Jen Greenstreet, an Oscar-qualified and Mid-America Emmy-winning filmmaker, has a gift for transforming communities through the power of film. As the visionary CEO and Founder of Just Like You Films, she leads a nonprofit production company dedicated to fostering empathy and understanding. For 19 years, Jen has crafted narratives that touch lives worldwide, with a portfolio of impactful films that resonate deeply. In her career, Jen has produced, written, and/or directed 22 short films and 6 feature-length films, both with Just Like You Films and her for-profit production company, Waking Up Films. Through her storytelling, Jen continues to make a lasting impact on audiences around the globe.
Jen’s journey began in the courtroom as a Prosecuting Attorney in Jackson County, Missouri, where she litigated 520 felony cases and represented the state in 46 jury trials. This foundation in advocacy fueled her transition to storytelling, channeling her passion into films that illuminate complex social issues.
Her recent projects include the May Contain series on life threatening food allergies—May Contain: My Life, May Contain: Danger, and May Contain: Two Sides—and the feature narrative Rise and Shine. These films are currently making their way through the festival circuit, earning recognition for their powerful narratives and immersive storytelling.
May Contain: My Life received the Impact Docs Award of Excellence, while May Contain: Two Sides was selected by NewImages Festival in Paris, France, a prestigious recognition that highlights its innovation and global impact in immersive storytelling. Additionally, May Contain: Two Sides were selected by the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival and the New Media Film Festival, further affirming its groundbreaking approach in film and virtual reality.
Jen’s work has also been recognized with the Gold Anthem Award from The Webby Awards for Just Like You – Anxiety and Depression, showcasing her ability to create content that not only informs but also inspires. Her films have reached audiences at the United Nations, further highlighting their global relevance and impact.
Jen’s dedication to creating meaningful narratives has earned selections at festivals such as the Kansas City International Film Festival, Sunback Doc Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, and the Golden Door International Film Festival, where she received the Raising Awareness Award. Her films have also received the Telly Award and the Impact Docs Award, among many others. Jen’s films have been showcased in the Phoenix Society’s Nationwide Journey Back Program, the Operation Smile Student Programs, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student Series, World Down Syndrome Day Home Page, and distributed in over 200 AMC Theatres nationwide, reaching audiences of over 20,000.
Her work reaches audiences across 320 countries and 25,000 schools, featuring stars like Jerome Bettis, August Maturo, and Ava Kolker. Jen has been honored with accolades such as the Tash Positive Images in Media Award, AMC Theatres Cares Award, and recognition from prestigious festivals including the Toronto International Women Film Festival. She has also been honored with the Kindest Kansas Citian Award and the City Year Kansas City Idealist of the Year Award, underscoring her impact as a storyteller and advocate.
Join my Facebook community: The Revolutionary Leadership Collective // https://www.facebook.com/groups/revolutionaryleadershipcollective
___________________________________________________________________________________
-Transcript-
Brad Burrow (00:01):
Welcome to In a World With Real Media. I’m your host, Brad Burrow. In this podcast, we’ll dive into the lives of the most successful people in business. We’ll learn how they overcame adversity, took advantage of opportunities and learned from their experiences. Learn from our experts. Get inspired, then go live your story. It’s in a world with real media. Hello and welcome to The Inner World with Real Media Podcast. I’m Brad Burrow, and today we have Jen Green Street from just Like You films. Really exciting. I’m excited to have you on the podcast. So let me give everybody a little bit of a background here. I’m just going to read this as a purpose first, filmmaker and former prosecuting attorney. I want to talk about that too. That’s really awesome. Jen’s journey in film is driven by a passion for advocacy and storytelling leading, just like you films, an Emmy winning nonprofit has reached over 8 million kids. Wow. That’s big. In 25,000 schools worldwide addressing critical issues like bullying, mental health, and inclusivity. These films have garnered over 1.2 million views in 320 countries. Amazing. Her directional work in the Just Like You, Sirius, has achieved significant acclaim, including theatrical distribution, Emmys and Oscar qualification. Amazing. That was just last night, or we’re dating the podcast by saying that, huh. She’s committed to fostering a more empathetic and compassionate world through film. Love it, love it, love it.
(01:39):
Thank you. So, Jen, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Your background. So I was doing some research. You have an amazing background and your career path, so we got to talk about that. But tell me a little bit about where you grew up and how you were the influences on your life to take you this direction.
Jen Greenstreet (02:03):
Okay.
Brad Burrow (02:04):
Heavy question, right?
Jen Greenstreet (02:07):
We’re going way back then. I’m pretty,
Brad Burrow (02:10):
I know you went to William Jewel, for example.
Jen Greenstreet (02:11):
I did. I did.
Brad Burrow (02:13):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (02:13):
Yeah. I went to William Jewel and I actually got a theater scholarship to go from high school to William Jewel, and I loved being in theater there. I was only there for two years because I had a year done when I started from high school, and then I overlapped my last year of undergrad with my first year of law school. So I did the full package in five years.
Brad Burrow (02:39):
Wow. Amazing.
Jen Greenstreet (02:41):
But I loved William Jewel, and I actually went back to teach criminal law to paralegals in the evenings for, I think I did that for three or four years, and I’ve been back to talk to the kids on various occasions on nonprofit side and on media side. So
Brad Burrow (02:58):
That’s a great school.
Jen Greenstreet (02:59):
Oh, yeah.
