exactly. That kind of thing. And so I.

Sharon Cline: Imagine, I imagine it’s important to know how to work this equipment. I imagine that’s not like it’s a useful skill and information to have. But it wasn’t what your whole dream was, right?

Ken Merritt: It really wasn’t. And and so I, um, I wanted to, to get something creative, like writing or, you know, running a camera or, uh, directing and producing that kind of thing. And so I heard about this, um, and it was part of a school in Atlanta, um, called, uh, Atlanta. I’m sorry. It wasn’t it was actually an extension of. So it wasn’t really part of it, but it was, um, the it was in Jonesboro and it was and it was a screenwriting course. And, uh, there’s, um, what’s what’s the college in Morrow? Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s, um, I.

Sharon Cline: Don’t I’m.

Ken Merritt: Sorry. No, it’s it’s fine. And I didn’t get a degree from there, but it was an extension of that. And then, um, so you you learn the formatting of screenwriting, and then what’s neat is if you at the end of it, you will pitch your, your idea to a panel with some professionals there to learn the art of the pitch as well. And then if they choose yours, then you can choose to direct it and then you’ll make it. And then, um, the production class across the hall will actually make it.

Sharon Cline: Amazing.

Ken Merritt: Yeah. So that was really, really cool there.

Sharon Cline: How did it feel to be pitching a story that kind of came out of your own head?

Ken Merritt: Well, I thought, you know what? I may not ever get another chance to make a movie because this is done on on their dollar and with their crew and their equipment. And I wanted to make something good because it might be a foot in the door for later, maybe some proof of concept that I can then pitch to to be a full length feature movie. And it turned out to be that case. They selected mine. It was called Jesse’s Gift, and movies that were real popular that year, had had music in them Like A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman. All of them were good movies, and they were also box office successes too. But I also have a brother that happens to be a musician, and he’s a songwriter, and and he encountered a lot of things in Jesse’s gift that he’d been, um, trying to make it in the industry for a long time and got bumped back and forth and beat up. And.

Sharon Cline: Um, the same themes were in that story. And you had had this story in your head for how long?

Ken Merritt: Well, um, well, since, uh, you know, we had to have an idea to, to write a story. Then I started thinking, what could I do? How can I write to my resources? And I knew that my brother was this musician. He wasn’t going to charge me for rights to music. And it also contained a story in it, this this character arc of someone one who, um, gets beat up by life, loses all hope. And then, through the gift of a dying father, finds a way to regain his destiny. And a lot of the events in the film are true. Now, when I did the short film, that’s what.

Sharon Cline: 30 minute long.

Ken Merritt: Film. Right. It was. It was different then, um, sort of the same premise, but it wasn’t as involved, as rich, as deep as the story that it is. So once we we got the, the short made and.

Sharon Cline: It was with this school that did this, what was that like to actually see people working to create a story?

Ken Merritt: It was really cool. I mean, to think that, um, you’ve written something and then the actors are going to act it out, the words that you wrote, and then it begins to take a life of its own. And, you know, I tell people that a painter has has a paintbrush. A musician has an instrument. A filmmaker has an army. And and it it there’s this group of people that when you’re working all working together on something that’s bigger than you. And, um, everything else kind of falls away. The socioeconomics, the gender, sex, whatever, because you’re working towards a goal. And if you want to work beside me and, and help help us finish this goal, then that’s all that that matters. So it’s a real bonding experience. And it was it was it was really cool seeing this, this script come to life. So once the short was made, then, um, then I met this producer Troy Bakewell on and he, he also has a rent a gear rental company called Indie Gear Solutions. And I met him on the set of a movie that I was, I was working as a boom operator on because, you know, you just take whatever you can get. And the film industry just to get experience and bump was a pretty cool job because when you’re you’re you’re on the actor, you’re close up front with the cameraman, you’re close to the, the director. So you’re hearing all the notes. You’re not working, you know, somewhere in the background.

Ken Merritt: Um, so you’re seeing how the process is done. And the one who was renting the gear to them was a guy named Troy Bakewell. And I gave him a card, and, you know, he said, okay, give me a call. And I, you know, here you go again. You’re going to call and you get their voicemail and they’ll never call you back. And, you know, happens to me, I’ll send them a bunch of emails and they never respond. And I’m like, yeah, here we go. But, you know, I called him once things calmed down and that was over, I called him and he answered. He actually answered the phone. Okay. Um, now, granted, he’s not this big, big time producer. He does that kind of on the side, um, because he, he does a movie every now and then to show people what kind of movie you can make with his gear. And in order to do that, they like to take a short film, like a student film or something and help them make it into a feature, and then they can say, look, this movie was done on an amateur level with my equipment, but looks like anything else out there on Netflix, Hulu, you know, whatever. And so I when I told him our options and he was like, because I had done, I had won an award with a horror movie and and it was called The Green Monster.

Sharon Cline: Oh, you have the great monster. But there’s also one I saw that was called consent. Yes. Yeah.

Ken Merritt: That was that wasn’t there at the time. But that’s been done. And we’ve done we’ve done a lot of shorts now. That’s amazing. And those are kind of practice for us. So when we do a full length feature, you know, we we use a lot of the same people that have been making our short films. And we we’ve got some experience at it and you.

Sharon Cline: Build relationships with them then, right?

Ken Merritt: Absolutely. You really do. And if you look at some of the big time filmmakers like Tarantino or Clint Eastwood, a lot of them use the same crew members and everything, you know, just because there’s a level.

Sharon Cline: Of trust.

Ken Merritt: Right? And that’s a big part of it. The trust.

Sharon Cline: It’s very sacred what you’re doing. You’re creating media that you’re hoping will affect people’s lives.

