September 7, 2025 • 56 mins
A Good News Episode!
Moriel Randolph, founder of Art for Growth, shares how her journey from youth arts programs to filmmaking led to the award-winning screenplay A Stroke of Genius. Through her nonprofit model, she’s proving that faith-based films can be powerful, relatable, and transformative without being preachy.
Learn more at artforgrowth.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tamara Davis Brown (00:02):
Hi, welcome back to another episode of All
Politics is Local with me, yourhost, tamara Davis-Brown.
I am delighted today because Ihave part of my Good News
segment where I like to featurelocal community members who are
doing great things in thecommunity.
I have with me my guest, msMoriel Randolph.
(00:27):
She actually lives here inClinton, just like I do, and I
had the opportunity to meet herduring National Night Out this
year on Tuesday, august 5th atthe Baden Volunteer Fire
Department in Baden, maryland,where she had a table and she
(00:48):
was talking to people about afeature film that she is
producing or has produced and ispromoting, and so I got really
excited about the film.
It's called A Stroke of Geniusand we're going to talk a lot
more about the film itself.
But she also is the founder ofArt for Growth and she has this
(01:12):
community flicks organizationassociated with that, and so I
thought it would be great tohear about Ms Randolph, learn a
little bit more about her, learnmore about the company that she
founded, art for Growth, and,of course, learn about the
feature film A Stroke of Genius.
(01:33):
And so welcome, ms Randolph.
Thank you for joining us on AllPolitics is Local with Tamara
Davis Brown, I'm so glad youjoined us today.
Moriel Randolph (01:43):
Good morning, Tamara.
Thank you so much for theopportunity.
Tamara Davis Brown (01:47):
Absolutely, Absolutely Well.
We're going to dive right on inand just first of all, just
tell us a little bit aboutyourself who you are, how you
got started, how you got startedand interested in filmmaking,
why you decided to create Artfor Growth.
Just dive right in and tell thelisteners who you are, Okay.
Moriel Randolph (02:08):
All right.
Well, as far as what I do, I'ma writer, film producer and
director.
I've written a few books,including what to Do when people
get on your nerves which is themost?
popular and but my main orprimary passion is writing
(02:30):
entertainment.
I started out as a playwrightand and then eventually I became
an award winning screenwriterand so, yeah, so I'm.
You know, I get real excited.
So I get real excited.
(02:54):
I really love writing for audiovisual content or stories, or
what we know is television andmovies, and so that's what I do.
But I think the most importantthing to know about me is as far
as who or what I am, is thatI'm a follower of Christ, and
that's really the center of my,of my life.
That's the good news.
Yeah, that's the good news.
That's the good news.
Tamara Davis Brown (03:13):
Well, how did you, you know, become
interested in filmmaking,screenwriting, writing?
Were you as a child?
Did you like to write?
Write, you know.
Tell us a little bit more.
Moriel Randolph (03:28):
It's interesting, um, and I'm an only
child, but growing up I wasalso a lash key child.
I spent a great deal of timealone because my mom was a
single mom most of the time andshe worked a lot, and so
television and music became myclosest companion.
(03:49):
So I'm going to age myself alittle bit.
My mom didn't have to worryabout the type of content I was
exposed to or what I watched ontelevision, because in during
that time they had the Hays Codethat was the rating system for
television, which was highlycensored, so she didn't have to
worry about me coming acrossR-rated content et cetera.
(04:11):
Pretty much all of it wasfamily friendly and anyway I
grew up on it.
I probably spent more time withit than I did with my mother as
a child, and I grew to love it.
It was kind of like, like Isaid, my companion, my best
friend, and so I.
And then it turned out that Iactually had a natural talent
(04:34):
for many of the things thatwould qualify me as a performing
artist, and so I went thatdirection.
This was, I call this, bc.
Before Christ, I spent, you know, the first part of my life
pursuing well, I should say upuntil about age 18, 20.
(05:00):
I actually pursued performingas an actress.
I mean, you know, I could singand I could act, and then that
was the focus.
And then I actually ended upjoining a pinpoints.
It was a traveling theatricalcompany, and that's when I fell
in love with playwriting, and sothat was a path that I was on
(05:20):
until I was called by Christ andthen, after answering that call
, that's when I was led to usemy natural talents to actually
teach and enhance others,especially young people, to use
the performing arts to teachthem life skills based on the
Almighty's word and wisdom.
But then, like I said, fun.
We've produced.
(05:42):
I've written like over 16 playsand about 27 short films, and
I've heard about three or fourfeature films, one of which
became an award winner andthat's Stroke of Genius, the
film that you mentioned earlier.
Tamara Davis Brown (06:03):
Okay, absolutely Great, great, great.
So did you grow up in the area?
How did you get to Clinton, orwere you born and raised in this
area?
Moriel Randolph (06:12):
Well, I was born in Bethesda, bethesda
Hospital, only because my dadwas in the military, because I
was taken straight from Bethesdaright to DC, and so I spent the
early part of my childhood inDC, but then around junior high,
because we had junior high backthere in our middle school.
But around junior high we movedto Maryland and I've been
(06:36):
living in Prince George's Countyever since, and then, when I
got married, we moved to Clinton.
Tamara Davis Brown (06:43):
Okay, gotcha , gotcha, gotcha.
Okay, very good, very good.
So you also mentioned I heardyou say that you were teaching
film and those artistic pursuitsto other young people.
(07:04):
So were you actually teachingin Prince George's County public
schools or where were youactually doing that teaching, or
was that like an afterschoolprogram, summer program?
Moriel Randolph (07:17):
Well, Art for Growth has been around for a
little over 20, 25 years now.
We had our 25th anniversarylast year, in fact.
And for the first yeah, and forthe first, thank you.
For the first 20 years ourfocus was direct services,
direct youth services, and that,and the heart of our
(07:38):
organization will always be, foryou know, for younger
generations to teach and enhance, you know, their lives.
They are our primary focus,even though we've served entire
families, but that's our focus,even with what we're doing now.
So, even though we don'tprovide direct services anymore,
we're actually endeavoring toreach across the country now
(08:00):
through our content.
So we started out where theyouth, everything that we
produced up until this point,the stories have always been
strong and good, but we'vealways had to produce them
basically using I don't reallylike the word amateur, but I
can't think of a better oneamateurs, I mean people in the
(08:23):
community and the youth.
The youth were involved and infact, the way I got started is I
decided we did have afterschool programs, so it was
always direct services the first.
What was it?
I think the first eight years.
Yeah, over the first eightyears we partnered with other
(08:43):
organizations or otherestablishments.
We did provide programs throughPrince George's public schools,
also Montgomery were serving,but then, but then I think it
(09:06):
was 2008,.
Actually, we were led toactually start a direct service
program where we had our ownbabies, you know, and, opposed
to serving others, we had ourown and and we, and we did that
until up until, actually, untilCOVID 2020.
And when we had to shut downour direct services to youth as
(09:30):
all anybody involved, but we'vehad to, and we were a licensed
program in the States, so it wasan afterschool program and so,
yeah, that's what we did untilCOVID.
And then, when you know, afterCOVID, I really kind of felt
like a fish out of water because, again, that's what we did
until COVID.
And then, when you know, afterCOVID, I really kind of felt
like a fish out of water because, again, that's what we had
always done.
We have always served the youth.
(09:52):
But when I prayed about it, I,you know, asking you know the
Almighty, whether or not weshould continue that path, you
know, should we reopen theprogram, et cetera, he reminded
me, he allowed me to rememberthat when I first started the
most recent program that we had,the program that we had when
(10:12):
COVID hit, it was kind ofpressed upon me that it would
only be for about seven years.
It would only be seven years,actually, that's what came to me
.
So when I prayed about whetheror not it should be reopened,
what I was led to do was look atthe calendar I was reminded of
that and to look at the calendar, and it was seven years Exactly
(10:33):
.
So I took that as a sign thatwe weren't supposed to go back
to direct youth services.
But then I didn't know what todo.
Well, it turned out that, eventhough I didn't know what to do,
the Almighty had been leadingus along you know, all along,
and um, and actually had us in aposition where we could pursue
a feature film and we could doit on it on our film industry
(10:56):
level.
And I, you know, I had made alltypes of contacts, you know,
within the industry, and um, andwe were all set.
And uh, he had opened the doorfor us to have a, you know, a, a
, a, a beautiful office spaceand um, everything was set, uh,
and so now we um, so we realizedthat we were supposed to
(11:17):
continue again to reach youth,because the protagonist, the
main character of our featurefilm is Gen Z, and we've been
serving Gen Z since they werepreschoolers.
So, yes, so, so we're supposedto continue to serve young
people, but on a much widerscale and because we know how
how much influence theentertainment or you know,
(11:40):
movies and series have.
It's a very, very powerfulmedium.
And yeah yeah, and so our goalnow is to through producing
Stroke of Genius, which again isan award-winning screenplay,
we've got.
We've got Joanne Hawk, who's anEmmy award winner, and Brian
Ball.
We've got.
I mean, we've got it's.
(12:01):
It's no longer an amateur hour,you know.
Now it's about showing theindustry that we know what we're
doing and that we have aformula that works.
Part of the of the contentcreators who are focused on
(12:26):
creating family, friends excuseme family friendly and
faith-based content, but not thecheesy, preachy kind.
You know we.
You know, in fact, that's ourformula, you know we.
You know we.
We know how to write storiesthat people can relate to.
You know that.
You know that's.
You know, realistic, that's nottoo neat, you know, and
(12:48):
definitely not preachy, you knowwe appreciate, like I said,
growing up, basically growing upwith television you know what I
mean.
It's being such a big part ofmy life.
You know.
I know that when you watch atelevision show, you don't watch
it to be preached to, you wantto be entertained, and so we're
(13:12):
endeavoring to fill that void.
I mean, there's just not thatmany as far as good content
creators out there when it comesto family content and we've
done a survey.
I mean, people want betterstories, they want more
wholesome stories, but again,they need to be realistic, they
need to be well-written andthat's where it starts.
So, in answer to your question,which I kind of went a long way
around, in answer to yourquestion, what we're capable of,
(13:33):
and then we want to take thatrecognition and that
accomplishment and actuallyteach upcoming or would be
screenwriters who are dedicatedor want to dedicate themselves
(13:56):
to writing family-friendlycontent or faith-based content,
and teach them our formula andtake them from, you know, from
their feature film, I mean theirfeature screenplay to the point
where they're ready to raisemoney for that project.
So you know, we're calling itour screenwriter to producer
(14:17):
transition initiative.
It's a part of, can you mention, community Flix?