Brad Burrow (03:00):
My dad went to school there.
Jen Greenstreet (03:01):
Oh, no way.
Brad Burrow (03:02):
Yeah, back a long time ago, but I know some people, the basketball coach now, and it seems like a really great school.
Jen Greenstreet (03:10):
It’s a great school. My mom graduated from there. My niece played softball and William Jewel.
Brad Burrow (03:14):
Yeah. Now, did you grow up in that area?
Jen Greenstreet (03:17):
I didn’t. I grew up in Independence.
Brad Burrow (03:19):
Oh, okay.
Jen Greenstreet (03:20):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (03:20):
Okay. Not too far away.
Jen Greenstreet (03:21):
Yeah, not too far. 30 minutes.
Brad Burrow (03:23):
So you had a background in theater in high school and stuff like that, but yet you went into law school?
Jen Greenstreet (03:30):
Yes. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (03:31):
So tell me about that. Why that decision? That seems like opposite ends of the spectrum a little bit.
Jen Greenstreet (03:37):
Yeah, it does seem like opposite ends of the spectrum, but it’s really, I think, not as different as you would think, especially when you get into documentary film and advocacy and telling stories through subjects. I, being a trial lawyer, you are telling stories through witnesses to a jury, and to help them understand the position that the evidence shows your side for a just result. And when you’re a documentary filmmaker, you’re telling a story through subjects to help the audience understand a different position or a different world to help them take that knowledge with them into their lives. So it feels very familiar to me. The transition wasn’t difficult. It was different for sure, but the advocacy part and the storytelling and even the performing part of it, that all plays a role for me.
Brad Burrow (04:38):
When you say performing, like working with actors and that type of
Jen Greenstreet (04:41):
Thing.
Brad Burrow (04:45):
So I spent a week with the director of the LA Film School. Oh, nice. One of the things that he taught me was that when you’re directing real actors that know how to act, it’s completely different process than somebody that doesn’t know how to act.
Jen Greenstreet (05:00):
And
Brad Burrow (05:02):
It’s invigorating working with somebody that takes direction, isn’t it, and really makes it their own.
Jen Greenstreet (05:07):
Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. It’s like driving an automatic car as opposed to a stick shift. Yeah, that’s a
Brad Burrow (05:16):
Good analogy.
Jen Greenstreet (05:17):
Happens very smoothly. And I’m just in awe of the actors that can turn on a dime and really go there and commit. It’s just fantastic to watch.
Brad Burrow (05:27):
And it’s fun when you’re directing somebody like that, isn’t it? It’s like a whole different
Jen Greenstreet (05:32):
Level. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. When you can be on the same page. And I did have the privilege of my phone’s ringing. Did you hear that?
(05:42):
Yeah.
(05:42):
Okay. I did have the privilege of directing a short narrative piece to go along with our food allergy documentary
Brad Burrow (05:51):
Recently. What was that called?
Jen Greenstreet (05:52):
It’s called May Contain My Life.
Brad Burrow (05:55):
Okay.
Jen Greenstreet (05:56):
I’m so sorry.
Brad Burrow (05:57):
Yeah, you’re okay.
Jen Greenstreet (05:58):
It’s called May Contain My Life, and it’s a docudrama, and so it’s a documentary, and then we have a narrative thread that runs through it. And so we shot the short film in Los Angeles with one of our subjects, August Matura, who is a Disney actor who grew up on the show, girl Meets World, and he recruited his bestie, Ava Culker, who was his co-star on Girl Meets World to be part of our movie as well.
Brad Burrow (06:25):
No kidding.
Jen Greenstreet (06:26):
Yeah. And so we were able to cast some super talented actors that what we’re talking about, being able to turn on a dime and just watching them work was wonderful, and being able to direct them.
Brad Burrow (06:39):
So were you on a high for a few days after over those shoots?
Jen Greenstreet (06:41):
Oh, yeah, except that our budget was so tiny that we crammed so many setups and shoots in so many locations, and it was whirl windy for sure, but we got a lot in and we had a beautiful product out of it, and we actually shot that one in 360 as well.
Brad Burrow (07:01):
Did you?
Jen Greenstreet (07:02):
Yeah. So for each setup, we would strike the flat camera and then bring in the 360 and have the actors run it. They were almost doing live theater around the 360 camera. And so for every setup, we did that and we were able to get two films. Then we had that short narrative film, the VR movie, and then the Docudrama.
Brad Burrow (07:26):
Wow.
Jen Greenstreet (07:26):
So the May contain series.
Brad Burrow (07:28):
So how did that change your directing? I mean, that’s a different approach. Completely.
Jen Greenstreet (07:32):
Oh, yeah.
Brad Burrow (07:33):
I mean, knowing where to put the camera. I mean, did you talk about, okay, this is in the middle of the scene, let’s do this, and then the actors have to work around that.
Jen Greenstreet (07:41):
Yeah. So I mentioned that I took that class in UCLA, the XR class, and so I was fortunate to connect with an incredibly talented VR filmmaker, and he consulted with me on the project. He said, what if we, he’d seen this done at another project, we split it at a 180 mark, and you have the actors act a camera as if they’re the other person. So if you and I were in the scene, you would leave and in your place, we’d put the 360 camera, and then I would act to the camera as if it’s you. So it’s called Make Contain two sides. So when you get into the headset, we divide the 180. If you look to your right, you stand in the shoes of the child that lives with food allergies. If you look to your left, you stand in the shoes of the child hosting the birthday party who’s trying to accommodate the food allergies. So you feel as if they’re looking at you, they’re speaking to you when you’re in the headset. And there’s a bullying incident too. So you’re kind of the victim of the bullying incident as well. So it’s really powerful, and we’re taking it. We’ve already gone into three different film festivals. One in Paris, France.
