Set-Designing Woman (Week 6, Day 1)

It takes a person with a creative eye and an artistic touch to be a decorator. It takes a person with those talents—and the willingness to tear down what they’ve created at a moment’s notice—to be the set designer for a movie.

Like many of the volunteers on the crew, Sheila McBride’s first moviemaking experience came on FACING THE GIANTS. While that experience was beneficial, it didn’t fully prepare her for her responsibilities this time around.

“There are so many more details with FIREPROOF,” Sheila says. “We didn’t have a whole lot of set dressing to do in FACING THE GIANTS. Other than Grant Taylor’s office and their house, it was mainly football scenes.”

FIREPROOF has given Sheila and her volunteer team the opportunity to decorate a newly built house that serves as Caleb and Catherine Holt’s home, an outdoor wedding scene, fire stations, a hospital, a faux restaurant in the hospital, and even the interior of a house that burns down.

“That one was fun because we didn’t have to take anything out when they were done shooting,” Sheila says. Like with most of the set décor, the items in that house were donated.

“A furniture store let us use all the furniture in Caleb and Catherine’s house. A rental place donated all of the wedding items,” Sheila says. “It’s been amazing to see how much stuff people allowed us to use.”

As FIREPROOF begins the final week of filming, Sheila is looking forward to August 2008 when the movie is scheduled to open in theatres nationwide.

“I’m ready for it to be done so we can see it. Seeing the set on the screen is totally different from when you’re doing it,” she says. “I still can’t believe I get to do this.”

Helping Hand (W5:D5)

Without Paul Youngblood on the FIREPROOF set, there would be mass confusion.

Well, maybe not, but serving as a volunteer, Paul operates the slate board, a role he’s reprising from his movie crew debut with FACING THE GIANTS. The slate is used to mark scenes and takes prior to their filming.

“Doing this has made me look at movies differently,” says Paul, who is 77 years old. “It amazes me how it all comes together.”

Coming together with the other Sherwood volunteers is as much fun for Paul as the actual moviemaking.

“What I enjoy most is how everybody helps each other. Whatever your job is, you jump in and do whatever needs to be done,” he says. “I’ve met a lot more people from my church on the set. There are people from their teens to their seventies and everybody is accepted.”

After retiring from his civilian role as an equipment specialist with the Marine Corps, Paul has stayed active serving others. He works with a team of men that build wheelchair ramps.

“I love helping people,” he says.

Paul is especially excited to be helping on a movie that focuses on marriage. He has been married to Marcilla for 54 years and they have three grown children.

“She’s the best thing that’s happened in my life,” he says. “We both feel like the Lord’s given us to each other.”

That’s the heart of marriage. And the heart of FIREPROOF.

Makeup! (W5:D4)

For a decade, Curry Bushnell lived out his dream as a Hollywood make-up artist. For nearly that long, he let that dream fade into the woodwork. Now, he’s doing what he loves … with a purpose.

“I’m making movies for God,” he says. And he is doing it in Albany, Georgia!

Curry Bushnell applies makeup to Erin Bethea.

“I moved to Hollywood in 1977 and went to makeup school,” Curry says. “I did some show on ABC, various commercials, and some major motion pictures. But I got tired of the fast lane of Hollywood, so I came back to Albany.”

Without much call for a Hollywood-trained makeup artist in southwest Georgia, Curry put down the tools of his trade. Eventually, he took a job with the Department of Corrections, where he still works. And then …

“I saw FLYWHEEL and I was so moved by it, I said I have to get in touch with Alex Kendrick,” Curry says. “In late 2003, I met with him. Afterwards, he told me ‘I think God sent you to me.’ A few months later, we started filming FACING THE GIANTS.”

Curry was the volunteer Key Makeup Artist for that film, as he is again with FIREPROOF. He is on set every day, for as long as his work schedule allows him. He has a team of volunteer makeup artists from Sherwood that help as well.

“I was out of makeup for several years until I saw FLYWHEEL … and then everything changed,” Curry says. “That was all God’s timing. So now, making movies for God is my ministry.”

Volunteer Firefighters (W5:D3)

Some fire departments have volunteer firefighters. FIREPROOF has volunteer actors playing firefighters!
Eric Young, Ken Bevel, Stephen Dervan, and Jason McLeod (L-R) look the part of Albany firefighters.

Filming returned to Albany fire stations this week. All five of the actors playing the main firefighting crew are volunteers and each has a strong connection with Sherwood. Three of the actors are members of the church: Ken Bevel, Eric Young, and Jason McLeod.

A fourth actor, Stephen Dervan is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. He grew up at Sherwood and served there when he began his ministry. And Kirk Cameron has become a good friend of the ministry since the release of FACING THE GIANTS.

After intense training led by Albany Training Chief Ron Rowe and Capt. Kenny Loudenbarger, a Sherwood member, the actors had a taste of real firefighting during last week’s filming of a house fire. This week, they get to enjoy the camaraderie that firefighters have when they live together 24 straight hours every third day.

While acting is new to Ken, Eric, and Stephen, there is a firefighting connection for four of the five actors. Eric actually served as a firefighter in Albany for three years in the early 1990s. Stephen’s dad was a longtime member of the Albany Fire Department. Kirk’s aunt was one of the first two female firefighters in the city of Los Angeles. And Jason grew up wanting to be a fireman. The odd man out? Ken, who serves as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps!

The quintet is schedule to face one more on-film calamity before filming concludes. Be sure to check in to the blog next week to see more from behind the scenes.

Bringing Continuity to You (W5:D2)

Have you ever been sitting in the movie theater and the milk container you see on the kitchen table goes from being half-empty to completely full—in the same scene? That makes Holly Stiegel cringe.

Holly, like most of the cast and crew of FIREPROOF, is a volunteer. In her role as Script Supervisor and Continuity, she helps ensure that scenes and props look exactly the same, even if they’re filmed on different days.

“I try to write down everything Alex Kendrick, David Nixon, and Bob Scott say as they set up a shot,” Holly says, talking about FIREPROOF's director, assistant director, director of photography.

“I take photos of the set to make sure they put everything back in the scene that was there the first time.”

Through a home-schooling network in Albany, Holly knew the Kendrick Brothers. Before FACING THE GIANTS began production, they called her to see if she could get a group of home-schoolers together to help with the filming.

“At the first boot camp before FACING THE GIANTS, David Nixon asked me if I wanted to do the script,” she recalls. “I would be classified as a rank amateur.”

The professionals thought otherwise. Holly was asked to reprise her role when FIREPROOF was in pre-production. Despite spending 12 to 15 hours a day on set for six weeks, she is excited to return as part of the Sherwood team.

“These are the most patient people in the world, and the most caring,” she says. “It’s an incredible group to work with.”