Latest / Anchored by the Sword / Behind the Scenes of Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries (Part 1): A Conversation with Chevonne O’Shaughnessy!

Transcript

Behind the Scenes of Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries (Part 1): A Conversation with Chevonne O’Shaughnessy! · Anchored by the Sword

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  Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Anchor by the
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  Sword podcast. I pray that today's episode will
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  leave you encouraged and also challenged in your faith.
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  And I pray that you would take the stories that are talked
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  about here today and share them with other people.
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  Thank you so much for joining me and enjoy today's episode.
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  Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Anchor by the
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  Sword podcast. I am super excited because I am
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  starting a three episode series about a new television series
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  coming out that I personally got to be involved in and I loved it
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  so much. It's called Sugar Creek Amish
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  Mysteries and it is coming out on up TV and on up faith and
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  family. And it's also got a movie that
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  came out last year. And I'm just so excited because
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  today I have Siobhan Oshanowski on and we are going to talk
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  about all things her story, Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries, how
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  she got involved with all things Sugar Creek and just everything.
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  So thank you for coming on today.
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  Thanks Gina, It was so much fun having you even on set.
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  It was great. Absolutely.
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  The first day I was ever on set, it was me and my husband, and we
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  sat and probably talked your ear off during lunchtime because we
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  were so excited. So let's start by having you
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  tell my listeners a little bit about yourself.
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  Well, I've been in the business between 35 years.
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  You know, I started doing action movies.
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  I started in the 19 in the early 90s and when home video was
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  really well and we were doing one crash, boom, bam a month and
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  we loved it. And we'd go to all the markets
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  of the Calm Film Festival, the TV markets and literally could
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  put on the outside door, sold out.
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  Every country in the world was taking our movies.
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  They the dialogue was very small because basically it was just
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  stunts and it was fun and we are doing great.
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  And, and as things started going on, we did 75 of them.
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  That was PM Entertainment. And then George and I started
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  together on American Cinema. I was a single mom and my
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  daughter was nine years old and she came to me and she wanted to
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  watch Child's Play. And I don't know if you remember
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  that movie Child's Play. It was about the doll and the
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  stabs. I'll check the And I told her
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  she couldn't see it. And of course, just like
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  children, they did. She went behind my back and she
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  watched the movie and she came to me and she said that she was
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  scared. And I kind of brushed it off.
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  I was busy. I was doing markets and busy
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  with business. And I didn't really think that
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  much of it, thinking it was just an hour and a half how much
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  damage could have done. And I think of a month later, I
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  went to her school and I walked in her, her classroom, Gina.
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  And you know how when you go in, there's pictures on all the
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  walls and I'm looking around and all the pictures of the
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  students. And I'm looking around and all
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  of a sudden I come to my daughter's pictures and usually
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  they're bright and colorful. And all of a sudden now they're
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  dark and they're red. And I'm talking to the teacher.
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  I'm saying, what's going on? And she goes, your daughter has
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  so much anxiety. And I said, really, she goes,
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  yes, that movie really affected her.
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  And for starters, first I felt ashamed that I must give you a
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  horrible mother, that I really didn't take it seriously because
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  I didn't think it wouldn't be that that much.
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  And I had to go home and really say I was sorry to her.
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  And then I looked at myself and I said from then on, I said if I
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  have the power of making movies, I want to make movies that a
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  family can sit down and watch together.
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  I can't stop the other ones from being made, but I want a place
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  that a family can sit down and have an alternative.
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  So that's when I started doing the other type of movies.
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  So you started American cinema inspires.
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  No, first I started with Cindy Bond.
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  Bond it meant and we she had given me the 10 commandments
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  this years ago, 2007. She had made a animation called
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  10 commandments. She had Christian Slater, Alva
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  Molina and Ben Kingsley in it. They were the voices on it.
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  And she asked me to sell it. And I'm like, I don't know
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  Cindy. I do action and the crash from
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  them. I said, I said, let me ask my
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  partner see if we can we can do this.
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  I mean, we're at the market. So anyhow, I'll put up a panel
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  and I said, let me see if we can sell this movie.
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  And it's like, OK, so, but I mean, it can't hurt us.
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  We'll have these pictures of Alpha Molino, Ben Kingsley and
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  Christian Slater. What can it do?
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  So he sold the movie. The animation was OK, It wasn't
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  great. And he ended up going the
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  market. He ended up selling the world,
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  the world except for one territory.
