Listen to Garrett and Jacob talk about video creation work to reach clients. Listen to how this connects in the puzzle of various spheres within the prolife world.
Video Version: https://youtu.be/MRKRhTyZxL0
Summary:
This is Jacob Barr, and I’d like to summarize a recent dialogue from the Pro-Life Teen Podcast, where I was joined by Garrett Moldrem. We discussed Garrett’s journey from volunteering at a Crisis Pregnancy Center at the age of 14 to becoming a vital part of the pro-life movement through his work as a video producer for Heritage House 76. Garrett elaborated on his projects like Bright Course and Hope Sync, which are instrumental in providing resources to pregnancy clinics and aiding women in challenging circumstances. He shared his passion for making impactful videos that not only educate but also provide hope and guidance to those facing difficult decisions about pregnancy. We explored the evolving landscape of video content in the pro-life sphere, emphasizing the importance of staying current and relatable. Garrett’s dedication to creating content that resonates with a broad audience while remaining grounded in factual, expert-approved information was evident throughout our conversation. His work reflects a commitment to using his skills in video production to support and uplift others, illustrating the diverse ways one can contribute to a cause they are passionate about.
#ProLife, #TeenPodcast, #VideoProduction, #PregnancySupport, #HeritageHouse76, #BrightCourse, #HopeSync, #ContentCreation, #AbstinenceEducation, #PregnancyClinics, #EducationalVideos, #LifeChoices, #ParentingAdvice, #ChristianContent, #ProLifeMovement, #YouthActivism, #Volunteering, #DigitalMedia, #StorytellingForChange
Transcript:
The transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.
Jacob Barr :
Welcome to the pro-life Teen Podcast i am Jacob Barr. I’m joined by Garrett Moldrem. We’re going to talk about Garrett’s video creation experience, his content work, his efforts to create video content that is helping pregnancy clinics support their clients, helping them reach their clients in hard scenarios. And how that fits in the greater pro-life sphere of all of us working in different parts in different areas and how the video piece is such an important and integral part into this effort of serving God and helping women across the country. Garrett, I am so glad to have you on here? Would you introduce yourself as if you were talking to a group of executive directors?
Garrett Moldrem :
Hey guys yes, my name is Garrett Moldrem, or you can find me on the Internet as Garrett Gold. It’s just kind of my cool name there on the interwebs but anyways, I am originally from Tucson, and when I was 14 years old, I started volunteering with the Crisis Pregnancy Center there and we were in a performing arts group called Breakdown and we would go to the different high schools and talk about abstinence we try to make it really cool and I think it was really cool. It definitely saved me from a life of maybe bad choices and it just kept me on the straight and narrow, just having other friends who were like, you know, doing the same thing. But then basically I’ve just grown up kind of in the pro-life movement and doing all kinds of stuff i’ve now moved up to show low and I live up here producing pro-life videos and so I do a whole bunch of stuff for a company called Heritage House 76 and we’ve got a couple of different cool products that I’d like to talk about. Did I already say this i am a video producer, so that’s what I do around.
Jacob Barr :
Here. So yeah so tell us about the video work you’re doing with Heritage House So Bright Course, and hope so you can tell us about the different things that are going on there.
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, we have a couple of different options for centers to use all of the parenting videos that we have made and then we have a bunch of, I guess maybe pro-life or apologetics videos that would help walk an abortion minded client into choosing life. And so there’s two different things there. One is called Bright Course, the other is called Hopes Inc it’s probably best not to talk about them at the same exact time it might get confusing so I’ll just talk about Bright Course first. For anyone who’s watching this on YouTube and not like, just listening to the podcast, that’s what Bright Course looks like there of course, you can always just look at it yourself at brightcourse.com but basically this is a tool that centers can use with their clients to just help give them parenting advice and there’s over 200 different videos that, you know, parents can watch. Or maybe the woman is pregnant still, we have a whole series of stuff from like, hey, what to Expect, you know, in your first trimester, second, third. And then we also have a birth class that we just did we actually just finished editing it and everything in December and we just launched that it’s called Bright Birth Academy. It’s really cool because I remember like back at, you know, TMC Tucson Medical Center taking a birth class and it was just like the worst video I’ve ever seen. And I was like hopes day that I can make a cool, you know, birth class video and now I’ve done it so it’s like, you know, 10 years later I’ve done the dream, you know, one of those bucket list kind of things so, but it’s amazing it’s way better than probably what every hospital is using right now for you know, parenting classes, for no pregnancy classes, what do they call it? Birth classes yes, that is the birth. So that’s Brightbirth Academy and that is on brightcourse.com And then shall I go ahead and talk about Hope Sync? That is OK, Cool. So Hope Sync is well. Here’s the website there it’s hope sync dot com and that’s what the front page there looks like but basically this is different the way you would use it in your center. It has a bunch of maybe one minute long videos and let’s say that your client is abortion minded. She’s a Christian, but she’s being pressured by her boyfriend. Well, we have a tree and so you would click Christian pressured by her boyfriend and then there’s three different videos. One’s from like a pastor, one’s from a doctor, and then one’s just like from someone who’s been there and was pressured by her boyfriend. She’s a Christian, but she got an abortion, so she’s just telling her story, like sharing that. And so there’s like 3 different videos there that all just cater to that very specific need. And so you as the counselor could play either of those videos there in that room or if you wanted to maybe save it and wait until after the counseling session, then you could like text it to that person if you wanted to. So that’s kind of the way that Hope Sync works and there’s just hundreds of different videos that are smaller and shorter but are very like just specific to specific reasons that an abortion minded client would be abortion minded so, you know, just to.
