May 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Episode 147 - Healthy Entertainment - Feeding the Soul
In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, your host Geoffrey Whitt continues his interview with Isaac Hernandez. They discuss Isaac's personal journey with his health, and a revelation about healthy entertainment and its impact on the soul. Isaac shares about his roles in directing and producing Christian Television, providing insights into the differences between directing and producing for TV vs film. Isaac shares his experiences working with ICVM and producing the Crown Awards, and encourages listeners to engage with his show, ‘Faith on Film’.
Highlights Include:
- Health Issues and Insights
- The Concept of Healthy Entertainment
- The Importance of Feeding Your Soul
- Involvement with ICVM
- The Crown Awards
- Challenges and Successes in Producing the Crown Awards
- Directing TV Shows
- First Step: Prayer
- Skills Needed for Directing TV
- Producing TV Shows
Bio:
Isaac has a prolific portfolio with over four decades of experience in the Christian entertainment industry which includes directing and producing hundreds of TV shows for the Trinity Broadcasting Network, including their live flagship show Praise the Lord. He also served as a programming executive for the network before leaving to help launch the first faith-based subscription streaming movie platform, Parables TV.
In 2019, He launched his own TV show, “Faith On Film,” an interview talk program which can be seen on over 19 various platforms and networks worldwide. He is now joined by his co-host Holly McClure.
Currently Isaac is consulting for several streaming companies, film distributors and producers as well as producing and directing TV shows.
Email Isaac: isaac858@gmail.com
www.youtube.com/@faithonfilmtv
Editing by Michael Roth
FAFF Association Online Meetups: https://faffassociation.com/#faff-meetings
Screenwriters Retreat - Mexico: https://www.faffassociation.com/writers-retreat
Jaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter’s Observations of LIfe, Character, and God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V
VIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship
The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers, talent agents, and distributors.
It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Geoff (00:00):
Hey there.
Welcome to the Faith andFamily Filmmakers podcast.
I'm Geoff, and we're back for part twoof our interview with Isaac Hernandez.
Hi Isaac.
Isaac (00:09):
Hi, how you doing?
Geoff (00:10):
If you missed the first half, uh, I encourage you to go back, take a listen.
You can hear his bio and finda lot more about him, his life.
And the journey that God tookhim on to, uh, where he is today.
And we're gonna talk, uh, about anumber of things, but I wanna start with something you mentioned to me earlier about how God spoke to you about healthy entertainment.
(00:31):
What did he tell you and when was that?
tell us about that whole thing.
Isaac (00:35):
That was, oh my goodness, that must have been it in six, seven years.
Years ago, maybe.
Um, what happened is I, I've beendiabetic, or I guess pre-diabetic for, for a long time, and then I get a letter from my doctor one day and I'm, I'm actually traveling, I'm somewhere directing a show or something, and I get a letter at home and my wife text the letter to me because the letter said, your A1C has gone up.
(01:05):
I don't know, 10, 10 point something,which is apparently very high.
And so we're gonna have to putyou on insulin and I gotta tell you if there's anything that gives me the heebie-jeebies is shots.
Geoff (01:17):
Hmm.
Isaac (01:18):
Even when I would get, uh, you know, whatever kind of shot, if I hurt myself and they needed to gimme a shot, I would go into panic mode.
I would just absolutely, and nothingmakes me, would make me go that panicky except for that for some reason.
I just would go into thisreal intense panic mode about I. Being stuck with a needle.
So I thought, I can't do that.
I can't be giving myself ashot every day in the stomach.
(01:40):
There's no way.
And so my daughter-in-law sends methis text and she says, why don't you check this documentary out?
And it was a documentary calledForks Over Knives, which has to do with the vegetarian lifestyle.
It has to do with basically eatinga healthy vegetarian lifestyle.
And so I saw the documentary.
(02:00):
Forks over knives and I thought, wow, someof those foods, you know, you, you think of vegetarian that all you're gonna do is eat broccoli and salads and whatever.
But this documentary showed there'sa lot of really great dishes you can make without using meat product.
Geoff (02:15):
Mm-hmm.
Isaac (02:16):
and so I thought I, I can probably do that.
And so I began the vegetarian lifestyle,which I did by the way, for a year.
I, I didn't remain a vegetarian.
I've tried it twice and itdid make a huge difference.
Not only did I lose a lot of weight,I. But my numbers started going down.
I mean, my, my doctor sends me aletter a few months later, says, congratulations, you brought your A1C down to like six point something.
(02:40):
So that was a, huge thing.
And then, uh, all of a suddenI, again, I hear from God and, and uh, as I said in the first part, I.
I've become very keen in, in hearing him.
I don't have to have writingon the wall or, or audible or I can hear it in my spirit.
I heard him saying, that'swonderful, Isaac, but what about the health of your soul?
And I thought, well,what do you mean by that?
(03:04):
And so I began to kind of think about thata little bit, research it a little bit.
Realized, uh, or learned, I shouldsay, that just the way your body reacts to what you feed it through your mouth, if you feed it, nothing but hamburgers and hot dogs and ice cream and cake and, which is kind of what I used to love to eat, by the way.
A lot of ice cream and cake andit's cookies, your body reacts to it in a very negative way and it becomes very unhealthy.
(03:29):
Okay?
But if you change that diet of whatyou eat, it then reacts to that and it.
Starts to get healthy again.
And so I realized that, see there,there's three parts to your body.
that's how we are like the Trinity.
God said he made us in his image'cause he made us also a trinity.
He made us a body, a physical body.
He made us a spirit and he made us a soul.
(03:51):
The soul is kind of what controlsyour thoughts, your emotions, as opposed to the the spirit, which by the way is how you connect with God.
You don't connect withGod through your soul.
You connect.
Through your spirit, okay?
And so I started to realize, waita minute, what you feed your soul, which is what you listen to or what you hear, or rather what you see is what you're feeding your soul.
(04:14):
And we have become very unhealthy.
Even as Christians, webecome very unhealthy because we've been feeding our soul.