Ken Merritt: Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: And have it land the way you want. So to have a level of trust with people, it’s like, why would you want to invest, you know, all that time with someone that you don’t know? Exactly. Yeah. And you’re good to work with and easy to work with. Yeah. You know, and.

Ken Merritt: And I tell people that if you’re in there with a valley with me, and if I do get to the mountaintop, you’re coming with me. You know what I mean? I don’t I’m not going to forget how I got here. And so it was it was, um. I told Troy about the different projects, and he he opted for the Jesse’s gift, and I didn’t think he would. I thought he considered it a boring drama. And when you do your research, you find out that a lot of first time filmmakers, um, drama is not your best option. It’s more do horror. Uh, maybe dumb comedy. You know, something where you’re not graded on a higher level, and that needs to be really good in order to be a good movie. You know, because the drama, if you don’t do it right, if you don’t have big stars in your project, it, um, you know, it may not be your, your best plan of action for your first film. And, uh, but he, he liked the idea of the movie with music. Not not a musical movie with music, but also the fact that my brother probably had some type of following out there already as a band member, and it might help in promotions. And because he was thinking of the But the end result?

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Ken Merritt: Smart. So, um, you get different ways to to market it because you can do it as a soundtrack. You can do it as music.

Sharon Cline: You’ve got a Spotify playlist of all the music, right?

Ken Merritt: So there you go. Um, and that’s that kind of led to this point here. We started making it. Now he didn’t just write a blank check for it. He was like, we’re going to give you the means to do it. I’m going to be your your DP, which is the director of photographer. You’re going to be your your grip, your key grip, your gaffer. Um, I’ll have the, the equipment to make, you know, any most movies. I mean, you’re not talking about making a mission impossible here or James Bond. I mean, you’re talking about. But we’ll have we’ll have sliders, we’ll have jibs, we’ll have enough equipment, Steadicam that you compete out there with, with good enough shots.

Sharon Cline: So then you had to flesh out the story more. Is that right? Or you really do know?

Ken Merritt: No, you really have to. Because here it was 30 minutes and he wanted to make it within the next, the next year, the end of the year. And I told him that I had, um, you know, a rough cut of the, of the full feature. I did not.

Sharon Cline: Fake it till you make it.

Ken Merritt: I didn’t want him to move on to someone else. And I’m like, but I had it in my mind that I didn’t have it on paper. So he’s and and some it sometimes it can take months to write a feature length film and its final final version sometimes years. But, uh, I mean, I’m not doing, you know, the manifesto of the origin of life here, but still you you want to make sure that it’s a good story. It moves people. It’s it’s producible on the budget that we have, you know, and all that good stuff. So every now and then he’d say, uh, I could use that script. Can you send me that script? I’m working on it. And? And I just tried to buy as much time. I wanted to make Jesse’s gift not only longer, of course, but better. Richer, um, more interesting, more compelling. And so then I had this idea. Why don’t we. Why don’t we have Jesse start at the very bottom? He becomes so full of hope, um, lack of hope and and and dismay and frustration that he just goes and lives off grid. He just goes homeless. Um, and then, you know, we had at the very beginning of the movie, he gets beat up, gets spit on, he’s laying on a railroad track in the cold. And that’s where we start the movie. I mean, we we start with his life prior to this, and then we flash forward to him five years later, and he’s he’s been homeless. His father, family members really don’t even know if he’s alive or not. And then, um, then let’s let’s take Jesse and see if we can take him all the way to the top from from being on the bottom.

Ken Merritt: And let’s let’s put this in a journey, um, that, that fill it in with sickness and a family built in rage from his daughter that, um, holds him responsible for the junk in her life, the death of her mother and this kind of thing. Things that so many people can relate to. I mean, we a lot of us aren’t blessed with musical talent. Um, but we can we a lot of us know someone that has had cancer. It’s been really sick. Or we have family members that that hate us and and we have to work through redemption and and those, those were kind of things that are universal. It’s not a faith based film. I am a faith based person, But I’ve gone back and forth with do I need to do faith based film? Because sometimes they’re easier to distribute. You’ve got a niche audience. Sometimes they don’t have to be as as production, quality wise, polished, you know what I mean? I do, because people that are watching it for faith based, sometimes they’re okay with with that element as long as you check these certain boxes. But I keep going back to do, I do I want to use this as a tool to, to reach people that maybe not are in the faith or in the church, um, or or just be Christian entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with either, but I’ve watched a lot of faith based films growing up. My dad was a pastor of a small church, and honestly, I didn’t. I didn’t care for most of what I watched. It didn’t grab me. It didn’t move me. Um, some of it felt sterilized. It felt inside of a bubble.

Sharon Cline: It can be kind of trite. You know, there’s like, it can be wrapped up in a little bow. And as long as, like you said, it’s covered, right? Like a certain lens. Then you should accept it and feel something. Right? I understand that that people are so much more complex. Life is a lot more complex.

Ken Merritt: It can be predictable. You know, where this is going to end and, um, everything’s going to be wrapped up and and and tidy. Um, but my life is not that way. It was very messy. And that’s why I say by coming at it later in life, after the storms and the battles, then maybe that that helped helped me become a better writer because I’ve had those experiences in life. I wasn’t just right out of college with with few life experiences to, to relate to, to write about And, um. So pain. Pain was a large driving force for Jesse’s gift. And I wanted to include that pain, and I wanted to include real life. He smoked, he drank, he cussed. Every now and then. He had a daughter that worked in a nightclub as a as a dancer. And and so the pain when he comes back to the town that he was from, which is in reality canton in the movie it’s Timber city. He he’s confronted with those, those things and they haunt him. They remind him in Jesse’s mind, he was a failure.