Jacob Barr :
Offer hope and then your role with many of these videos is as the producer, what what’s What does your role look like and help when you when you’re working on making a video, what part are you involved in?
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, as the content creator, a lot of times I’m just going out and finding these interviews to shoot or we have other producers that we all work together. So I’m not always having to do all of the making phone calls and trying to find people to shoot, but primarily just the doing the shooting, doing the editing. So thankfully I don’t have to do all of the work of like managing everyone and getting everyone together, but it’s amazing, especially now we’ve been doing this for more than five years and to have so much stuff that we have made is just amazing we just started making a new video about teething, and I had thought that we had already had a video about teething. And so I went to watch the old video and then I couldn’t find it. And I was like, oh, we’ve never done a teething video like we’ve been doing so many it’s been so long, I thought that we had this and so it’s really interesting how like man, I can’t even keep track of like all the videos that we’ve made so.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, so where have you seen God’s fingerprint well, you know, being a content creator, someone who is looking to tell the story and making it, you know, interesting and cool or modern compared to the, you know, an older video that may have been the previous go to for some groups you know where do you see God’s fingerprints and doing this work?
Garrett Moldrem :
It’s just, you know, it’s very humbling and very honoring whenever we get like a testimony like of someone that hey, your video, like, you know, changed my life obviously i think it’s a bit different because I’m not there in a counseling room or at a center or you know anything where I get to see one-on-one you know girls lives it wouldn’t work for me to be a counselor anyways I’m sure. But anyways, but to hear just testimonies of people who have seen the videos and it’s helped them is it’s like a dream come true man because, like, I’ve always just, hey, I just want to make cool videos.
Jacob Barr :
But I make.
Garrett Moldrem :
Videos that make a difference. And I never really thought that I would like and it’s just been amazing that this has actually turned into something that’s sustainable like, you know, I remember just being in high school and is this is when like Internet videos were just becoming a thing and it’s like, hey, who wants to be a YouTube, you know and it’s like people now are my kids are always like.
Jacob Barr :
Oh, I just.
Garrett Moldrem :
Want to be an influencer? When I grow up, you know, it’s like, do you even know what that means like, you know, being an influencer, but it’s like we literally are and we get to influence people, you know, to make positive, healthy choices. Not every single one of our videos has like the gospel message in it a lot of them we try to make more just like secular so that anyone could watch it. But the ones that are gospel minded like who knows i pray that people have come to the Lord from watching videos that I’ve produced that have the gospel message in them and it’s like, it’s just a good feeling because like I’m, I’ll be honest, like I’m not the best witness just out on the street just talking with people like, oh let me bring up, you know, the Lord. I haven’t LED very many people to the Lord one-on-one but I hope that my videos have done that so.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah and so when a video is more about a healthy lifestyle or healthy decision, you know, my thought is that sort of meeting someone where they are and helping them maybe go in the right direction and then that the conversation about Jesus might be about 6 steps away. But yet we’re trying to get them into the right, yeah direction to have that conversation so i think a healthy lifestyle video is getting someone aligned or on the right path they hear that down the road but and it yeah, I mean if you give someone everything at the very same at the very moment, sometimes they’re not ready to hear certain topics or messages and they may bounce or they may not stay with, you know, they may not stay to hear what you have to say. But if you go at the right pace, it seems like there’s a, there’s a good timing for bringing on certain topics. So what are some of the video projects that you have worked on recently like what’s one of the most one of the recent projects you’ve worked on? You mentioned the birthing piece is that like, was that a series or is that a single long video or what did that look like?
Garrett Moldrem :
It’s there’s seven like 20 minute long videos and they walk through everything it’s great because it’s we don’t just get stuck focusing on like Lamaze or anything like that i had one person tell me like, yeah, we just spent like 3 hours doing like Lamaze. And then I didn’t even like it and I ended up like finding something else online and that, you know, she preferred that wasn’t Lamaze and so we don’t spend too much focused on just one technique, but we cover a whole lot of techniques within the seven videos. But then there’s also a training side of the whole series, which is for centers to use to actually teach so if you have, you know, a client who’s pregnant and she’s not able to take a birth class at her hospital because of COVID, or maybe she just doesn’t have the time or whatever, you can just send her these videos she can watch them at home. But then as the like, client advocate, you also know all the info so you could like, talk with her about it, like, you know, just make sure that she’s good, make sure she’s feeling like she knows everything that she needs to for when she goes into labor. I could talk more about all what’s in the whole thing, but it’s kind of funny as a man, like producing all these like, birth videos and stuff.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah.
Garrett Moldrem :
Because it’s like, I just want to always throw in my 2 cents as a dad where it’s like, oh, you’ll forget about, you know, the pain. You’ll want another baby in, like, you know, a year from now.
Jacob Barr :
You know, so that’s.
Garrett Moldrem :
Just funny.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah that’s so when it comes to the people who are using these videos that you’re you know the executive directors at the that you know crazy clinics across the country who use heritage house and break course for their client training these videos helping clients in certain scenarios. What kind of interaction have you heard from that group when it comes to like the need that your group is sort of filling. What kind of comments or feedback have you heard from that from the, you know, Executive Directors group, right I?