Junk food, and we don't even realize itanymore where it's gotten to because it's almost like the whole frog, you know, boiling frog thing where you stick the, the frog in the water and you just turn up the heat a little bit and it doesn't even realize that he's cooking himself.
(04:37):
Okay.
And so it's been like that, uh, ifyou look back now at the content that you would watch on television and in movies versus what we watch now in television and in movies.
You realize you know how hot that waterhas become and you didn't even realize it.
And so I begin to talk aboutwatching healthy entertainment.
(05:01):
And you'll notice I didn't sayChristian entertainment because it isn't just about watching Christian stuff or non-Christian stuff.
we need entertainment.
We are created for some reason.
I don't know.
God might have to answer that questionto me one day, but we are created to need not only the spiritual food, you know, we need to read our Bibles, we need to pray, we need to worship, but our bodies also need the other food, which is the, again, whatever it is we eat, but we also need our soul needs.
(05:25):
Entertainment.
Geoff (05:25):
Yeah, there's something about story that's, uh,
just integrated part of our lives.
Isaac (05:30):
Jesus knew that because he used stories more than, he did sermons.
At least that's what we read in the Bible.
We don't read a whole lot of sermons, butboy, there's a bunch of, uh, parables, a lot of stories and so I, it kind of became one of those things where I felt like people need to know this.
People need to know that theyneed to really be careful with what they feed their souls.
They need to feed it healthyentertainment, whether it be in their music, whether they be in their TV shows, in their movies.
(05:56):
Even artwork.
They need to, to just start feedingthemselves good, healthy entertainment so that their souls will be okay.
It's not gonna keep 'em from heaven.
I don't believe that watching thisstuff is necessarily going to keep them from heaven, but it sure is gonna make them very unhealthy here on Earth.
And do we want to beunhealthy here on Earth?
I'd rather be very healthy so that Ican really do what God wants me to do.
Geoff (06:17):
Yeah, it's interesting you say this was more or less seven years ago.
You were already, of course, workingfor parables, but, uh, it was not too long before you started, faith on Film.
I, I wonder if, that was an influence.
Isaac (06:31):
You know what, it's, very likely, again, God never gives me the full details.
He just starts the process and,and takes me through the journey.
I've always wondered, God, why don'tyou show me what the very end is?
What would show me where the ultimate,and I think maybe it's 'cause number one, he wants me to walk by faith.
Geoff (06:49):
Mm-hmm.
Isaac (06:50):
Number two, I might get scared of what is the ultimate thing.
It might be like, oh,this is too big for me.
There's no way.
So he just puts me a step at a time.
Geoff (06:58):
Yeah,
as we've been talking abouthealthy entertainment and storytelling, I know you've been involved with ICVM, international
Christian Visual Media Association,and many of our, uh, listeners would be very familiar with their ICVM Storytellers conference.
Uh, just tell us about how you gotinvolved and your involvement with that.
Isaac (07:18):
Lemme see if I can remember when the first time was.
I, I don't remember if it was when Iwas still with tv N and I, it was one of the conferences that Mrs. Crouch felt I should go to, or if it was after I was already with parables.
When I was with parables, I was goingto every Christian film festival and conference that there was, I was out at least once, if not twice a month, it was one of those times that I went to ICVM for the first time and I just really, again, fell in love with the people there, with the, with the filmmakers.
(07:48):
my love for filmmakers is just.
Pretty immense to be honest with you.
And so I, started going eventually thedirectors there saw my love for the conference and my love for the filmmakers that they asked me to be, on the board.
And so I joined the board, Idon't know, maybe nine years ago or so then in it ever since.
(08:08):
And, I just absolutely love it.
One of the things that I really tookcharge of was the Crown Awards.
and that's become abig focus on what I do.
And again, for the same reason, ishaving spent time at, at TBN one of the things that Mrs. Crouch always expected was excellence.
Excellence in production,excellence and all that.
(08:30):
So the Crown Awards was somethingthat, you know, they've been doing for like 50 52 years now.
But it was small.
It was just.
Something that they would do there atthe conference, at the storytellers conference, and they would award this film the best, uh, evangelistic film, the best youth film, the best whatever.
But it was done very low key.
And me, I. Be the former TV n director.
(08:53):
I said, we gotta kind ofexpand the way this is.
And so I, I asked if I could take it over.
They said yes.
They gave it to me and the, thefirst maybe two years I think that I did it, we still kept it there at the conference, but I made it to be more like a show with the animated visuals and music and all this stuff.
(09:13):
so it became a littlebit more like a show.
In the conference.
And one thing that the conferenceused to do was it was you had to be a member to submit.
So only only members would submit,which I thought was not a good thing because it was really the same people winning every year.
And you know, we would all patourselves in the back, Hey, good show.
Hey, you did a good show.
Congratulations.
But it was always the same ones.
(09:36):
And so at one of the boardmeetings I said, we need to open this up to everybody.
There's no reason why itshould just be members.
We need to open it up to everybody.
You might get some members out of that.
you know, if they're nominated and theycome to the conference and they fall in love with the conference and there you go.
We'll, we'll get some, somenew, uh, attendees and new members of the conference.
But anyway, when they saw that thepresident at the time, which was right about the time when we changed to a new president, 'cause this one ended up going to work for, uh.
(10:05):
Angel Studios, he, went to NRB andsuggested to them that maybe we create a partnership and do the awards at NRB.
Of course, the advantage of doingthat was that NRB already has some cameras and, you know, and all this stuff that you would need to create a show, maybe not a, a full blown show because they only used two cameras.
(10:27):
Um, but still they had the look,the stage and all that stuff.
And so they agreed to that and wedid a deal to do it for three years, and I put it together as a show.
I directed it as a show.
I added it as a two hour special, and Ioffered it to all the platforms that you know, that our show, faith on Film is on.
(10:48):
So I contacted all of 'em,said, Hey, I produced this show.
You guys interested in it, da, da, da.
And you know what?
Like 18 of 'em said yes.
So the thing began to air.