Sharon Cline: We were talking before the show started about how how important hope is, and just the notion of having to face the things that you’ve done that you’re not proud of, that you’re ashamed of, and then having to see it play out in your daughter’s life. Um, that’s enough to get into your mind that there really isn’t a way out.

Ken Merritt: Right?

Sharon Cline: And that’s that’s a feeling I think most people can identify.

Ken Merritt: With, I think so. Um, and, you know, they can they either have hope or in lack of hope, in need of hope. Uh, and I think with Jesse, when they see that him work through these, these demons, these obstacles, and finds a way to fulfill his destiny. Um, then it is our hope. Um, that we encourage, uh, the viewers to to move on with whatever it is, their dream.

Sharon Cline: Because it’s not. We were also talking before. We had a lot of chit chat right before the show, but we were also talking about how things don’t have to be perfect. Whatever your definition or someone else’s definition of perfection is. It doesn’t have to be his life doesn’t have to have a perfect bow at the end or even look like what he wanted. But it’s a real it’s an authentic life to him.

Ken Merritt: It really is. Um, and that’s so true. So, you know, we we ended up with this film. We did even send it to some representatives from Pure Flix, which is a faith based distribution, and there were some things that we could have taken out of it. But then when they said, you know, there’s there’s a lot of drinking and smoking and this could, you know, negatively influence. We’re like, well, we I don’t think we can do that because that’s um, Jesse was wrapped up in his his vices and his addictions and his problems, and maybe not everybody drinks or smokes, but those were outward things that we could show that he’s a flawed human being, and he. He’s not perfect. Um, and one of the taglines is, you’ll you’ll like him, you’ll hate him. But in the end, you’ll grow to love him. And and I think it’s because we can grow to love the flawed characters, you know? And it’s not the fact that they’re perfect that we we, we like them, but because we can relate to them.

Sharon Cline: What was it like working with your brother like that?

Ken Merritt: Huh?

Sharon Cline: Well and family in general. Your son. Your son’s involved in your.

Ken Merritt: Oh, we had a lot of. Yeah. We joke that we’re the Von Trapp family.

Sharon Cline: Filmmakers.

Ken Merritt: And and sometimes that’s a bad thing. If you see too many last names on one project, you’re like, oh, okay. Yeah, I get it. This this is the family project. It can’t be any good.

Sharon Cline: Um, but Michael Grady Merritt is your brother, right? Who had his own musical career in his own right. Right. So he had his own following, which I love. But then you had to be able to kind of. He had to be an actor, too, right? To be able to work together.

Ken Merritt: And we wondered about that. I, we do. We need to find someone else to act and use his music. He’s not an actor. He’s a songwriter. He’s a singer. But then and I was talking to Troy Bakewell of Vinegar Solutions about this dilemma. And Michael, first of all, he wanted to act in the movie, and he, um, it’s his music, too, that we were going to be using. So we’re going to use his music and some of his story. Then, maybe because he created this, that we would see elements of that coming out because he was the creator. It’s like, if you’ve ever read, read a book that you wrote, you know, we see that a lot on audible. Sometimes they don’t have the best voice, but sometimes it can come across as more genuine and authentic because whoever’s reading it is the one that lived that, the one that wrote that. And so we sort of make trade offs. And so he was definitely the the actor in the short. Do we want to do we want to have him be the actor in the full length feature. And we, we, we went with, yes, we, we think that that would on the stage he’s going to be fine. He’s got plenty of experience on the stage.

Ken Merritt: He can perform as a performer. Um, but we asked some hard things of him. We, all of these actors that that were, were more. They were, uh, had a lot of experience, but they hadn’t made it yet as an established star. But they all stepped up to the plate. I think that by watching it, if there’s ever any, uh, bad part of this, it’s not it’s not the acting. The actors really came through, and we asked some heavy things of him. I mean, like, the father did die. Um, you know, dying is hard when you’re you’re you’re giving away this gift at the end, and you, you want to look, make it look believable. Um, heartfelt. Um, who knows how we are when we when we die, it’s definitely going to be an acting job because we’ve never died before. And to not go over the top, but to be heavy enough. You know, we we asked Michael to, um, to break down, to have this dark night of the soul moment to, um, when you’ve lost all hope and and to take the guitar and try to find the healing from it. But it doesn’t come this time around. And then you use the instrument that has given you hope, um, as destruction and to crash it on, on the floor.

Ken Merritt: And then, uh, um, and then we and then another breakdown when, um, the daughter comes, comes back to you, uh, for the first time in years, and, and and you break down because she’s, she’s still mad at you and and, uh, and then as a result, to try to fix things, you end up late for your appointment with your A&R rep, and you miss you miss the what could be a turning point in your life? You missed that deal. And then, um, so it’s that character arc that that I like in movies that you just, you get on the road and then all is well and then but you, you start to get there and you fall and you stumble again, and then you find a way to get back up, and this time for good. And that’s that’s what we had in life in the movie is the ups and downs. Because sometimes when we decide to do the right thing that, um, things don’t line up necessarily. And, but, but if we stick it out and we hang in there and we keep getting up every time we get. Life throws us down, then, um, you know, we we can find a way to make it.

Sharon Cline: What was it like to have those emotional scenes with your brother?

Ken Merritt: Well, it was different. And and, you know, I don’t know if I fully answered your other question, but working with family is tough and and we we are very competitive. Sibling rivalry is real thing with my brother and I. And he’s so talented and everything’s come to him easily and, you know, plays these instruments and writes these songs. And I may play the radio on a good, clear day, you know, I mean, I can’t relate to that. And even athletically, he’s, um, he’s a more natural athlete, so. But we’re still competitive, whether it’s playing checkers or playing tennis or, you know, one on one basketball.