Garrett Moldrem :
Just tons of high praise i mean, I’ve asked plenty of times like, hey, if you have any, like, negative feedback, please let us know so we can like make things better. And there’s never been any of that. So it’s nice. But yeah, everyone really loves it, the people that have used it. And like I said, there’s been reports of people whose lives have been changed. And it’s just again it’s very humbling and just exciting because it’s like man I’m doing something that’s making a difference. The I think the greatest thing is like all this happened right before COVID hit and so.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, the whole thing was something that Brandon was talking about months before COVID or maybe a year, I’m not sure but it seemed like it was, It was like perfectly aligned, like it was ready to be launched right before COVID became a thing, right?
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, i’ve heard of like some centers that like, you know, they really like either shut down or they had to like, you know, really just get smaller because not as many people were coming in or not as many people could come in or anything like that but our videos really just saw like a huge boost in the amount of times that, you know, client advocates were sending them to girls who were abortion minded but maybe couldn’t even come in to the center to talk or do a counseling thing. And so just straight up just the videos were making a difference without even there being a one-on-one connection. And so I think, you know, that’s where everything’s headed anyways it’s like if you’re not doing stuff with video, then you’re kind of like outdated maybe, you know and so now it’s like I’m just thankful to be to be used in such a vital role rather than just like making some, you know, entertaining videos that have no purpose.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah so when it comes to picking out new topics, what is that? What does the Round Table look like or that brainstorming session, or who’s working on, like, guiding like, which videos are going to be on the docket next? What does that look like?
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, thankfully I’m not the one who makes those decisions because I’m just probably wouldn’t know what to think of next but we have a bunch of producers, the one that I work with directly her name is Kimberly and she’s, I think her and Brandon are the ones who talk about like, all right, here’s the next ones but we do have a list of like a seven-year long list of videos that we’ll be we’ve been producing and so we’re in like year six of that seven-year long. Here’s everything that we’re going to make in the next seven years so two years left and then the idea is basically if we don’t have new ideas, we’ll just make the videos we made in year one better, which, oh, OK yeah, five year, five year. They’re five years old. And I look at them and I’m like, wow, they are so bad compared to what we’re doing. You know, compared to like a hospital birth class video like the one that I saw when, you know, we were having my daughter, who’s she’s 11 now so this was 11 years ago watching a video that I believe was made in the nineties like this video was so bad i’m pretty sure it was being played on Avhs, not a DVD or anything, you know so a lot of there’s just a lot of bad content out there and it’s awesome that our stuff is just, I I’m so proud of it. It’s good stuff.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, that’s that makes a lot of sense because like, so yeah, what are the things that make an older video bad is it is it the clothing, The video quality, the storytelling like what part still, what is the most stale piece that seems like marked the older video?
Garrett Moldrem :
That’s a good point because it’s like, hey, the information is still important, right like, so if you, even if you watch this old awful video, like, you still learned, so it’s fine. That’s a good point, man. Yeah, I guess it’s definitely like the nineties, hair like you can recognize it a mile away, you know, maybe 10 years from now it’ll be like really cool again so.
Jacob Barr :
But.
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah what do you, what are some other things? I guess just the quality, like, I mean, you know, things in the nineties weren’t even HD yet. So you know, our phones, we’re looking at each other right now on, you know, our phones and the quality’s better than nineties stuff so.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah i would think if, you know, if you’re redoing a video project you did five years ago, you might have, you know, you might have feedback from people who’ve used it, or maybe you might have a different way of telling the story. Maybe there’s a way to make it shorter or more relevant based on just there’s probably a way to. It’s probably a good exercise to refresh something after five years because obviously it’s not fresh anymore if you look at it, you’ll be able to look at it with very critical eyes and find out how to make it better. And sometimes just doing it again like it allows for it to have Polish that you wouldn’t have had in the first round. So I think that’s a good, that’s a really good desire to have. It’s often not ever found like the OP, the opportunity to redo something in five years seems to be something that’s a great idea but yet often not done. And so that’s actually pretty exciting that you guys might actually get to redo some older pieces trying to add some Polish and get to tell that story again with all your current skill sets and so on so that’s a that’s a great.
Garrett Moldrem :
We’re always getting better you know, if you’re not growing and learning, then you’re not. You’re not living, you know, It’s just part.
Jacob Barr :
Of life. Yeah, that makes sense. So when you used to live in Tucson or we used to, you know, we were before the podcast we were talking about we could go back to some older stories of, you know back before you moved to show low and so yeah, so we used back then you were with working with Amy Dobbins or Amy Short Amy Dobbins that I don’t even know anymore. Dobbins yeah with. Yeah the breakdown group. Yeah we used to do some video we did a man on the street video once going to U of A asking people questions about STD’s like literally on the street. You know, no one got the pre warning notice. I’m trying to remember what we were yeah, we went and we were like, yeah, walking up to people and asking them questions and I think you were the interviewer asking the question probably.
Garrett Moldrem :
That was cool that was nerve wracking. And it was like, yeah, I feel like, man, if we would have, if we would have kept doing it maybe after like 100 times, I feel like it probably would have been like comfortable talking with people, you know?
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, but yeah, talking to some random person at U of A about their thoughts about STD’s in order to try and find, in order to craft content that’d be helpful to someone else, that was. Yeah, that was a new experience. I wondered.
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, I wonder too like, I mean, you know, the thing is like how would you get a video that’s just trying to tell college kids, you know, not to sleep around in front of them, you know and that’s a that’s a big challenge these days is like just the amount of useless information that’s there in front of all of us all day long like whether you’re watching, you know, videos just on Facebook or maybe you’re like smart and you don’t even watch anything or you’re not on social media and then you just get home after a long day of work and you turn on the television. It’s like Game of Thrones or something awful, you know, just like in your face. But how do we get, you know, just positive messages and life changing messages out just blasted, you know, that’s a huge challenge so I think that’s one of the reasons that I’m just so grateful for what we do with this content is because it’s like, you know, the audience is just built in like it’s, you know, struggling women are struggling families who want to get better and they want this information. And so it’s like, hey, well here’s all the information in a positive and entertaining format, you know?