Community Flix is actually aprogram, you a program, one of
Art for Growth's programs, underwhich there's several different
initiatives and that's one ofthem and that's one of our most
important ones.
We call it SPT, and so you know.
(14:38):
So we want to continue, ofcourse, to produce feature films
, but our primary focus because,again, our heart has always
been the younger generation isto develop new writer-producers.
The producer or director of manyof the Mission Impossible films
(15:01):
he wrote in an article.
He said that the future iswriter-producers, especially
with the onslaught of AI.
And so you know, if that's trueand we believe that his
foresight or prediction, thenyou know, then that's what we
need.
We need more individuals.
And it's kind of hard forcreatives.
(15:21):
You know they really want tofocus on the art, but you really
need to know the business sideand that's where the producing
comes in.
Tamara Davis Brown (15:28):
Absolutely so.
The word that came to me whenyou were describing what exactly
you do with Art for Growth islab as in laboratory.
The extent that you take thisthought of, idea of a screenplay
(15:51):
and you produce it all the wayto the end to feature film and
actually produce it.
You write it and then youproduce it, and that's the word
that came to me.
That is so awesome.
That is so awesome, I like that.
Moriel Randolph (16:06):
But that's exactly what the initiative is
called.
It's SPT, but it's Screenwriterto Producer Transition Lab.
That's exactly what it is.
It's a lab, it's a process.
And what's really going to bedifferent about this program
because again, stroke of Geniusis you know is the beginning.
You know you can't really helppeople unless you're you know,
(16:28):
unless you're able to helpyourself and show others that
you're you know, that you know.
You know I have.
My bachelor's is incinematographer, my master's is
in creative writing, and one ofthe things that I know is that
you know, even when you go tocollege or film school or what
have you, you don't get thehands-on experience that you're
(16:49):
going to.
You know that you need in orderto, you know, in order to be
good or seasoned or developed.
You know in the craft, so youknow.
So our program is not going tobe one you know.
There's a great program outthere called Act One for people
who are interested in writingfaith-based content, but it's
still a classroom setting.
(17:09):
Ours won't be.
First of all, you have to havea completed feature film,
feature screenplay, in order toeven qualify, to even apply for
the program, and we look at itand we help you develop it, but
you have to be serious enoughabout the path or the
(17:32):
opportunity to actually have ascreenplay written.
But we take you, so webasically take you and just you
go through, you do everything,you're doing, everything you
would have to do in order to getthat script to the point where
you can actually start goingafter funding.
(17:53):
And then Art for Growth being a501c3, we actually can serve as
fiscal sponsors for ourparticipants so that they can
get donations for their projectsas well as raise money from
investors.
So it's hands-on, you know it'sdoing the work, and it's an
(18:13):
18-month program because ittakes about that long to get
through development, which isthe first stage of production.
Tamara Davis Brown (18:20):
Okay, well, before we talk about your
feature film Stroke of Genius,what you just said kind of
prompted me a little bit more toask, like you said that already
(18:48):
have a screenplay written orand you bring them into the
program with Art for Growth, orcan they start as someone that's
interested in writing and getyour assistance in writing a
screenplay and then take it tothe final production?
Moriel Randolph (19:03):
Well, there's two initiatives under Community
Flix and one is SPT, and inorder to become, to be an
applicant for that program, youactually the participants, or
along with participants of SPT,along with industry experts or
(19:33):
whatever.
We actually mentor individualswho want to become screenwriters
who haven't written, you know,a screenplay yet and you know
and, and.
So there, you know, and, and sowe, we provide them with
resources as well as contact andwe mentor them.
But with SPT, again, in orderto be a part of that program,
you have to be serious.
(19:53):
The other, you know the otherdifference between what we're,
what we're doing, and Act One,for example, is that you know
most of the resources that areout there.
There's, there's loads ofresources out there for secular
writers, but for anybody whowants to write faith basedbased
content especially, there's notmuch.
And what's out there is very,very expensive.
(20:15):
You know our program will bevery affordable.
We haven't determined exactlywhat that fee is going to be yet
, but, um, but it's going to be.
It's going to be under $500,you know so it's.
You know so it's going to be.
It's going to be.
It's going to be under fivehundred dollars.
You know so it's going to be.
It's going to be veryaffordable.
And so you know, we're onlywe're only going to be so, we're
only going to be looking forindividuals who are absolutely
(20:38):
committed.
This is what they want to doand they're willing.
You know they're because, again, they're not just going, it's
not sitting in a classroom.
You know, this is not somethingwhere you take certain courses
and then you graduate.
No, you are actually from thetime you enter our program.
You are not just a writer,you're a producer.
You know your goal is toproduce your script and if you
(20:59):
and if you were accepted, thenit means that your script is
good enough.
Yeah, exactly, you know that.
You know that we believe it.
Can you know it can it can work.
You know that we believe it.
Can you know it can it can work, you know, with some help or
what have you.
So, yeah, so, so we have twoinitiatives, so one and and it's
not just for, it's not just foryounger generations, it's, you
know, it's, it's, it's, it's foranyone, it's it's just that
(21:19):
generally, you know, when youget a certain age, you kind of
lose that teachability thingthat you need.
So, more than likely, I'mexpecting that most of our
participants, or those who applywill probably be from either
(21:40):
Gen Z or millennials, becausethey have to, or I'm not sure
what the age range is for thealphas, but yeah, but I'm
thinking that they're probablygoing to be younger generations
compared to mine.
Right, they're going to beyounger than boomers.
Tamara Davis Brown (21:59):
We definitely have that in common,
because when I started thispodcast, it was actually at the
recommendation of my daughter,and I send out a lot of emails
about you know what's going onpolitically, civically, you know
(22:20):
, and the whole purpose of doingthe podcast was to reach a
younger generation.
Because my daughter says, mom,we're not reading those emails,
she says we don't, we don't reademails anymore, you know hey,
exactly, it's hard on the eyesshe says you know we listen to
podcasts.
You know we, you know we wantshort snippets of information
(22:42):
and then if it's a podcast, wecan pause it.
It come back to it.
Those kind of things You'llhear me say.
You know, in my intros andoutros, where we reach a younger
generation of voters to movebeyond the ballot box, because
the goal is to educate you andequip you to not just, you know,
(23:04):
go and vote.
Yes, that's important, but thenafter that you've got to hold
people accountable and so yeah,I totally get it, I totally get
it, I totally get it so we'vebeen skirting around and talking
about A Stroke of Genius, yourfeature film, your award-winning
screenplay, and so we want tonow kind of talk a little bit
(23:28):
more about A Stroke of Genius.
I originally had some of thequestions down.
I was like who wrote it this,that and the other?
And I'm talking to the actualwriter and author.
So, yeah, so tell us a littlebit more about A Stro gene.
When I read your theinformation that you shared with
me at national night outbeautiful um pam pamphlet put
(23:52):
together that you did- and Ilove the, the artwork you have.
You have it there behind you umand everything, but I was um
really intrigued just by the,the description that you had
there.
I was like this sounds likethis is going to be really good.
So let's tell our listenersabout Stroke of Genius what the
(24:14):
film is about not to give toomuch away.
Moriel Randolph (24:16):
But whatever you want to share.
Tamara Davis Brown (24:18):
And then let's talk about how we can help
you get this mass produced, orwhatever your goal is for
production.
Moriel Randolph (24:33):
Right, okay, okay, okay, well, it's, it's a.
It's a beautiful film, you knowit's, it's um, it's a type of,
it's a type of story that's um,that is is really um, what's the
best way to put it?
I guess heart grabbing it'sgoing to, it's going to make you
laugh and cry and actuallyyou'll be doing both at the same
time on certain parts.
(24:57):
He's mysteriously healed ofchronic disabilities from
childhood abuse, after living 18years as a subject of a
(25:18):
scientific study.
You know, he's mysteriouslyhealed.
And when it's discovered thatthe phenomenon also left him
with a genius IQ, he wants to,you know, he wants to give the
credit to God.
He, you know he, you know he,he wants to, you know, claim
that it's a miracle.
But the head of the study, okay,that he's been, you know, under
(25:42):
for 18 years, you know, andit's a cognitive restoration
study.
So the whole point of the study, because he wasn't born with
the disabilities that he had,you know he was a prime
candidate for, you know, forthis study.
You know he, of course, opposeshim, you know, because he's
seeing dollar signs, you know,big opportunity.
(26:02):
And so he, he becomes a threatto the young man's future, and
then there's a subplot involved,but it's a, it's a very, it's a
very powerful story andalthough you know it's based,
it's based on of the characteris not a real.
It's not based on a real lifestory as far as the character.
(26:23):
It's kind of a combination ofreal life stories.
In fact, at the end of the filmwe show images or pictures of
people and in captions regardinghow the Almighty has
miraculously and incrediblytransformed these people's lives
(26:45):
or healed them in ways thatjust that, just was you know,
would be considered phenomenal.
So, even though the story isbased on a, you know, a
fictitious character, theAlmighty's ability, you know, to
heal or transform lives is not,yes, so that's.
But it's a very.
It's a very powerful, verypowerful film.
(27:07):
There's a very innocent lovestory involved and there's a
(27:33):
very powerful redemption story,child abuse and mental health
issues and also how amazing youknow those of us who do live
with disabilities, just howamazing, you know, you know we
are.
You know I mean it's um.
So it's, it's, it's a, it's a,it's a movie that should really,
really touch, touch hearts, andthe whole thing about it is
that it's the reason that it'san award winning screenplay and
it has and not just, I mean it'swon accolades not just in
(27:56):
faith-based competitions butalso secular competitions,
because, as I was sharingearlier, it does have that.
It is relatable and it's reallyup to the audience or the
viewer to decide.
You know it's everybody gets todecide who or what you know.
Was it God, you know, or was itscience, or was it a
(28:17):
combination of the two?
You know.
So it's really up to you know,it's really up to the, to the
audience, so it's not slappingin the face.
I mean, the main characterbelieves it's a miracle, you
know, and he has to fight forthat belief.
But you know.
But there's, you know, many youknow, and you know who are part
of the story, who do not, andso it's really up to the viewer,
(28:38):
you know, to decide which waythey want to go.
Yeah, so it's.
It's a really, it's a reallypowerful story and as much times
as I had to share the log line,it really should have flowed
out of me a lot better than that.
But I was thinking about Iguess I wanted to just provide
you with a little bit moreinformation than the little
short log line that I normallygive.
(28:59):
But, yeah, so one of the thingsthat really makes Art for
Growth different?
Because we're a non-profit filmproduction company and what
makes us different is that mostnon-profits that are involved in
filmmaking, their focus isdocumentaries, but our focus is
(29:21):
narrative content.