Brad Burrow (08:59):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (09:00):
Amazing.
Brad Burrow (09:01):
Yeah,
Jen Greenstreet (09:01):
And it’s called New Images Film Festival, which I think is one of the premier XR film festivals in the world. We’re like one of 30 movies that we’re chosen to go over there. And then we have another one Poppy Jasper Film Festival coming up in April, and that’s in Silicon Valley, Morgan Hill, and Monterey.
Brad Burrow (09:21):
Very cool.
Jen Greenstreet (09:22):
So there’s some fun stuff happening.
Brad Burrow (09:25):
Are you picking the shots that you watch when you’re watching the film mean? Because Truth 360, you can look wherever you want to look.
Jen Greenstreet (09:35):
Oh, yeah. So
Brad Burrow (09:37):
How does that work?
Jen Greenstreet (09:39):
Well, I set it up. I want it to look in a certain direction, and so I know what shot I want. So that’s the shot. I’m not picking it as it’s happening.
Brad Burrow (09:54):
I
Jen Greenstreet (09:54):
Guess I could, but there’s not a lot of background action. It’s just all happening right here. But you are immersed, so you can look up and see the blue sky down at the ground and see the ground you’re standing
Brad Burrow (10:08):
Next to. So you have to watch it on headsets though,
Jen Greenstreet (10:10):
Basically. Oh, you have to. Yeah. I mean, we could do a planetarium,
Brad Burrow (10:16):
The Vegas, the sphere.
Jen Greenstreet (10:18):
Yes, exactly. Exactly. But even that would be limiting because the idea is that you really are walking in the shoes of this person.
Brad Burrow (10:25):
Yeah,
Jen Greenstreet (10:27):
I am dropped into that scene with them.
Brad Burrow (10:31):
So how do you direct that? Not, I mean, you’re watching the actual performance, but you’re not actually seeing what’s being recorded.
Jen Greenstreet (10:41):
Right.
Brad Burrow (10:42):
That’s a little
Jen Greenstreet (10:42):
Challenging. I did get to see what was recorded
Brad Burrow (10:46):
Live.
Jen Greenstreet (10:46):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (10:47):
Oh, okay.
Jen Greenstreet (10:47):
Yeah. But I could not be on the set. Right, because you can’t see me.
Brad Burrow (10:53):
Right.
Jen Greenstreet (10:54):
So I am not actually watching it live. I’m only watching it recorded.
Brad Burrow (10:59):
Did you have headsets on?
Jen Greenstreet (11:00):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (11:00):
Oh, okay.
Jen Greenstreet (11:01):
So I had the audio too. What
Brad Burrow (11:02):
An experience.
Jen Greenstreet (11:03):
Oh, it was fantastic. And then on the camera, we drew a face. So we made little eyebrows to make the healthy actor understand that the camera itself was your scene partner.
Brad Burrow (11:18):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (11:19):
So that
Brad Burrow (11:20):
Was cutting edge. That’s really cool.
Jen Greenstreet (11:21):
Oh my gosh. It was fantastic. And the great part about doing it the way we did it, we, believe me, we were all around the shop. How is this going to happen? Right. My production manager’s like Uhuh, my assistant director’s like, no way. We’re not going to be able to get this done. I’m like, we can do it. We can do it. But one of the big challenges is, I forgot where I was going with that.
Brad Burrow (11:46):
Well, just how you set up a scene in 360.
Jen Greenstreet (11:50):
Yeah. Okay. So it is basically they get these rehearsals doing the flat. So we’ve shot the flat, so we get the scene in flat, and they’re all warmed up. They’re there in the scene. Okay, now just run this scene without any cuts. Just run it. You’re on a stage. So I think it made it easier for the actors.
Brad Burrow (12:12):
So you do one whole scene in one take, basically.
Jen Greenstreet (12:15):
Right,
Brad Burrow (12:16):
Right, right. I mean, you can’t cut really.
Jen Greenstreet (12:19):
Can’t cut. You can. It’s just very jarring,
Brad Burrow (12:23):
Like a cut.
Jen Greenstreet (12:23):
We won’t use it.
Brad Burrow (12:24):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (12:24):
Because it’d be really jarring.
Brad Burrow (12:26):
Yeah. Very cool. So you were able to get those scenes recorded, then captured in one take. How many takes did it take to do some of
Jen Greenstreet (12:36):
Those? We had a tiny sliver of time,
Brad Burrow (12:41):
So you had
Jen Greenstreet (12:41):
To capture it. So two or three takes is all we had time for, so we just did the best we could.
Brad Burrow (12:48):
And so that’s gotten into some of these film festivals.
Jen Greenstreet (12:51):
Yeah,
Brad Burrow (12:53):
It’s awesome.
Jen Greenstreet (12:53):
Awesome. It’s really cool. It’s great. It’s awesome. In fact, I’d love for you to see it. I would love to bring the headset here, or you could come to our studio.
Brad Burrow (12:59):
I would love to see it.