Sharon Cline: Um, that competition came out when you were filming.

Ken Merritt: It did. And there was one scene where, um, he tensions were rising and, um, tempers flaring, and, um, I had to. Let’s take a break. Um, let’s, um. Is is very hard to make a movie. It’s it’s taxing. Tolling, you know, many takes, um, long hours, uh, excruciating details. Um, and, um, I told Samuel was another crew member on the set, and, and Samuel was, um, very good with Michael and and loved Jesse’s gift. Um, loved everything about it. Loved Michael’s music. And said, Sam, I’m going to let you direct this next scene because there’s too much going on between my brother and I right now. And so it we do compete with, with one another on that level and you know, and even, um, about little things, you know, who gets credit for this or who’s that. And yeah, you know, this was my idea or this kind of thing. All that stuff comes up when you start working elbow to elbow with people, especially your family. And so, Um, but to direct him in those scenes, um, uh, was tough. We did send Michael to some acting classes between the short film and the full length feature. Um, because we knew we were going to be asking a lot of him. His acting increased. Um, uh, the quality of his acting so much as time went on, I could tell that performer in him was coming out on camera as well. And to the point where I said, Michael, it seems like you’re really digging this, this movie stuff. I said, if you had to choose between being a musician or an actor, where would you go? And he thought about it for a minute and he actually said acting. That was more gratifying to him. He enjoyed that more.

Sharon Cline: There’s something about like, uh, being in a scene where you feel like you’re really experiencing those emotions, whatever it is, um, so deeply and authentically to yourself that when that can translate to somebody else feeling those, than you have created a, um, a connection that there’s highlights the fact that we are more alike than we are different. And then something magical, I think about knowing that there’s an emotion that I feel that you may be a stranger, but you feel that makes us alike. In some ways we’re not as we’re not enemies, you know, you’re not a stranger so much as you are a human. And I’m a human. Sure. Just kind of reducing.

Ken Merritt: We share our dreams, and when we share together a passion like that. Yeah, makes a big difference.

Sharon Cline: So you did you go through the process of of hiring actors to be in the movie, or were they from the previous one that you had done the short?

Ken Merritt: Well, we had um, some actors that were in the previous short, those were the primary characters. I knew that once we we only had 3 Three four and the short and we had three. It was sort of this three way love love story between the grandfather, the father and the daughter and, um, those, those three primary roles. We kept the same actors and we wondered if if we were going to be able to. But they were like I said, they were experienced actors. And Atlanta area’s got a lot of them. And and with actors, sometimes you don’t. If your budget is tight, you don’t have to to pay them as much sometimes as crew members, because an exciting role is almost like, um, uh, crack cocaine to a street junkie. I mean, you know, they live for that kind of thing. And, um.

Sharon Cline: And it’s an investment in them in their future to, for other people to be able to write and have a reel and all of that. Sure.

Ken Merritt: They get that. You pay your dues.

Sharon Cline: That’s what you’re there for, right, to experience those things. Yeah.

Ken Merritt: So those three roles were the same actors. And then, um, then we added, you know, the Big John character, and then we added, uh, the son who was played by my son. Um, the youngest son, which was Jesse’s younger brother, must be.

Sharon Cline: Amazing to to see that, you know, these generations together.

Ken Merritt: It was it was it was totally amazing. And I know we didn’t go into detail about, you know, the divorce and the the breakaway I had from the children for a long season. But to be able if for someone who knows that and if anybody does ever want to reach out to me, maybe somebody’s going through a divorce or child parenting issues, um, and need some hope. You know, they can find it because, um, now I’m in a movie, I’m writing a movie. Acting in a movie. I acted in this, too, a little bit, um, with my son, you know? And that was. That was the coolest thing about it, you know, to show that that redemption and that working together on a passion project with him. My nephew was in it as a crew member. My sister helped out on the crew. She also played the role of the, um, hospice nurse. Um, so yeah, it was it was rather exciting, rather challenging at times, you know, um, because you know them well and you also don’t want to show favoritism, right? Um, people know that you’re related and they can sometimes be looking for, you know, any, any favoritism. So as long as you treat them the same way as the ones you’re not related to, um, then, um, it can work. But if they see that my brother is there because he does write great songs and he is a great performer and a musician, um, not just because he’s my brother, then they get it right.

Sharon Cline: It’s not as if you were trying to fit a mold, right? Just your brother’s always wanted to do this kind of thing. But no, he legitimately was this character.

Ken Merritt: Right, exactly. It sure was. And they would see us argue and fuss and fight to and and hold each other to the same quality standards, you know, and I think that helped.

Sharon Cline: Made it better. Well, and you can use those emotions. I’m sure you can. The different scenes.

Ken Merritt: Yes, you absolutely can channel it in the right way and and use it for the character.

Sharon Cline: So you finished the movie. Yeah. And then the next part is obviously the editing and all of that. How was that?

Ken Merritt: Well, um, the post-production process is is evil in its own right as well, but it’s not as, um, anxiety ridden because you have it all. You have it all in. Everything’s in the can, so to speak. And now you’re dealing with less people, less stress, less deadlines and and you know, I can go up and and that was another story in itself. Um, the editor for Jesse’s gift. And we use several in post-production. You know, you have sound design, you have color grading, you have, um, assistant editing and but but the main editor was was actually the ex-husband of the wife I’m married to now.

Sharon Cline: What?

Ken Merritt: Get your head wrapped around that.

Sharon Cline: Interesting.