What we most know is movies andseries and what have you.
And so the thing, so the thingthat really makes stroke of
genius difference is that we'renot seeking investors, you know,
for this project, we're seekingdonors, you know, and what we,
what we're planning on doingwith the money.
You know, because you know whenstroke of genius is successful,
(29:44):
because I just can't acceptfailure as an option here.
We have a powerful product, youknow, and again, the story is
very powerful and you know it's.
You know we have a great, likeI said, we have a seasoned
industry professional team, youknow, working on the project.
Yeah, I have a co-director aswell as myself, um, because even
(30:09):
though I've, you know I've hadto work with, you know with,
with novice or amateurs, youknow, for, for most of my um
career, um, you know I've at our, at the content or the stories
that we've done, what we'veaccomplished or what we've been
(30:30):
able to accomplish, working withindividuals who had absolutely
no experience, you know is is areflection of, of of the ability
the Almighty has given me asfar as directing is concerned.
So you know.
And then the fact that I wrotethe story, you know, and you
know it's, you know it's a partof me and so it's easier always
to direct your own content.
But but yeah, so it's, you know.
(30:52):
So we're, we're planning ontaking the success of the film
and not only doing what we weretalking earlier as far as
community flicks is concernedand its initiatives, but also
we're bringing in communitypartners, other nonprofits,
especially those whose missionsrelate somehow to the film or
either align with theorganization's mission, and
(31:13):
instead of giving, you know, apart of the proceeds to Back to
the Wealthy, we want to share itwith our community partners.
You know, we want to be able,you know, to give, you know to
give them, you know, to be ableto donate to their organizations
, so that you know, so that them, you know to, you know to be
able to donate to theirorganizations, so that you know,
so that the money's used forGod's work.
You know it's used for, youknow what he's.
(31:34):
So organizations that aresupporting those, you know, who
are living with childhood.
You know childhood abuse, youknow the trauma of childhood
abuse or work.
You know serving young people.
I mean children who are, youknow, who are just coming out.
You know like, especially thosemaybe serving the foster care
system, those who are servingthe.
(31:54):
You know those who are livingwith disabilities, those who are
serving those.
You know with mental health,those who are endeavoring, you
know, to serve as ministers forthe Almighty.
You know, because of theredemptive side of the story, um
, you know we, you know we'reacross the country.
We're seeking communitypartners, people and basically
(32:17):
our community partners are justthose who basically just help us
spread the word, you know, helpus get, get people into the
theaters, because it will be atheatrical release first.
You know we're, you know we're,we're our.
Our goal is to work, you know,be able to become a phantom
event.
You know we're, we're doing,endeavoring to do everything
(32:38):
that we need to do in order tobe, you know, accepted and
appreciated by, you know, bythat establishment and because
we, it, we have to start therein order for the project to be
successful.
You know, by that establishmentand um, and because we it, we
have to start there in order forthe project to be successful.
You know, when you go to adistributor, you know if you
don't have, if you don't givethem a reason to value what you
have, you know the nine timesout of 10, you you might get
(33:01):
distribution, but you're notgoing to see a dime of the money
.
Yeah, so, um.
So we have to be in a position,once we go to distributors and
our executive producer, brianBall, he's connected with all of
them, everything from Netflixto Pure Flix, sony, affirm, et
cetera, so he's in a position toget us in front of major
(33:24):
distributors.
But when we go, we don't wantto have to go with hat in hand.
So we have to have a successfultheatrical and that's where our
community partners can be very,very, very helpful.
But let me mention this becauseI don't want to forget, and then
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout Stroker Genius is that
we're actually launching acommunity.
(33:47):
We call it the we community.
It's women for wholesomeentertainment.
You know, because you know,even though you know the word
says is the man, is the head ofthe household.
Women are the managers.
You know what I mean.
You know they're.
They're the ones that you knowthat basically select the
content that the family watches.
And you know, they're the onesthat you know that determine
(34:09):
what you eat in the house andwhat you wear and et cetera,
especially where the childrenare concerned.
And so most of the people thatI've talked to who are really
having a difficult time with theway, you know, with the
condition of entertainment today, are women, you know, because
they don't want their children,they don't want their teens.
You know they don't want theirchildren, they don't want that,
they don't want their teens.
They, you know, they don't,they, you know they want, they
(34:30):
want better content, um and so,so we're, you know, we're,
building a community, you know.
We're basically, you know,saying to, you know, to these
women, you know, let's, let'scome together as strong
contributor, you know of, youknow, wholesome content that you
(34:52):
can appreciate.
But but as far as Stroke ofGenius is concerned, again, it's
, it's, it's a, it's a powerfulfilm.
It's, you know, I can guaranteeanybody who watches it it'll be
one of those films that youdon't, just don't forget, you
know.
And it's, you know it's, it's,uh, we don't get too many of
those, you know.
You know that that touch, thatyou know that grip the heart,
(35:14):
you know, in a way that you justdon't, you know it's just
becomes kind of a part of youemotionally because of all you
know, all that you gain from it,all that you learned from it,
all that you know, all that itgave you to think about.
You know it's, you know it'sgoing to be a very, very
emotional, emotional experienceand memorable experience,
(35:34):
absolutely Okay.
So for the listeners, just onemore time, give us that log,
because I thought the log wasvery gripping itself of what the
film is about was very grippingitself of what the film is
about, and then in that way Okay, so I'll just give you the
short straight version.
I won't try to improvise.
(35:55):
Okay, so again, it's about ayoung man who was mysteriously
healed after 18 years as thesubject of a cognitive
restoration study, and when it'sdiscovered that the phenomenon
also left him with a genius IQ,he wants to give God the credit.
But the head of the studyopposes him and becomes a threat
(36:19):
to his future.
Tamara Davis Brown (36:20):
Okay, so, stroke of genius, that's what we
are talking about, and we arewith Ms Moriel Randolph again,
who is the writer, screenplaywriter.
She has won numerous awards andaccolades for this feature film
.
Has it actually already been?
(36:43):
The film already has beenfilmed itself, meaning you've
got actors in it, or where areyou in that stage in terms of
production?
Moriel Randolph (36:55):
Yeah, well, there's five stays to film
production, Okay, and the firststage is development.
We're actually at the tail endof that stage.
We've done all of our ducks arein a row.
We do have one actress attached, Karen, and let me say her last
name correctly, because Ialways stumble across.
I mean stumble on it KarenAbercrombie.
Tamara Davis Brown (37:18):
I knew I was going to do that.
Moriel Randolph (37:19):
Abercrombie.
There, I get it, I get it.
And we've got other actors andactresses in mind.
And again we have a great youknow a great production crew.
Joanne Hock is the co-directorand cinematographer.
Again, she's an award winnerherself.
(37:41):
He's basically serving as theexecutive producer.
And then we have, you know,heather Let me make sure I get
her last name right.
I think it's pronounced Gibson,or, I'm sorry, her last name.
She's a newer member, but theseare the heads.
Basically, you, you get, youput the heads of the production,
(38:03):
your production team together,and then they bring in the other
professionals.
So, you know, so we're set togo as far as.
But anyway, heather is our lineproducer.
So we're all, we're all set togo.
At this point, the only thingsleft to do is to raise the funds
.
Stroke of Genius will be aunion project.
It'll be a SAG union projectand will be a signatory of SAG.
(38:27):
So again, it's a, you know it's.
We have everything that we needto make sure that this project
will be a beautiful work of art.
I have a, I have a, a taste forperfection.
You would not believe it.
I mean, you know it's.
It's a blessing and a curse,but so I can't settle for less,
(38:49):
I mean, even when I, you know,would do my, you know, amateur
projects et cetera, my, you know, amateur projects, et cetera.
You know, I, we always, we'vealways, as an organization, done
as much as we could with whatwe've had, the best we could
with what we've had.
And we've always been a smallorganization.
We preferred it that way, youknow.
And so when the, when theAlmighty led us to take this
(39:10):
step, I was terrified at first.
I really was, you know, becauseI mean, I was in my comfort
zone you know what I mean.
We were small and we werefocused mainly on programming,
et cetera.
We've never even gone afterfunding.
One grant we applied for, youknow, years ago, and we got it.
But you know one grant you knowwe applied for, but we've
(39:30):
always all of our support hasalways come through our
productions, and you knowcommunity support and et cetera,
and we've never needed much.
You know, I've never taken asalary, you know it's, you know
it's my, my husband, thank youknow, thank God for him.
He always placed me in aposition where I could focus on
the nonprofit.
And you know, because I reallybelieve that if a person, if a
(39:54):
person, your life shouldn't bedriven by money, it should be
driven by purpose, you know, andso you know.
So my focus, and I've justalways kind of resented, you
know, you know, even the idea ofbeing put in a position where I
can't follow that passion, Ican't do what I believe my
purpose is, you know, becausemoney's in the way, so I'm, you
(40:15):
know, is, you know, becausemoney's in the way, so I'm, you
know, so I'm really trusting theAlmighty and those who he plans
to use, you know, to, you know,to make it, you know, to make
sure that that doesn't get inthe way of this particular
project, this particularopportunity as far as Stroke of
Genius is concerned, becauseright now we're seeking donors.
Tamara Davis Brown (40:33):
You.
Moriel Randolph (40:33):
Okay, you know we have a platinum status or
rating with Candid.
You know, again, we've beenaround for 25 years and this is
a, we've got a.
You know, we've got a pretty.
I won't mention the budgetbecause I don't want anybody to
hear the budget and say, wow, Ican't even get close to that.
(40:57):
But we are seeking donorsbecause every little bit helps,
but we're really focusing onphilanthropers.
We don't need investors, but wedo need investors who are also
givers, and we are going aftergrants for the first time in our
history.
You know we're going, we'rereally going hard after grants,
(41:20):
but but yeah, we're.
So that's where we are rightnow as far as the process, and
as soon as we raise the money,we're ready to move into the
second phase, which ispre-production, and again, we've
got everything we need.
As far as that's concerned, Allwe've got to do is raise the
funds, but that's always thehardest part of this process
anyway, and we're just, we'retrusting, we're trusting in the
(41:43):
almighty.
I mean, I don't do anything,especially anything that's going
to require a great deal of mytime and effort, unless I
believe that he's behind it,Because otherwise it's a waste.
It's just a waste of time.
Exactly so I really like I said, and the fact that when, when I
felt called to do it, for us togo in this direction, that I
(42:04):
was terrified.
I mean anything that a personwants to do or have or has
thought up of themselves,they're not afraid to do it.
You know what I mean.
They don't have to necessarilyconvince themselves to do it.