Jen Greenstreet (13:00):
Yes. And see it. Especially because you’re going to be working in the 360 World. And
Brad Burrow (13:05):
So not to go, this is not about
Jen Greenstreet (13:08):
Us,
Brad Burrow (13:08):
But we pitched a show to Discovery on Demolition Derby, and so I put 360 cameras in the cars.
Jen Greenstreet (13:17):
Oh, nice.
Brad Burrow (13:18):
So the really cool thing about that was that as cars would get hit and different things like that, we could pick the shot that we wanted at all times. It was all being covered. So we weren’t really doing what you’re doing where you’re actually in an immersive world watching
Jen Greenstreet (13:36):
It.
Brad Burrow (13:37):
That would’ve been cool. Then you’re looking and it’s like you’re driving the car.
Jen Greenstreet (13:41):
That
Brad Burrow (13:41):
Would’ve been cool. But for us, it was a way to capture everything that happened. And then we pick the 4K screen that we wanted. So it might be this way, it might be this way. We had it kind of behind the driver, so they back up a lot and run into,
Jen Greenstreet (13:59):
Okay.
Brad Burrow (14:00):
The heads, their heads would turn and look into the camera.
Jen Greenstreet (14:02):
Oh, that’s
Brad Burrow (14:03):
Really cool stuff. But it’s amazing what you capture in a situation like that that you wouldn’t capture just a GoPro, for example. You’re not going to, you might get a shot, but you don’t miss shots when you have a 360 camera.
Jen Greenstreet (14:20):
So
Brad Burrow (14:20):
Pretty cool.
Jen Greenstreet (14:21):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (14:22):
But the idea of being able to put on goggles, well, whatever they’re called, and turning your head and seeing what’s happening, that’s
Jen Greenstreet (14:30):
Cool. You’re in there.
Brad Burrow (14:32):
That could be the future of filmmaking,
Jen Greenstreet (14:34):
I’m telling you. And I went to Sundance virtually during 2020 during the Pandemic, and they recommended that you get an Oculus headset,
(14:44):
And they had all their meet and greets in vr, and you had an avatar that would meet with another avatar. I mean, it was mind blowing. I’m sitting in my kitchen in my pajamas, and my husband is just cracking up. I’m like, who are you talking to? And I’m like, I’m talking to filmmakers at Sundance Film Festival. And then they had a whole lineup of short VR movies, and I’m like, okay, I have to watch this. And the one that really impacted me that made me go down this path was called Four Feet High. And so you put on your headset and you’re dropped the level of four feet off the ground right where we are now, and you travel through all the scenes with a teenager that’s in a wheelchair.
Brad Burrow (15:25):
Oh, wow.
Jen Greenstreet (15:26):
Amazing. So she comes up to a group of her peers. They’re all standing talking, you’re on four feet. So you’re looking up and you see them conversing over you. They’re not paying attention to you. I mean, it just lands so differently when you are in that environment. Really. I was sobbing in tears. It was mind blowing. I’m like, this is it. I’ve been working for however many years at that time, 15 years trying to create empathy through media, and this is it. If we can get people in headsets to literally walk in their shoes of people that are living this is it. So that’s when I became determined to create the VR movie. And believe me, I had to convince a lot of people.
Brad Burrow (16:16):
Do you think you’ll go back to normal video?
Jen Greenstreet (16:19):
Oh, yeah. In fact, we’re in pre-production right now for a documentary on grief, and the producers are in incredible people, but they don’t have any interest in the VR filmmaking. And that’s fine. It’s just every project is different, and I have to flow with whatever is happening with that unique circle.
Brad Burrow (16:42):
So that might just be a niche type thing that works in certain situations really well like that.
Jen Greenstreet (16:47):
Yeah. I mean, I could see it working in every situation. I’m so excited to go to these festivals and find out what these filmmakers are discovering and inventing and watching all the movies and being with them and that creative energy and see where it’s headed.
Brad Burrow (17:06):
Yeah, that sounds really cool. I think about, I’ve seen some really cool videos like that for the Blue Angels, for example, where you’re in the pilot seat and now you can look out and see what they’re looking at when they’re flying and stuff. That kind of stuff always seemed really cool to me. I hadn’t really thought of it in terms of a feature link narrative type film. That would be an interesting undertaking. I’m surprised it hasn’t been done yet.
Jen Greenstreet (17:34):
Yeah, I think feature would be a long time to be on a headset. It’s interesting, even with our little film, it’s 20 minutes, you come out kind of tired. You’ve been through something, you’ve been through it.
Brad Burrow (17:46):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (17:46):
You’ve been to that birthday party, you’ve dealt with the bully in your face, yelling at you, and it’s a full sensorial emotional experience.
Brad Burrow (17:59):
Yeah. Very cool. So would people be able to do that? I mean, see that film, I mean,
Jen Greenstreet (18:05):
You’re
Brad Burrow (18:06):
Going to have, how’s that going to happen?
Jen Greenstreet (18:07):
So my goal is through these film festivals or forever, however we get it done, is to connect with someone at Meta or Apple and get native on the meta headset. And Amazon. Amazon would be ideal. They have a 360 studio, somebody that would put their full force of their marketing and PR behind it and make sure people know about it. So you get the headset, it’s native on there, it’s advertise banners and everything. That’s the dream. And even beyond that, my dream is to, in schools, have a cart of headsets wheeled into a classroom. Today, kids we’re going to learn about food allergies. And I mean, those kids would be so excited. I remember being a kid, being so bored in the classroom if somebody wheeled in that kind of technology. And the point of it is to learn how to be a good friend to someone that lives with food allergies and make it cool and exciting. I mean, I think that has a potential to really help people understand what it’s like and change lives, maybe even save lives.
