Hey, Tyler. Hey, how are you? Good. Yeah. Thanks
for coming on short notice and things. Yeah,
absolutely. Looking forward to getting to know
about the movie. I was hoping if you could just
get started with telling us about the moment
you learned about the learning you movie and
how that just kind of evolved. Yeah. So. We had
a person named Jeff Davidson who has submitted
a script to our film company. And we get we get
scripts quite a bit. So we don't always read
every single one of them. It's just impossible
to do that. But a guy named Mark on our staff,
he has a daughter named Julianne that is profoundly
autistic. So when we got this script and it was
basically Jeff's story with his son Elijah. who
is very much like Julianne, Mark was just enthralled
with the script. So he called me and said, hey,
you need to read this. I think this could be
our next movie. And the ball started rolling
from there. So within a week, we were meeting
with Jeff, trying to figure out how we could
purchase the script. And then we developed it
for about six months with our team before we
started pre -production on the film. So I was
anticipating some sort of connection there. Yeah.
Tell me about what it meant for you and the crew
of finding the actor and then making the movie
to appear the way that you've created. Yeah,
we were really very adamant that we create a
film that feels authentic. A lot of times in
movies about people with autism, It tends to
be romanticized. And so what happens is you get
the kid that's an unbelievable piano player because
he's autistic, or the mathematician, and all
of these incredible stories that Hollywood will
portray autism as, which is great. But the problem
is that's not the reality for most people. And
so what we wanted to do is try to present what
it's actually like to be on the spectrum and
also what it's like to be a parent of someone
that has to care for someone that's profoundly
autistic 24 seven. And so we had multiple people
on set that were either on the spectrum or were
parents and caregivers of people. We had actors
that volunteered for months with autism organizations
just to get to know that better. And I feel like
we did a a really solid job of being authentic
and raw with the story. The clips that I've seen,
the trailer, it's very good. It's well done.
Thank you. It's easy to capture the emotions
involved with it and the struggles. Do you have
the moment on the beach, too? I think it's a
beach. Yeah, that's my favorite scene in the
whole film. In the movie, they build an eight
-foot tall sandcastle. The dad in the film is
an architect. When he builds a sandcastle, he's
building it like an architect would, not like
me or you would, like a normal person. They build
this massive sandcastle and there's a storm that
comes. And it just absolutely wrecks the kid,
Elijah. And that's one of my favorite scenes
because the more I talked to families within
the autism community, more and more of them,
they told me about, I'm going to roughly call
it their sandcastle moment. But each of them
had this moment where, at least for the parent
side, they realized there's nothing wrong with
my kid. But this is the reality of how it's going
to be from now on, especially if they're profoundly
autistic. And that was just such a powerful moment.
So our producer team, we refer to that as the
sandcastle moment. So each time we talk to a
new family and they have this like story of this
is the first time that I realized, hey, I'm going
to have to care for my kid forever. We call that
their sandcastle moment. So it was very profound
on our end as well. Yeah, it's a good connection
too, because the autistic child will spend however
long needed to build that eight foot sandcastle.
They would love it. And rebuild it once it gets
destroyed. This is very good stuff there. Can
you just talk a little bit about how many movies
you've made and about your movie company? Because
that's something that's not like I don't have
conversations about that very much. It's like,
why do you even get involved with that? Yeah,
this is our this is our fifth feature film. So
we started making them back in. The process started
back in late 2016, so about a decade ago is when
we started doing this. I'm a pastor of a church
in southern Indiana, down in Corden. And I studied
film in college. I've always wanted to make movies.
I ended up going into ministry back in 2016.
I was like, why can't we do both of those things
at the same time? We can do ministry and share.
the news about Jesus in different ways with film.
So we started making movies then, and it's progressed
ever since. But we made a film called I Can back
in 2023 that ended up being our first one that
was out in theaters nationwide, which really
opened up a lot of doors for this one, which
Learning You is currently in a few hundred theaters
across America. It's getting ready to have a
European release. So yeah, we've built it up
over the last decade. One of the things that's
unique about our film company is that we donate
100 % of our profits. So anything that we get
back from like theatrical or streaming, we donate
it towards a cause. So for ICANN, we worked with
Christian Alliance for Orphans and we donated
most of that money towards helping orphans. And
then for Learning You, we created our own initiative
called ACT. which is designed to give like free
counseling and resources and respite and things
like that for parents and caregivers in the autism
community. OK, yeah, I've seen that promoted.
I've seen you talk about it on Facebook clip
and saying, well, I definitely want to talk about
that. So you created it. Yeah, we started that.
We actually started it about a year ago. We got
a grant to kind of kickstart that about a year
ago. So we guinea pigged it here in the southern
Indiana and Louisville market. But we've got
about 15 cities that we're doing kickstart events
all across America to try to spread different
chapters of ACT so that more and more families
within the autism community can feel cared for
and loved on and have resources, things like
that. Was that what predates does the learning
you movie predate the startup of that? They go
hand -in -hand so act stands for awareness connection
and touch and we're basically using The movie
as the awareness piece and then connection and
touch we started an online group for parents
and caregivers of the autism community so they
could feel connected and then the touch is events
and trainings and things like that, that we can
put on in various cities that are more tangible.