I mean, I've come up with alltypes of ideas through my
lifetime and I've never had anyfear about it and it's always
been.
You know whether or not Ishould or not, but no fear.
(42:24):
You know no anxiousness.
I went through so much.
He had such a hard time.
You know convincing me.
You know that I needed to breakout of my comfort zone and take
the organization me.
Tamara Davis Brown (42:36):
You know that I needed to break out of my
comfort zone and take theorganization, you know, in this
direction.
My wheels are turning in mymind and I'm thinking so I, you
know, I belong to a church and Iattend From the Heart Church
Ministries and we are big on notattending and participating in
(42:56):
giving money to the movie andfilm industry.
Oh really.
Moriel Randolph (43:01):
Yes.
Tamara Davis Brown (43:03):
You know, if you know anything about our
current pastor, he talks aboutone of the first things that God
instructed him to do was tostop going to movies.
That God instructed him to dowas to stop going to movies, but
(43:23):
the thing was, is that themessages that were coming out of
that, and so to hear you talkabout how God is using you to
have wholesome, family-oriented,family-featured films that
really still deal with issues ofthe day, like you said, mental
health, child abuse, all ofthose things that can really
(43:48):
bring you in and still give youthat message of hope.
I'm just so elated to hear that, and we'll have to talk offline
about some other organizationsthat could help partner with you
.
I sit on the board, gatewaySecond Chance Foundation, and
the name says it all it's asecond chance organization for
(44:09):
young men.
But so my wheels are turning.
Moriel Randolph (44:14):
in my mind I was like okay, I need to
introduce her to this person,and this person, and this person
.
So we're excited.
Tamara Davis Brown (44:20):
So tell us how donors can give to Art for
Growth and you know what's yourwebsite, how we can do that, I'm
assuming because it is anonprofit organization, Of
course all the donations wouldbe tax deductible.
You know tell us a little bitabout actually donating and
(44:43):
we'll put that in the notes forthe show, notes for this episode
, so that you can click on thoselinks, but yeah tell us that
information.
Moriel Randolph (45:02):
Yeah, okay, great, yeah, and I definitely
will share that.
I wanted to just touch base onwhat you were saying regarding
your pastor and the movies andwhatever.
And you're absolutely right.
If we really think about it,there's a reason why they used
to call television programmingokay Because it programs the
culture, it programs society.
You know, it tells us what, youknow what type of cars to buy
and what you know how we shoulddress.
I mean, it's the one of the mostpowerful mediums in the world
(45:26):
and the influence Walt Disney,you know, I I don't want to
misquote him, but he said thathe's, he said that you know,
television or movies have apowerful ability to influence
and shape young minds.
And I, you know television ormovies have a powerful ability
to influence and shape youngminds.
And I, you know, I, just youknow, I just wonder what, how
Walt would feel today.
You know to see, you know asfar as what his organization
(45:50):
that he built, you know to dothat you know in a positive way,
and you know how he would feelabout what, what's happening
today.
But it's a powerful medium andif you don't have enough people
contributing to it so thatpeople have, you know, choices
and what have you then?
You know it's, it's not, it'snot.
I call it entertainment forgood, right?
(46:12):
So it's, you know.
So it's, it's a really, it'sreally important.
And it's taken me a long timeto really appreciate the fact
that.
You know we should, becauseI've always felt guilty as far
as going after grants becausethere's so many ills in the
world, right, you know what Imean.
And so it's like, oh well,we'll get our money, you know.
But I realize now, you know,you know for so many reasons,
(46:40):
but just how important and howbig a contribution.
You know what we're, you knowwhat we're doing and what we
hope others will do.
So you can visit us atartforgrowthorg, and that's art
singular, and you know when yougo on there, you know you'll see
the tabs.
(47:00):
You know one we'll talk.
We'll talk about, you know,supporting the film.
And when you go to that site,you know there'll be a link
where you can just link on andmake a donation right there on,
you know, online.
And if you want to make alarger, you know a very large
donation and you want moreinformation, you know, please
feel free, you know to.
You know to reach out to me,director at artforgrowthorg and
(47:24):
we can set up a meeting, youknow, to discuss if you're
interested in becoming acommunity partner.
We can do the same.
There's also information, youknow, on the website generally
with community partners, becausewe have to limit the number of
community partners we bring inbecause we don't want to dilute
(47:46):
the money that they're going toreceive from the proceeds from
the film.
So we're really limiting ourcommunity partners to 100,.
You know organizations, youknow 10 from each of the states
that we're targeting.
There's 10 states that we'retargeting and, of course, all of
the DMV is involved in that.
So we don't have a public linkfor that, but we do mention
(48:11):
where you can.
If you're interested, you canget information and we send
private invitations to potentialcommunity partners.
But you're, you know, free tocontact our organization if
you're interested in doing that.
But yeah, you can go right onour website, gain more
information.
In fact, if you don't mind thespoiler, you actually find an
(48:34):
audio synopsis of the film whichwill give you a lot more
information.
As far as the film, like I said, it's definitely going to be a
spoiler in many areas.
We don't cover, of course,everything, but if you're one of
those people like me, I want toknow very little about the
films we're going to watch otherthan I can usually discern from
(48:57):
the title and the log line.
So but yeah, there's lots ofinformation online.
Go right to our website todonate, okay very good.
Tamara Davis Brown (49:05):
So that again for our listeners, that's
artforgrowthorgA-R-T-F-O-R-G-R-O-W-T-Horg,
F-O-R-G-R-O-W-T-H dot org, andI'm assuming you can also go to
Art for Growth if you want to bea participant of what we were
talking about earlier theprograms that you have and how
(49:26):
to sign up, and if you have afeature film.
You go down this category ifyou want to start off and
actually learn um thatinformation is also on that same
website.
Moriel Randolph (49:42):
Yes, you can actually become either um a
viewer or an insider, and youcan do that under community
flicks.
You can actually join communityflicks and become a viewer or
an insider, and both of them, asas both you could actually be a
part of the production.
That's the reason why we wereholding auditions at National.
(50:04):
Night Out.
Yeah, because we really want toget.
I mean, most of the extras willbe volunteers on the project
and we need over 300 of them.
Oh, wow, years on the on theproject and we need over 300 of
them.
But, um, yeah, but uh, but yeah, you can be, you could be an
extra, you could, um, you know,could actually be involved in
other ways as as well.
So if you sign up as a vieweror an insider, the difference
(50:28):
between a viewer and an insider,that an insider does have a few
more benefits, but the mainthing is that the insider does
donate to the organization.
You know, yeah, to theorganization.
So that's, that's the major,major difference.
Everybody, you know everybodycan sign up as a viewer.
It's, there's no charge.
It's free to be a part ofCommunity Flicks and receive
(50:49):
updates and have the opportunityto be a part of the, a part of
the project.
But, but an insider, you knowagain, has insider.
Again, they have severaladditional benefits and in order
to be an insider, it doesrequire a donation.
Tamara Davis Brown (51:04):
Okay, sounds good, sounds good.
Well, I am so delighted to haverun into you.
I know it's not a happenstance,I know that God orchestrates
everything and it was so nice tomeet you at National Night Out
Definitely nice.
I'm glad that we connected andwe are having this conversation,
(51:25):
because I've learned so muchabout art for growth.
I've learned so much about thefilm, the film industry, and
didn't know that know a neighborin my own backyard, that's
doing this great work.
So this is awesome and again, wewill put the website and all
(51:46):
the other information on theshow notes for this episode so
that you can reach out to ourguest, ms Moriel Randolph, who
is the founder of Art for Growthand is the screenwriter for
Stroke of Genius, and we'rereally looking forward to that
(52:06):
film getting through thatfive-step process and we can see
it on the big screen, and sowe're excited to support you.
I'm going to reach out to youseparately after this about some
potential partnerships and whathave you.
Thank you.
Moriel Randolph (52:24):
Tamara, we appreciate that we appreciate
that this is so exciting.
Yeah Well, like I said, if youdon't mind the spoiler thing,
everybody that's listened to it.
They wanted this film madeRight, they want to see the film
Right, so, yeah, so if youreally want to get excited about
(52:46):
it and you don't mind thespoiler thing, then definitely
check out the audio synopsis.
Tamara Davis Brown (52:51):
Okay Well, we're going to leave it right
there, and so I certainlyappreciate you coming on.
I appreciate our listenerslistening.
Please do go to the website tofind out more information about
Art for Growth, about thefeature film Stroke of Genius,
and learn more information andstay informed about what Ms
(53:14):
Randolph is doing and how youcan be a community partner, how
you can be a listener, how youcan be an insider all those
great things and let's get thisfilm out to the public because
we need it and we need thiswholesome entertainment in our
community.
(53:34):
I always say and the reasonthat I did have the
quote-unquote good news segment,I call it the GNN, it's
supposed to CNN a good newssegment.
Moriel Randolph (53:47):
Clever.
Tamara Davis Brown (53:49):
You know, you listen to the news and it's
always one tragic story afterthe other, and I always want to
highlight some of the goodthings that are happening and
some of the positive things thatare happening, and so I so
appreciate meeting you, I soappreciate you taking the time
to come on to this podcast todiscuss not only the film but
(54:14):
what you do in the film industry, in the screenwriting industry,
all of that, the whole processof production of a film.
I think it's so exciting, andso we're going to have to have
you back, because as we getfurther down in that five-step
process, we want to know whatelse you have going on.
(54:35):
What's the next project?
I see you've got some otherfilms or something in the back.
I see something aboutimpressions and we can talk a
little bit more.
Moriel Randolph (54:45):
Actually, that was our first short film in
which we used a professionalcrew Because, like I said in the
past, it was it was the youthand myself, you know, and and
staff and et cetera.
But this was the first shortfilm and it was actually a
community project.
We worked together with theFirst Baptist of Marshall
Heights.
You know, the pastor allows usto use the church and the
(55:09):
members were were extras on theproject and we packed the house.
We premiered it along withother short films at the Regal
and Old Town and we packed theroom.
So that's what we're hoping.
You know, like we community,they served as a community
partner.
That's what we're hoping we'llbe able to accomplish with other
(55:29):
community partners across thecountry.
Tamara Davis Brown (55:31):
Okay, yep, so I got it.
I got it.
Once again, thank you.
Thank you, listeners, forlistening to this good news.
Segment of All Politics isLocal, with me, your host,
tamara Davis-Brown.
We will next be focusing on theeducation system in here in
Prince George's County,specifically talking with one of
(55:52):
our teachers.
It's part of our teachers union, so be sure to tune back in to
this podcast, share it like it,help us get the word out about
Art for Growth and the futurefilm Stroke of Genius with my
guest, ms Morielle Randolph.