Now this gives a lot more exposureto ICVM gives a lot more exposure to the filmmakers that are nominated and it just elevates the.
The value of, the Crown Awards.
(11:09):
And, and so we've beendoing it for four years.
This last one, I literallyjust finished, uh, last week.
It's gonna premiere.
In fact, I don't know when this, showwill air, but it is premiering as we're doing this, it'll premiere this weekend.
Uh, but obviously when this show comesout, it will already have, but it will be on several other platforms.
Plus we're going to put it probablyon a YouTube channel that people can then access and go watch It's the best one we've done yet people were saying, wow, that was like the Oscars.
Geoff (11:36):
I can vouch for that.
I was there, Jaclyn andI were there, of course.
And then we saw you there.
And a very highly produced,well produced show, uh, award ceremony, and a lot of work.
talked about how much work, the editing,and how much time that has taken.
But even producing the showitself was no small feat.
Isaac (11:53):
There's a lot of pre-production.
I literally started pre-production,I'm gonna say about three months prior to, to the show itself.
'cause you know what, if I had a,a big team, if we had the money, 'cause this is all done with very little money by the way.
I found out that like the bigawards, like not the double awards, but the, the K Love Awards and
(12:14):
it's a million dollar budget.
Geoff (12:16):
Oh wow.
Isaac (12:17):
Okay, it's a million dollar budget.
The director who I know very well, he, hetold me that he has a crew or, or a staff of about 200 to put the show together.
We were, we were talking about it atNRB last year and I said, man, I wish I had the resources that you have.
You know, 'cause I just don't have that.
He goes, Isaac what you do is what'simpressive 'cause you do it with nothing.
(12:37):
So I had to kind of do a lot,most of it myself, because we don't have the, staff or the money
to do that.
and so it takes me months to put togetherall the video work, all the, all the
Geoff (12:48):
So you're literally doing it yourself?
Isaac (12:49):
do it all myself.
I, yeah, I do it myself.
I get a little help from, uh,the, the person that tells me who the nominees are and all that.
Okay.
But other than that, I, I gottacreate all the materials for it.
And then when we show up atthe show itself, the first three years, I mean, I was.
Running around finding the presentersand doing all this stuff and everything, and this year, and I think this is why this was the best one yet, I had help.
(13:12):
I realized.
Actually, they told me, Isaac,you cannot do this by yourself.
So I said, okay.
And I'm very bad at askingpeople for help, especially when, when it's volunteer help.
And so, but I, we did, Ireached out to some people and they all agreed to help me.
So this time I had somebody else thatwas finding the, the presenters, somebody else that was making sure that they were in place to go up next and it just, there was a more help during the show itself.
(13:36):
But I still do all the preand in the post, same thing.
I, I edit the show together and normally.
I don't offer it to anybody until I finishit myself so if it takes me three, four weeks, it takes me three, four weeks.
Well, this time, a, a big networkwanted to air the show and they already chose a date before we even shot the thing, and so they said, we need you to have the show to us.
(13:57):
Literally two weeks fromthe time that we shot it.
I'm like, I have to havethis thing done in two weeks.
So yes, as soon as I came back,I had to edit it all to where it becomes a presentable show.
And, and what I mean by thatis the show takes like two and a half hours when we do it.
I have to cut it down toan hour and 58 minutes.
So there's things thatI have to cut out of it.
(14:18):
And, you know, you gotta decide whatdo I cut out, what do I not cut out?
Um, and then add sound, you know,add some more applause because sometimes the applause is not as, not as, as it should be.
Some laughter is somebody says a jokeand there's very little laughter.
So I add laughter, I add allthe graphics by what they, what we call the lower third.
So that was a lot of work, but whenit really comes down to it, I love it.
Geoff (14:40):
Ah, yeah.
Yeah, it's great doingwhat you love, isn't it?
Isaac (14:43):
Yes.
Geoff (14:43):
So let's, take a few minutes here and go back.
We told people in the first half wewere gonna talk about directing and producing in tv, and you've done both.
And, um, I'd kinda like to givethem a picture of what it's like.
I. No doubt.
Very different than, forexample, directing film.
And so, uh, let's just talk about it.
You've directed and probably producedhundreds of TV shows, including very significant ones, the flagship show.
(15:10):
Praise the Lord for TrinityBroadcasting Network.
Give us, a little picture ofwhat it actually looks like.
What are the steps involved?
what are you actually doingto direct a show like that?
Isaac (15:22):
I think prayer is the very first step and to, let me take a little, little side step here on this one.
I, again, I've been directing.
Christian TV all my life.
Right.
But there was one year thatI went to work for PAX tv.
They hired me because they needed a livedirector and they would do live shows and there's very few of those anymore.
Everything is pre-taped.
(15:44):
And so they, they hired meand this was a secular set.
It's not a Christian show, it wasPAX tv with their flagship show was a show called Great Day America.
And, uh, the first day I remember Iget on and I, I, get my headset on and all the camera guys outside have their headsets in the floor director and everybody is, all ready to go.
And I said, I, I don't wantanybody to be offended or anything.
I'm used to saying a littleprayer before starting a show.
(16:07):
It helps me to calm down and justputs me in the right frame of mind.
So if you all don't mind, I'mjust gonna say that, okay?
Now I'm not telling youall you have to do it.
I'm not.
Doing it other than I needto do this for myself.
And a friend of mine that was out on thefloor said that everybody looked at each other like, what in the world is this?
What is going on?
(16:27):
And I just said a verysimple little prayer.
This was a daily show.
By the end of the week, they werereminding me, Isaac, don't forget to pray.
I see.
so yeah, prayer is one of the firstthings, but you know what, one, one thing that, that you have to really be aware of is not focused on just your one shot.
See, in, in film, you have yourown monitor, uh, of whatever the camera's looking at, and that's your focus, that one shot right there.
(16:53):
Right?
And if you're gonna do anothershot, that's a whole different time.
Then you move the camera ifyou need to get a another angle and you focus on that one shot.