Brad Burrow (19:18):
Yeah, that’s really cool. And the kids will love it.
Jen Greenstreet (19:21):
Oh, yeah.
Brad Burrow (19:22):
They would be all over that.
Jen Greenstreet (19:23):
Yeah. So if anybody’s listening from Meta Apple, Facebook, we’ll
Brad Burrow (19:28):
Send it to Facebook.
Jen Greenstreet (19:29):
Anybody
Brad Burrow (19:30):
Prime was on Prime, all those places. Yeah. Well, so this is awesome. I wanted to kind of go back. So you were an assistant prosecuting attorney,
Jen Greenstreet (19:43):
Correct?
Brad Burrow (19:43):
Yes.
Jen Greenstreet (19:43):
Okay.
Brad Burrow (19:44):
So the step from there to becoming a filmmaker, was there something that prompted that? Did you see something? What made you, it just seems kind of unlikely.
Jen Greenstreet (19:54):
Yeah, right.
Brad Burrow (19:55):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (19:55):
You
Brad Burrow (19:55):
Probably get asked that all the time.
Jen Greenstreet (19:56):
Yeah. Oh yeah. I ask myself that all the time. Yeah. So I tell this story because I’m a storyteller, and I feel like it really illustrates that pivot point for me. So I interned there. I worked all through law school at the prosecuting attorney’s office. Any chance I got, I would go down in the courtroom and watch the lawyers do their thing. I was just enthralled with their,
Brad Burrow (20:22):
Was that Jackson County?
Jen Greenstreet (20:23):
Jackson County,
Brad Burrow (20:24):
Okay.
Jen Greenstreet (20:24):
Yeah. Using their storytelling skills to stand up for Truth and justice. I may have had a naive lens on at that time, but I was just so proud of them and just excited to possibly be able to use my skillset to help people, to help my community be safer, to have that kind of purpose-driven storytelling.
(20:48):
So I did it for 10 years and I loved it, but I had small children. This is the story. We’re traveling through Kansas City in our minivan. My husband and I, he’s a lawyer too. My kids are in the backseat in their car seats kicking their feet around. We go past and Blue Parkway, there was a housing edition, and I had a double homicide right there. And so I was prepping for that trial. I started talking about the evidence. I’m bouncing some ideas off. My husband when they came in, they found the first body on the floor. I’m kind of describing the facts of the case, and I think there was an issue with the trajectory of the bullets marrying up with the witness accounts, that kind of thing. And my husband’s like, okay, Jen Whitney is listening to every word you’re saying. Whitney, my five-year-old daughter is leaning in Whitney, cut to 30 years later, is now practicing lawyer. Is that right? It
Brad Burrow (21:42):
Was inevitable probably, right?
Jen Greenstreet (21:43):
Yeah. So I’m like, oh, yeah, that’s probably not the right conversation for a five-year-old. And so we go further down the road and there’s a fast stop right before you get off on 4 35 to go to the stadiums. There’s a fast stop, quick trip type. I’m like, okay, there’s a serial armed robber that’s one of the places where the serial armed robber went. And I start talking about that and how we’re trying to tie the cases together. And he’s like, okay, yeah, Jen, here we are again. He was like, I love you, but I want to make an observation that I feel like you’re seeing our city through the filter of all your crime scenes. Is that how you want to see your city? And that was just a moment for me, no, I don’t want to see my city through crime scenes and how do I want to see my city and how do I want to utilize the skills that I’ve been given? So I decided to take a step back and I threw myself into being a home, a mom, and going to PTA, which is a wonderful thing, but I felt like I could do more. I needed a little bit more. And I was playing with this idea of saying yes to everything and just kind of asking the universe to use me. I’d seen an Oprah show where Oprah Winfrey,
(22:59):
She said every night before she went to bed, she said a prayer, God, please use me. I’m like, I’m going to try that. I love Oprah. And so I was trying it. And so what kind of came in my path was this opportunity to help with Children’s Mercy Hospital has a burn unit, and one of Whitney’s best friends was severely burned on her leg. There was a mom that I was friends with that wanted to do a fundraiser to buy pajama bottoms, and she asked me to be a part of it or help run it. And I had no experience in nonprofit,
(23:32):
But I was saying yes. So I said yes. Went down there, the child life specialist there, Nikki Stang Johnson is an incredible woman. We have a trophy named after her now that we give out. She said, you guys, we don’t need pajama bottoms. Thank you. But we have plenty of pajama bottoms. What we really need is to tell our kids stories. And I want to tell our kids stories to their peers before they go back into the classroom to kind of pave the way. And I do that when I can, but I can’t always do that. Will you make me a short video? That’s basically my presentation that I give to these classrooms. Caroline’s coming back into the classroom. She’s going to look different. She has a severe burn scar, but she’s still the same kid as she always was. So please invite her to sit with you at lunch, play with her out on the playground. Here’s the few things that she’ll be doing differently. She’ll be wearing pressure garments for a while. She’ll have to leave school to do physical therapy, and here’s all the things. But she’s still Caroline. And the main message that the kids want communicated on their behalf is that they’re still a kid just like you. And so we did that first film, actually, I went to Isaac, our mutual friend, Isaac,
(24:44):
And I said, Isaac, I have to raise money and we’re going to do a flyer. But it’s really important to me that we portray Caroline as the heroine, that she is not as somebody to be pitied because she is a leader in her class, and she’s a wonderful kid. That’s the message I want to send to my friends when I’m asking for money for this. He said, oh, we’ll just do a shoot, a photo shoot, and we’ll have the girls hang out and Caroline will show her scar. So we did that. We raised $10,000 in a week, and the process of shooting that Isaac’s like, I’m going to get into motion. This is almost 20 years ago. And I said, great. And he’s like, I’ll shoot the movie. Why don’t you write the script and direct it? We’ll do it together and I’ll do it for very inexpensively. This is my first foray and two emotion.