Thank you again so much forjoining us today.
Moriel Randolph (56:16):
Thank you so much for the opportunity, Tamara
.
I really appreciate you.
Hi, welcome back to another episode of All
Politics is Local with me, yourhost, tamara Davis-Brown.
I am delighted today because Ihave part of my Good News
segment where I like to featurelocal community members who are
doing great things in thecommunity.
I have with me my guest, msMoriel Randolph.
(00:27):
She actually lives here inClinton, just like I do, and I
had the opportunity to meet herduring National Night Out this
year on Tuesday, august 5th atthe Baden Volunteer Fire
Department in Baden, maryland,where she had a table and she
(00:48):
was talking to people about afeature film that she is
producing or has produced and ispromoting, and so I got really
excited about the film.
It's called A Stroke of Geniusand we're going to talk a lot
more about the film itself.
But she also is the founder ofArt for Growth and she has this
(01:12):
community flicks organizationassociated with that, and so I
thought it would be great tohear about Ms Randolph, learn a
little bit more about her, learnmore about the company that she
founded, art for Growth, and,of course, learn about the
feature film A Stroke of Genius.
(01:33):
And so welcome, ms Randolph.
Thank you for joining us on AllPolitics is Local with Tamara
Davis Brown, I'm so glad youjoined us today.
Moriel Randolph (01:43):
Good morning, Tamara.
Thank you so much for theopportunity.
Tamara Davis Brown (01:47):
Absolutely, Absolutely Well.
We're going to dive right on inand just first of all, just
tell us a little bit aboutyourself who you are, how you
got started, how you got startedand interested in filmmaking,
why you decided to create Artfor Growth.
Just dive right in and tell thelisteners who you are, Okay.
Moriel Randolph (02:08):
All right.
Well, as far as what I do, I'ma writer, film producer and
director.
I've written a few books,including what to Do when people
get on your nerves which is themost?
popular and but my main orprimary passion is writing
(02:30):
entertainment.
I started out as a playwrightand and then eventually I became
an award winning screenwriterand so, yeah, so I'm.
You know, I get real excited.
So I get real excited.
(02:54):
I really love writing for audiovisual content or stories, or
what we know is television andmovies, and so that's what I do.
But I think the most importantthing to know about me is as far
as who or what I am, is thatI'm a follower of Christ, and
that's really the center of my,of my life.
That's the good news.
Yeah, that's the good news.
That's the good news.
Tamara Davis Brown (03:13):
Well, how did you, you know, become
interested in filmmaking,screenwriting, writing?
Were you as a child?
Did you like to write?
Write, you know.
Tell us a little bit more.
Moriel Randolph (03:28):
It's interesting, um, and I'm an only
child, but growing up I wasalso a lash key child.
I spent a great deal of timealone because my mom was a
single mom most of the time andshe worked a lot, and so
television and music became myclosest companion.
(03:49):
So I'm going to age myself alittle bit.
My mom didn't have to worryabout the type of content I was
exposed to or what I watched ontelevision, because in during
that time they had the Hays Codethat was the rating system for
television, which was highlycensored, so she didn't have to
worry about me coming acrossR-rated content et cetera.
(04:11):
Pretty much all of it wasfamily friendly and anyway I
grew up on it.
I probably spent more time withit than I did with my mother as
a child, and I grew to love it.
It was kind of like, like Isaid, my companion, my best
friend, and so I.
And then it turned out that Iactually had a natural talent
(04:34):
for many of the things thatwould qualify me as a performing
artist, and so I went thatdirection.
This was, I call this, bc.
Before Christ, I spent, you know, the first part of my life
pursuing well, I should say upuntil about age 18, 20.
(05:00):
I actually pursued performingas an actress.
I mean, you know, I could singand I could act, and then that
was the focus.
And then I actually ended upjoining a pinpoints.
It was a traveling theatricalcompany, and that's when I fell
in love with playwriting, and sothat was a path that I was on
(05:20):
until I was called by Christ andthen, after answering that call
, that's when I was led to usemy natural talents to actually
teach and enhance others,especially young people, to use
the performing arts to teachthem life skills based on the
Almighty's word and wisdom.
But then, like I said, fun.
We've produced.
(05:42):
I've written like over 16 playsand about 27 short films, and
I've heard about three or fourfeature films, one of which
became an award winner andthat's Stroke of Genius, the
film that you mentioned earlier.
Tamara Davis Brown (06:03):
Okay, absolutely Great, great, great.
So did you grow up in the area?
How did you get to Clinton, orwere you born and raised in this
area?
Moriel Randolph (06:12):
Well, I was born in Bethesda, bethesda
Hospital, only because my dadwas in the military, because I
was taken straight from Bethesdaright to DC, and so I spent the
early part of my childhood inDC, but then around junior high,
because we had junior high backthere in our middle school.
But around junior high we movedto Maryland and I've been
(06:36):
living in Prince George's Countyever since, and then, when I
got married, we moved to Clinton.
Tamara Davis Brown (06:43):
Okay, gotcha , gotcha, gotcha.
Okay, very good, very good.
So you also mentioned I heardyou say that you were teaching
film and those artistic pursuitsto other young people.
(07:04):
So were you actually teachingin Prince George's County public
schools or where were youactually doing that teaching, or
was that like an afterschoolprogram, summer program?
Moriel Randolph (07:17):
Well, Art for Growth has been around for a
little over 20, 25 years now.
We had our 25th anniversarylast year, in fact.
And for the first yeah, and forthe first, thank you.
For the first 20 years ourfocus was direct services,
direct youth services, and that,and the heart of our
(07:38):
organization will always be, foryou know, for younger
generations to teach and enhance, you know, their lives.
They are our primary focus,even though we've served entire
families, but that's our focus,even with what we're doing now.
So, even though we don'tprovide direct services anymore,
we're actually endeavoring toreach across the country now
(08:00):
through our content.
So we started out where theyouth, everything that we
produced up until this point,the stories have always been
strong and good, but we'vealways had to produce them
basically using I don't reallylike the word amateur, but I
can't think of a better oneamateurs, I mean people in the
(08:23):
community and the youth.
The youth were involved and infact, the way I got started is I
decided we did have afterschool programs, so it was
always direct services the first.
What was it?
I think the first eight years.
Yeah, over the first eightyears we partnered with other
(08:43):
organizations or otherestablishments.
We did provide programs throughPrince George's public schools,
also Montgomery were serving,but then, but then I think it
(09:06):
was 2008,.
Actually, we were led toactually start a direct service
program where we had our ownbabies, you know, and, opposed
to serving others, we had ourown and and we, and we did that
until up until, actually, untilCOVID 2020.
And when we had to shut downour direct services to youth as
(09:30):
all anybody involved, but we'vehad to, and we were a licensed
program in the States, so it wasan afterschool program and so,
yeah, that's what we did untilCOVID.
And then, when you know, afterCOVID, I really kind of felt
like a fish out of water because, again, that's what we did
until COVID.
And then, when you know, afterCOVID, I really kind of felt
like a fish out of water because, again, that's what we had
always done.
We have always served the youth.
(09:52):
But when I prayed about it, I,you know, asking you know the
Almighty, whether or not weshould continue that path, you
know, should we reopen theprogram, et cetera, he reminded
me, he allowed me to rememberthat when I first started the
most recent program that we had,the program that we had when
(10:12):
COVID hit, it was kind ofpressed upon me that it would
only be for about seven years.
It would only be seven years,actually, that's what came to me
.
So when I prayed about whetheror not it should be reopened,
what I was led to do was look atthe calendar I was reminded of
that and to look at the calendar, and it was seven years Exactly
(10:33):
.
So I took that as a sign thatwe weren't supposed to go back
to direct youth services.
But then I didn't know what todo.
Well, it turned out that, eventhough I didn't know what to do,
the Almighty had been leadingus along you know, all along,
and um, and actually had us in aposition where we could pursue
a feature film and we could doit on it on our film industry
(10:56):
level.
And I, you know, I had made alltypes of contacts, you know,
within the industry, and um, andwe were all set.
And uh, he had opened the doorfor us to have a, you know, a, a
, a, a beautiful office spaceand um, everything was set, uh,
and so now we um, so we realizedthat we were supposed to
(11:17):
continue again to reach youth,because the protagonist, the
main character of our featurefilm is Gen Z, and we've been
serving Gen Z since they werepreschoolers.
So, yes, so, so we're supposedto continue to serve young
people, but on a much widerscale and because we know how
how much influence theentertainment or you know,
(11:40):
movies and series have.
It's a very, very powerfulmedium.
And yeah yeah, and so our goalnow is to through producing
Stroke of Genius, which again isan award-winning screenplay,
we've got.
We've got Joanne Hawk, who's anEmmy award winner, and Brian
Ball.
We've got.
I mean, we've got it's.
(12:01):
It's no longer an amateur hour,you know.
Now it's about showing theindustry that we know what we're
doing and that we have aformula that works.
Part of the of the contentcreators who are focused on
(12:26):
creating family, friends excuseme family friendly and
faith-based content, but not thecheesy, preachy kind.
You know we.
You know, in fact, that's ourformula, you know we.
You know we.
We know how to write storiesthat people can relate to.
You know that.
You know that's.
You know, realistic, that's nottoo neat, you know, and
(12:48):
definitely not preachy, you knowwe appreciate, like I said,
growing up, basically growing upwith television you know what I
mean.
It's being such a big part ofmy life.
You know.
I know that when you watch atelevision show, you don't watch
it to be preached to, you wantto be entertained, and so we're
(13:12):
endeavoring to fill that void.
I mean, there's just not thatmany as far as good content
creators out there when it comesto family content and we've
done a survey.
I mean, people want betterstories, they want more
wholesome stories, but again,they need to be realistic, they
need to be well-written andthat's where it starts.
So, in answer to your question,which I kind of went a long way
around, in answer to yourquestion, what we're capable of,
(13:33):
and then we want to take thatrecognition and that
accomplishment and actuallyteach upcoming or would be
screenwriters who are dedicatedor want to dedicate themselves
(13:56):
to writing family-friendlycontent or faith-based content,
and teach them our formula andtake them from, you know, from
their feature film, I mean theirfeature screenplay to the point
where they're ready to raisemoney for that project.
So you know, we're calling itour screenwriter to producer
(14:17):
transition initiative.
It's a part of, can you mention, community Flix?
Community Flix is actually aprogram, you a program, one of
Art for Growth's programs, underwhich there's several different
initiatives and that's one ofthem and that's one of our most
important ones.
We call it SPT, and so you know.