In television, you are lookingat approximately, depending on how big your shoot is, three to seven, to eight, to even 12 cameras, camera angles at one time.
So you have to be verygood at multitasking.
(17:16):
And so as you're directing this show,you're looking at everything and then you have to really be good at paying attention to what's happening, who's talking, because if somebody's talking and somebody else suddenly starts to talk and you're not paying attention to that.
You're gonna have somebody else on thescreen where somebody else is talking.
You have to be really good atlooking at multiple things.
(17:37):
And then, uh, the other thing that I wasvery good at, probably because I was a musician, was in directing music shows.
there's a bit of a differencethere, how you handle that as well.
Because now you're not just havingvarious static shots, now you're having a lot of moving shots.
You have, you know, pushes and pulls andpans, and you have, if you have a jib, you got jib moves and you got all this.
(18:01):
So again, it's a, it's a differentthing and you want to be rhythmic.
You're not just moving back and forth.
you kind of want to do it basedon the rhythm of the music itself.
And so, being a musician, thatbecame very easy for me to do.
So I directed a lot of music shows.
Geoff (18:16):
You mean live shows
or television
Isaac (18:18):
Live, and Preta.
But a lot of, yeah, not, notmusic videos we're talking about.
Yeah, we're talking aboutlike concert, uh, or praise.
The Lord of course had the interview andthen they would break over to music and then back to interview and then back to another song and back and forth like that.
and so you're, you gottabe very, good at that.
And then the other thing is that youhave to be able to block out whatever commotion is happening behind you.
(18:42):
So as, as I was sitting on the videoconsole looking at, you know, all these monitors and not everybody's good at this, literally you could have a party behind me and it would not affect me at all because I was able to block that
out and just concentrate onwhat's happening in front of me.
Uh, not everybody can do that.
I, there was a director therethat if anybody even started to talk back in the back,
Geoff (19:04):
Yeah.
Isaac (19:05):
just couldn't handle it, you know?
And, and so it's importantthat you be able to do that because that's gonna happen.
Sometimes a producer will walkin and have some things to say,
Geoff (19:13):
So very different in that the director on a film, for example, would be more focused on the performance and capturing that performance, getting the best they can out of their actors.
Whereas the director of a, a live show,like you're talking about, wouldn't really be sounds focused on what the people in front of the camera are doing.
Isaac (19:30):
Nope.
We're well doing in terms of arethey talking or they're not talking.
Geoff (19:37):
Focused, focused on them so you can, uh, do your
job
correctly,
Isaac (19:40):
right.
But other than that, yeah, you're morefocused on the visual aspect of it.
Make sure that, that theyhave the right head room.
Make sure that you know that theshot looks proper and all that, but not on their specific performance.
Geoff (19:52):
Right.
Cool.
Okay, so what aboutproducing a show like that?
What does that role entail that'sdifferent from the director?
I.
Isaac (19:59):
Producing is more, especially on television, is more the creation of a show.
Uh, as an example, I wasdoing a show with this lady.
Her name was K Statons as well.
She was a singer.
Uh, she had her own show on,on tv, and I was a director.
I. And she would bring in a guesthost for six shows, and then she would bring in a different, one of the six.
(20:21):
So one day she brought thisguy named, Leon Patillo.
Geoff (20:24):
Yeah,
Isaac (20:24):
Li Leon, you remember Leon Patillo?
Well, yeah.
He's become a very, he, he becamea very good friend of mine.
So he, he got there and when I took himto lunch, he said, you know what, Isaac, I've always wanted to do this show.
Kinda like the Arsenio Hall Show.
He wanted to call it Leon and Friends.
And the thing is, he had a lot ofcelebrity friends, I mean a lot of big time celebrity friends.
(20:47):
So I went to Mr. Crouch and talked toher about it, and she says, go for it.
Let's do it.
So in that sense, producing was puttingthat together, creating the show.
Okay, how are we gonna do this?
Are we gonna have a live band?
You know?
And so I. Again, I think this is differentthan producing film, 'cause producing and film, you're actually in charge of a lot of, I don't know, a lot of the, the financial stuff and, uh, and getting licenses and doing all this stuff.
(21:10):
So that's, that's completely different.
For me, producing a TV showwas just, okay, this is what I want the show to look like.
And, and so I, I did that.
We shot, uh, quite a few episodes ofLeon and Friends, which I did pattern it quite a bit like the Arsenio Hall Show at the time, and so I didn't do as much.
Producing, if you will, because,uh, at TBN, a lot of the hosts are their own producers.
(21:32):
they sort of, they'll, they'll cometo TV and they'll say, Hey, you know, I would like to do this show.
And if they are somebody that you know,that the crouch has felt like, okay, they've got an audience, they, you know, they already are singers or preachers or whatever, so they produce their own shows.
But some of the ones that I say Iproduce would be like Leono friends, and there's a couple others like that.
But very different.
(21:52):
So I don't have a lot ofexperience in producing TV shows.
for me, it was more directing, which
Geoff (21:57):
Mm-hmm.
Yes you do.
Yes, you do.
I think we're probably ready to, to closeout time-wise, but you know, we've had some very, very interesting stories, um, both in the last episode and in this one, a different angle for us on our podcast.
And so I really appreciate that Everytime we can get someone who is in a different area of, film or in this case primarily TV and, uh, you know.
(22:24):
We all learn something more.
Uh, we all learn from each other.
And so I really appreciate thethings we've learned from you today and hearing your, story, uh, the inspiration that comes from, of course, how God moved in your life.
And I'm really glad you tookthis time with us today.
Isaac (22:39):
Oh, it was a pleasure.
Geoff (22:40):
but once again, can you please tell us primarily how would you like people to find you faith on film?
Are there other things youwould like to direct us toward?
Isaac (22:49):
you know what I, I'm gonna give, if it's okay with you, I, I can give my personal email address.
I don't mind people reaching out to me.
Geoff (22:55):
You certainly can if you wish.
Isaac (22:56):
Well, it's very simple.
They can reach me at Isaac,and that's I-S-A-A-C.