Brad Burrow (25:34):
I’m
Jen Greenstreet (25:34):
Like, fantastic. I mean, I was saying yes. I was very hesitant. And he’s like, I got you. I’ll help you learn filmmaking. And I’m like, there’s something called a storyboard. Should I do storyboards? And he’s like, yes, do storyboards. I’m like, all I can do are stick figures. And he’s like, I don’t care. Just draw stick figures. And I still have those storyboards.
Brad Burrow (25:54):
That’s all. You should put those up on the
Jen Greenstreet (25:56):
Wall. I should. I should. Yeah. So I’m so forever grateful to Isaac for encouraging me and coaching me for many, many years. He’s just a wonderful talent.
Brad Burrow (26:07):
He is. Got the best eye.
Jen Greenstreet (26:10):
Oh, he does.
Brad Burrow (26:11):
I mean, the films, I’ve worked with him on film sets and stuff like that quite a bit. And he helped us actually put together our red packages. I knew he would know. And it’s like, Hey, man, would you help me? He said,
Jen Greenstreet (26:22):
Sure’s so
Brad Burrow (26:23):
Generous came over to help me. Yeah. But yeah, he’s got an amazing eye. Everything that he shoots, you’re just like, wow, that looks amazing.
Jen Greenstreet (26:32):
Yeah,
Brad Burrow (26:34):
It’s a gift.
Jen Greenstreet (26:35):
It is truly.
Brad Burrow (26:36):
So yeah, you got connected with the right person.
Jen Greenstreet (26:39):
I did. I felt it. Yeah, it was good. And it still is. I’ll call him every once in a while. He’s off to the big time making his own features now.
Brad Burrow (26:50):
Yeah, he is. They’re doing some pretty cool things. One of the things I wanted to ask you is a lot of people don’t realize the power of film. If you do it right, it really can change the way people think, and on such a sensory level can help you remember things. It can change the way you think about things. It can hit you emotionally. When did you realize that film is the way, I mean, probably that first project, right? But when was it for you? And it was like, this is something that I can really do to impact people?
Jen Greenstreet (27:29):
I think I realized the power of film when I was like five years old.
(27:35):
We were at a drive-in, and my dad, we were playing Star Wars, and my dad said we were in all our pajamas and we had beds in the back of the station wagon, and we’d watch some kid film, and he’s like, you can go to bed now because this is a grownup film. You won’t understand it. And then the minute he said that, I’m like, I’m going to pry my eyes open. Got to do everything I can to understand this. And I was absolutely transported into another time place where, and I fell in love with movies in that moment. And I just have been a love affair that’s been going on my entire life. And my mom too, Disney films. And she was such a Disney fan. So she got these records and it wasn’t film, but it was the stories. And we would listen to the records together. But I think the power of advocacy in filmmaking, I feel like I’ve always kind of felt that. But definitely with that first film, the feedback that we got.
Brad Burrow (28:36):
Yeah. Tell me about that. How was that received?
Jen Greenstreet (28:39):
Well, they still use it at children’s birth.
Brad Burrow (28:41):
Do they really? Wow.
Jen Greenstreet (28:42):
They still use it.
Brad Burrow (28:43):
Wow.
Jen Greenstreet (28:43):
That’s a testament to the need and the gap that there is for this type of film. And I just had a meeting today with a parent who also helps families with disabled children plan for the future economically. And every day I feel like there’s something saying, yeah, you’re going the right way. Keep going. And she said, I don’t know of anything else out there, like your movies. And I’m so thrilled to help my clients understand that there is hope. A lot of people get diagnosis when they diagnosis, when they’re infants, so they don’t know what life’s going to look like. And it’s very scary.
Brad Burrow (29:23):
Parents especially.
Jen Greenstreet (29:23):
Yeah. Yeah. So she’s like, I can’t wait to show them their movies and show them that it’s not only going to be okay, it’s going to be great.
Brad Burrow (29:33):
I saw that. Kind of jumping forward a little bit, I saw you had, one of the movies is about cerebral palsy. My wife and I have a really good family friend, but Joe has cerebral palsy, and so we go to church together and all this stuff. But he came up to us at church about four weeks ago and said, Hey, my parents, he’s like 30 years old. My parents are going to be gone. Would you guys mind staying with me for the weekend? And it was like, sure. And we’ve taken him to basketball games and gotten to know him really well. He’s so smart. He just has a hard time articulating and talking and all those things. But he is a super sharp guy. We had the best time hanging out with him. It was hard. I mean, I had to pick him up and help him go to the bathroom and all the stuff that you have to do. But once all that stuff aside, it’s just spending time with him. And he was so grateful that we were there, and it was so awesome.