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  You know what that one territory was?
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  And the funny part, Gina was I thought it was going to be my
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  first territory that I was going to sell.
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  It was Israel. Wow.
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  I sold China, I sold Japan, I sold Turkey for Ramadan, I sold
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  the Middle East, I sold everywhere except for Israel.
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  And think first thing they said to me, we already know the
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  story. Wow.
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  Hey, base didn't want a Christian giving them the Jewish
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  story, but everywhere else. And that's when Cindy and I
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  said, I said, Cindy, if we're doing these movies, we should
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  not only just have one, we have to have at least six to ten of
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  these a year because that's what we were doing with AC before.
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  We were making one, one a month. So a friend of mine said,
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  Siobhan, you should get a whole bunch of these together.
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  So we started Mission Pictures and then for 5-7 years we got 75
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  of these faith-based movies and we would go to the markets and
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  the markets were kind of like they had never seen these type
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  of movies before in the beginning.
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  They would come in and then they walk out.
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  They were like kind of scared, like what's going on here?
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  And sometimes it go, we always were looking for these type of
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  movies, but we didn't know where to find them.
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  So we did really well. Then all of a sudden, Cindy,
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  Cindy wanted to convert people. I just want to inspire people.
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  So she went her way and I started American Cinemas Fires.
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  So my movies are, I would call myself more of a seed planter.
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  I want to also sell the world internationally.
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  And the problem is if you do open a Bible or you start to
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  convert and you use those, then I can sell television and I can
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  sell certain places. And I didn't want to put too
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  much in a box. So my movies are more hinting at
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  it. But you make your decision,
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  Yeah. So what got you interested in
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  the whole Sugar Creek area? Because this is not your first
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  venture with Sugar Creek style movies.
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  Well, when Cindy and I started Mission, I went into Hallmark
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  and because I'd done 75 movies and I had a script, I'm thinking
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  they're going to give me a chance to make a movie for.
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  So I had this script and go into them and I show them the stuff.
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  And the girl, the Hallmark movie says to me, she goes, what are
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  you bringing to me? And I'm looking at going, what
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  do you mean what I'm bringing to you?
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  I'm, I've made 75 movies and I have a script and she goes, OK,
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  we have a whole bunch of people like you, what are you bringing
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  to me? And I'm like, what do you mean
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  bringing to you? You're Hallmark.
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  I'm not Hallmark. I just make movies.
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  And she goes, no, no, yeah, I need you to bring me something
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  different than that. So I remember walking out of
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  there going basically thinking to myself, what does she mean?
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  So I don't have cast. So then I started doing books.
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  So I was having a, a Christian person that was doing some
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  liturgy for us. We were trying to look at things
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  and he brought me the love find you books.
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  I don't know if you remember those from Guidepost.
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  And at first it was some of them press, some of them press first
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  had them and then some of them press sold them to Guidepost.
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  And Cindy and I went to Guideposts and we got the rights
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  for it. And I, they're 50.
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  So there are 50 States and each one had one.
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  And I went through them. I read most of them.
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  So, you know, I read most of those books.
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  And we started with the Love Find You in Sugar Creek.
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  And I came back into the Hallmark office and I said,
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  look, and at that time, Guideposts used to do a monthly
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  letter to 6 million people. I have 6 million people.
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  I have this script again, it's very contained.
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  And it's this and the other. And this is what I have.
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  They still said no, but Up TV said yes.
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  So before we went out of it, George and I called up Up TV and
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  we said we're doing a lot of promotion.
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  At that time, social media wasn't what it is today, but we
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  were doing mom bloggers, we're doing the Christian bookstores,
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  and we knew we had guideposts. So we said to them, we think
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  we're going to do 2 million views on the channel for this
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  movie. And they started laughing and
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  they said, well, the highest movie we've had to date has been
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  Passion of the Christ on Easter and that has only done 700,000
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  views. Wow.
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  Do you really think you're going to beat Jesus?
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  And of course you go no, no, no, I wouldn't say that, No, no,
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  right. But we aired and we did 4.7
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  million views. Wow.
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  And then they thought it was Anomaly.
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  It's only because we had Kelly Mcgillis and it is not going to
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  be able to do again. So they gave me another one
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  called Love Finds You in Charm, which you know is right next
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  door to Sugar Creek. So we were still in that same
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  area and we did 4.7 million. And then they gave us Love Finds
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  You in Valentine, which is we did in I think a town right next
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  to it, which is, I forgot the name of the right now, but we're
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  still in that same area, still in Ohio.