8 5 8 isaac88@gmail.com and anybody canreach out to me and ask me a question or whatever they they wanna say.
Uh, but of course the, the bigthing for me would be that, they maybe, um, go to our YouTube channel, which is FA on film tv.
(23:19):
The the URL is basicallyyoutube.com/at faith on film tv.
And you know what?
Subscribe.
Hit that little subscribe button'cause we really could use, it doesn't cost you anything.
It's not one of thosesubscriptions you gotta pay for.
Just go subscribe and you'repart of what we're doing.
Geoff (23:34):
Yep.
And the website.
Isaac (23:35):
Faith on film tv.com.
Faith on film tv.
And make sure it's faithon film not in film folks.
Faith on film tv.com.
Geoff (23:43):
Awesome.
We'll put all that in the show notes andI encourage everyone to check it out.
And once again, thank you Isaac, andGod bless you and all that you do.
Isaac (23:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Hey there.
Welcome to the Faith andFamily Filmmakers podcast.
I'm Geoff, and we're back for part twoof our interview with Isaac Hernandez.
Hi Isaac.
Isaac (00:09):
Hi, how you doing?
Geoff (00:10):
If you missed the first half, uh, I encourage you to go back, take a listen.
You can hear his bio and finda lot more about him, his life.
And the journey that God tookhim on to, uh, where he is today.
And we're gonna talk, uh, about anumber of things, but I wanna start with something you mentioned to me earlier about how God spoke to you about healthy entertainment.
(00:31):
What did he tell you and when was that?
tell us about that whole thing.
Isaac (00:35):
That was, oh my goodness, that must have been it in six, seven years.
Years ago, maybe.
Um, what happened is I, I've beendiabetic, or I guess pre-diabetic for, for a long time, and then I get a letter from my doctor one day and I'm, I'm actually traveling, I'm somewhere directing a show or something, and I get a letter at home and my wife text the letter to me because the letter said, your A1C has gone up.
(01:05):
I don't know, 10, 10 point something,which is apparently very high.
And so we're gonna have to putyou on insulin and I gotta tell you if there's anything that gives me the heebie-jeebies is shots.
Geoff (01:17):
Hmm.
Isaac (01:18):
Even when I would get, uh, you know, whatever kind of shot, if I hurt myself and they needed to gimme a shot, I would go into panic mode.
I would just absolutely, and nothingmakes me, would make me go that panicky except for that for some reason.
I just would go into thisreal intense panic mode about I. Being stuck with a needle.
So I thought, I can't do that.
I can't be giving myself ashot every day in the stomach.
(01:40):
There's no way.
And so my daughter-in-law sends methis text and she says, why don't you check this documentary out?
And it was a documentary calledForks Over Knives, which has to do with the vegetarian lifestyle.
It has to do with basically eatinga healthy vegetarian lifestyle.
And so I saw the documentary.
(02:00):
Forks over knives and I thought, wow, someof those foods, you know, you, you think of vegetarian that all you're gonna do is eat broccoli and salads and whatever.
But this documentary showed there'sa lot of really great dishes you can make without using meat product.
Geoff (02:15):
Mm-hmm.
Isaac (02:16):
and so I thought I, I can probably do that.
And so I began the vegetarian lifestyle,which I did by the way, for a year.
I, I didn't remain a vegetarian.
I've tried it twice and itdid make a huge difference.
Not only did I lose a lot of weight,I. But my numbers started going down.
I mean, my, my doctor sends me aletter a few months later, says, congratulations, you brought your A1C down to like six point something.
(02:40):
So that was a, huge thing.
And then, uh, all of a suddenI, again, I hear from God and, and uh, as I said in the first part, I.
I've become very keen in, in hearing him.
I don't have to have writingon the wall or, or audible or I can hear it in my spirit.
I heard him saying, that'swonderful, Isaac, but what about the health of your soul?
And I thought, well,what do you mean by that?
(03:04):
And so I began to kind of think about thata little bit, research it a little bit.
Realized, uh, or learned, I shouldsay, that just the way your body reacts to what you feed it through your mouth, if you feed it, nothing but hamburgers and hot dogs and ice cream and cake and, which is kind of what I used to love to eat, by the way.
A lot of ice cream and cake andit's cookies, your body reacts to it in a very negative way and it becomes very unhealthy.
(03:29):
Okay?
But if you change that diet of whatyou eat, it then reacts to that and it.
Starts to get healthy again.
And so I realized that, see there,there's three parts to your body.
that's how we are like the Trinity.
God said he made us in his image'cause he made us also a trinity.
He made us a body, a physical body.
He made us a spirit and he made us a soul.
(03:51):
The soul is kind of what controlsyour thoughts, your emotions, as opposed to the the spirit, which by the way is how you connect with God.
You don't connect withGod through your soul.
You connect.
Through your spirit, okay?
And so I started to realize, waita minute, what you feed your soul, which is what you listen to or what you hear, or rather what you see is what you're feeding your soul.
(04:14):
And we have become very unhealthy.
Even as Christians, webecome very unhealthy because we've been feeding our soul.
Junk food, and we don't even realize itanymore where it's gotten to because it's almost like the whole frog, you know, boiling frog thing where you stick the, the frog in the water and you just turn up the heat a little bit and it doesn't even realize that he's cooking himself.
(04:37):
Okay.
And so it's been like that, uh, ifyou look back now at the content that you would watch on television and in movies versus what we watch now in television and in movies.
You realize you know how hot that waterhas become and you didn't even realize it.
And so I begin to talk aboutwatching healthy entertainment.
(05:01):
And you'll notice I didn't sayChristian entertainment because it isn't just about watching Christian stuff or non-Christian stuff.
we need entertainment.
We are created for some reason.
I don't know.
God might have to answer that questionto me one day, but we are created to need not only the spiritual food, you know, we need to read our Bibles, we need to pray, we need to worship, but our bodies also need the other food, which is the, again, whatever it is we eat, but we also need our soul needs.
(05:25):
Entertainment.
