The Christian Filmmakers Guild / Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

A room in Lancaster full of people who want to see you succeed.

We meet once a month. Some of us have made things, some of us are still figuring out which end of the camera to hold, and all of us would rather be on somebody's set than talking about one.

Monthly

Lancaster County, PA

Every craft

Free to attend

Hosted by: Timothy Medina

Join the guild See the next gathering

Lancaster, PA

01 · What this is

Filmmaking is a team sport played mostly by people sitting alone.

Most of us who make films around here have run into the same wall. You have an idea and no crew, or you have a camera and nobody to point it at, or you finished something and there is nobody around who understands why that was hard.

So we started meeting. Once a month, in Lancaster, anyone who follows Christ and makes films or wants to. We watch each other's work, we talk through what is not working, we teach the parts we happen to know, and more often than not somebody ends up on somebody else's set a few weeks later.

There is no membership, no dues, and no audition. If you have never shot anything and you just want to sit in the back and see what this is, that is a completely normal way to show up, and several people here started exactly that way.

Truthfully the whole thing runs on the same idea the studio does. Nobody makes anything good alone, and the people who help you make it should get something out of it too.

04 · Support the film

1 hour, and nobody has to perform.

It is not a class and it is not a networking event. It is closer to a group of people showing each other what they made and asking for help with the parts that are stuck.

You do not have to bring anything, you do not have to talk, and you do not have to have made a film. Coming twice and saying nothing is a real way to be part of this.

I want to Attend

What support makes possible

We watch something.

Usually a short somebody in the room made, sometimes something we all love and want to pull apart.

We talk about it honestly.

Encouragement first, then the useful kind of criticism, the sort you actually want before you lock a cut.

Somebody teaches the thing they know.

Lighting, sound, budgets, festival submissions, whatever somebody has just learned the hard way.

We figure out who needs help.

This is the part that matters. Most collaborations here started as somebody saying they were short a grip.

05 · Join

Tell us you are coming and we will send you the details.

No commitment. We will email you when the next gathering is set, and that is the whole obligation.

Send the form, and let us know the role or craft you are drawn to.

We reach out, share more about the film, and send the script or sides if you are auditioning.

Actors submit a self-tape or read. Crew and collaborators, we set a time to talk.

Prefer email? Write to hello@stumpandroot.co

Thank you. We have it.

We read every one of these ourselves, and we will get back to you within a few days. If you are auditioning, we will send the script and sides then.

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06 · What we believe

We affirm historic, biblical Christianity.

This is the short version, and it is what everyone in the room holds in common. The full statement, with the Scripture behind each line, is on its own page.

God

One true and living God, eternal and sovereign over all things, who exists eternally as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in essence, power, and glory.

Jesus Christ

Truly God and truly man, the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, rose bodily from the dead, and reigns as Lord.

The Holy Spirit

Fully God, the third person of the Trinity, who convicts the world of sin, regenerates and indwells believers, and seals them as a guarantee of their salvation.

Scripture

The Old and New Testaments are the inspired, authoritative, and sufficient Word of God, without error in their original writings, and the final authority for faith and life.

Humanity & sin

All people are created in God's image, male and female, with inherent dignity and value, and all are separated from Him by sin and unable to save themselves.

Salvation

By grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. There is no salvation apart from Christ, and no amount of good works can reconcile a sinner to God.

Marriage & identity

Marriage is a covenant instituted by God between one man and one woman, and human identity is rooted in God's design. We hold this while loving every person with compassion and dignity.

Creativity

God is the ultimate Creator, and human creativity flows from being made in His image. Scripture shows God calling and equipping craftsmen by name, and valuing beauty and excellence in the work of their hands.

Our calling

To steward these gifts with faithfulness, discipline, integrity, and excellence, using story, image, sound, and craft to reflect truth, confront sin, reveal beauty, and point toward redemption.

I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.

Exodus 31:3 · on Bezalel

Every line here has Scripture behind it on that page. If you are working through any of it, come anyway and ask. That is a better conversation than reading a website.

Read the full statement