Jen Greenstreet (30:41):
It’s
Brad Burrow (30:41):
The first time we’ve ever done anything like that.
Jen Greenstreet (30:43):
Oh yeah.
Brad Burrow (30:44):
And
Jen Greenstreet (30:44):
It’s
Brad Burrow (30:44):
Like, why haven’t we done this before?
Jen Greenstreet (30:46):
Right, right. It’s
Brad Burrow (30:48):
Really cool. I haven’t seen the film, but I’m assuming that your film probably covers some things like that.
Jen Greenstreet (30:53):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I’ll share a link with you. We’re on the festival circuit right now with that movie, and so we’re shopping it around. But I would be happy to share a link. And that movie is based on a true story, Terry, and she was born with cerebral palsy, but her cerebral palsy, it’s a spectrum. I learned that through this movie. So it’s something that happens in the brain and either impacts your motor skills.
(31:22):
And
(31:22):
I’m not an expert on any of these subject matters, just like my lawyer had on full disclosure. Disclaimer.
Brad Burrow (31:31):
We’ll put that on screen.
Jen Greenstreet (31:32):
Yeah, thank you. In the spectrum, it can either impact you or your motor skills, or it can cause developmental delay. So Terry, how it impacted her is she had full use of her motor skills and her body and in what we would think of as a typical way, but she was developmentally delayed. So she saw the world like a five-year-old child in real life. So our movie, we look through Terry’s, POV, and we see the world kind of like Terry would see it. But we do have kids that are impacted through their motor skills in the movie with cerebral palsy that Terry interacts with. So you see both ends, and we kind of explain that throughout the film that there is a spectrum and that it impacts everyone differently.
Brad Burrow (32:23):
Well, he was totally motor skills mean. So he’s gone to college, he’s taught classes, I mean, really amazing
Jen Greenstreet (32:32):
Things.
Brad Burrow (32:32):
He just can’t walk or he has a hard time grabbing things, but just an amazing, I dunno, we felt exhausted after that weekend, but we also felt very thankful that we got to spend time with him. It was a really interesting weekend.
Jen Greenstreet (32:55):
I think that’s one thing that not very many people realize. We think of disability, like the dis and disability. It’s negative. It’s a negative connotation, or they’re less than somehow. And it’s maybe a burden on typical people when they have to encounter
Brad Burrow (33:12):
Or
Jen Greenstreet (33:13):
Accommodate someone who is disabled. But actually it’s the benefit of being friends with or living life with someone who has a unique circumstance. That’s what we’d like to call it, unique circumstance. Take that negative connotation out of there. Flows both ways. I did a little thing for a local nonprofit called My Favorite Teacher.
(33:35):
And
(33:36):
Really, when you’re in a class with someone that has a unique circumstance, you’re learning from them as well, and you’re growing and you’re having that opportunity to build up that part of you, that empathy part, that sympathy part. And it gives you a different perspective on world. Oftentimes in our movies, the friends always speak, the friends of the kids that live with unique circumstance speak about how things can seem real small and they get real focused on themselves. But if they can be friends with someone that has a unique, it gives them a bigger worldview of their life, their role in the world, and it’s really wonderful for everyone involved. It’s not easy. Sometimes you really have to go outside of your comfort zone, like taking your friend to the bathroom, things like that. But the reward is really exponential.
Brad Burrow (34:28):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (34:29):
Oh
Brad Burrow (34:29):
Yeah. I felt like we went through a weekend of learning. It was a great experience. We were going to do it more.
Jen Greenstreet (34:40):
Yeah. Well, and what we try to do with our films is we try to have the audience have a small taste of that experience through the film. So then everyone who sees our movie, if you watch our movie on Down Syndrome, for example, and then you’re in the grocery store walking through the grocery store and you see someone with Down Syndrome, it’s not so shocking. Or it’s like, oh yeah, I spent time with someone with Down Syndrome already through just like You Down Syndrome
Brad Burrow (35:06):
And Grief. I wrote down grief. So that’s one that’s in production right now.
Jen Greenstreet (35:10):
We’re in pre-production on that.
Brad Burrow (35:12):
Oh, pre-production. Anything you can tell us about that?
Jen Greenstreet (35:15):
It’s still in the works. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brad Burrow (35:18):
Well, it’s a big need.
Jen Greenstreet (35:20):
It is
Brad Burrow (35:22):
With Covid and all the things that are happening in our world right now. Do you know Mindy Corporan?
Jen Greenstreet (35:30):
I don’t think so.
Brad Burrow (35:32):
Her dad and her son were murdered at the Jewish Community Center.
Jen Greenstreet (35:36):
Oh, okay.
Brad Burrow (35:37):
Yeah. She’s somebody you need to have be a part of your documentary probably. Anyway,
Jen Greenstreet (35:44):
I
Brad Burrow (35:44):
Can make an introduction, but
Jen Greenstreet (35:45):
Thank you.
Brad Burrow (35:46):
She has, man, what she’s turned a tragedy in her life into is amazing. I mean, she’s helping so many people now deal with things like that. It’s unbelievable. It’s hard to imagine that she could help go through what she went through and then help somebody else.
Jen Greenstreet (36:05):
That’s
Brad Burrow (36:05):
Humbling.