Ken Merritt: I didn’t know him before. You know, when they were married, I didn’t know him. So she was, you know, fully divorced. When? When we met. But we got along okay. Uh, he was senior editor for Discovery Network in Knoxville. And then when he retired, um, he came to my mind because I knew that he had experience and asked him if he wanted to edit the short. And he took the script, and he did it for me as a favor, because he always wanted to do something like narrative based, instead of just, you know, corporate TV show.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Ken Merritt: Training videos or, um, corporate reels. And so he, he wanted to do a movie. And so Jesse’s gift. So it was just a lead in that he would do the feature as well. And I had to find a way to pay him for the feature. He wasn’t going to do that one pro-bono, but, um, he, he did it definitely below his, his his rate. And, um, it it really, really worked out good for us. I would go up there because he lived in Knoxville too, and, and spend a week at a time and sleep on his couch and we’d, we’d edit together in his suite for long hours. And it’s just really weird. We’re great friends. We love each other. There’s a lot of respect for one another.

Sharon Cline: We really get to know someone when you’re in that kind of environment, you really do. And he can see kind of what your soul is made of by having to work with.

Ken Merritt: Write this. Yeah. There’s no no faking it when you’re working that close with one another and over that long period of time.

Sharon Cline: What was it like to see it completed? Well, I think I would cry. I really do.

Ken Merritt: I’ve cried. I’ve. There’s been tears. There’s been frustrations. There’s been anger. There’s been joy. Um, you know what? And when you watch something over and over, it’s like when you, when you see bands that that play the same songs they played for so many years over and over, you wonder how they can keep from going through the motions, right? You know, is there any feeling still left in that song? When Eric Clapton wrote tears in Heaven and he sings that song? Does he is he still moved by what promoted him to to write that song? You know, um, and, um, Cindy and I, my wife now we watch this movie a couple of weeks ago. Again, we just sat down, not pieces of it, not watching. Integrate it and just, just let’s get the popcorn out. Let’s put it on. Let’s not do anything else and watch it again. And there’s some scenes that are building scenes I call them eat your vegetable scenes. They’re needed, but they’re not some of my favorite. But then there’s some of my favorite scenes and they still move me. And I still cried. But also just the that we’re watching something that there are truths in this film.

Ken Merritt: Um, it’s like, um, the daughter, his daughter in real life really attempted suicide, you know, um, the ups and downs of the music industry really happened in his life. You know, our father really did get cancer, but we lost him. We lost him. The fact that our father. You know, when when my brother came home from basketball practice in high school and he didn’t make the team when he’d worked all year long, dribbled and shot till his fingertips bled. And then he didn’t make the team. Then he was real down and out, and my dad did something strange as a recourse. He. He left the house and he came back. He went to a pawnshop and he bought a guitar with five strings on it. And he brought it back to my brother. And that event, he was like a sophomore in high school. It literally changed the trajectory of his life. And instead of pouring himself into something he he wasn’t designed to do, he he became a songwriter. He took naturally to the guitar. And then he started becoming the life of a musician.

Sharon Cline: I wonder what it was that made your father decide to go get a guitar, as opposed to, I don’t know, I could imagine many responses to working so hard and not not getting to be on the team, but like you could imagine a father berating their son or like, what did you do wrong? Or, you know, you figure something else out, you know, but instead actually went silently out.

Ken Merritt: It was it was genius on a certain level, because a talk is, you know, you’re not going to change the fact that you didn’t make it.

Sharon Cline: It’s going to hear it.

Ken Merritt: It’s going to hurt. But by giving him a diversion, something to do differently, it really did work. My dad was funny that way. In some ways, we considered our dad not very smart. And then on the other levels, we felt like he was genius and he had an innate ability to do things that were off the cuff and different, but ended up being like, I never learned to be a handyman from my dad. He was not that way at all. And my dad and power tools did not mix. Um, but when it came to touching people’s lives, um, that we, we saw from him and learned from him and and try to carry it out in our own lives. I’m not a preacher. That road is. You know, I saw the judgment level on that lifestyle and and didn’t want to go there. I knew I was a flawed human being. I knew that I wanted to have a drink every now and then. I wanted to watch an R-rated movie. I just wanted to do things that people get judged for, and I so but I still, I still believe. But I am not, um, you know, that a preacher where I get in front of people and tell people, instruct them how to live their lives because I’m definitely a flawed human being, and I didn’t want that kind of pressure ever. But in a way, I’m I’m doing it in another means through film.

Sharon Cline: What has this meant for you? Um, kind of doing a look, look back at where you’ve come from and then actually put the director hat on and and live your dream. What has that meant for you now?

Ken Merritt: Um, well, it does mean a lot to me, and it’s something I don’t take lightly. Um, when you make a movie, when you write a song, it’s forever, you know, it really is. I mean, we take a picture that’s forever. And especially in this day of.

Sharon Cline: The internet.

Ken Merritt: Is forever. Internet consumption and everything else. People can bring it up and see it years from now, and it never goes away. And so I, I always feel like whatever I do in terms of a movie needs to have some purpose. It needs to have some way to communicate to somebody out there who needs it. And so I don’t I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I do think God has played a big role of me getting here to this point in life. Not sure Share where this road is going to eventually take me. Because I’m just.

Sharon Cline: You’re still on.

Ken Merritt: It. I’m still on it. It’s still on the journey. But, um, but I’m excited about the journey and the process, and, um, I, I do believe if if I died, if I ran out on Main Street and got T-boned and I left this earth, um, I made a movie. I have something left to show for it, you know, and I, I think that we all need to ask ourselves that question before we leave. Are we are we ready? Have we left our mark on this world? Have we accomplished what what we feel like needed to be accomplished? You know.

