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, and the first one is Tuesday, September 29, 6 to 8 pm at the Junction Center in Manheim. 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.
Tues Sept 29, 6 to 8 pm
Lancaster County, PA
Every craft
Free to attend
Hosted by: Timothy Medina
The Christian Filmmakers Guild meeting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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.
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.
02 · What a night looks like

2 hours, and nobody has to perform.

It is not a class, and it is not a networking event. It is more like a group of people showing each other what they've 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.
What we actually do
1
We watch something.
Usually a short somebody in the room made, sometimes something we all love and want to pull apart.
2
We talk about it honestly.
Encouragement first, then the useful kind of criticism, the sort you actually want before you lock a cut.
3
Somebody teaches the thing they know.
Lighting, sound, budgets, festival submissions, whatever somebody has just learned the hard way.
4
We figure out who needs help.
This is the part that matters. Most collaborations here started as somebody saying they were short a grip.
Why it exists
Make the thing. Then help somebody else make theirs.
We take the work seriously and we do not take ourselves seriously, and we believe the craft is worth doing well because the one who made us makes things well. That is most of the theology of this thing. The rest is showing up.
03 · Join

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

The first meeting is Tuesday, September 29, 6 to 8 pm at the Junction Center in Manheim. No commitment. Leave your email and we will send you the details and tell you when the next one is set.
1
Send the form, and tell us the craft you work in or the one you want to learn.
2
We email you the date, the address, and what we are watching that month.
3
Show up. Sit in the back if you want. Nobody is going to make you talk.
Prefer email? Write to hello@stumpandroot.co
Thank you. We have it.
We read every one of these ourselves. You will hear from us with the date and the address before the next gathering, and we will not send you anything else.
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04 · 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