ALUMNI NEWS

 

This last Tuesday night, instead of our normal weekly Alumni Meeting, we all met at the In & Out Burgers in Santa Clarita for our 2nd annual Angel Tree gift delivery.

 

 

 

For those who may not know, Angel Tree is a program where volunteers go out and buy gifts for the children of  incarcerated parents. Numerous studies show that if incarcerated parents can strengthen their relationship with their children, they can help their children from making the same mistakes they made that put them in jail or prison. Angel Tree is one of those important programs.

 



 

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS sang Christmas carols and gave out gifts to 12 children in the Sun Valley area.  It was an amazing night.

 

Everyone at HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS wants to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas.   Thank you for all your support.

 

 



HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - News & Updates

We are very happy to have Ryan Sheridan back in the classroom teaching his camera class.  It starts with lecture and demonstrations, but quickly moves to hands-on training for our guys.   Our students really respond to Ryan's dynamic style of teaching and his warm personality.  

Thank you so much Ryan!  You're a terrific asset to HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS and to our students.      

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - Holiday Wishes

We want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving from everyone in the Hollywood Impact Studios Family.

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - NEWS & UPDATE

 

We're back in barracks 42 at South Facility, Pitchess Detention Center, starting our 11th Semester.  We did our interviews and a week later started teaching our 29 new student/inmates.  It seems like this will be a terrific class.  

 

All of out students seem very excited and interested in learning about Hollywood and... God!

THE FOUNDERS FUN NIGHT OUT

Last month, Cyndi and I had an opportunity to attend the Emmy Awards. This year, 20th Century Fox Television had a record number of nominees, many of them in the post production area of editing, sound, music and visual effects.   We thought it was important to go and show support for the winners... and those that didn't quite make it.

I'd like to say that the Emmy I'm holding was for best Studio Post Production Executive, but it was not.  My friend and colleague, Jordan Goldman, let me hold his Emmy for Best Editing on our hit series HOMELAND. (Which also won Best Drama Series).  Congratulations to all of our 20th Century Fox Television Emmy winners!

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - News & Updates

 

We ended our 10th semester with our normal "Final Shoot". During this final production the students and instructors trade places... our students run the cameras, lights and sound while the instructors guide them.  

 

This shoot was a little different, this time, the students wrote commercials for several of the Sheriff's M.E.R.I.T programs  (http://lasdshb.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/lasd-merit-program-graduation/) and we filmed them. Next semester they will edit them for broadcast on LASD TV.

 

During the commercial for the music program, for fun, Cyndi jumped onto the drum set.  

 

Thanks to all of our volunteer staff that gave up their Saturday to help us with the shoot!   

 

 Also, Chick-fil-A donated food to the shoot again.   Thank you so much.  Our guys loved the food and it really helped us keep our budget down.   Your continued support means a lot to us.

 

Next semester starts soon. Congrats to all of our Semester #10 Grads.

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - Alumni News

Last month several of our guys were blessed to work on a commercial for the web hosting company LUNARPAGES.  The company was extremely supportive, and we appreciate this support.   Our instructor, Branden Morris, was the director.   Our alumni worked as crew and as background artists. 

Branden monitors the what's being shot...

We really want to thank Branden and LUNARPAGES for both the opportunity and also the support.   Please check out and support LUNARPAGES. Go to their website.  http://www.lpwebhosting.com/

 

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - CONTINUING EDUCATION

Last month Cyndi and I went on vacation to Switzerland, Austria and Italy. While we were in Austria, we went to many of the sights where THE SOUND OF MUSIC was filmed. It was really interesting to see these sights after seeing the movie so many times through the years.

Just a little history on the film... It was filmed in 1965 on location in Austria and starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film won (5) Academy award. Here are some of the locations we visited:

 

This is the glass gazebo that was used on location, but the actual dance scenes where filmed on a sound stage with a larger gazebo.

This is the church that was used for the marriage scenes between Captain Von Trapp and Maria.

This was the home they used to film the back of the Von Trapp house that overlooked the lake...

And this was the house they used to film the front of the Von Trapp House.

We had a great trip and enjoyed seeing all the sights of this film plus everywhere else we visited!