Sharon Cline: I ask myself that a lot. Um, you know, if something happened today, how would I feel about, you know, standing in front of God or, you know, whoever and can I can I account for the time that I had and can I honestly say I did the best I could with what I had, and I’m proud of how I handled myself. And there are a lot of things that I’m not proud of, but my I feel like my biggest accomplishment is is over and over, not allowing the fear of the unknown to stop me from really pursuing something that feels authentic to me and feels right to me. I’m that’s exemplified in many different ways throughout the different experiences I’ve had in life. But for a long, long, long time, I, I didn’t have that to to say. So nothing’s easy. I mean, and nothing’s turned out the way I thought it was going to 100%, but I, I think that’s what inspires me for the show. This show is is fearless. Formula is how I let fear make a lot of decisions for me for many years, and I was never proud of that. But you’re doing the same thing in that you you took a big chance in moving physically to a new place and also not knowing where this was going to land, whether it would be received the way you wanted it to be. You know, there’s so much faith, right? And I have this plaque that I have in my kitchen. I always keep it with me because it was very inspiring when I was at a crossroad in my life. And it’s a Martin Luther King Jr saying, he says faith is taking the first step without seeing the whole staircase.

Ken Merritt: I like it.

Sharon Cline: And it’s true. That’s what you’re doing as well.

Ken Merritt: It’s interesting you mentioned Martin Luther King Jr, because I was thinking of him when you started talking about living on faith, because he I’ve also read where when he read in the Scripture that says, the just shall live by faith, that it it that to him was that moment of that watershed moment and that turned his his life around. I have a saying that that meant a lot to me as well. Um, it’s about courage. And with a name like, um, you know, fearless.

Sharon Cline: Fearless formula.

Ken Merritt: Fearless formula. I mean, it is definitely about overcoming fear, but courage is not the absence of fear, but moving on in the face of it. Don’t you know? Don’t be afraid of. Of fear. If you fear something, it’s normal. It’s human. But don’t let it control you. Moving on, in the face of it, it’s okay to fear, because we’re.

Sharon Cline: Always going to feel that it’s always going to be.

Ken Merritt: There. Right. You’re not a weak person because you fear, but if you let it control you. Therein lies the problem.

Sharon Cline: Well, and then, like you were saying, time goes on. And there’s this feeling of now I feel like I’m living a life that’s authentic to me. Right? Um. And I want to catch up, like you were saying. Like, how much time do I have left? All I can do is. And absolutely the age that I am. And the the time that I have is different than when I had small children at home. So I can and I experience that I have I can use in ways that younger people can’t. And that’s like a blessing of getting older, I suppose. But there is this, um, sense of the growth that I feel like I’ve gone through now. I can I, I use it as fuel for myself when I’m having days where I feel like I feeling the normal fear. Well, I look back at what I’ve gone through, and then I can remember what it felt like to just push through. Um, and I don’t always, you know, there are days where I don’t feel it. Right. But, um, conversations like this definitely help to remind me of what it’s like when you’re not living congruently and authentically to yourself. But do you feel like you are? Do you feel like you are finally kind of living the life that you always dreamed of?

Ken Merritt: Well, I mean, honestly, I, you know, I don’t I haven’t got to that point where I wake up and jump out of bed and, you know, excited about where I’m at in life. I we still get ups and downs, but I just have learned and like you said, when you when you do push through and overcome, you gain a little bit more confidence in that. And the thing about my experience in age, in life now is I know that they pass you just sometimes you just keep going. You get up, you don’t feel like getting up. You had a hard day. There are problems financially. There’s problems with the economy. Um, whatever, whatever that may be. Ai is taking over the industry. We’re going to all lose our jobs. You know, there’s there’s a lot of things, more things to really think about that can depress you than, than. But, um, but I tell people, you know, because I do know of an artist, a graphic designer and whatnot, he took all his stuff off of Instagram. He got depressed. Got into a funk because they just felt like the I was just going to take over everybody’s job. Creativity would be lost. But I said it hasn’t yet. And just keep keep doing what you do. I mean, they tried to, you know, I know it seems very Orwellian, but, um, they did burn books. They did try to take things away from us. But the human spirit dominated and it pushed through. And, um, I feel like it will again. But don’t let the threat of something that’s going to happen control your present state, because it hasn’t happened yet. And until it does, it doesn’t.

Sharon Cline: It’s like a pendulum swings this way and then it’ll swing back another way. Sure. It’s like people thought that because we could watch movies at home, no one would ever go to movie theaters anymore, you know? But we still.

Ken Merritt: Do. I know.

Sharon Cline: It. Um, but also, I think, um, there’s something even with the voiceover world. Um, you can have an AI version of of your your copy if you want. And it sounds decent, depending on, you know what you want, right? But there’s nothing that replaces real breath. Real catches in your voice, you know, inflections that are very nuanced and difficult to replicate. And, um, so, so far, um, there still is a need for humans. And I know AI is it affects every industry really. But there there’s they still need humans to teach AI, you know, so there’s still human aspects to it, but no one quite knows exactly what’s going to happen.

Ken Merritt: Well, yeah, until they get an AI audience, I mean, you got to move somebody and and if if you do an illusion of a figure, that figure has to be related to somebody based on someone. Or are we going to have any connection to just a digital creation?

Sharon Cline: Well, and then maybe, like I was saying, the pendulum will swing to people who only want real and can see it and know that it’s not been manipulated in a digital way.

Ken Merritt: Then it becomes even more original. It does.

Sharon Cline: And it becomes more valuable.

Ken Merritt: More valuable. And that’s that’s the way I look at it too, because what we do now may become more rare and therefore more valuable to come from real humans and have real human interaction.

