Monday, December 2, 2019

That's a Wrap!


We completed the production of our feature film, THE DELIVERANCE OF AMY STRONGHOLD, on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2019, in a historic church in Rainier, WA! Honestly it was the hardest thing I've done in my life, physically, mentally and spiritually!

The long days of production, rigging the camera, operating the camera, setting up lights and loading and unloading heavy gear it was a miracle my back didn't go out! The prep work that went into each day stretched my brain from shot lists to locations to logistics. Time restraints at locations to actors availability was almost maddening! And having to trust Jesus with everything I couldn't control like volunteer cast showing up, cast performance, crew work ethic, weather, sickness and money! My daily prayer was, "Lord please get me on the other side of this production. It's overwhelming me."

I am thankful for the people Jesus sent to help me: April, my wife, stepped up and managed the production along with Rochelle Gordon. They became the powerhouse to lead us all through our 21 day production schedule! Blair brought his artistic detail to every set and prop, from construction to the finest detail. Jody helped build sets as well as captured our Sound for the film. Caleb was a God send! I've never worked with him before this production and he became my right hand man! Caleb helped build the camera, slate and did anything anyone asked of him with a great attitude. Ben was our script supervisor and helped secure some sensitive locations like a functioning Jail. I could not have done this film without him. Mark Gilbaugh flew in from Dallas, TX to be our Director of Photography. He did the research and helped me decide which camera and lenses to use. He helped build and rig the camera and I felt covered by his expertise and knew we were capturing the best images possible for this production. My daughters even found their place on the crew. Adalie is producing our Behind the Scenes Featurette. Kylia helped manage our Wardrobe Department. Zoie helped in the production office creating reports and schedules, and even Leilani, my 5 year old, was a joy to have on set and was eager to slate every 5th take!

This production would not be possible without our incredible cast, who drove long hours, worked long days and performed their hearts out! Sheena Georges (Amy Stronghold) and Yeshara Ruth (Kia Stronghold) set the bar high for the rest of the cast in performance and work ethic! Each cast member was essential to tell this powerful story of redemption and I can't wait to share it with you!

Our Pastors David and Cathy Sellstrom, and our amazing church family who generously gave, prayed and cheered us on and have been the fuel to keep this production moving forward. Thank you!!!


I am now knee deep in post-production! I am trusting the Lord to continue to provide everything we need to bring this film to market. Only He can do it! Thank you for all your prayers. The finish line is within sight!

Friday, October 4, 2019

Now Filming


After much delay and anticipation, THE DELIVERANCE OF AMY STRONGHOLD is now in production! We have 20 days of filming ahead of us with a volunteer cast spread across western Washington and a minimal crew. However after only two days in the can I have seen our cast and crew rise to the challenge to unite together to tell this beautiful story of redemption. I am very pleased with the performances of Sheena Georges (Amy Stronghold). She’s always on time and a dream to work with! Our crew is small but mighty! They have been tackling the 5,000 piece puzzle of scheduling everyone and everything, building sets, gathering props and working with local businesses to secure our locations all over Olympia from restaurants to jail. We don’t have the luxury of a large production budget to streamline this production but we do have plenty of blood, sweat, tears and lots of prayer from our amazing church family at New Hope making this film possible. My oldest daughter, Adalie, will be sharing some exclusive Behind the Scenes of our production over the next few weeks. Follow our production at https://www.facebook.com/HighwaterMovies for daily updates during production. Pray for our production: 1) All the resources to finish this film! 2) Safety for our Cast and Crew as they travel and work on set! 3) Unity and Laughter for our team as we work long hard hours! Thank you all for supporting our family and production! April and I are so grateful for the people that have entered our lives to bring Amy Stronghold to life so the world can experience true deliverance through this inspiring story! This project stays on track through donations made through our church, New Hope Ministry Center. Text (Any Amount) to give to this production – 206-966-4744.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Sheena Georges is Amy Stronghold


As soon as we wrapped our First Look shoot, our current lead announced she accepted a job on the police force and was no longer available to play Amy Stronghold. The day before, I met Sheena Georges. She was introduced to me by Ray Hopper, Sarge from our First Look scene. Sheena was coming to play an Extra until a family emergency made another cast member unavailable for the shoot. In an effort to keep the entire shoot from being canceled at a sensitive location I asked Sheena to read the lines for the Gang Leader and cast her that night. Sheena was the first cast member to arrive on set and was early, which impressed me. Our first impression was that she was too nice and sweet to play the Gang Leader. Her response to that comment was, "I'll be fine, I'm from Brooklyn!" I remember as soon as I started capturing her performance with my 50MM lens, she stuck to film. Fast forward a couple weeks, my wife and I met with her over coffee and we all hit it off. We asked her to be our Amy, which she humbly accepted. What I love about Sheena, besides her talent as an actress, is her humble heart. After reading the screenplay and spending a day with us she said, "If I am not your Amy, then please let me be a Production Assistant just to serve on this project." How do you find people like Sheena without a production budget? I have no idea. However, our cast is now complete after 9 months of searching! The next impossible task is to put together the best film crew possible, with no budget, for our shoot in the Fall. Stay tuned!

Monday, June 17, 2019

First Look - The Deliverance of Amy Stronghold


On Saturday June 8, 2019 we shot our first scene for the feature film, THE DELIVERANCE OF AMY STRONGHOLD being produced in Olympia, WA by a local church, New Hope Ministry Center and local film company, Highwater Entertainment.

In an effort to honor our locally based cast and crew, from Portland to Seattle, we are raising money for production for the Fall of 2019. Check out our First Look, Give and Share and help launch us into production! We need to kick start the film industry in the Pacific NW. As you can see there are some talented people ready to work! My hope is that this First Look would attract the resources we need to make this Faith-Based film the best it can be! You can make your donations to the church by Texting (Any Amount) to 206-966-4744 and follow the instructions. For example: Text 100 to 206-966-4744 and Tithe.ly will help you setup your debit or credit card gift to New Hope Pictures. It's very secure and safe. For more giving options please email (seth@highwater.co). Thank you for your support!


Thursday, May 2, 2019

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Location Scout in the Snow

Seth and Ben scout out locations for the feature film, THE DELIVERANCE OF AMY STRONGHOLD!

That's a Wrap!

We completed the production of our feature film, THE DELIVERANCE OF AMY STRONGHOLD, on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2019, in a histori...