Jacob Barr :
Yeah so, yeah, in Planned Parenthood, they’ve been, they created this app called Rue have you heard about Rue before the it’s like an abstinence education app where you’re supposed to ask Rue the questions in order to get, you know, their thoughts on, you know, whether it’s you know, a variety of questions that are inappropriate you know, like well not inappropriate but well in some cases they are but of like sex education questions and then they essentially have a you know, series of videos that do it with humor and cutting edge technology to try and deliver these bad messages and so I feel like there’s definitely a need for us to be competing with you know we’re competing for people’s attention and thoughts and really and you know trying to provide healthy decisions or healthy messages with videos is a is competing with what Planned Parenthood is providing which is the opposite of that you know unhealthy decisions and unhealthy content. And yeah and I feel like there’s that that’s growing that space is growing when it comes to well when it comes to providing information remotely I feel like there’s a lot of growth there in recent months and coming up in recent months and years. You know, i feel like that’s where the where pricing clinics are going to be going is doing more remote work even with people going back to in person i feel like the remote services is an area that we need to be growing as a group because our the opposition is doing a lot of work there when it comes to providing remote services whether it’s like they’re mailing abortion pills through the mail and providing their services without, you know, without doing it in person or they’re or they’re providing content through an app or they’re providing content remotely. Yeah so I think there’s a huge need for people to be equipped to provide remote services because it seems like that’s the new, the new sidewalk per southeast, or the new space where we’re competing is for that connection to where someone might find a resource for where they’re going to make, you know, they might pull content from to make decisions from. And it’s sort of a yeah, it’s sort of daunting in some ways when it comes to that competing on that virtual space because it’s not like a sidewalk where anyone can just walk up and be present it requires a lot more work to get to that quote, virtual sidewalk. But so when it comes to Pam Stenzel, I know you guys did some videos with her. That was about a year ago. She yeah, she drove, she flew into Tucson in the night we carpooled from Tucson to Sholo and she’s an amazing person when it comes to like her insight on the STD and sex education topics. She seems to be, yeah, a you know, a leader in our country when it comes to, you know, being strong in that area. What was your what were your thoughts on her video, the work that you were working with her on?
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, she was, she was awesome because in the video that we were making, she was actually dissing on her own content from back in the nineties. So like in one of the videos she was like, hey, center directors, are you still using, you know, the one where I’m like, you know, wearing the weird outfit and my hair is like this and stuff she’s like, get rid of that and start using this one that we, you know, are making here. So that was funny but she’s just awesome to work with. The way that we did all of those is we didn’t even have a teleprompter or a script. We basically had the topic and the outline and we’d go, all right, go. And then she would just talk and maybe I edited out a few Umm’s or stutters, you know but it’s like she’s just knows her stuff. I mean, she’s a motivational speaker and just does that stuff as a as a that’s her job, you know but we actually have her coming back at the end of this month and we will be filming content, yeah. And I should have actually double checked what that was before I started talking.
Jacob Barr :
You could I Oh no, it’s fine.
Garrett Moldrem :
Yeah, I have no idea what we are filming.
Jacob Barr :
Well, it’s probably going to be on the STD topic again, I would expect or in her, in her world.
Garrett Moldrem :
We, we’ve also done with her just like oh what how would I describe this just advice for centers like how to go about counselling like in the counselling centre And so all of that’s on bright course as well. I’d say maybe half of Bright course is divided into information just for centers and counsellors to learn how to be better at that. And then the other half is videos that centers can give to their clients, So their clients can learn either how to have a better labor and delivery or how to be a better parent once their child is born. I think one of the things I didn’t say this yet is just that, you know, you go through all the work of helping this young woman choose life instead of choosing abortion. But then she still just is maybe in poverty, doesn’t have a car, like doesn’t have a job, has an abusive boyfriend, is just stuck in life. And it’s like, and she kept her baby, but she has no clue how to be a good mom or how to recognize that she’s in an abusive relationship and needs to get out. And so we’ve got all these different videos they’re talking about, those things. I did a just, like abusive relationships video where I got to interview different women who have been in them and they were just like every time just sharing, you know, to whoever’s going to be watching it like, hey, you know, these are the red flags. And like, if any of those are, you know, signalling to you, get out of that relationship And then and then, you know, there’s other advice for like, OK, well, maybe she can’t leave the relationship because then she’ll have nowhere to live. Well, here’s, you know, how to manage that and stuff and so of course the situations are always way more specific for each individual, but we try to hit as many things as we can, you know.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah one of the messages that Pam Stenzel championed was that it was this the idea that someone needs to get an STD test before having an abortion, which then gives the Precy clinic an opportunity to meet with that woman before she actually goes to get a surgical abortion. And so, like, yeah, essentially she was champion of like this idea of like 3 things you must do before you actually, you know, to an abortion minded woman, you need to do one is know if your pregnancy is viable, which in other words, have an ultrasound. Because if you have a tubal pregnancy, you know you need to know that it’s a viable pregnancy 1st. And then secondly to know how far along you are in order to know, you know essentially you know how many weeks into the pregnancy you are. And that’s also a way of saying have an ultrasound which is also a way to draw that client in, then have a have an opportunity to talk etcetera. And then the last one was to know to have an STD test and then with that one, the idea is that if someone has an active case of chlamydia or gonorrhea and if they happen to have a flare up and then they have a surgical abortion, they would be pushing or shoving cancer producing cells into the cervix if they actually have an abortion while having an active flare up. And so it’s actually, you know, essentially it’s cancer producing and it’s bad for their health. And so there’s, you know if they went forward the abortion that you know the idea is that they should have, they should know if they have an STD and then have it treated before. But then you know our motive in doing all of this messaging is to essentially have more time with her and to have the opportunity to build up more rapport and be able to speak in healthy decisions so that she makes a decision she’s going to enjoy for decades not just for months in the in the grand team of things. And so but yeah so that’s a really you know tying in STD testing and you know connecting that to abortion vulnerable client services is a Pam Stenzel idea i don’t think anyone else had that except for you know and my goal with that content or message is to the other clinics know you know the genius that Pam Stenzel figured out there so that they can use that same concept to draw in clients and yeah and find that doorway to talk to that client who’s looking, who’s abortion minded in order to have those minutes or hours hopefully to have rapport building trust, building direction building time.
