A Story To Tell

"Use this time to learn your craft," my mother said to me amidst my disappointment that my parents would not let me act in movies before I was 18. I knew I had two choices: forget the dream, or learn it. I decided to learn it.

I discovered I loved to write when I was twelve years old. It clicked one day when I found myself passionate about writing my very own Nancy Drew movie. I had an orange BB-8 journal and a pencil, and that was all I needed. I stayed up many nights crafting a story I envisioned making. When I finished transferring it to Pages, it was 20 pages long. I know that is not long in terms of a feature-length film. If anything, it is the length of an episode of a show, but to me, it was a masterpiece. I knew if a movie I wanted to see did not exist, I could write it. The world of imagination opened up and I dove in.

I have always been an artsy child. I was the painter/drawer of the family for a while before my sister grew in her skill. Then I was the writer--and still am the writer of the family. Then I was the actress and director. All of these things became wrapped up together and my creativity was endless. Still is.

I was so incredibly eager, and my dream was to be in movies, as well as to write them. I asked my parents for years if I could specifically audition for Star Wars. The answer was no, not because my parents did not think I could, but because they wanted my childhood to be protected. I respect that now, but at the time I was sad because I knew the opportunity would come and go. Little did I know the opportunities that would come my way in the future. I had a lot to learn. "Use this time to learn your craft," my mother said to me amidst my disappointment. I knew I had two choices: forget the dream, or learn it. I decided to learn it.

I used my six years before graduation to do theatre, soak in my English classes, test my skills with stop-motion animation classes, and watch screenwriting videos. I made my own movie when I was 13. It was supposed to be a feature but we only shot 10 minutes of it. It was extremely ambitious: set in the 1930s in London, England. We shot it in 2016 in Old Town Clovis, CA with costumes from Goodwill and props from the local antique stores. It never went anywhere and was incredibly cheesy, but I had the most fun making it. I learned a lot and none of it was wasted.

As I continued writing script after script, I studied famous scripts--specifically the screenplay for The Lord of the Rings. I observed what Peter Jackson did on paper and compared it with the film on the screen. I never took a class on screenwriting or film--my class was my own research. I learned from the greats. I also began writing novels. I did the same thing with my research and specifically studied Louisa May Alcott's writing.

By the end of high school, I had written over twenty films and five full-length novels. I self-published half of them, and the other half remained on my computer for further editing. I wrote all genres and experimented with different points of view. I asked a ton of questions in class and allowed myself to be harshly critiqued. I grew a lot.

As soon as I turned 18, I auditioned for my first movie. The role went to someone else and I was fine with it because if I didn't get the role it wasn't my role to get. However, a few weeks later the director called me saying something fell through with the actress and they wanted me for the role. She said, "We don't want you to feel like you're second pick." Of course I was second pick, but I didn't care. I got booked as the lead in a movie! I was over the moon!

I think I was spoiled on that set. Breakfast was kolaches, lunch was Rosa's Cafe, and dinner was Olive Garden. I still have never been fed better than I did there. All courtesy to the University of Texas at Arlington. I think the biggest thing I learned on that set was that it wasn't all about the actors. It also didn't depend as heavily on just the actors. It was a team effort to make a movie, and my respect grew for the crew. They were the backbone, not me. My job was important, but they made it happen. I also realized that the audition process was much more scarier than the filming.

After that, there became an itch I couldn't scratch to do more projects. In all of college, I acted in two student films, two TV show episodes, a feature, and recently, an independent short film. Truly, acting is my greatest passion. Sure, you sit around all day waiting to film your scene, but you leave and immediately wish you were back. When I am not acting, I'm auditioning. I always want to be acting.

The summer after my Freshman year of college, I got an amazing opportunity to intern for Kingdom Story Company. There, I got to give opinions on films such as Jesus Revolution, Unbreakable Boy, future projects such as Unsung Hero and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I got to be an archival editor on Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon. I got to do script coverage and learn how their filter process worked. I was the filter for any scripts sent to the company. I got to see their ten-year plan and witness top-secret conversations about future projects and collaborations that made my jaw drop. Good things were happening there and I bonded deeply with their dedicated, loving staff. I was not just an intern there, but part of the family.

When I left, having learned so much about storytelling, I noticed a new desire beginning to form. The desire to direct what I had written. Almost immediately I began pre-production on a film called We Were Happy. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but somehow I did it. I brought a team together, some of them friends, some of them connections through other people I had worked with, and we made a movie.

We Were Happy premiered at Dallas Baptist University in July of 2023. During our panel with the actors, my co-director and I, I was asked, "What are you going to shoot next?" I thought about a film my best friend Grace Adams and I had dreamt up. I told the audience if I were to make another project it was going to be a 1940s WWII love story. Ambitious. Just like my 13-year-old self. However, I wanted to test the limits. How far could my creativity get me? Could I truly do it with no money in my bank account to start with? I knew deep down I wanted to give it a shot.

That fall of 2023 I started pre-production on my 1940s, silent, WWII short film called Timeless. My friend Grace was already decided as my lead Marjorie Kent, and I cast Jordan Pope from TN to play the love interest, Pearce Lauder. One of my best friends Jonathan Collins who had helped edit We Were Happy agreed to be cinematographer, and from there on out, we began a 10-month preparation process that led us to July of 2024, our shoot date.

Essentially, pre-production was mostly me, with some occasional help from Jonathan and a few other people. Somehow we managed to raise $5,000, bring on a big crew and tons of extras, purchase the costumes (from many, many babysitting jobs on my part), find a historic-looking set, sign contracts with the City of Grapevine to use their railroad, feed the many, and so on. Timeless was shot over seven days, and I still hold to it that I have never been on a set as incredible as that one. We had the most amazing crew, the best actors, the kindest extras. So many people came out to help, and are still helping so much as we are amid post-production.

This has been my journey. I'm nearly 22 and all of this stuff has seemed to just happen to me. However, I know it is not luck. God has done all of this, and I've worked extremely hard. Who knows where I'll go next? I wanted to create this website to share my journey and work! All the glory be to God!

--Emma Sumlin