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  And that one we did 5 million because it was Valentine's Day.
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  So that whole area was a very good part for us.
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  So we loved it. That's why.
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  So when it came to doing another Amish movie, which was my Dutch
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  buyer who said, Schwan, I need another Amish.
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  Can you give me a series? In the beginning I was like, oh,
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  no, not Amish. I have to read all these books
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  again. And sometimes they're not that
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  great. And then I found the Sugar Creek
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  with guideposts, and I was like, oh, so that's how it started.
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  I love it and being a lifelong Ohioan, I've been to Sugar Creek
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  Charm. I've been to all of those areas
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  many, many times. I've stayed the night at the
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  Amish in the whole area is just gorgeous.
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  And if you haven't been there, the movies and the TV series,
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  anything filmed down there doesn't do it completely justice
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  because it is just so beautiful down there.
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  And it's calm too. Like you go down there and you
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  instantly feel calm. Like, I mean, it's just a
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  different way of life down there and it's just beautiful.
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  So I love that you guys are bringing more and more people
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  are using that area for filming because I know that it also
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  brings a lot more people to that area that would have been there
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  before. And yeah, and I loved when we
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  were filming, when we were filming the TV series.
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  And I mean, I remember how hot it was the one day at the one of
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  the scenes that are in the series, it was so hot, but
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  people were out there with their lawn chairs watching the filming
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  taking place. And I just thought that was the
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  coolest thing, just having people just come by and just
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  kind of watch and see how it was made.
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  Yeah, it. Was fun.
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  Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people were very curious, but it
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  was fun. They they kept their distance
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  because they knew they had to. We kind of told them where they
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  could sit. Loved watch.
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  Yes, it was very fun. So if nobody's ever watched the
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  movie, let's talk about the movie 1st and then lead into how
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  it became a series. Well, it's always been a series
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  of books. The Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries
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  was a series of books, which is kind of like The Love Finds You,
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  which is 50, but Love Finds You were individual stories.
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  This one, I wanted the continuation of the same cast
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  and I was so grateful that the Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries is
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  35 books. And I think there's even more
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  now today because it's continued on.
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  All right. It started with 35 S To test it,
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  I decided to do the first two books, which was the movie.
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  So it's called the Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries, Blessings in
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  Disguise, which is the first two books, and that one is aired
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  last year on Easter on Up T and then went on Up Faith and Family
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  in June. And it has been on Up Faith and
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  Family for 10 months and has been through 10 months on the
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  top ten, top 10. Films so.
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  Now that it's going to go on, it's it's another 8 hours.
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  So we're all excited because everybody's loving it.
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  And as you saw, were you at NRB? At NRB, not this year, not this
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  year, but I will be next year. I brought a buggy and everybody
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  was so excited and Riley and Denise, Naomi and Esther, who
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  play the characters dressed in Amish for the things.
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  And Galadriel and Kevin, which is Cheryl and Levi dressed, did
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  not dress. But they were there to meet the
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  people too at NRB with the buggies.
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  So it's very cute. That's awesome.
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  OK, So you are doing all of these things now.
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  You're doing the series is you're doing just all the things
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  that are continuing. How do you stay grounded with
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  your faith and with the purpose that you feel like you are being
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  given to do? Oh, I'm praying about it.
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  But the same time, you know, there was a part at night you
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  didn't know about it, but there was a part when I had a very big
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  clerical error that when I made the LLC to do it because I have
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  to create an LLC to make the series.
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  The guy in my office, instead of putting the correct address that
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  we have a guy in Ohio, he put the wrong address and all of a
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  sudden my mail was going to a guy who did not know me because
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  went to the wrong address ended up claiming that I was a
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  fraudulent incumbent to the state, the Secretary of State's
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  office. So when I went to go to get the
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  banking, I had a fraudulent case and I almost had to shut down
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  the series at 4 episodes and all of a sudden I met the Secretary
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  of State and he ended up fixing it for me.
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  So sometimes I think that it's not me who's in control of this
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  series. It's a lot bigger power and we
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  ended up doing and things are just falling in place and things
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  are going well. And sometimes I don't get
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  worried about it because I know it's not me.
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  Absolutely. So the other part I just want to
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  touch on real quick is about the loss and the resilience and the
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  rebuilding life with faith and purpose.