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - News and Updates

Derrick Warfel, our screenwriting instructor, came back in this semester to teach.  He is always a favorite among our students; his passion for writing is contagious!   This semester's writing assignment is to write a :60 second commercial on one of the programs offered by the Sheriff's Department.   We hope to produce them during the semester and cut them into our ABOVE THE LINE show.

Thank you Derrick!

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - Alumni News

The Alumni Group, which is held every Tuesday night (7PM) at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita continues to do well; supporting "our guys" and their families as well as they guys still incarcerated. For the two weeks that Cyndi and I were on vacation, Richard Badger taught on the importance of what they believe and how it affects and guides their lives... positively or negatively.
One of our Alumni, Robert D. helped out as Richard taught.  Thanks Robert.
Last week we celebrated the two year anniversary of sobriety for Bill H. Congratulations Bill. Keep up the good work! 

Everyone is invited to attend our Alumni meetings. Hope to see you there.

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS - News & Updates

Last month in class we produced our 6th episode of ABOVE THE LINE. Our special guest was George Schlatter of LAUGH-IN fame.

The guys did a great job and really seemed to enjoy their day of production.

 

They created the set and set all the lights, ran the cameras and monitored the sound.

 

Good job to our students, much thanks to our volunteer instructors and to all of the Sheriff's personnel!!    Looking forward to semester #10.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY - HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS

Hollywood Impact Studios celebrated it's 3rd year anniversary at Pitchess Detention Center, this June. Thank you to all of our volunteer staff, our supporters and most of all God for this amazing ministry. We're looking forward to the future!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

To all of our Hollywood Impact Studios Dad's, we'd like to wish you all a very Happy Father's Day from Gary and Cyndi and the entire Hollywood Impact Studios family.

ALUMNI - News

Our Alumni Group, held at Grace Baptist Church is still struggling to find a full time instructor and admittedly some of our attendance has dropped off a bit, but for those who continue to faithfully attend, we are seeing some real positive results.   Families are getting stronger, men are supporting one another and strong healthy relationships are being created.

A couple of weeks ago, after our initial class, we all gathered around to signed and addressed cards and letters to send to the our HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS grads that are serving time "in State".

 

We also gave out a very much overdue, "Best Writers Award" to Gerald Grant, who won that award back in our semester #3 class in 2010 for best original short screenplay.   Congrats Gerald!

For those of you interested in attending or coming back to join us at our Sheriff's Department/HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS Alumni meeting, it's held every Tuesday night at 7PM at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, room C-215.  Hope to see you there.

THOUGHTS FROM OUR STUDENTS & ALUMNI

A few weeks ago, I challenged our students to come up with some of their thoughts for the blog. Below is one from Aaron who is currently incarcerated in South Facility, Pitchess Detention Center, Los Angeles County Jail.

"All the way to my childhood, I was a very troubled person.   In my family, there was a tremendous amount of fighting.  My brother and I got into some pretty bad fistfights when we were teenagers.  The neighbors would call the police because we would be out in the front yard beating each other up.  When there was any kind of tension or problems my way of solving it was anger, and that was all I knew.  I had some martial arts training; I was in Golden Gloves in high school. I knew how to fight and I got in many fights.  As I got older I found that my behavior as a child carried over into my adult life.  It only got worse when I enlisted in the U.S. Army.  I was always fighting in bars and regrettable, I hurt a lot of people, but most of all I harmed myself.  It landed me in jail.  I managed to alienate everyone who loved me in a very short time.  I felt alone most of my life and very much lost.

When I reflect on what has been a rough go in life, Gary and Cyndi Hall [HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS] reminded me that things in life would break apart and come together many times.  I remember  a video shown by Cyndi that was about the amazing transformation of butterflies and all the astounding things God did when he created them.   When I found Christ, my psyche was like being in the chrysalis.  I am finding that transforming into a new creation does not just happen once, but continually throughout life.   Galatians 6:2 tells us to bear each other's burdens.   Gary shared with me that it is in the the difficulties of life that we find the chief work of love; essentially he said to comfort each other, again and again.   In that, I learned my trials of life have made me more humble, more contrite and more open to the guidance that I rejected before.   The fire I go through becomes my purifying agent.   What was chaotic at the time, ultimately had a healing effect, and sometimeS, when I am really fortunately, I look up in the sky and see a rainbow.  Then I remember that it could not have happened without the rain."

Thank you Aaron.