Garrett Moldrem :
It’s a completely second. Like, it’s another thing that you can market that you can even get women coming in who aren’t pregnant at all and they just come in just for a pregnancy test. And then you have an opportunity to talk to them about changing their lifestyle so that, hey, yo, you came in because you’re worried about, you know, maybe having an STD. Would you like to not have to ever worry about getting an STD for the rest of your life you know, like well, here’s, you know how you’d go about that. So yeah, it’s a completely different, what would you call it, not market that’s that sounds awful.
Jacob Barr :
But a different audience, Yeah, it’s a different audience or it’s I think it’s important for us to have a message that works for everyone who sees our content, whether they’re whether they’re pregnant or not pregnant whether they have an STD or not have an STDI think it’s a healthy place for us as a group to have a way to make it so that when we reach out to a group of people we have something for everyone in that in that sphere that’s helpful to that entire group, each different segment of that group. One of the things that we’re currently working on with Pam Stenzel, we’re actually working on a video project to create a video series that’s going to be on tik tok and Tinder sort of crazy spaces, but and it’s going to be for promoting STD testing on tik tok and Tinder and other dating apps and so and also YouTube pre roll and YouTube pre roll makes a lot more sense to me. These other spaces are a little bit new or we’re cutting our teeth on these, you know, these new places but that’s where the audience.
Garrett Moldrem :
Is and so I have no idea about Tinder like, that’s obviously not something I should ever have, you know, or see. And so, like, yeah, that’s a smart idea, though it’s very brave i didn’t even know you could advertise on there or whatever but yeah we’re.
Jacob Barr :
We haven’t done it yet but we’re in the works of building out a well essentially we’re working on trying to make a humor of humorous set of videos and we’re essentially our the concept is to compete with the Trojan on in those spaces when it comes to humorous content but trying to make STD testing humorous and entertaining has been the challenge that we’ve run into. But it’s something that we’re embracing and we’re taking it on and we’re going to go for it but so would we could, if you would like, we could actually, I could share some of the content that we’re currently creating that can get your feedback live on this podcast. What do you think is that something you’d be interested in?
Garrett Moldrem :
We’re going to do this right now, all right?
Jacob Barr :
I might have to delay when we publish this podcast until like after, well, one after I get a green light from Community and Pam and you know and their group that it’s OK to share brainstorming i can always cut this piece out if we have to but I think it might be really fun to hear your thoughts because as a video producer you’re going to have some interesting feedback. And we’ve been trying to get some feedback from people who have like the natural funny, like they know how to find the funny. And so that’s one group I’ve been trying to reach out to share these ideas.
Garrett Moldrem :
With that’s one thing that’s so hard is like, I think I’m hilarious. And then half the time my jokes fall flat. And so I’m always trying to push for like funny in our videos. And then my wife is like my, you know, Jiminy Cricket. She’s always like, oh, that’s not funny don’t put that in there like no one’s going to get that from the video. Well, I.
Jacob Barr :
Think that’s, you know, that’s sort of normal that funny is not everything is not funny, But you have to be willing to try enough spaghetti in order for something to split eventually. Just tell your wife we need to throw more spaghetti.
Garrett Moldrem :
All right, let’s do maybe I got time for like, maybe two or three how long are these? Oh, they’re well, the they’re eight second videos but.
Jacob Barr :
Describing them takes at least three minutes.
Garrett Moldrem :
Probably have time for.
Jacob Barr :
Two no. Ok, so the first one we have, it’s called, it’s called asking for a friend. And so this one is I should well, I could do a screen share.
Garrett Moldrem :
Don’t tell Jake.
