Our Power Was Turned Off – and God Called Us To Make A Movie

In 2008, things were going well for me.  Great job, beautiful family, and a multi-million dollar 2-picture movie deal in the works.  I had invested years of sleepless nights into getting to this place, and it was all finally about to pay off.  Or so I thought.

While pouring every ounce of energy into my career over the years, I was blinded to the fact that my relationships with family and friends had begun to suffer.  Even worse, my once-intimate relationship with God had shifted to one where we chatted briefly…when I had the time.  (And I rarely had the time).

I became so thoroughly preoccupied with “serving” God with my work that I eventually found myself in a place where I didn’t even know if I still “knew” Him.  And more frighteningly, I couldn’t sense whether or not He even liked me anymore.  Yet, I was so addicted to my work that I blindly pressed on, hoping to eventually win back God’s approval.

It was at this point in 2008 – a career high and a spiritual low – that everything suddenly changed.

Within just a few weeks of each other, I lost my job and the movie funding fell through.  For the first time in ten years of marriage, I was unemployed, without direction, and completely stripped of everything that I had worked so hard to achieve.

Despite the bouts with depression and the nagging awareness of the fact that I was generating no income for my wife and four young children (all under the age of 6 at the time), the bills kept coming in.  Utilities, mortgage, phone, insurance…apparently, someone missed the memo about my not having an income.

I handled the incoming bills and creditor phone calls in the most logical, rational way that my depressed and hopeless mind could come up with…I ignored them.

This seemed to work fine until the Sheriff delivered court papers to our front door, and our power was turned off on a cold November afternoon.  At that point, I realized that our problems weren’t going to go away on their own.  The bliss of my denial was over.

So, just like the Bakers in “Homeless For The Holidays”, the Johnson family spent some cold winter days in our dark living room, gathered around our fireplace…desperately hoping the gas wouldn’t be turned off.  (And yes, just like Jack Baker, I really did come home to find them singing cheerful praises to God at the fireplace the first day we lost power).

About this time, my beautiful wife (a wonderful woman of God) suggested that I write a film about our situation.  I could feel God leading me to do so, and I had plenty of real-life experience to pull from, so I went to the library, and began to write.  (I wrote most of the script at the library because we had no power at home for my laptop).

I finished the script in just three weeks, which is amazing when you consider that a first draft for a feature film has historically taken me as long as 10-12 months to complete.

When it was finished, I contacted my investment group about getting it financed, but something didn’t feel right.  A few days later, my wife said, “I think we’re supposed to produce the movie ourselves.”

I laughed at the notion.  After all, we had just barely gotten our power turned back on, and we were facing fears of possible foreclosure.  We had no money, and no income.  How on earth would we self-finance a $1 million movie?

Then I heard God whispering to my spirit.  This was a wonderful experience because, due to my aggressive work-driven lifestyle, I hadn’t heard His voice in a long time.  Yet, as I listened, what I heard didn’t make much sense.  I was pretty sure He was telling me to make the film – without investors.

I argued that I wasn’t equipped to produce a film, and I could almost sense a warm smile when He spoke a single word, “Exactly.”  I knew at this point that this wasn’t going to be my movie.  This was going to be God’s movie.  I had peace about moving forward, but I couldn’t hold back one nagging thought, “But God, I was really hoping to shoot my next movie with the RED ONE.” (a specific high definition camera).  He confirmed in my spirit that this was His movie, and that I needed to trust Him.

A few days later, I received an e-mail from a Director of Photography friend whom I hadn’t spoken with in over a year.  He stated that he had just purchased a new camera, and he wanted to see if I had a project that we could collaborate on.  I responded, “It wouldn’t be a RED ONE would it?”  It was – and I suddenly became aware that God was already at work on this film.

My wife and I sold our retirement stocks, as well as anything of value that we could find around the house.  We paid off our past-due bills, set a little aside for living expenses that we would incur during the production of the movie, and had enough left over for a very modest movie budget of just $20,000, which isn’t hardly enough to buy bottled water for a studio film crew, but God multiplied it like the loaves and fish.

We placed an ad for auditions online & in our local newspaper, expecting maybe 50 people to show up.  To our surprise, over 800 people from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Connecticut, and Vermont packed into the location.

In total, about 550 volunteer cast and crew members, over a dozen churches from various denominations, and several local businesses pitched in to make this movie a reality.  Unpaid.  We were all working for the sake of serving God, and telling a story that would have a positive impact on those affected by today’s economy.

It was also during this time that God began to reveal Himself to me on a personal level again.  I remember thinking that, even if nobody ever ends up seeing the movie, it will have been worth the expense and effort because the process of making it had broken my spiritual numbness, and reconnected me to my Savior.

Fortunately, it DID also end up being seen, by many people, in theaters, film festivals, with the DVD release in September, and now it is being televised throughout the US this Christmas season.  Kary and I are continuously humbled and amazed by what God is doing with our “un-Hollywood” movie…and we look forward to serving Him again on our next one soon.

Oh, and just for fun, here are a just few of the many scenes from the movie that are based on our actual experience:

1. The ice water in Jack’s face (although Kary poured it a little more lovingly than Sheryl).
2. While singing praises around the fireplace after our power went out, our kids really asked if we could turn off the power every year…and we’re planning to do it again this Christmas.
3. The homeless guy in the alley.
4. The little girl with the envelope at the end.  (If you look closely, you’ll notice that the envelope says “Johnson Family”.  Kary had carried that envelope around in her purse for several months, and we ended up using the real envelope in that scene).

Please enjoy the movie – and remember, if you believe that God is calling you to do something, don’t allow your circumstances to stop you.  God isn’t limited by the things that seem insurmountable.  Take it from an unemployed dad who could barely afford to keep the lights on at home when he received his calling.

George A. Johnson has an extensive background in TV and film, having written, directed, produced, shot, and edited over 1,300 TV commercials, music videos, and short films, as well as two theatrically released feature films, “DREAMER: The Movie” (2004), and “Homeless For The Holidays” (2009).

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