Worship Media Arts

Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia are a dynamic duo of awesomeness.

These writing partners of eight years have written and produced many series including Judging Amy, Jericho, Warehouse 13, Human Target, and Charlie’s Angels. They’re currently in development on a cable pilot as well as a Zorro re-boot for Sony.

They are highly respected by their peers, and their talent has kept them consistently working from the early days of their partnership.

A few years ago I got to know Matt and Steve when they were working on the episodic television series Jericho. A couple of years later I got to work with them as a designer on a pilot they had in development, and I must say, it’s truly exciting to experience their collaborative process in real time.

On a side note, and to further reinforce the notion that it is indeed a small world, Steve grew up only a short drive down the interstate from where I grew up, and while we didn’t know it at the time, we competed in high school marching band competitions. Anyway, on to more interesting things!

1. Guys, thanks for agreeing to participate in this series. When breaking a story in the writers’ room, the writing staff has to come to a consensus. Does being a writing team give you any advantages when breaking a story? I know you don’t take a vote, but do two voices help if you’re on the same side as an idea? Or do you really function as individuals in the room?

Matt: We function as individuals but tend to find ourselves on the same side of an argument. The main advantage for us is during staffing since we are packaged as two for the price of one, which helps in an increasingly competitive environment. In terms of story breaking, when it is going to be our episode, we tend to break a lot of the story on our own to take the weight off the room. We come in with a fleshed-out take. That seems to be appreciated.

Steve: Another plus to being a team in the room is that we both know each other so well that if one of us needs to be writing, or on set, we still have a presence in the room. Comes in handy, and saves time on catching up on what we missed if one of us was elsewhere that day.
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As an artist/writer/media guy, I am and always have been fascinated by the creative process. One of my greatest passions is that of storytelling. Storytelling can take many forms, from writing to video editing, from graphic arts to collaborative worship design. Inspiration for that passion can be drawn from many places, and I’m always on the lookout for things that can make me better at my craft.

Like many of the readers of this blog, I’ve been a fan of film and television for as long as I can remember. Those of us communicating the gospel in worship can gain much through an exploration of the processes used in Hollywood.

In addition to my work at Midnight Oil, I do graphic and motion design work for a number of “secular” clients. Over the last few years, I’ve gotten to know and work with several Hollywood writers and producers. I’ve learned so many things from listening to and watching my writer friends that apply directly to what I do at Midnight Oil, The Ohio River Valley District of the UMC, Simplifilm, and (from time to time) Ginghamsburg UMC.

After reflecting on some of the things I’ve learned, I began to envision a series of posts exploring creative collaboration and the creative process as known by Hollywood creatives. Several emails and conversations later, this series was born.

Over the next two months, I’ll be interviewing some of the entertainment industry’s most successful and up and coming television and feature film writers. If you design worship as a team, want to learn how to become a better storytelling, are fascinated by the creative process, or are just a fan of television and film, this series is for you.

First up is an interview with my friend Carol Barbee.

Carol is one of the most beloved writers/producers in Hollywood. I know quite a few people who have had the pleasure of working with her, and every single one of them has gone on and on about how great she is.

Carol has worked in front of the camera as an actor and behind the scenes as a writer/producer/showrunner. Her credits as a writer/producer include shows such as Providence, Judging Amy, Jericho, Swingtown, Three Rivers, Hawaii Five-0, and the new Fox drama Touch. I’ve had the honor of knowing Carol since about 2007, and I have great respect for her and her work.

When I asked Carol if she’d answer a few questions about what it’s like to be a writer/producer, she responded within moments with a resounding “YES!” I hope her responses will help you see your creative process from a new perspective.

1.) Carol, you have experience in front of and behind the camera. How did your time as an actor affect your role as a writer?

Having been an actor helps me as a writer in so many ways.  First of all, I’m not afraid of actors.  Don’t laugh—a lot of writers have never spoken to an actor and consider them a foreign and frightening life form.  Having been an actor, I think I understand what actors can say and also what they need in terms of motivation and drive for the character.  I also act out my scripts as I write them, and therefore supply endless entertainment to my assistant. Read the rest of this entry »

This has been an awesome week! I’ve been speaking at Leadership Nexus‘ “Creativity Conference” in Orlando, Florida and while my main role was that of teacher, I’ve had a blast listening to and learning from the other speakers. The leadership of the conference included a former Disney Vice President, the current Director of Global Events and Strategies, Disney performers, coaches, and entertainers. It’s been fascinating to hear their stories and learn from “The Disney Way”.

Chris Perry, one of the other speakers at the conference, wears so many hats it’s hard to keep track them all. He’s a United Methodist pastor, Disney Institute instructor, book author, seminary professor, and a community theater performer. Chris offered the very last presentation of the conference entitled, “Leadership Lessons from the Magic Kingdom”. He made so many good points, I could barely keep up (especially since my laptop was on the stage where he was speaking, and I didn’t have any other means of taking notes at the time). Check out Chris’ book The Church Mouse here.

As a motion and still graphics guy, I absolutely loved one of his illustrations which conveyed the importance of attention to detail. He cited a Michael Eisner quote (“Bumping the Lamp”) that has become a well-known mantra within Disney.

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Like so many others, I was shocked at the news of Steve Job’s passing. He’s kind of a hero of ours here at Midnight Oil. All throughout our history, we’ve looked at how Apple has done things and we’ve attempted in our own feeble ways to be our own mini Apple. We even spoke in black mock turtlenecks for a few years.

While it might be an exaggeration to say that our ministry wouldn’t have existed without Steve Jobs, it certainly would have been much harder, and a lot less fun to do what we’ve done without Apple’s hardware and software. We’re forever grateful for Steve’s commitment to creativity, team and excellence. We’ve been and continue to be completely inspired by his accomplishments.

A while back, I collected some of Steve’s quotes about the process of team collaboration. I think the church can learn a ton from his philosophy. Here are two quotes that I really resonated with when thinking about the church:

“You know how many committee’s we have at Apple? Zero. We’re organized like a startup.” [Each person is in charge of their piece] “We all meet 3 hours a week and we talk about everything we’re doing; the whole business. And there’s tremendous teamwork at the top of the company which filters down to tremendous teamwork throughout the company”. -Steve Jobs

and…

“Teamwork is dependent on trusting the other folks to come through with their part without watching them all the time.” -Steve Jobs

Those quotes were going to be a jumping off point for me for another post, but now that Steve has passed away, I’m thinking more about his overall life philosophies and the impact they could have on our ministries if we care to enact them. Here’s something I read last night that I thought was powerful:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and has made all the difference in my life.” -Steve Jobs

Steve wouldn’t have named that “something” the Holy Spirit, but I believe his quote is a very accurate description of what I’ve seen the Spirit has do in my life over 10 years at Midnight Oil. It goes back further than that to when I was began ministry as a part-time intern at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church.

If you connect the dots that the Spirit has laid out in your life, can you see God’s preferred and blessed future out ahead of you? I hope so.

The last 12 months have been some of the most challenging times I’ve lived. I lost sight of the dots a few times. The last 6 months or more I’m seeing those dots pretty clearly and while I love Steve’s thoughts on the matter, I believe with the Spirit’s presence in your life, you can see a few of the dots out ahead of you. If you’re in tune with the Spirit, you don’t have to wait until the thing has passed to figure it all out.

Steve, your passing has so many of us reflecting, me included. Thank you for always living your dream. It allowed so many of us to live our own.

Eternally gratful,

Jason Moore

Midnight Oil