Dear FOP Community,
Happy Independence Day in the U.S. and the spirit of brotherhood to those outside.
As you may know, over a week ago, the country of Venezuela was struck by two major earthquakes. If you have read about the devastation in La Guaira, north of the capital city of Caracas, you know this already weakened country was ill-equipped to meet the rescue efforts needed to help those still alive and recover those lost, let alone prepare for such a tragedy.
It’s easy to see the collapsed buildings and crushed bodies through a headline or social media scroll, as something we’re powerless to do much about, and largely removed from our daily lives. That is, until we or someone we know is directly impacted or we learn the stories about the people buried beneath–and in some cases, those rescued from–the wreckage.
As you can imagine, if you read Asher’s August 28th blog article, we are personally grieving this tragedy, as well as the many challenges his country of origin faced long before this compounding disaster. But, and this is key to our humanity, even if we can’t be there, removing rubble or feeding survivors, we can honor those lost and support those suffering in our own lives.
How about you? What tragedies or challenges have touched your life? Is there a story there waiting to be told? Healing waiting to happen? Let us know. We’d love to hear.
PROJECTS
We hesitate to turn your attention from the needs of the world. But if you pause the noise and turn down the static, we believe you’ll know if any of the updates we provide are meant for you. 📺
Mercy Road
You might remember reading about our inspirational disaster feature film project, Mercy Road. Logline: When a major hurricane interrupts a grieving swim coach’s suicide, she embarks on a dangerous, but healing journey that reunites her with her family, and makes her face her son’s killer.
What you may not recall or be aware of is how the “dream team” of Maria aka “Doc”, Marion & Ta’sha assembled. Check out this post to learn our origin story–the “chance encounter” that resulted from following consistent, quiet prompts.
What we can say confidently, 28 drafts in, with a feature budget, and growing community and entertainment partnerships to boot, is that this project is much bigger than any one of us, or all of us. It always was. And we’re going to need every moved heart to make it a reality.
Interested in hearing more about the project and how you can support it? We are preparing to launch a film finance campaign. And even if you don’t have spare “shekels”, if this project speaks to you, we’d love to keep you posted through our Mercy Road supporter updates. 📽️🍿 Please reply if interested.
Mercy Road - an Inspirational Disaster Drama
Shepherd in the Mist: The Jim Graham Story
In previous newsletters, we mentioned the limited series we’ve been developing. What we can say now (that we couldn’t say then) is:
- The limited series is based on the life of author Jim Graham and his memoir “Buried Truth: A Poignant Story of a Man’s Search for His Father, Exposing Powerful Forces Bent on Hiding the Truth.” A memoir we recommended previously and which was featured in our October 12th guest blog article.
- We adapted Jim’s memoir into a 7-episode limited series (detailed outline and treatment), in collaboration with our friend, award-winning screenwriter Alex George Pickering.
- In March, we visited Jim and Melodie in their home in South Carolina and recorded interviews to be used to promote both the book and the series. (Check out a short preview clip below.)
- In April, we secured a combination Life Rights-Shopping Agreement with Jim Graham, along with his lovely wife Melodie.
- In May, we completed a comprehensive series pitch deck.
- We have begun shopping the project, as well as writing the pilot script with Alex.
- We are looking for a successful showrunner to help us take our limited series to potential buyers and all the way through production.
​The Purpose of My Life - Jim Graham's Story
BLOG
We don’t have a new blog for you. But in case you missed this before, we would love for you to check out our most relevant personal blog.
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A Missing Piece: 10 Lessons on Connecting the Past to My Passion
An International Filmmaker’s Tribute to His Late Venezuelan Grandfather
by Asher, Aug. 28, 2025
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Do you have a blog idea you’d like to share with our community? Let us know!​ We’re always looking for guest contributors who want to uplift and inspire.
FAVORITE THINGS
Here is our growing list of recommendations for movies & other things we like… in this case timely resources which relate not only to the world around us, but the world within us:
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Do you want to tell your story? But not sure where to start? Let us help.
We’re especially interested in helping family-owned restaurants tell the story behind the product and help them spread word of mouth–not only about their delicious food, but the people and culture that make and inspire them. Interested? Please let us know!
​Our philosophy: storytelling is a threefold healing act: (1) for the storyteller, (2) for the storyteller’s family & community, and (3) for strangers who need to hear their story. 👂📣
Our unabridged “How to Tell Your Story Inventory” is a 60-point questionnaire that can help you understand your story, heal as needed, and share it with your loved ones or the audience waiting to hear from you. $30 for the PDF or free with a 1-hour “Till Your Soil, Tell Your Story” consultation.
What we hope, from the consulting and production services we offer to the projects we are developing in-house, is that each of these stories brings healing, hope and purpose into the world.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Join us: plant seeds of hope with stories of hope. If you know of someone who would benefit from this newsletter, please kindly pass it along.
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe to our newsletter here, then confirm your subscription (emailed to you). You will receive a free "How to Tell Your Story" resource as a token of our thanks.
Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook & YouTube. Thank you to all those who have supported us and helped our channels grow over the last year. We appreciate your comments and look forward to connecting with you there more.
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