In Search of Matthew 25 is a 9-part documentary series* from Arrabon, following David Bailey as he explores what it means to live out the biblical text Matthew 25 in an American context.

The Journey from Filmmaker to Producer

When I first joined the project, I came on as a freelance filmmaker, hired to shoot some of the initial interviews. Later in the project, I transitioned into a production manager role and by the end of the project was serving as the producer.

“Without Alex's ability to organize, we never would've finished the project.”

Working in Remote Production

Because the series had spanned multiple years, (and different levels of COVID restrictions,) a lot of my work centered around getting the project back on track and re-clarifying the vision. My work included:

1. Realigning the Team. A few big decisions involved reorganizing the team, like bringing on a director and a dedicated editor for the remainder of the project, to ensure visual consistency between all stories and interviews.
2. Production Management. In addition to personnel changes, we made a new production schedule and reworked the budget to wrap up the remaining work; a few interviews, supplemental b-roll capture, and any outstanding edits.
3. Pre-production for Virtual Interviews. With a new team, timeline, and budget in place, we moved to shooting everything remotely, hiring a local filmmaker at each location to capture the interview and hosting the interview virtually. This meant we had to create new processes for pre-interviews, footage handoff, shooting (camera/file consistency), and editing.
4. Installing a New Revisions Process. Before I joined the project there were multiple contracted editors who were doing rough cuts and sending them to the Executive Producer for approval. With a new team in place, we revamped the revisions process to streamline team communication, which also cleared some tension in the process.
5. Vision & Scripting. We felt we needed one final episode to wrap up the project. This wound up being a new script and additional shoot with David. Leading up to the shoot, I collaborated with him to write and refine the script, then on set, I helped coach him to get a strong performance.

Alex brings order. He’s a rare organized creative, and he knows to play into both of those strengths well. He can keep the bigger vision in mind while also narrowing in on important details, and makes for a great collaborative partner! Kelli Robinson Program Manger, Arrabon

Personal Takeaways

I learned a lot about myself through this 2-year project. My favorite part was probably stepping back from being in the camera, lighting, or audio department and working on the project from a very high level. I especially enjoyed helping David write the script for the final session shoot and instead of running a camera, getting to work with him on his performance.

*Because this was an internal pre-release version of the series, I unfortunately can’t share clips of the video publicly.