Jacob Barr :
Show it. Just show it. All right all right so I guess we’re. I’ll have to. Ok, so we have this actor and he leans into the camera and says, hey, come closer. Do you know where someone can get tested for an STD? I’m just asking for a friend. And so then we have like that contrast of the person pulling back and essentially as if they’re not asking for themselves, obviously, they are asking for themselves. Brookie, back in the house. I’m on a podcast children thank you don’t worry i can edit that out it’s fine. All right so yes we have. So we have this guy reach he’s close to the camera. He says hey come closer. Do you know where someone can get tested for an STD or he would, we would use an A frequently asked question for an STD at this point. And then he pulls back and says, ah, I’m just asking for a friend and then we have the voice of God announced or come on saying confidential STD testing visit, you know the name of the clinic. And then we have a one to three second pause and then the voice of God says bring a friend and then there’ll be a piece at the bottom says bring a friend. And what’s sort of interesting about this is that it, you know, we actually do want people to bring a friend when they come in. You know, they don’t have to come in alone to a clinic, but this person’s probably asking for themselves but they may be calling it asking for a friend. And then one of the follow up videos that we might go with for this piece would be we would pan the camera back and we would show the person holding the boom mic. And that person would realize that he’s now on camera and say, oh, I’m not the friend, I’m not his friend. But in reality, that person might be his friend, but he’s not the friend he’s asking for. And so or we might pull back the camera and we might show someone else on the park bench he was sitting like two seats over and that person looks over, oh, I’m not the friend. I’m not his friend. And so that would be the idea, that ‘d be the ongoing bit. So what are your thoughts on asking for a friend like do you think that’s got humor in there or what are your.
Garrett Moldrem :
Thoughts as you hear that. I thought you had already shot it and I got to watch it so you have oh.
Jacob Barr :
No we we’ve only done the script writing and we’ve also done some casting calls we have not shot any of these videos as of yet. Very cool. That would be really nice if I had that part ready to show.
Garrett Moldrem :
Because I would enjoy showing.
Jacob Barr :
That we’re in the brain, we’re in the creative process at this point. Well, that’s.
Garrett Moldrem :
Good the more amounts of just brainstorming and stuff that you put into something, I think a lot of times you know it makes something better. A lot of times like I’ll just go do something and spend hours making it and then it falls flat and so it’s like, you know, that’s really wise that you’re like you know.
Jacob Barr :
We’re trying to find the right actor and or actresses to pull off these funny bits because a part of it is having a line that has potential for funny and then a bigger part seems to be to have that talent to actually be able to pull off that humorous line. Yeah, way that actually comes off in a way that people enjoy in a in an entertaining and funny way or yeah, they can pull it off. So finding really good talent seems to be our key for this.
Garrett Moldrem :
You just gotta go to like the theater department at the U of A and you know, just like all the people trying to be actors, you know, I’m sure they’ll do a great job. But yeah, I think that the concept sticks it’s funny and the idea of bringing a friend as well. I wonder. You know it if I wonder i don’t know. I have no experience with this but do you know girls when they find out they or think they might have an SCD do they tell their friends before they go get tested or do they keep that a secret. I’m sure with guys. Oh you keep that a secret you’re not going to tell any of your friends i would if I found out i would not tell, you know my best friends in the world. It would just be a secret i would never share that so I wonder if that bit.
Jacob Barr :
You know, i think you’re right probably a large % would not tell anybody, but I’m sure there’s some people who would pull in a trusted friend to share that with. But really, in the end, by saying bring a friend, we’re asking that person to come on in and come in to get tested.
Garrett Moldrem :
Oh, I get it now.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah so you know, bring a friend, bring a friend is sort of a way of saying you could, you could, you could come on in. There’s different ways of.
Garrett Moldrem :
Playing off those phrases, it’s not. It’s my friend I brought. I brought my friend, you know I get, yeah.
Jacob Barr :
So it’s a it’s a yeah, it’s a bit we’re working on. Yeah we have time maybe for one more let me go ahead and pull up one more of these. Let’s see, I’ll do this one here this is so this one we call Angel versus devil. And so we have a person in the middle and then on one shoulder we have an Angel video bubble or person. And on the other shoulder we have the devil. And so the devil is saying, and this one is still completely in the work this is a rough draft there’s going to be some changes made, but so this is the current draft though. So the devil says, wow, that was fun Saturday night. And the Angel says, but now what are you going to do? The devil says it was so much fun sowing our wild oats. And the Angel says, now let’s pray for crop failure only time will tell And the devil says tik tok. And the voice of God comes on. For confidential STD testing visit name of clinic 1 to 3 second pause, time to get tested and then the devil’s voice in the background tik tok. So with this one, yeah, Pam Stenzel thought our crop failure, well, adults joke was about 30 years too old. Maybe 40 years too old but so we’re going to try and come up with a modernized version of that would reflect what someone in a bigger city would enjoy a way of sort of saying that.
Garrett Moldrem :
You know, they just need to say, you know, I’m sure the devil actor, whoever you get, could just be pretty vulgar, like without swearing or anything, but just maybe just doing some hip thrusts or something like that, you know, it’s more visual than saying don’t say wild oats, that’s yeah. It’s such an old, yeah, no one says that, you know?
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, and so it’s a really old joke because we could actually could try and use yeah, you know a visual, you know the concept you know the split and what the for the for the devil we were thinking about like a essentially a large fat man, probably with like scruffy beard, uncombed hair, maybe even a cigar, Something along those lines, You know, sort of like almost like Tim Belushi with his shirt off kind of concept. And then for the Angel, we’re thinking of like a Barney, like a clean, skinny, you know, Barney Fife kind of character or maybe like Assasi African American, You know, essentially a very stark contrast between the Angel and devil when it comes to like, you know, one’s clean, one’s messy, one’s obnoxious one is, you know, very organized and like almost, you know, sort of trying to create like a, you know, the apple guy versus the PC guy kind of combo where they have that stark contrast on. You know, in that case it’s creativity, yeah trying to come up with like those kind of characters to have, you know, to build a series out of and then having those conversations, those kind of video pieces.