(14:38):
So we want to continue, ofcourse, to produce feature films
, but our primary focus because,again, our heart has always
been the younger generation isto develop new writer-producers.
The producer or director of manyof the Mission Impossible films
(15:01):
he wrote in an article.
He said that the future iswriter-producers, especially
with the onslaught of AI.
And so you know, if that's trueand we believe that his
foresight or prediction, thenyou know, then that's what we
need.
We need more individuals.
And it's kind of hard forcreatives.
(15:21):
You know they really want tofocus on the art, but you really
need to know the business sideand that's where the producing
comes in.
Tamara Davis Brown (15:28):
Absolutely so.
The word that came to me whenyou were describing what exactly
you do with Art for Growth islab as in laboratory.
The extent that you take thisthought of, idea of a screenplay
(15:51):
and you produce it all the wayto the end to feature film and
actually produce it.
You write it and then youproduce it, and that's the word
that came to me.
That is so awesome.
That is so awesome, I like that.
Moriel Randolph (16:06):
But that's exactly what the initiative is
called.
It's SPT, but it's Screenwriterto Producer Transition Lab.
That's exactly what it is.
It's a lab, it's a process.
And what's really going to bedifferent about this program
because again, stroke of Geniusis you know is the beginning.
You know you can't really helppeople unless you're you know,
(16:28):
unless you're able to helpyourself and show others that
you're you know, that you know.
You know I have.
My bachelor's is incinematographer, my master's is
in creative writing, and one ofthe things that I know is that
you know, even when you go tocollege or film school or what
have you, you don't get thehands-on experience that you're
(16:49):
going to.
You know that you need in orderto, you know, in order to be
good or seasoned or developed.
You know in the craft, so youknow.
So our program is not going tobe one you know.
There's a great program outthere called Act One for people
who are interested in writingfaith-based content, but it's
still a classroom setting.
(17:09):
Ours won't be.
First of all, you have to havea completed feature film,
feature screenplay, in order toeven qualify, to even apply for
the program, and we look at itand we help you develop it, but
you have to be serious enoughabout the path or the
(17:32):
opportunity to actually have ascreenplay written.
But we take you, so webasically take you and just you
go through, you do everything,you're doing, everything you
would have to do in order to getthat script to the point where
you can actually start goingafter funding.
(17:53):
And then Art for Growth being a501c3, we actually can serve as
fiscal sponsors for ourparticipants so that they can
get donations for their projectsas well as raise money from
investors.
So it's hands-on, you know it'sdoing the work, and it's an
(18:13):
18-month program because ittakes about that long to get
through development, which isthe first stage of production.
Tamara Davis Brown (18:20):
Okay, well, before we talk about your
feature film Stroke of Genius,what you just said kind of
prompted me a little bit more toask, like you said that already
(18:48):
have a screenplay written orand you bring them into the
program with Art for Growth, orcan they start as someone that's
interested in writing and getyour assistance in writing a
screenplay and then take it tothe final production?
Moriel Randolph (19:03):
Well, there's two initiatives under Community
Flix and one is SPT, and inorder to become, to be an
applicant for that program, youactually the participants, or
along with participants of SPT,along with industry experts or
(19:33):
whatever.
We actually mentor individualswho want to become screenwriters
who haven't written, you know,a screenplay yet and you know
and, and.
So there, you know, and, and sowe, we provide them with
resources as well as contact andwe mentor them.
But with SPT, again, in orderto be a part of that program,
you have to be serious.
(19:53):
The other, you know the otherdifference between what we're,
what we're doing, and Act One,for example, is that you know
most of the resources that areout there.
There's, there's loads ofresources out there for secular
writers, but for anybody whowants to write faith basedbased
content especially, there's notmuch.
And what's out there is very,very expensive.
(20:15):
You know our program will bevery affordable.
We haven't determined exactlywhat that fee is going to be yet
, but, um, but it's going to be.
It's going to be under $500,you know so it's.
You know so it's going to be.
It's going to be.
It's going to be under fivehundred dollars.
You know so it's going to be.
It's going to be veryaffordable.
And so you know, we're onlywe're only going to be so, we're
only going to be looking forindividuals who are absolutely
(20:38):
committed.
This is what they want to doand they're willing.
You know they're because, again, they're not just going, it's
not sitting in a classroom.
You know, this is not somethingwhere you take certain courses
and then you graduate.
No, you are actually from thetime you enter our program.
You are not just a writer,you're a producer.
You know your goal is toproduce your script and if you
(20:59):
and if you were accepted, thenit means that your script is
good enough.
Yeah, exactly, you know that.
You know that we believe it.
Can you know it can it can work.
You know that we believe it.
Can you know it can it can work, you know, with some help or
what have you.
So, yeah, so, so we have twoinitiatives, so one and and it's
not just for, it's not just foryounger generations, it's, you
know, it's, it's, it's, it's foranyone, it's it's just that
(21:19):
generally, you know, when youget a certain age, you kind of
lose that teachability thingthat you need.
So, more than likely, I'mexpecting that most of our
participants, or those who applywill probably be from either
(21:40):
Gen Z or millennials, becausethey have to, or I'm not sure
what the age range is for thealphas, but yeah, but I'm
thinking that they're probablygoing to be younger generations
compared to mine.
Right, they're going to beyounger than boomers.
Tamara Davis Brown (21:59):
We definitely have that in common,
because when I started thispodcast, it was actually at the
recommendation of my daughter,and I send out a lot of emails
about you know what's going onpolitically, civically, you know
(22:20):
, and the whole purpose of doingthe podcast was to reach a
younger generation.
Because my daughter says, mom,we're not reading those emails,
she says we don't, we don't reademails anymore, you know hey,
exactly, it's hard on the eyesshe says you know we listen to
podcasts.
You know we, you know we wantshort snippets of information
(22:42):
and then if it's a podcast, wecan pause it.
It come back to it.
Those kind of things You'llhear me say.
You know, in my intros andoutros, where we reach a younger
generation of voters to movebeyond the ballot box, because
the goal is to educate you andequip you to not just, you know,
(23:04):
go and vote.
Yes, that's important, but thenafter that you've got to hold
people accountable and so yeah,I totally get it, I totally get
it, I totally get it so we'vebeen skirting around and talking
about A Stroke of Genius, yourfeature film, your award-winning
screenplay, and so we want tonow kind of talk a little bit
(23:28):
more about A Stroke of Genius.
I originally had some of thequestions down.
I was like who wrote it this,that and the other?
And I'm talking to the actualwriter and author.
So, yeah, so tell us a littlebit more about A Stro gene.
When I read your theinformation that you shared with
me at national night outbeautiful um pam pamphlet put
(23:52):
together that you did- and Ilove the, the artwork you have.
You have it there behind you umand everything, but I was um
really intrigued just by the,the description that you had
there.
I was like this sounds likethis is going to be really good.
So let's tell our listenersabout Stroke of Genius what the
(24:14):
film is about not to give toomuch away.
Moriel Randolph (24:16):
But whatever you want to share.
Tamara Davis Brown (24:18):
And then let's talk about how we can help
you get this mass produced, orwhatever your goal is for
production.
Moriel Randolph (24:33):
Right, okay, okay, okay, well, it's, it's a.
It's a beautiful film, you knowit's, it's um, it's a type of,
it's a type of story that's um,that is is really um, what's the
best way to put it?
I guess heart grabbing it'sgoing to, it's going to make you
laugh and cry and actuallyyou'll be doing both at the same
time on certain parts.
(24:57):
He's mysteriously healed ofchronic disabilities from
childhood abuse, after living 18years as a subject of a
(25:18):
scientific study.
You know, he's mysteriouslyhealed.
And when it's discovered thatthe phenomenon also left him
with a genius IQ, he wants to,you know, he wants to give the
credit to God.
He, you know he, you know he,he wants to, you know, claim
that it's a miracle.
But the head of the study, okay,that he's been, you know, under
(25:42):
for 18 years, you know, andit's a cognitive restoration
study.
So the whole point of the study, because he wasn't born with
the disabilities that he had,you know he was a prime
candidate for, you know, forthis study.
You know he, of course, opposeshim, you know, because he's
seeing dollar signs, you know,big opportunity.
(26:02):
And so he, he becomes a threatto the young man's future, and
then there's a subplot involved,but it's a, it's a very, it's a
very powerful story andalthough you know it's based,
it's based on of the characteris not a real.
It's not based on a real lifestory as far as the character.
(26:23):
It's kind of a combination ofreal life stories.
In fact, at the end of the filmwe show images or pictures of
people and in captions regardinghow the Almighty has
miraculously and incrediblytransformed these people's lives
(26:45):
or healed them in ways thatjust that, just was you know,
would be considered phenomenal.
So, even though the story isbased on a, you know, a
fictitious character, theAlmighty's ability, you know, to
heal or transform lives is not,yes, so that's.
But it's a very.
It's a very powerful, verypowerful film.
(27:07):
There's a very innocent lovestory involved and there's a
(27:33):
very powerful redemption story,child abuse and mental health
issues and also how amazing youknow those of us who do live
with disabilities, just howamazing, you know, you know we
are.
You know I mean it's um.
So it's, it's, it's a, it's a,it's a movie that should really,
really touch, touch hearts, andthe whole thing about it is
that it's the reason that it'san award winning screenplay and
it has and not just, I mean it'swon accolades not just in
(27:56):
faith-based competitions butalso secular competitions,
because, as I was sharingearlier, it does have that.
It is relatable and it's reallyup to the audience or the
viewer to decide.
You know it's everybody gets todecide who or what you know.
Was it God, you know, or was itscience, or was it a
(28:17):
combination of the two?
You know.
So it's really up to you know,it's really up to the, to the
audience, so it's not slappingin the face.
I mean, the main characterbelieves it's a miracle, you
know, and he has to fight forthat belief.
But you know.
But there's, you know, many youknow, and you know who are part
of the story, who do not, andso it's really up to the viewer,
(28:38):
you know, to decide which waythey want to go.
Yeah, so it's.
It's a really, it's a reallypowerful story and as much times
as I had to share the log line,it really should have flowed
out of me a lot better than that.
But I was thinking about Iguess I wanted to just provide
you with a little bit moreinformation than the little
short log line that I normallygive.
(28:59):
But, yeah, so one of the thingsthat really makes Art for
Growth different?
Because we're a non-profit filmproduction company and what
makes us different is that mostnon-profits that are involved in
filmmaking, their focus isdocumentaries, but our focus is
(29:21):
narrative content.
What we most know is movies andseries and what have you.
And so the thing, so the thingthat really makes stroke of
genius difference is that we'renot seeking investors, you know,
for this project, we're seekingdonors, you know, and what we,
what we're planning on doingwith the money.