So that gives them resources, counseling, even
like date nights out, stuff like that. So they
kind of go hand in hand, but the movie and the
ministry started at the same time. Yeah, that's
a great, that's a great, the idea that you just
mentioned that you, you donate all of those,
all of those earnings is very fascinating to
me. That's well definitely the we're like the
worst for -profit business in the world because
we operate with investors like a normal company
and then we give all of it away So how many movies
have you done as far as After starting your company
because just see from the starting the company
part is like very Seems very challenging, especially
in this market this type of field Yeah, yes,
we've done five five movies I've worked on a
few others by myself like away from the company
but five as first capital films this learning
is our fifth one and You don't think of southern
Indiana as a hub for men for making movies very
often, but we have our own studio All of the
stuff that we work with for distribution and
post -production So like all the editing, all
the sound and stuff like that, that's all done
in Los Angeles. We shoot the movies here, but
then everything else is done with a different
studio in LA. But for all intents and purposes,
the movies are made right here in southern Indiana
at our studios, which is kind of cool. This is
cool. Whenever you were casting for the actor,
I know you you talked a little bit about it before,
but the actors with the with autism. and I know
you mentioned some volunteers and so forth but
who all was involved and can you just take me
through that process a little bit more detail
about selecting the actor and then just how that
was shooting the movie and if there was any if
any kind of changes throughout for the actor
kind of evolving as portraying an autistic. Yeah.
So there's two main boys in the film. The two
characters are named Elijah and Stefan. Elijah
is played by a guy named Caleb Millby out of
Oklahoma City. And we did a pretty wide casting
call for this actor because it was a very challenging
role. He is profoundly autistic in the movie.
But also there's sequences of the film where
the dad is dreaming. So he's asleep and he's
dreaming like his son is not autistic. It's very
like there's this contrast that's really profound
where every parent that we talked to, if their
kid was profoundly autistic and institutionalized,
they had this desire for that not to happen.
So we wanted to portray that. So we knew that
the actor had to convincingly play someone on
the autism spectrum that's on the far end. And
also be able to convincingly play someone that
was not autistic in these dream sequences. So
you can see how that would be an incredibly hard
role to find one person to do both of those things.
So we did a lot of casting work through various
talent agencies and things like that. And Caleb
ended up being the one that we cast. We even
flew him in from Oklahoma before we gave him
the role just to make sure like on screen he
could pull that off. Stefan, however, is an autistic
actor from our area. His name is Seth. And he
is like the sweetest human that you'll ever meet
in your entire life. And basically, Seth just
played played Seth on screen because that was
exactly what we needed. And so he was man. He
was awesome. We had to. Somewhat known actors
named Dan Roebuck and Stacey Heideck. She's the
lead on days of our lives. And they were, they
were his parents in learning you. And they became
like instant family, like, like genuine love
between all three of those, those people. So
Dan, Stacey and Seth were like inseparable on
set, which was, was really cool. But it did present
challenges. Especially with Seth, who is, he's
really easy going, but He's pretty far on the
spectrum in terms of social battery and things
like that. And so we could very much tell this
was the last take that we're going to get out
of Seth before he really needs a break. And so
the crew was really, really good about accommodating
and understanding about that. So we would just
say, hey, this is the last one for Seth. And
nobody questioned it. They just understood. He's
a little bit overstimulated. Let's give him a
break. We'll come back to it So it was a really
smooth process. We really didn't run into very
many issues. I Think a lot of it was because
we had so many people familiar with the spectrum
on set with us So we had like like moms and dads
we had even the lead actor John Wells His son
is autistic and so like he plays a version of
himself in the film basically I think that really
helped make sure that was a smooth process Yeah,
because whenever I see the clips and things,
it's like very natural stuff. It's like, well
done. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, that's good stuff.
So with this ACT, this act, can you tell us about
how people can get familiar with that and maybe
even look into it and maybe benefit from it?
Yeah. Yeah. So we are getting ready to launch
our website. event outside of our area is February
3rd of 2026. And so that's kind of like the big
kickoff that we're out of the testing mode into
the full blown thing. So once that launches on
the third, you should be able to just Google
act and be able to find it pretty easily. We
have a Facebook page called Thrive. That is the
group called Thrive, which is the online group
we started for parents and it has a few hundred
parents in it already. But yeah, if you go to
our website, learningumovie .com, after February
3rd, there should be lots of info on ACT on there.
How can people get find the Thrive? What kind
of online platform? Yeah, it's a Facebook group.
And so if you have show notes, we can put the
link in there if you'd like. Can you talk a little
bit about how you approach movies with the Christian
background? Yeah. So there's multiple types of
faith -based films. You got the ones that are
basically like a sermon in video format. And
then you have like, on the other side of it,
like a movie with a subtle faith element to it.