Garrett Moldrem :
Well, that’s cool i think you know both of them will be successful and the important thing is have something you know don’t just wish that you had an ad. It it’s better to have a OK ad than wait around for the best ad ever, you know and so just do it and see where it goes. That’s, you know,
Jacob Barr :
Yeah i’m a big component of try, you know, If you don’t try something, you won’t know where it could have led, you know, because sometimes you have to go through a rough draft before you can get to that next version. Or sometimes you’ll get, you know, it’ll just work out and it’ll be really well it’ll come out great and you be what yeah, you got to try it that’s right. Yeah, trying it’s really important and going for it, these kind of projects. But yeah, so that’s something that we’re currently working on and it’s sort of it’s outside of what we normally work on. But yeah that’s something we’re currently trying to find the funny in STD testing which is a bit of a challenge. So and most of so when it comes to the genres of videos that you guys work on, that you work on have you know when it comes to trying to add the funny in what’s your what’s your what does that look like when you’re trying to figure out how to bring in interesting elements or entertaining elements or humor into your a video project what does, how do you go like what does that, what does your, what’s your mindset look like when you try and work on that?
Garrett Moldrem :
As we’ve continued to grow in the way that we make these videos, it’s changed a lot we used to do a lot of, like, scripted things where we would try to emulate like a like a popular show or something or maybe like make it look like a news thing so it was always like more theme than maybe there’s just a hilarious joke or anything like that. So like for instance, you remember I think is Dan rather 60 minutes or whatever or he’s like the detective kind of guy and he’s just standing there and he’s like, you know, when this is happening, then you know that it’s because of this thing. So stuff like that was that was one that we had made where it was like, man, we really tried hard like to just shoot that style and get the lighting where it was like always looking like Dick Tracy or whatever. So we’ve moved from that to now, a lot of it’s maybe not necessarily just funny, but it’s more just real. Like where, you know, we’re interviewing real moms, just going around getting footage of their babies, their kids, and what they’re going through in their day-to-day and then focused on the theme of, like, for instance, the Teething video well, we went to some mom’s houses. Their toddlers were teething, and we just hung out with them for an hour and just videoed kind of what their day was like and so did anything hilarious happen no. Did you know? And so, but it’s more just like very relatable to the audience, cause a lot.
Jacob Barr :
Of times I’m watching.
Garrett Moldrem :
Youtube videos where people are just vlogging or, you know, they’re talking about their life, and for some reason I’m interested in how many nachos they ate that night. And it’s not funny, but I’m like, yeah, I want those now you.
Jacob Barr :
Know the fact that you’re interested in it is pretty funny.
Garrett Moldrem :
I am I watching this person’s life. I have nothing better to do, right you know, like I right now. So it’s kind of that’s where we’re headed with I think what we want to do except at the same time all of the information we’re giving is like pediatrician approved and it’s like actual facts and like science and not just something that we saw on a, you know, a forum. And so it could be anyone sharing this advice it’s like no, everything’s like doctor approved actual tips and tricks to do, you know, and so there’s kind of a fine line there between just being like you know, your audience’s best friend and then also being like the expert. And so we’ll go and video doctors and have them in the video. And then that’s usually my favorite thing, though, is like getting the doctors to say something funny because then it’s like you see their, like, humanity and not just them as like, you know, this, Yes, they’re an expert, but oh, they had kids too. And they like, remember, you know, these things and then so yeah.
Jacob Barr :
That’s an interesting point because my experience with doctors is that sometimes the way they talk comes off very formal or medical, you know, medical content sounding it doesn’t come off as maybe relatable and trying to actually guide them towards creating relatable, you know, conversational pieces is I think a huge plus because that people are more likely to absorb what they’re saying If it comes off in a more casual or lazable style, that’s not necessarily their, that’s not their default by any means i think their default is very clinical or medical sounding for many doctors that obviously not all but many doctors it feels like that’s sort of like their professional opinion is very yeah sometimes hard to hard to connect with sometimes.
Garrett Moldrem :
We’ve been very fortunate a lot of times I’m driving down to Tucson or Phoenix to video people, though it’s kind of rural up here, but it’s sometimes just hard to find like the right person to be in the video but like the amount of doctors and stuff here, like, we’ve met with a lot of them, you know, to try to find like, who’s going to be good, the good doctor to be in our videos so yeah oh.
Jacob Barr :
Ok, that’s good. So you’ve essentially done some work to find litable people who can, yeah, deliver that message that you need for that piece makes sense interesting. Well, cool so what what’s your next project coming up like what what’s coming up for your next Your next piece around the corner?
Garrett Moldrem :
We are very excited to be doing a Healthy Relationships series. This is replacing the Healthy Relationships series that we currently have, which is divided into like a men’s and then a woman’s ones where it was basically just bashing the opposite sex. I’m just kidding it. You know, they were good, but they’re a little outdated now because they were done in the early two thousands. And so it’s 20 years old now, which is crazy, right?
Jacob Barr :
Yeah.
Garrett Moldrem :
But so we’re just updating those and what’s awesome is my wife and I, we’ve been married for 13 years we get to share just a lot of our own stuff because, well, first of all, we’ve got plenty of stuff to share. You know, we’re still together. But yeah, we’ve been through a lot and so, like, we have a lot of advice there and then with the other videos that I’ve done about abusive relationships and stuff, I we just know a lot about red flags and stuff. And then we’ve got a lot of different, you know, Christian marriage books like Boundaries in Dating, Boundaries in Marriage, and then Love it. Not love and Logic. The what’s the one where it’s like the guy, the girl. The guys speak blue and the girls speak pink.
Jacob Barr :
Just.