Sharon Cline: And your own writing you didn’t have. I write this right. You know where you can have music written within a minute. A new song, you know, with I um, so there is something that maybe there are elements because I haven’t studied any of this, but maybe there are elements that you can only really glean if if it’s written by a human, you know, as opposed to, uh, the impact of, of. You can only be felt if it’s written by a human or something, as opposed to an AI. I don’t know yet, but maybe it will become a commodity in its own way. Yeah, you know, humans write.

Ken Merritt: And you know, I was watching and I know you’re asking these deep questions that make one ponder, but I was watching a football game between Georgia and Texas, and Matthew McConaughey was on the side. Did you see.

Sharon Cline: That? Yes, I.

Ken Merritt: Did. And they started interviewing him while the game was going on.

Sharon Cline: People were so mad.

Ken Merritt: I know right. But he he said, don’t ask permission. He said, you know, people are going to tell you you belong there. Just stay in your lane. They’re not going to approve. Um, but you know what’s inside you. You know what the world needs from you. Don’t ask permission because you’re not going to get it that way. But just just go out and act. Take that first step. You know, I love that saying. You know, A5000 mile journey begins with what?

Sharon Cline: One step.

Ken Merritt: Single step. Take that single step. Don’t think about the 5000 miles. That’s too daunting. But take that. That next step. And if you have a flashlight, it’s only going to lead so far. But if you take another step, you’ll see where it leads next. If you stay put, you won’t see the illumination because it’s only going to light so far. But so you’re forced to take that other step to see where to go.

Sharon Cline: If I had looked at my life 20 years ago and was able to even look at myself today, this moment in the in the studio interviewing you, I would be so overwhelmed and not have any idea how I’m able to do this. Um, or just that I live on my own. Or you know, I have my kids and went to school and all of that. At the time, I was a stay at home mom. I can’t imagine how intimidated I would have felt and probably shut down. It’s too much, it’s too much. But each little step did present itself in a way for me to be able to tackle it and, um, and grow. It’s when I look back and go, oh my gosh, I did all this. And it’s like, I can’t believe that I was brave enough to do it. Right. So.

Ken Merritt: Um, I like that.

Sharon Cline: I think I think you’re right. When looking at the little steps that are right in front of you, that’s all we’re responsible for. All I can control anyway, right? I would love to control everything.

Ken Merritt: I know, wouldn’t that be nice?

Sharon Cline: I can only control just a little bit.

Ken Merritt: It’ll be sunny and 72 today. And.

Sharon Cline: Um, you could make unlimited movies forever, right?

Ken Merritt: Unlimited bank account? Yes.

Sharon Cline: Unlimited budget. So what’s next for you? Wait, wait. First, I meant to ask you. How did it go when you released Jesse’s gift?

Ken Merritt: Well, I’ll tell you what. When? During our premiere at the Strand Theater in Marietta. Um.

Sharon Cline: What a moment.

Ken Merritt: It was. It was. It was definitely a moment. And, um. And it’s one of those that you just want to. You want to keep forever in your memory bank. But it was, um. We almost had a sellout. They’ve never had a sellout for a movie at the strand. They have a balcony in there and everything there, too, and it’s, um. But we we came about 50 short of a sellout. Congratulations. And thank you. And so, um, when, um, when, when when we showed it, we heard a lot of oohs and ahs. They kind of laughed where they were supposed to laugh and kind of food where they were supposed to do. And, and and we sat my brother and I sat towards the back because not only did we want to watch the movie, we wanted to watch the people watching the movie. Okay. Because that that’s our report card. And, um, and, and by the end of it, because we said, how do we want to open, how do we want to close, how do we want to end? You know, there’s just so many choices And we just feel we we, we hope we made the right choice because the saying is, um, hook em in the front and hook em and hang em and leave em hanging at the end. And so we felt like we accomplished that at the end. Everyone applauded. They stood up and we got a resounding standing ovation with with applause and, um, holy cow. Needless to say, um, that was a that was a dream like moment. And and really all the work and the time, the sacrifice pain was worth it in that moment. Now, we’ve we’ve not had many, many live, um, screenings that that was one and we did another one in canton. We felt like we needed to the canton theater. No, it was at the mill in Ottawa. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I.

Sharon Cline: Know, that’s where we had our our meeting where we met.

Ken Merritt: There you go. There. Okay. In that big screen out in the middle, but we were up against a lot right there. Um, Gary Lamb heard about me. Me doing the movie. He had a lot of influence on venues. Do you know Gary? Have you interviewed him? I have not yet. Okay. Um, so he helped me line it up. But he also said, you know what? You’re competing against too much. He said they’re having first Friday, um, downtown canton that night. And, um, you know, they’re doing, um, with Prince and Beyonce. Um, and then, um, he said, you know, it’s there’s just too much going on. Right? Then it was a holiday weekend. And I said, well, can we do it another because we were going to they were not going to charge us for this. It was getting towards winter. Can we do it later? He said no, I don’t have another slot available for you anywhere. Um, I said, well, let’s just take our chances. And, um, we had a decent we had a decent turnout. Despite that, that was our only two live screenings of Jesse’s Gift.

Ken Merritt: We want to do it in Knoxville as well, because we do have following in Knoxville with my brother living there. The editor living there and all that we did, we did film a scene in Knoxville as well. So it’s gone over well. And then, um, we, um, um, we did get it released on Thanksgiving Day. Um, it’s it’s on the YouTube channel, but it’s also will be on, um, Prime and Tubi. We just we can’t dictate when that drops. Got you. But we knew that we could put some marketing effort on Thanksgiving Day and have it on YouTube channel. So it’s gotten, um, a lot of reviews. I mean, comments are, oh, this movie made me cry. Um, and uh, um, so we haven’t had anything negative, although I’m sure that’s, that’s coming. It’s part of life, but people like it. We averaged We’ve got like 6000 views on it since it’s since like giving. So it’s going well. I think people like our movie. How does that feel? It feels really good. It’s really gratifying.