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  That has been part of your story to encourage other people who
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  are maybe trying to figure that part out of their life.
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  They they're going through those same things and they see what
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  you're doing and they're like, I don't know if I could do that or
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  I might think about doing something like that, or I've
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  always thought about movies or just even general life.
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  Well. General life, sometimes when
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  you're stuck in your the hardest, the hardest times in my
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  life is just getting up and starting to do something.
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  You know, I feel like you just have to get up, start moving and
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  starts in your brain and doing something.
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  But also, if you're going to make a movie, the one advice I
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  can give is try to figure it out where, where, what channel or
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  where would it land? Just like what Hallmark said to
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  me, what are you bringing to me? So how can you get your audience
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  to go to that place and try to find something that you know
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  would go there? Or even if it's like Hallmark,
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  or if it's up TV or if it's GAC, all of them have a formula of
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  what they're looking for. So something happens to happen
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  by 10 minutes or 20 minutes. You should really study what
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  they're looking for. I had done, like I said, I went
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  back to Hallmark and then they finally wanted one of my scripts
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  and I send them just exactly what they wanted.
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  And then they was crickets. And I'm going, you asked me for
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  another Amish one because you saw how well they're doing.
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  Why are you giving me crickets? And then all of a sudden I'm,
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  I'm watching the channel 24/7, 24/7.
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  And then I, I said, I got this by this page.
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  I got this by this page. Yes, it's this Dennis.
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  And I'm why, why, why aren't you calling me?
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  And then I figured out what it was.
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  Their main advertise was Petco and I didn't have an animal in
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  the store. So I ended up putting a dog
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  really quick. He gets saved.
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  He put him to the to the animal, you know, just something really
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  quick was all they wanted. And they said, why don't you
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  just tell me? And they said, no, you should
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  know what we want before we tell you.
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  So that's going to say the same thing.
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  You should study what they want. So by the time you go in, you
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  can tell. Them it's like being able to
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  like things that I've learned in doing the podcast and ministry
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  work and writing the book and all the things I've learned
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  about what my audience expects. And so and doing the research
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  and finding out who your target audience is and what they expect
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  when they tune into your podcast or tune into your movies or tune
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  into the TV series, whatever it is, they expect a certain thing.
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  So then you build on that. But you did it, so that's what
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  I'm saying. Somebody's going to do
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  something. They should try to figure that
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  out too instead of just begin it.
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  And it takes time and patience is key.
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  And some of us are just not great at patience.
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  But it it's not us. Patient either.
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  I'm not patient at all. That's funny that you say that
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  because you seem to be one of the most relaxed people on set.
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  Well, because I've done all my job before that's.
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  True, that's true. You've done all the work to get
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  to get everybody there. Yes.
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  Like I said, I, I feel so blessed that the whole, the
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  whole reason I started coming down there is because of Micah.
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  And you know, I feel so blessed that I've gotten to be a part of
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  this project and I'm super excited for everybody to see.
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  I'm excited to see all the episodes and see them come
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  together and how they build on each other and I'm just so
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  excited. If you are in Ohio, keep an eye
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  out because Season 2 is going to be filming and I cannot wait to
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  see which stories you guys pick up for season 2.
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  Which parts of the books you guys?
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  Use SO. Where can people keep an eye out
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  on that? Where can they keep an eye on
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  whatever else you're doing? Well, they can always look on
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  ACI American Cinema inspires our website.
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  We are also looking at some Christmas movies maybe this year
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  that we're going to be doing as well.
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  That's awesome. We're also trying to maybe do
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  another series, not Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries, but maybe a
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  kind of like a Heartland. We're trying to create something
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  new and different. So we're trying to get bigger.
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  I love it. I love it so you guys go check
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  out American cinema inspires and also check out Sugar Creek Amish
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  mysteries when it hits up TV and up faith family and thank you so
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  much for hanging out with me today.
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  I really appreciate it. Thank.
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  You, Gina. Awesome.
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  And I'll see you in a couple months.
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  Thank you. So much for joining me for this
• 21:08
  episode, the Anchor by the Store podcast.
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  I pray that the story that you heard today will encourage your
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  faith, challenge your faith, and also help you as you walk in
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  your daily life. If this episode has done that,
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  please feel free to leave a five star rating and review wherever
• 21:24
  you listen to this podcast so that others can find it and grow
• 21:28
  as well. Have a blessed week and I'll
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  talk to you next episode.