Garrett Moldrem :
We’ve watched a lot of marriage advice videos in the last 13 years, so we’ve like, taken just our favorite parts of all those things and stuff that we would tell anyone who’s in a dating relationship thinking about getting married, like just stuff that we would share with them, so.
Jacob Barr :
We’re really just Rice name what’s is Rice NAME megan. Ok. And then and then she help and she helps you with different like audio and sometimes she’s on videos, right?
Garrett Moldrem :
He’s the star, Jake. She’s our star she does all the voice over work, most of it. Sometimes we get other people to be, you know, the face on the videos. But yeah, she’s just a great teleprompter reader, so.
Jacob Barr :
Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah, I’ve seen her in several of the videos and I think she, yeah, she really does. She’s really good in front of the camera. Yeah, it works she does really well as the talent that you’re working with, she’s.
Garrett Moldrem :
Done theater, like, all her life. So yeah, she’s good.
Jacob Barr :
Awesome. So what would you like to share with an executive director who happens to be listening to this podcast as they’re as they’re wrapping up their drive, you know, picking up their kids from school or, you know, doing the dishes? What would you like to say to them before we wrap up this piece just first of?
Garrett Moldrem :
All, thank you so much for what you do. Obviously you feel God has called you to do this work. I don’t think anyone’s just like, yeah, I want to work super, super hard without God’s calling being on their life so thank you for pursuing what you know you are supposed to be doing. If you have a chance to, just check out brightcourse.com and hope sync.com it’ll give you much better info and probably a lot faster than I could just tell you all about it so take a look if you have a chance and that’s it.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, it seems like a large % of clinics i don’t know what the percentage is but it seems like it’s most clinics seem to be connected with Heritage House and Bright course like it’s right more common than not that they are using your materials And so I feel like there’s a yeah there’s a lot of people out there who are familiar with what you know the content you’re talking about like they’re currently using it they’re promoting it they’re thankful for it and so I feel like that’s the most common story is that people are already connected and then if anyone’s not connected this is this is something that almost everyone else is already using so you should definitely consider using it because it’s there’s a reason why it’s the norm. It’s the, you know the common go to for video resources like there that makes it makes a lot of sense for why people, why so many people do enjoy using it. Well, awesome well, I appreciate your time. Thank you for being on this podcast and also thank you for helping us make several videos you’ve helped us in several times and I’m looking forward to the next video project with you as well because yeah, your work is so much fun as a unique flavor of video creation and you have a unique creative style that is just really good and it’s a great way to deliver positive messages so I just want to say thank you for working with us as well to help craft content that we then provide and work with clinics and centers to leverage on their websites and so you’re, yeah, your videos or one of our main pushes for sharing with clinics to connect with their on their client facing websites to draw in the abortion minded client on these different topics and so yeah, your video work is making a difference, making a positive difference across the country so.
Garrett Moldrem :
Thanks man. Yeah, I wasn’t going to I wasn’t going to mention that I’m like your guys video guy you know on the until you mentioned it so yeah, yes, that’s me.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah, well, you have a lot of hats i mean you sort of take on a lot of roles and you’ve been doing video for so long like you have a lot of history in that in the video.
Garrett Moldrem :
Creation world, well this is tough because like I was like man, what am I going to say because like, I know what I could talk about video, but like with, you know, everything in the pro-life movement, I don’t really know everything that’s going on and so I’m glad you were able to steer me in the right direction with, you know, saying, keeping on topic with what I know really well, so.
Jacob Barr :
Yeah and that’s fine and I’m in the same boat like i would like to know more but there is so there are so many pockets where I am I’m not connected well enough to know what’s really going on there and I feel like God’s you know like the whole concept of like the body of Christ like I feel like some people in the body of Christ are working in this area and it’s OK for not for the rest of us to lean on them to be the expert in that in that world and for us to be focusing in our in our area and and as A group we form the body of Christ you know in this pro-life arena. And so I feel like because like there’s, you know, think about the, you know, the legal, the political, the, you know, the creative, the, you know, the clinic work there are so many areas of the pro-life work, many of us, you know, maybe Darrell with heartbeat, like he might be the exception where he actually sort of has like a good oversight of everything going on but not me like i feel like I’m focused on the marketing and that’s my sphere and I feel like you’ve got to focus on video production for helping clients with their next steps like that’s your sphere and that’s a big sphere like these are not small spheres like you could spend, you know, if you devote yourself to 1 area, you know, it’s not like you’re going to run out of work i mean there’s so many things to do in any given sphere. Same thing with like legal like the reason why you know Nephla and ADF are so important is because they take on that sphere and that’s and I don’t have the bandwidth. You know I just I lean on them for their expertise in those areas and I’m glad we have you know good people and these different spheres and so yeah and so you know Heritage House and Bright Course are taking on an area and I feel like that’s like you know part of this large body of Christ and you guys are taking on that you know that part of the you know that part of the need. And so I think in the end we all sort of work well together. You know i feel like there’s like this pro-life family or pro-life team kind of feel that we all sort of take on different areas and I’m really thankful that we have so many different types of people in the in the work because as a group we can then you know I feel like God’s the over you know the oversight of the director and he’s making all these pieces work together and very often a lot of us sort of get our heads down and we focus in our area we don’t necessarily get to see the bigger picture Oh yeah it’s just then that’s so I experience the same thing like i always I’m focusing the marketing and then I lose sight of these other areas because I’m just so focused on that sphere But yeah so I can relate to that feeling.
Garrett Moldrem :
Right on well, thank you so much for giving me a chance just to talk to your audience and just share a little bit about me and all the cool and making.