05/31/2026
I still cannot believe we won Best Picture.
I have read the words off that award a dozen times to make sure they are real. Last night True North won Best Overall Picture at the OIF Awards in Orlando, the Organization of Independent Filmmakers. We were nominated in nearly every category they had. Best Sound, Cinematography, Hair and Makeup, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Writer, Director, and Editor, the list goes on. On top of that my beautiful wife Taylor Riether brought home Best Production Design.
But if you will sit with me for a second, I want to tell you the part that has me sitting here just thanking God for this opportunity he gave to us.
True North was our first veteran project. You know the one thing nobody warns us about when we take off the uniform is that you do not just lose the mission. You lose the unit. You lose that feeling of being shoulder to shoulder with people who have your back no matter what, who move as one because they have to. A lot of us spend years quietly aching for that and never find it again.
I truly believe we found it on this set, and this is why Light Inside Cinema was created.
Look, I watched a group of veterans show up, lock in, and move like a unit like no time had passed at all. No egos. No complaints. Everybody covering the person next to them. Even the crew members who were not veterans, like my wife, my amazing gaffer, and my amazing sound guy. We all did this as a family, as a team. We shot in an old dusty warehouse with almost no crew on a schedule that had no business working, and it ran clean because that is what we do. For 3 days, we were a family again. We had each other again. I did not know how badly I needed that until I had it back.
Maurice Cheeks, amongst other amazing crew members, stood next to me on that stage last night, and I do not have the words for what it meant to stand there with my brother and hear our film called. He was the cinematographer, and it was his first film as a cinematographer on a production set. He was nominated for Best Cinematographer. Mason Phelps directed it, his first film ever to direct, and he was nominated for Best Director. Shane Johnson gave a performance as a step-father that wrecks me every time I watch the film. Then there is Michelle, who is not a veteran but who beat cancer, the fight of her life, and chose this to be her first film project on the other side of it. Everyone on this set had a unique story. Toven and Kol, our child actors, who were amazing. Everyone involved, you made this project what it is. This award belongs to every single one of you.
This is what Light Inside Cinema is. It was never about making movies. It is about giving veterans their unit back. Their purpose back. Their reason to get up every morning. This was almost fully crewed by veterans. And if you are a veteran or someone actively serving and you want to enter this industry, join us on our next project.
We are just getting started. We cannot do the next one without you. If this story put a lump in your throat, do not let it stop there. Share this. Stand with us. Help us hand the camera to the next veteran who is sitting at home right now wondering if he still matters. Because he does. We are proof.
Thank you. Every one of you. This one will stay with me for the rest of my life.