You know, because you know whenstroke of genius is successful,
(29:44):
because I just can't acceptfailure as an option here.
We have a powerful product, youknow, and again, the story is
very powerful and you know it's.
You know we have a great, likeI said, we have a seasoned
industry professional team, youknow, working on the project.
Yeah, I have a co-director aswell as myself, um, because even
(30:09):
though I've, you know I've hadto work with, you know with,
with novice or amateurs, youknow, for, for most of my um
career, um, you know I've at our, at the content or the stories
that we've done, what we'veaccomplished or what we've been
(30:30):
able to accomplish, working withindividuals who had absolutely
no experience, you know is is areflection of, of of the ability
the Almighty has given me asfar as directing is concerned.
So you know.
And then the fact that I wrotethe story, you know, and you
know it's, you know it's a partof me and so it's easier always
to direct your own content.
But but yeah, so it's, you know.
(30:52):
So we're, we're planning ontaking the success of the film
and not only doing what we weretalking earlier as far as
community flicks is concernedand its initiatives, but also
we're bringing in communitypartners, other nonprofits,
especially those whose missionsrelate somehow to the film or
either align with theorganization's mission, and
(31:13):
instead of giving, you know, apart of the proceeds to Back to
the Wealthy, we want to share itwith our community partners.
You know, we want to be able,you know, to give, you know to
give them, you know, to be ableto donate to their organizations
, so that you know, so that them, you know to, you know to be
able to donate to theirorganizations, so that you know,
so that the money's used forGod's work.
You know it's used for, youknow what he's.
(31:34):
So organizations that aresupporting those, you know, who
are living with childhood.
You know childhood abuse, youknow the trauma of childhood
abuse or work.
You know serving young people.
I mean children who are, youknow, who are just coming out.
You know like, especially thosemaybe serving the foster care
system, those who are servingthe.
(31:54):
You know those who are livingwith disabilities, those who are
serving those.
You know with mental health,those who are endeavoring, you
know, to serve as ministers forthe Almighty.
You know, because of theredemptive side of the story, um
, you know we, you know we'reacross the country.
We're seeking communitypartners, people and basically
(32:17):
our community partners are justthose who basically just help us
spread the word, you know, helpus get, get people into the
theaters, because it will be atheatrical release first.
You know we're, you know we're,we're our.
Our goal is to work, you know,be able to become a phantom
event.
You know we're, we're doing,endeavoring to do everything
(32:38):
that we need to do in order tobe, you know, accepted and
appreciated by, you know, bythat establishment and because
we, it, we have to start therein order for the project to be
successful.
You know, by that establishmentand um, and because we it, we
have to start there in order forthe project to be successful.
You know, when you go to adistributor, you know if you
don't have, if you don't givethem a reason to value what you
have, you know the nine timesout of 10, you you might get
(33:01):
distribution, but you're notgoing to see a dime of the money
.
Yeah, so, um.
So we have to be in a position,once we go to distributors and
our executive producer, brianBall, he's connected with all of
them, everything from Netflixto Pure Flix, sony, affirm, et
cetera, so he's in a position toget us in front of major
(33:24):
distributors.
But when we go, we don't wantto have to go with hat in hand.
So we have to have a successfultheatrical and that's where our
community partners can be very,very, very helpful.
But let me mention this becauseI don't want to forget, and then
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout Stroker Genius is that
we're actually launching acommunity.
(33:47):
We call it the we community.
It's women for wholesomeentertainment.
You know, because you know,even though you know the word
says is the man, is the head ofthe household.
Women are the managers.
You know what I mean.
You know they're.
They're the ones that you knowthat basically select the
content that the family watches.
And you know, they're the onesthat you know that determine
(34:09):
what you eat in the house andwhat you wear and et cetera,
especially where the childrenare concerned.
And so most of the people thatI've talked to who are really
having a difficult time with theway, you know, with the
condition of entertainment today, are women, you know, because
they don't want their children,they don't want their teens.
You know they don't want theirchildren, they don't want that,
they don't want their teens.
They, you know, they don't,they, you know they want, they
(34:30):
want better content, um and so,so we're, you know, we're,
building a community, you know.
We're basically, you know,saying to, you know, to these
women, you know, let's, let'scome together as strong
contributor, you know of, youknow, wholesome content that you
(34:52):
can appreciate.
But but as far as Stroke ofGenius is concerned, again, it's
, it's, it's a, it's a powerfulfilm.
It's, you know, I can guaranteeanybody who watches it it'll be
one of those films that youdon't, just don't forget, you
know.
And it's, you know it's, it's,uh, we don't get too many of
those, you know.
You know that that touch, thatyou know that grip the heart,
(35:14):
you know, in a way that you justdon't, you know it's just
becomes kind of a part of youemotionally because of all you
know, all that you gain from it,all that you learned from it,
all that you know, all that itgave you to think about.
You know it's, you know it'sgoing to be a very, very
emotional, emotional experienceand memorable experience,
(35:34):
absolutely Okay.
So for the listeners, just onemore time, give us that log,
because I thought the log wasvery gripping itself of what the
film is about was very grippingitself of what the film is
about, and then in that way Okay, so I'll just give you the
short straight version.
I won't try to improvise.
(35:55):
Okay, so again, it's about ayoung man who was mysteriously
healed after 18 years as thesubject of a cognitive
restoration study, and when it'sdiscovered that the phenomenon
also left him with a genius IQ,he wants to give God the credit.
But the head of the studyopposes him and becomes a threat
(36:19):
to his future.
Tamara Davis Brown (36:20):
Okay, so, stroke of genius, that's what we
are talking about, and we arewith Ms Moriel Randolph again,
who is the writer, screenplaywriter.
She has won numerous awards andaccolades for this feature film
.
Has it actually already been?
(36:43):
The film already has beenfilmed itself, meaning you've
got actors in it, or where areyou in that stage in terms of
production?
Moriel Randolph (36:55):
Yeah, well, there's five stays to film
production, Okay, and the firststage is development.
We're actually at the tail endof that stage.
We've done all of our ducks arein a row.
We do have one actress attached, Karen, and let me say her last
name correctly, because Ialways stumble across.
I mean stumble on it KarenAbercrombie.
Tamara Davis Brown (37:18):
I knew I was going to do that.
Moriel Randolph (37:19):
Abercrombie.
There, I get it, I get it.
And we've got other actors andactresses in mind.
And again we have a great youknow a great production crew.
Joanne Hock is the co-directorand cinematographer.
Again, she's an award winnerherself.
(37:41):
He's basically serving as theexecutive producer.
And then we have, you know,heather Let me make sure I get
her last name right.
I think it's pronounced Gibson,or, I'm sorry, her last name.
She's a newer member, but theseare the heads.
Basically, you, you get, youput the heads of the production,
(38:03):
your production team together,and then they bring in the other
professionals.
So, you know, so we're set togo as far as.
But anyway, heather is our lineproducer.
So we're all, we're all set togo.
At this point, the only thingsleft to do is to raise the funds
.
Stroke of Genius will be aunion project.
It'll be a SAG union projectand will be a signatory of SAG.
(38:27):
So again, it's a, you know it's.
We have everything that we needto make sure that this project
will be a beautiful work of art.
I have a, I have a, a taste forperfection.
You would not believe it.
I mean, you know it's.
It's a blessing and a curse,but so I can't settle for less,
(38:49):
I mean, even when I, you know,would do my, you know, amateur
projects et cetera, my, you know, amateur projects, et cetera.
You know, I, we always, we'vealways, as an organization, done
as much as we could with whatwe've had, the best we could
with what we've had.
And we've always been a smallorganization.
We preferred it that way, youknow.
And so when the, when theAlmighty led us to take this
(39:10):
step, I was terrified at first.
I really was, you know, becauseI mean, I was in my comfort
zone you know what I mean.
We were small and we werefocused mainly on programming,
et cetera.
We've never even gone afterfunding.
One grant we applied for, youknow, years ago, and we got it.
But you know one grant you knowwe applied for, but we've
(39:30):
always all of our support hasalways come through our
productions, and you knowcommunity support and et cetera,
and we've never needed much.
You know, I've never taken asalary, you know it's, you know
it's my, my husband, thank youknow, thank God for him.
He always placed me in aposition where I could focus on
the nonprofit.
And you know, because I reallybelieve that if a person, if a
(39:54):
person, your life shouldn't bedriven by money, it should be
driven by purpose, you know, andso you know.
So my focus, and I've justalways kind of resented, you
know, you know, even the idea ofbeing put in a position where I
can't follow that passion, Ican't do what I believe my
purpose is, you know, becausemoney's in the way, so I'm, you
(40:15):
know, is, you know, becausemoney's in the way, so I'm, you
know, so I'm really trusting theAlmighty and those who he plans
to use, you know, to, you know,to make it, you know, to make
sure that that doesn't get inthe way of this particular
project, this particularopportunity as far as Stroke of
Genius is concerned, becauseright now we're seeking donors.
Tamara Davis Brown (40:33):
You.
Moriel Randolph (40:33):
Okay, you know we have a platinum status or
rating with Candid.
You know, again, we've beenaround for 25 years and this is
a, we've got a.
You know, we've got a pretty.
I won't mention the budgetbecause I don't want anybody to
hear the budget and say, wow, Ican't even get close to that.
(40:57):
But we are seeking donorsbecause every little bit helps,
but we're really focusing onphilanthropers.
We don't need investors, but wedo need investors who are also
givers, and we are going aftergrants for the first time in our
history.
You know we're going, we'rereally going hard after grants,
(41:20):
but but yeah, we're.
So that's where we are rightnow as far as the process, and
as soon as we raise the money,we're ready to move into the
second phase, which ispre-production, and again, we've
got everything we need.
As far as that's concerned, Allwe've got to do is raise the
funds, but that's always thehardest part of this process
anyway, and we're just, we'retrusting, we're trusting in the
(41:43):
almighty.
I mean, I don't do anything,especially anything that's going
to require a great deal of mytime and effort, unless I
believe that he's behind it,Because otherwise it's a waste.
It's just a waste of time.
Exactly so I really like I said, and the fact that when, when I
felt called to do it, for us togo in this direction, that I
(42:04):
was terrified.
I mean anything that a personwants to do or have or has
thought up of themselves,they're not afraid to do it.
You know what I mean.
They don't have to necessarilyconvince themselves to do it.
I mean, I've come up with alltypes of ideas through my
lifetime and I've never had anyfear about it and it's always
been.
You know whether or not Ishould or not, but no fear.
(42:24):
You know no anxiousness.
I went through so much.