Geoff (05:25):
Yeah, there's something about story that's, uh,
just integrated part of our lives.
Isaac (05:30):
Jesus knew that because he used stories more than, he did sermons.
At least that's what we read in the Bible.
We don't read a whole lot of sermons, butboy, there's a bunch of, uh, parables, a lot of stories and so I, it kind of became one of those things where I felt like people need to know this.
People need to know that theyneed to really be careful with what they feed their souls.
They need to feed it healthyentertainment, whether it be in their music, whether they be in their TV shows, in their movies.
(05:56):
Even artwork.
They need to, to just start feedingthemselves good, healthy entertainment so that their souls will be okay.
It's not gonna keep 'em from heaven.
I don't believe that watching thisstuff is necessarily going to keep them from heaven, but it sure is gonna make them very unhealthy here on Earth.
And do we want to beunhealthy here on Earth?
I'd rather be very healthy so that Ican really do what God wants me to do.
Geoff (06:17):
Yeah, it's interesting you say this was more or less seven years ago.
You were already, of course, workingfor parables, but, uh, it was not too long before you started, faith on Film.
I, I wonder if, that was an influence.
Isaac (06:31):
You know what, it's, very likely, again, God never gives me the full details.
He just starts the process and,and takes me through the journey.
I've always wondered, God, why don'tyou show me what the very end is?
What would show me where the ultimate,and I think maybe it's 'cause number one, he wants me to walk by faith.
Geoff (06:49):
Mm-hmm.
Isaac (06:50):
Number two, I might get scared of what is the ultimate thing.
It might be like, oh,this is too big for me.
There's no way.
So he just puts me a step at a time.
Geoff (06:58):
Yeah,
as we've been talking abouthealthy entertainment and storytelling, I know you've been involved with ICVM, international
Christian Visual Media Association,and many of our, uh, listeners would be very familiar with their ICVM Storytellers conference.
Uh, just tell us about how you gotinvolved and your involvement with that.
Isaac (07:18):
Lemme see if I can remember when the first time was.
I, I don't remember if it was when Iwas still with tv N and I, it was one of the conferences that Mrs. Crouch felt I should go to, or if it was after I was already with parables.
When I was with parables, I was goingto every Christian film festival and conference that there was, I was out at least once, if not twice a month, it was one of those times that I went to ICVM for the first time and I just really, again, fell in love with the people there, with the, with the filmmakers.
(07:48):
my love for filmmakers is just.
Pretty immense to be honest with you.
And so I, started going eventually thedirectors there saw my love for the conference and my love for the filmmakers that they asked me to be, on the board.
And so I joined the board, Idon't know, maybe nine years ago or so then in it ever since.
(08:08):
And, I just absolutely love it.
One of the things that I really tookcharge of was the Crown Awards.
and that's become abig focus on what I do.
And again, for the same reason, ishaving spent time at, at TBN one of the things that Mrs. Crouch always expected was excellence.
Excellence in production,excellence and all that.
(08:30):
So the Crown Awards was somethingthat, you know, they've been doing for like 50 52 years now.
But it was small.
It was just.
Something that they would do there atthe conference, at the storytellers conference, and they would award this film the best, uh, evangelistic film, the best youth film, the best whatever.
But it was done very low key.
And me, I. Be the former TV n director.
(08:53):
I said, we gotta kind ofexpand the way this is.
And so I, I asked if I could take it over.
They said yes.
They gave it to me and the, thefirst maybe two years I think that I did it, we still kept it there at the conference, but I made it to be more like a show with the animated visuals and music and all this stuff.
(09:13):
so it became a littlebit more like a show.
In the conference.
And one thing that the conferenceused to do was it was you had to be a member to submit.
So only only members would submit,which I thought was not a good thing because it was really the same people winning every year.
And you know, we would all patourselves in the back, Hey, good show.
Hey, you did a good show.
Congratulations.
But it was always the same ones.
(09:36):
And so at one of the boardmeetings I said, we need to open this up to everybody.
There's no reason why itshould just be members.
We need to open it up to everybody.
You might get some members out of that.
you know, if they're nominated and theycome to the conference and they fall in love with the conference and there you go.
We'll, we'll get some, somenew, uh, attendees and new members of the conference.
But anyway, when they saw that thepresident at the time, which was right about the time when we changed to a new president, 'cause this one ended up going to work for, uh.
(10:05):
Angel Studios, he, went to NRB andsuggested to them that maybe we create a partnership and do the awards at NRB.
Of course, the advantage of doingthat was that NRB already has some cameras and, you know, and all this stuff that you would need to create a show, maybe not a, a full blown show because they only used two cameras.
(10:27):
Um, but still they had the look,the stage and all that stuff.
And so they agreed to that and wedid a deal to do it for three years, and I put it together as a show.
I directed it as a show.
I added it as a two hour special, and Ioffered it to all the platforms that you know, that our show, faith on Film is on.
(10:48):
So I contacted all of 'em,said, Hey, I produced this show.
You guys interested in it, da, da, da.
And you know what?
Like 18 of 'em said yes.
So the thing began to air.
Now this gives a lot more exposureto ICVM gives a lot more exposure to the filmmakers that are nominated and it just elevates the.
The value of, the Crown Awards.
(11:09):
And, and so we've beendoing it for four years.
This last one, I literallyjust finished, uh, last week.
It's gonna premiere.
In fact, I don't know when this, showwill air, but it is premiering as we're doing this, it'll premiere this weekend.
Uh, but obviously when this show comesout, it will already have, but it will be on several other platforms.
Plus we're going to put it probablyon a YouTube channel that people can then access and go watch It's the best one we've done yet people were saying, wow, that was like the Oscars.
Geoff (11:36):
I can vouch for that.
I was there, Jaclyn andI were there, of course.
And then we saw you there.
And a very highly produced,well produced show, uh, award ceremony, and a lot of work.
talked about how much work, the editing,and how much time that has taken.
But even producing the showitself was no small feat.
Isaac (11:53):
There's a lot of pre-production.