Some of our films have leaned more towards the
sermon side, especially when we first started
out. As we've grown as filmmakers, they've leaned
far, far greater to the other side of that. And
so Learning You is definitely, it's definitely
a wrestle with faith in the film. There's elements
of, especially the dad character, just really
wrestling with his faith and his relationship
with God. But it's pretty subtle. So there's
no big like come to Jesus moment in the film
or anything like that. We were hoping that it
would spark conversation of people maybe wrestling
with their own faith that this movie would kind
of help answer some of those questions maybe.
That's kind of what I was hoping you would answer
and how you would say that because you're absolutely
right, especially autistic parents, because they're
very It's very concerning as more and more profound
autistics are getting older and, you know, they'll
need 100 % caretakers and I hear a lot about
worrying about that. Not having a lot of options.
Whenever you had the institution, Elijah was
institutionalized. Like people, I don't know
if people still understand like that's a thing
because society doesn't know what to do with
them. Yep. And they turn a blind eye to them
as well. They don't know what to do with them
and they don't know that that really still exists,
that there's a ton of institutions where kids
are there. Yeah. Yeah. So that was very, that's
a highlight, I think, for me. And I'm sure others,
because definitely the parents of the autistic,
profound autistic, and people don't even know
what to do with the autistic. And it doesn't
matter the level. It's very much against social
norms. Like with the actor you were talking about,
like the social batter and so forth. But yeah,
excited that this will bring awareness. What
is your goal? What is your hopes that learning
you can become more available? Like, how is that?
How can we make that more available to people?
Yeah, so it'll be like just any other movie.
So it's in a few hundred theaters right now.
I think the theatrical window ends somewhere
around February 20th with the streaming date
set for late March. So once it's out on streaming,
anybody will be able to access it pretty much
wherever you watch movies. Um, yeah, and there'll
be out on DVDs and stores, things like that.
So yeah, okay. That's good news. That's good
news. Is there anything, it's kind of a short
conversation here, but is there anything that
we haven't talked about yet that, um, you've
seen, um, it seems relevant for you even. from
the christianity or the autism movie making anything
i would i would just say that i went into the
making this movie liking the script a lot and
then loving mark the the guy that first read
the script so he's the type of guy that like
if he asked me to do something i'm going to do
it um but i didn't really know that much about
the autism community i knew people um from our
church that are autistic or i knew people that
were parents of people that were autistic but
I had never really done a deep dive into what
they go through and the type of life that they
live until this film. And so it's been really
eye -opening for me personally. And it's also
brought a whole lot of more empathy and compassion
from my end, because I simply just didn't know
what people on the spectrum go through when I
didn't know what their parents go through. But
I wish that more people would take some time
to, for lack of better terms, learn one another,
like learning me, learning you, learning each
other. I think if we did that, they would find
that same level of empathy and compassion that
I did. And I think the world would be a whole
lot better of a place. So it doesn't matter if
you got relationships that are people that are
autistic or people that aren't autistic. The
minute we stop learning one another. those relationships
become stagnant and we start making assumptions
that may or may not be true, but we start believing
them regardless. And I think we see that a lot
in our world with the division that we have.
But if we all just paused for a second and tried
to learn one another, um, with some humility,
I think we'd all be a lot more compassionate.
Yeah. Humans love to confirm their beliefs, right?
And it's, um, we'll manipulate. the reality of
things that fit into our beliefs, and if they
don't fit, we reject. It's like a quick answer
key. Accept or reject. We're so fast at it. Yeah,
we live increasingly more in a black and white
society, where it's either black or white, right
or wrong, good or bad. But the reality is humans
and humanity, we have lived in the gray area
forever. like most humans are not good or bad
inherently or or like right or wrong fully like
nobody's a hundred percent good nobody's a hundred
percent bad except Jesus who was a hundred percent
good that's the only one that's ever ever been
that and so if we could if we could start living
in that gray area and recognizing that people
are complex and their stories are usually defined
by past trauma and experiences that they've had
or life circumstances. That's how we start learning
one another. And I think that you nailed it.
Like we want instant answers and instant gratification
and instant responses to things, but that's really
not how humans operate. And so I hope this movie
of nothing else challenges people to take a step
back and realize like, Hey, there's some stuff
going on in people's lives that I should probably
be learning about them rather than judging or
making assumptions or whatever. I think that's
why Sermon on the Mount is bookended with Matthew
7, with the judgment. Yep. I think that's why,
you know, it's beautifully bookend right there.
Yeah. Yeah. That whole, the whole Sermon on the
Mount recognizes the heart of people, and yet
we're still choosing law. So Jesus is saying
it's not about the law anymore, it's about the
heart for that entire Sermon on the Mount, which
is why he goes to this to stop judging people.
And yet we're still searching for the law, even
2000 years later, even people that know Jesus,
they're still doing that. Yeah. What are you
looking forward to most recently? What am I most
looking forward to? I am about to go to this
is a personal thing, but my wife and I are about
to go to Pakistan in two weeks. We've been working
there for the last couple of years, helping start
schools and helping free people from backyard
slavery and So we're going to go in a couple
of weeks and hopefully be able to free about
10 families from slavery, which is really exciting.