Sharon Cline: Does it make you want to do more and more?

Ken Merritt: It does. It does. And Troy told me, and he knew that this was my first time director on a feature length movie and and all that. And he said, just do me a favor. Don’t stop. Don’t stop what you’re doing. He said, A lot of times we do, I do help people that help make a movie, and we never see it again and they never make anything else. This this industry is hard. They go back to work. They get discouraged. What have you. He said, but, um. But do me a favor. Don’t quit. Just stay with it. And, um. So now, as a result, we have another feature length coming out next, next year, which is around the corner, right? Yeah. December now. So it’s coming out of the first of next year called. It’s a Western period film called Boot Hill. And that was all made in the canton Cherokee County area as well. It’s just about all of it is outdoors. So, um, and then, uh, the, the cabin interior cabin scenes, the saloon scene that was made in Cobb County, uh, in Marietta at a it’s a Christian campground that actually had period cabins that were there during the, the time of the movie setting. Um, and um, and, and so we’ve got, we’ve got all these short films too, um, that I like to, to call for practice, but they are all part of our channel, our YouTube channel and off the rails and, um, you know, by by building our audience and increasing the number of subscribers on there.

Ken Merritt: Um, then, um, that that certainly helps us, um, give them give them something to view and watch and, um, um, having an audience for ourselves. Uh, my next my next feature is probably even a more of a passion film than Jesse’s gift is because it involves, um, more more myself, more my son. And that that film is going to be not a faith based film, but it’s going to be an allegory type film on the life of Christ. But it will not be, um, there’ll be some dark edges. That’ll be a little violence. That’ll be some, uh, um, just some cursing. Just because it’s a rural gangster film. And the title of it will be Thorne. Thorne will be the name of the main character in the movie, which will be my son. Um, and he’s he’s gotten released out of prison, and he’s got this backstory that he was, um, Homeless and, um, um, and his dad led him into that led him astray with his, uh, bad choices into this life of crime.

Ken Merritt: He gets. He goes to his prison, he comes out. But he’s been getting visitation by, um, a volunteer in the prison ministry. And so Thorne questions everything that that so many people question about God. If he’s real, why is, you know, people suffer. Why? Why does this happen? And, um, Thorne thinks that, um, that religion is a crutch, you know, for people that need something to believe in, but not him. It’s for weak for weak people. And so he he doesn’t come around too easily to to God, but he respects this person that’s come in and spent time with him and witness to him when his own family members didn’t visit him in prison. This person did. And so he comes back out with all the temptations that avail. All the old friends are still there, and they’re waiting for for thorn. But thorn is is the allegory of Christ. And he does get whipped in the film. He does get, but ultimately he gives his life. And like Christ, did, you know, for us and, uh, um, but I believe it will be a film that anybody from any belief, whether they’re atheist or whether they’re Hindu, you know.

Sharon Cline: There’s so many universal themes that, you know, they’re universal.

Ken Merritt: All of those there are universal themes of redemption, forgiveness, love, hero’s.

Sharon Cline: Journey, trying to save yourself. Sure.

Ken Merritt: Yeah, absolutely. So I’m really excited about that. Um, we’ve got that on the books to be filmed in September of next year. Excellent. So a lot going on. But we, you know, a lot of it’s wait and see, wait and see how Jesse’s gift does. Um, and Boot Hill, how well it’s received to and what doors it could possibly open for us.

Sharon Cline: You’re doing all that you know to do.

Ken Merritt: Yeah. And it still never feels enough.

Sharon Cline: It’s the truth. There’s never enough time.

Ken Merritt: I only have so many hours in the day. And you know, these bodies need sleep. Oh my.

Sharon Cline: Gosh.

Ken Merritt: It’s the food and bills to pay, you know? Um, it’s not easy.

Sharon Cline: No, I was just in New Orleans for the first time last weekend, and I’m like, I wish I had the energy that, like younger people do because they’re just out loud dancing and singing, and I’m like, right past 9:00 right now, right? Go out. What are you doing? I know, anyhow. Yeah. Um, but it’s interesting though, like. Yeah, having having to really balance your life out. I’m sure it can be very easy to get out of balance doing what you’re doing. So it really can. Being conscious of that, it’s important, I imagine. Yes. Um, okay. So if someone wanted to get in touch with you, what would be the best way?

Ken Merritt: Well, um, go to YouTube. Off the reel productions. Or look up one of our movies. Jesse’s gift. Jesse’s spelled j e s s e and not not I e apostrophe s gift. And look for our official feature film. There. It’s free. Um, just my Christmas present from you is just to view it, like it, subscribe it, help build our audience and, um, help us. If you like what you see, let us know and help us make more so that we can, you know, bring you another another film that helps move you and encourage you and entertain you.

Sharon Cline: Well, Ken, I’m so excited to see what your future holds. Who knows? Thank you. Who knows what will come, but I would love to have you back as time goes on and you can let me know more of the things that you’ve learned. And thank you. Your journey is so identifiable in so many different ways, you know, for lots and lots of people. And I love that you talked about, um, anyone that’s listening can understand what it’s like to have fear, but not letting that make the decisions for you, because nobody knows exactly how it’s all going to go. But you do know your next step. You can figure it out.

Ken Merritt: So that I do. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: I mean, anybody can do that.

Ken Merritt: Well, I think thank you for doing what you’re doing. I love the name of your your podcast and helping people overcome their fears and encouraging them. Um, it is applauded in this day and age. And, um, I just encourage you to keep up the good work.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. It’s my happy. My happiest thing I do is this show. So thank you so much for spending time with me. And also thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day!