I literally started pre-production,I'm gonna say about three months prior to, to the show itself.
'cause you know what, if I had a,a big team, if we had the money, 'cause this is all done with very little money by the way.
I found out that like the bigawards, like not the double awards, but the, the K Love Awards and
(12:14):
it's a million dollar budget.
Geoff (12:16):
Oh wow.
Isaac (12:17):
Okay, it's a million dollar budget.
The director who I know very well, he, hetold me that he has a crew or, or a staff of about 200 to put the show together.
We were, we were talking about it atNRB last year and I said, man, I wish I had the resources that you have.
You know, 'cause I just don't have that.
He goes, Isaac what you do is what'simpressive 'cause you do it with nothing.
(12:37):
So I had to kind of do a lot,most of it myself, because we don't have the, staff or the money
to do that.
and so it takes me months to put togetherall the video work, all the, all the
Geoff (12:48):
So you're literally doing it yourself?
Isaac (12:49):
do it all myself.
I, yeah, I do it myself.
I get a little help from, uh,the, the person that tells me who the nominees are and all that.
Okay.
But other than that, I, I gottacreate all the materials for it.
And then when we show up atthe show itself, the first three years, I mean, I was.
Running around finding the presentersand doing all this stuff and everything, and this year, and I think this is why this was the best one yet, I had help.
(13:12):
I realized.
Actually, they told me, Isaac,you cannot do this by yourself.
So I said, okay.
And I'm very bad at askingpeople for help, especially when, when it's volunteer help.
And so, but I, we did, Ireached out to some people and they all agreed to help me.
So this time I had somebody else thatwas finding the, the presenters, somebody else that was making sure that they were in place to go up next and it just, there was a more help during the show itself.
(13:36):
But I still do all the preand in the post, same thing.
I, I edit the show together and normally.
I don't offer it to anybody until I finishit myself so if it takes me three, four weeks, it takes me three, four weeks.
Well, this time, a, a big networkwanted to air the show and they already chose a date before we even shot the thing, and so they said, we need you to have the show to us.
(13:57):
Literally two weeks fromthe time that we shot it.
I'm like, I have to havethis thing done in two weeks.
So yes, as soon as I came back,I had to edit it all to where it becomes a presentable show.
And, and what I mean by thatis the show takes like two and a half hours when we do it.
I have to cut it down toan hour and 58 minutes.
So there's things thatI have to cut out of it.
(14:18):
And, you know, you gotta decide whatdo I cut out, what do I not cut out?
Um, and then add sound, you know,add some more applause because sometimes the applause is not as, not as, as it should be.
Some laughter is somebody says a jokeand there's very little laughter.
So I add laughter, I add allthe graphics by what they, what we call the lower third.
So that was a lot of work, but whenit really comes down to it, I love it.
Geoff (14:40):
Ah, yeah.
Yeah, it's great doingwhat you love, isn't it?
Isaac (14:43):
Yes.
Geoff (14:43):
So let's, take a few minutes here and go back.
We told people in the first half wewere gonna talk about directing and producing in tv, and you've done both.
And, um, I'd kinda like to givethem a picture of what it's like.
I. No doubt.
Very different than, forexample, directing film.
And so, uh, let's just talk about it.
You've directed and probably producedhundreds of TV shows, including very significant ones, the flagship show.
(15:10):
Praise the Lord for TrinityBroadcasting Network.
Give us, a little picture ofwhat it actually looks like.
What are the steps involved?
what are you actually doingto direct a show like that?
Isaac (15:22):
I think prayer is the very first step and to, let me take a little, little side step here on this one.
I, again, I've been directing.
Christian TV all my life.
Right.
But there was one year thatI went to work for PAX tv.
They hired me because they needed a livedirector and they would do live shows and there's very few of those anymore.
Everything is pre-taped.
(15:44):
And so they, they hired meand this was a secular set.
It's not a Christian show, it wasPAX tv with their flagship show was a show called Great Day America.
And, uh, the first day I remember Iget on and I, I, get my headset on and all the camera guys outside have their headsets in the floor director and everybody is, all ready to go.
And I said, I, I don't wantanybody to be offended or anything.
I'm used to saying a littleprayer before starting a show.
(16:07):
It helps me to calm down and justputs me in the right frame of mind.
So if you all don't mind, I'mjust gonna say that, okay?
Now I'm not telling youall you have to do it.
I'm not.
Doing it other than I needto do this for myself.
And a friend of mine that was out on thefloor said that everybody looked at each other like, what in the world is this?
What is going on?
(16:27):
And I just said a verysimple little prayer.
This was a daily show.
By the end of the week, they werereminding me, Isaac, don't forget to pray.
I see.
so yeah, prayer is one of the firstthings, but you know what, one, one thing that, that you have to really be aware of is not focused on just your one shot.
See, in, in film, you have yourown monitor, uh, of whatever the camera's looking at, and that's your focus, that one shot right there.
(16:53):
Right?
And if you're gonna do anothershot, that's a whole different time.
Then you move the camera ifyou need to get a another angle and you focus on that one shot.
In television, you are lookingat approximately, depending on how big your shoot is, three to seven, to eight, to even 12 cameras, camera angles at one time.
So you have to be verygood at multitasking.
(17:16):
And so as you're directing this show,you're looking at everything and then you have to really be good at paying attention to what's happening, who's talking, because if somebody's talking and somebody else suddenly starts to talk and you're not paying attention to that.
You're gonna have somebody else on thescreen where somebody else is talking.
You have to be really good atlooking at multiple things.
(17:37):
And then, uh, the other thing that I wasvery good at, probably because I was a musician, was in directing music shows.
there's a bit of a differencethere, how you handle that as well.
Because now you're not just havingvarious static shots, now you're having a lot of moving shots.
You have, you know, pushes and pulls andpans, and you have, if you have a jib, you got jib moves and you got all this.
(18:01):
So again, it's a, it's a differentthing and you want to be rhythmic.
You're not just moving back and forth.
you kind of want to do it basedon the rhythm of the music itself.