He had such a hard time.
You know convincing me.
You know that I needed to breakout of my comfort zone and take
the organization me.
Tamara Davis Brown (42:36):
You know that I needed to break out of my
comfort zone and take theorganization, you know, in this
direction.
My wheels are turning in mymind and I'm thinking so I, you
know, I belong to a church and Iattend From the Heart Church
Ministries and we are big on notattending and participating in
(42:56):
giving money to the movie andfilm industry.
Oh really.
Moriel Randolph (43:01):
Yes.
Tamara Davis Brown (43:03):
You know, if you know anything about our
current pastor, he talks aboutone of the first things that God
instructed him to do was tostop going to movies.
That God instructed him to dowas to stop going to movies, but
(43:23):
the thing was, is that themessages that were coming out of
that, and so to hear you talkabout how God is using you to
have wholesome, family-oriented,family-featured films that
really still deal with issues ofthe day, like you said, mental
health, child abuse, all ofthose things that can really
(43:48):
bring you in and still give youthat message of hope.
I'm just so elated to hear that, and we'll have to talk offline
about some other organizationsthat could help partner with you
.
I sit on the board, gatewaySecond Chance Foundation, and
the name says it all it's asecond chance organization for
(44:09):
young men.
But so my wheels are turning.
Moriel Randolph (44:14):
in my mind I was like okay, I need to
introduce her to this person,and this person, and this person
.
So we're excited.
Tamara Davis Brown (44:20):
So tell us how donors can give to Art for
Growth and you know what's yourwebsite, how we can do that, I'm
assuming because it is anonprofit organization, Of
course all the donations wouldbe tax deductible.
You know tell us a little bitabout actually donating and
(44:43):
we'll put that in the notes forthe show, notes for this episode
, so that you can click on thoselinks, but yeah tell us that
information.
Moriel Randolph (45:02):
Yeah, okay, great, yeah, and I definitely
will share that.
I wanted to just touch base onwhat you were saying regarding
your pastor and the movies andwhatever.
And you're absolutely right.
If we really think about it,there's a reason why they used
to call television programmingokay Because it programs the
culture, it programs society.
You know, it tells us what, youknow what type of cars to buy
and what you know how we shoulddress.
I mean, it's the one of the mostpowerful mediums in the world
(45:26):
and the influence Walt Disney,you know, I I don't want to
misquote him, but he said thathe's, he said that you know,
television or movies have apowerful ability to influence
and shape young minds.
And I, you know television ormovies have a powerful ability
to influence and shape youngminds.
And I, you know, I, just youknow, I just wonder what, how
Walt would feel today.
You know to see, you know asfar as what his organization
(45:50):
that he built, you know to dothat you know in a positive way,
and you know how he would feelabout what, what's happening
today.
But it's a powerful medium andif you don't have enough people
contributing to it so thatpeople have, you know, choices
and what have you then?
You know it's, it's not, it'snot.
I call it entertainment forgood, right?
(46:12):
So it's, you know.
So it's, it's a really, it'sreally important.
And it's taken me a long timeto really appreciate the fact
that.
You know we should, becauseI've always felt guilty as far
as going after grants becausethere's so many ills in the
world, right, you know what Imean.
And so it's like, oh well,we'll get our money, you know.
But I realize now, you know,you know for so many reasons,
(46:40):
but just how important and howbig a contribution.
You know what we're, you knowwhat we're doing and what we
hope others will do.
So you can visit us atartforgrowthorg, and that's art
singular, and you know when yougo on there, you know you'll see
the tabs.
(47:00):
You know one we'll talk.
We'll talk about, you know,supporting the film.
And when you go to that site,you know there'll be a link
where you can just link on andmake a donation right there on,
you know, online.
And if you want to make alarger, you know a very large
donation and you want moreinformation, you know, please
feel free, you know to.
You know to reach out to me,director at artforgrowthorg and
(47:24):
we can set up a meeting, youknow, to discuss if you're
interested in becoming acommunity partner.
We can do the same.
There's also information, youknow, on the website generally
with community partners, becausewe have to limit the number of
community partners we bring inbecause we don't want to dilute
(47:46):
the money that they're going toreceive from the proceeds from
the film.
So we're really limiting ourcommunity partners to 100,.
You know organizations, youknow 10 from each of the states
that we're targeting.
There's 10 states that we'retargeting and, of course, all of
the DMV is involved in that.
So we don't have a public linkfor that, but we do mention
(48:11):
where you can.
If you're interested, you canget information and we send
private invitations to potentialcommunity partners.
But you're, you know, free tocontact our organization if
you're interested in doing that.
But yeah, you can go right onour website, gain more
information.
In fact, if you don't mind thespoiler, you actually find an
(48:34):
audio synopsis of the film whichwill give you a lot more
information.
As far as the film, like I said, it's definitely going to be a
spoiler in many areas.
We don't cover, of course,everything, but if you're one of
those people like me, I want toknow very little about the
films we're going to watch otherthan I can usually discern from
(48:57):
the title and the log line.
So but yeah, there's lots ofinformation online.
Go right to our website todonate, okay very good.
Tamara Davis Brown (49:05):
So that again for our listeners, that's
artforgrowthorgA-R-T-F-O-R-G-R-O-W-T-Horg,
F-O-R-G-R-O-W-T-H dot org, andI'm assuming you can also go to
Art for Growth if you want to bea participant of what we were
talking about earlier theprograms that you have and how
(49:26):
to sign up, and if you have afeature film.
You go down this category ifyou want to start off and
actually learn um thatinformation is also on that same
website.
Moriel Randolph (49:42):
Yes, you can actually become either um a
viewer or an insider, and youcan do that under community
flicks.
You can actually join communityflicks and become a viewer or
an insider, and both of them, asas both you could actually be a
part of the production.
That's the reason why we wereholding auditions at National.
(50:04):
Night Out.
Yeah, because we really want toget.
I mean, most of the extras willbe volunteers on the project
and we need over 300 of them.
Oh, wow, years on the on theproject and we need over 300 of
them.
But, um, yeah, but uh, but yeah, you can be, you could be an
extra, you could, um, you know,could actually be involved in
other ways as as well.
So if you sign up as a vieweror an insider, the difference
(50:28):
between a viewer and an insider,that an insider does have a few
more benefits, but the mainthing is that the insider does
donate to the organization.
You know, yeah, to theorganization.
So that's, that's the major,major difference.
Everybody, you know everybodycan sign up as a viewer.
It's, there's no charge.
It's free to be a part ofCommunity Flicks and receive
(50:49):
updates and have the opportunityto be a part of the, a part of
the project.
But, but an insider, you knowagain, has insider.
Again, they have severaladditional benefits and in order
to be an insider, it doesrequire a donation.
Tamara Davis Brown (51:04):
Okay, sounds good, sounds good.
Well, I am so delighted to haverun into you.
I know it's not a happenstance,I know that God orchestrates
everything and it was so nice tomeet you at National Night Out
Definitely nice.
I'm glad that we connected andwe are having this conversation,
(51:25):
because I've learned so muchabout art for growth.
I've learned so much about thefilm, the film industry, and
didn't know that know a neighborin my own backyard, that's
doing this great work.
So this is awesome and again, wewill put the website and all
(51:46):
the other information on theshow notes for this episode so
that you can reach out to ourguest, ms Moriel Randolph, who
is the founder of Art for Growthand is the screenwriter for
Stroke of Genius, and we'rereally looking forward to that
(52:06):
film getting through thatfive-step process and we can see
it on the big screen, and sowe're excited to support you.
I'm going to reach out to youseparately after this about some
potential partnerships and whathave you.
Thank you.
Moriel Randolph (52:24):
Tamara, we appreciate that we appreciate
that this is so exciting.
Yeah Well, like I said, if youdon't mind the spoiler thing,
everybody that's listened to it.
They wanted this film madeRight, they want to see the film
Right, so, yeah, so if youreally want to get excited about
(52:46):
it and you don't mind thespoiler thing, then definitely
check out the audio synopsis.
Tamara Davis Brown (52:51):
Okay Well, we're going to leave it right
there, and so I certainlyappreciate you coming on.
I appreciate our listenerslistening.
Please do go to the website tofind out more information about
Art for Growth, about thefeature film Stroke of Genius,
and learn more information andstay informed about what Ms
(53:14):
Randolph is doing and how youcan be a community partner, how
you can be a listener, how youcan be an insider all those
great things and let's get thisfilm out to the public because
we need it and we need thiswholesome entertainment in our
community.
(53:34):
I always say and the reasonthat I did have the
quote-unquote good news segment,I call it the GNN, it's
supposed to CNN a good newssegment.
Moriel Randolph (53:47):
Clever.
Tamara Davis Brown (53:49):
You know, you listen to the news and it's
always one tragic story afterthe other, and I always want to
highlight some of the goodthings that are happening and
some of the positive things thatare happening, and so I so
appreciate meeting you, I soappreciate you taking the time
to come on to this podcast todiscuss not only the film but
(54:14):
what you do in the film industry, in the screenwriting industry,
all of that, the whole processof production of a film.
I think it's so exciting, andso we're going to have to have
you back, because as we getfurther down in that five-step
process, we want to know whatelse you have going on.
(54:35):
What's the next project?
I see you've got some otherfilms or something in the back.
I see something aboutimpressions and we can talk a
little bit more.
Moriel Randolph (54:45):
Actually, that was our first short film in
which we used a professionalcrew Because, like I said in the
past, it was it was the youthand myself, you know, and and
staff and et cetera.
But this was the first shortfilm and it was actually a
community project.
We worked together with theFirst Baptist of Marshall
Heights.
You know, the pastor allows usto use the church and the
(55:09):
members were were extras on theproject and we packed the house.
We premiered it along withother short films at the Regal
and Old Town and we packed theroom.
So that's what we're hoping.
You know, like we community,they served as a community
partner.
That's what we're hoping we'llbe able to accomplish with other
(55:29):
community partners across thecountry.
Tamara Davis Brown (55:31):
Okay, yep, so I got it.
I got it.
Once again, thank you.
Thank you, listeners, forlistening to this good news.
Segment of All Politics isLocal, with me, your host,
tamara Davis-Brown.
We will next be focusing on theeducation system in here in
Prince George's County,specifically talking with one of
(55:52):
our teachers.
It's part of our teachers union, so be sure to tune back in to
this podcast, share it like it,help us get the word out about
Art for Growth and the futurefilm Stroke of Genius with my
guest, ms Morielle Randolph.
Thank you again so much forjoining us today.
Moriel Randolph (56:16):
Thank you so much for the opportunity, Tamara
.
I really appreciate you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.