And so, being a musician, thatbecame very easy for me to do.
So I directed a lot of music shows.
Geoff (18:16):
You mean live shows
or television
Isaac (18:18):
Live, and Preta.
But a lot of, yeah, not, notmusic videos we're talking about.
Yeah, we're talking aboutlike concert, uh, or praise.
The Lord of course had the interview andthen they would break over to music and then back to interview and then back to another song and back and forth like that.
and so you're, you gottabe very, good at that.
And then the other thing is that youhave to be able to block out whatever commotion is happening behind you.
(18:42):
So as, as I was sitting on the videoconsole looking at, you know, all these monitors and not everybody's good at this, literally you could have a party behind me and it would not affect me at all because I was able to block that
out and just concentrate onwhat's happening in front of me.
Uh, not everybody can do that.
I, there was a director therethat if anybody even started to talk back in the back,
Geoff (19:04):
Yeah.
Isaac (19:05):
just couldn't handle it, you know?
And, and so it's importantthat you be able to do that because that's gonna happen.
Sometimes a producer will walkin and have some things to say,
Geoff (19:13):
So very different in that the director on a film, for example, would be more focused on the performance and capturing that performance, getting the best they can out of their actors.
Whereas the director of a, a live show,like you're talking about, wouldn't really be sounds focused on what the people in front of the camera are doing.
Isaac (19:30):
Nope.
We're well doing in terms of arethey talking or they're not talking.
Geoff (19:37):
Focused, focused on them so you can, uh, do your
job
correctly,
Isaac (19:40):
right.
But other than that, yeah, you're morefocused on the visual aspect of it.
Make sure that, that theyhave the right head room.
Make sure that you know that theshot looks proper and all that, but not on their specific performance.
Geoff (19:52):
Right.
Cool.
Okay, so what aboutproducing a show like that?
What does that role entail that'sdifferent from the director?
I.
Isaac (19:59):
Producing is more, especially on television, is more the creation of a show.
Uh, as an example, I wasdoing a show with this lady.
Her name was K Statons as well.
She was a singer.
Uh, she had her own show on,on tv, and I was a director.
I. And she would bring in a guesthost for six shows, and then she would bring in a different, one of the six.
(20:21):
So one day she brought thisguy named, Leon Patillo.
Geoff (20:24):
Yeah,
Isaac (20:24):
Li Leon, you remember Leon Patillo?
Well, yeah.
He's become a very, he, he becamea very good friend of mine.
So he, he got there and when I took himto lunch, he said, you know what, Isaac, I've always wanted to do this show.
Kinda like the Arsenio Hall Show.
He wanted to call it Leon and Friends.
And the thing is, he had a lot ofcelebrity friends, I mean a lot of big time celebrity friends.
(20:47):
So I went to Mr. Crouch and talked toher about it, and she says, go for it.
Let's do it.
So in that sense, producing was puttingthat together, creating the show.
Okay, how are we gonna do this?
Are we gonna have a live band?
You know?
And so I. Again, I think this is differentthan producing film, 'cause producing and film, you're actually in charge of a lot of, I don't know, a lot of the, the financial stuff and, uh, and getting licenses and doing all this stuff.
(21:10):
So that's, that's completely different.
For me, producing a TV showwas just, okay, this is what I want the show to look like.
And, and so I, I did that.
We shot, uh, quite a few episodes ofLeon and Friends, which I did pattern it quite a bit like the Arsenio Hall Show at the time, and so I didn't do as much.
Producing, if you will, because,uh, at TBN, a lot of the hosts are their own producers.
(21:32):
they sort of, they'll, they'll cometo TV and they'll say, Hey, you know, I would like to do this show.
And if they are somebody that you know,that the crouch has felt like, okay, they've got an audience, they, you know, they already are singers or preachers or whatever, so they produce their own shows.
But some of the ones that I say Iproduce would be like Leono friends, and there's a couple others like that.
But very different.
(21:52):
So I don't have a lot ofexperience in producing TV shows.
for me, it was more directing, which
Geoff (21:57):
Mm-hmm.
Yes you do.
Yes, you do.
I think we're probably ready to, to closeout time-wise, but you know, we've had some very, very interesting stories, um, both in the last episode and in this one, a different angle for us on our podcast.
And so I really appreciate that Everytime we can get someone who is in a different area of, film or in this case primarily TV and, uh, you know.
(22:24):
We all learn something more.
Uh, we all learn from each other.
And so I really appreciate thethings we've learned from you today and hearing your, story, uh, the inspiration that comes from, of course, how God moved in your life.
And I'm really glad you tookthis time with us today.
Isaac (22:39):
Oh, it was a pleasure.
Geoff (22:40):
but once again, can you please tell us primarily how would you like people to find you faith on film?
Are there other things youwould like to direct us toward?
Isaac (22:49):
you know what I, I'm gonna give, if it's okay with you, I, I can give my personal email address.
I don't mind people reaching out to me.
Geoff (22:55):
You certainly can if you wish.
Isaac (22:56):
Well, it's very simple.
They can reach me at Isaac,and that's I-S-A-A-C.
8 5 8 isaac88@gmail.com and anybody canreach out to me and ask me a question or whatever they they wanna say.
Uh, but of course the, the bigthing for me would be that, they maybe, um, go to our YouTube channel, which is FA on film tv.
(23:19):
The the URL is basicallyyoutube.com/at faith on film tv.
And you know what?
Subscribe.
Hit that little subscribe button'cause we really could use, it doesn't cost you anything.
It's not one of thosesubscriptions you gotta pay for.
Just go subscribe and you'repart of what we're doing.
Geoff (23:34):
Yep.
And the website.
Isaac (23:35):
Faith on film tv.com.
Faith on film tv.
And make sure it's faithon film not in film folks.
Faith on film tv.com.
Geoff (23:43):
Awesome.
We'll put all that in the show notes andI encourage everyone to check it out.
And once again, thank you Isaac, andGod bless you and all that you do.
Isaac (23:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for the opportunity.
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