Jen Greenstreet (36:06):
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Brad Burrow (36:09):
Yeah, that’s wonderful. Tell me a little bit about, just like You films, and I know you have some partners.
Jen Greenstreet (36:18):
Oh yeah.
Brad Burrow (36:19):
I dunno if you want to talk about them a little bit, but tell us about what your organization is, kind of your mission, what you’re trying to accomplish. I know we’ve talked about it a lot already, but
Jen Greenstreet (36:27):
Oh, no. Yeah. So we’re a women led award winning nonprofit film production company. And we are working to end bullying and spread kindness and empathy through the power of storytelling. And that’s our mission statement. And so every decision we make comes back to that. That’s our guiding principle. And we are a team of three women primarily, but we also have a board of directors that is very active and wonderful people that help us stay on track and keep us going financially through funding.
Brad Burrow (37:04):
Good to have a board like that, huh?
Jen Greenstreet (37:05):
Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. And we have a library of, I think we’re up to 15 movies. I think about time in relationship to that burn film. My daughter was 10 years old when we shot that movie, and now she’s 29. So I’ve been working on just like in films for 19 years. I think we were incorporating it as a nonprofit in 2006. So yeah, because after that burn film, I thought I was done. That was a fun project. Now what am I going to do?
Brad Burrow (37:39):
What happened to what?
Jen Greenstreet (37:40):
Well, the cancer unit got wind at
Brad Burrow (37:43):
Children’s Mercy
Jen Greenstreet (37:44):
At Children’s Mercy Hospital of the movie. And they came to us and they said, we really need one of these too. I can’t imagine there’d be any issues with kids living with cancer in the classroom, being bullied. And they’re like, yeah, you’d be so surprised,
(37:58):
Really,
(37:59):
Because they lose their hair, they get nauseous sometimes in class, and they just needed that movie to kind explain what they were going through. So I said, well, okay, let’s see what happens. We see if he can raise the money. And they raised the money very quickly. And so we did that movie, and then we went back and did one for caregivers of Burn Survivors. And it just came to a point where I’m like, my husband’s like, is this what you’re going to be doing now? I think so. I mean, people just keep coming. It’s just so needed. It’s just so needed Back to the power of, I think there’s some studies that there’s no better way to help change minds. You suspend reality when you’re watching content. You are willing to believe anything in those moments when you click on the screen or you go into the movie theater, you’ll believe in vampires or wizards. And so you’re opening up your consciousness, your subconsciousness, even to new ideas. And so it’s really, if we can seize that moment to help people understand others, and we can really change behavior that way.
Brad Burrow (39:12):
One of the things, and Isaac’s great at this, but the way you shoot can be emotional.
Jen Greenstreet (39:18):
Oh, yeah.
Brad Burrow (39:18):
I mean the depth of field, the movement, the lighting, all those things are you consciously sitting down. It’s like, I need this feel on this interview. And are you looking like as the DPS lighting and all those things, are you looking at the modern and saying, no, I want more emotion here, or I want more of this? Are you doing that as a director?
Jen Greenstreet (39:40):
Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That’s my favorite. Yeah. One decision I made with the very first movie and kept going with it was I wanted the interviewee to look into camera because I wanted to break that fourth wall. I wanted the viewer to feel that they were part of the conversation. I think sometimes reality television, the viewer feels like, oh, I’m a fly on the wall. I’m not really held accountable so I can be the fly on the wall and comment or think things, and really, nobody sees me. I’m not really here. And I’m thinking about these movies being played in classrooms. If you put on a movie and that person’s looking down the barrel of the camera right at you, I think it calls people to really engage.
Brad Burrow (40:27):
And
Jen Greenstreet (40:27):
So it was challenging, especially with non-actors, to emote to a glass and get them to keep their eye line right there in camera. And especially if I’m standing over here, they want to talk to me. But Isaac again introduced me to a piece of equipment I direct.
Brad Burrow (40:48):
Yes. I was going to ask you if you were using that. Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (40:50):
Yes. We started using that at the end of anxiety and depression. And it changes the game completely because
Brad Burrow (40:57):
Just like we’re having a conversation here now, you have eyeline with the person you’re talking to.
Jen Greenstreet (41:02):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (41:03):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (41:04):
That’s critical for me. And I also, it’s important with, just like you films, that we deliver an empowering message.
(41:12):
So
(41:13):
I’m never unnecessarily dramatic or are playing at the dark sides of these conditions. There’s a lot of darkness. There’s dark and light to everything, but I’m not going into the treatment room with the burn child as their burn is scraped and they’re screaming and crying.
(41:32):
Oh my gosh. We all know that there are hard parts of life, but you don’t have to show that to a classroom full of, if my objective, this is where my lawyer hat comes on, my advocacy, my objective is to have this child be accepted and embraced by their peers, then I want to give them as much as they need to know to be a good friend. So the lighting and it’s evolved over time, anxiety and depression, we played around a little bit with the darkness may contain as well. We told the story of Elijah, which is very tragic, and you probably haven’t had a chance to see it yet.
(42:13):
Elijah is a five-year-old boy that, sorry, he was three. He was three at the time in daycare. And Dina, his mom, had educated the providers in depth about his condition, but for whatever reason, they gave him a grilled cheese sandwich, and they diagnosed his reaction to it as asthma. And they told his mom, Dina, that he was having an asthma attack, and by the time she arrived at the daycare, it was too late. He passed away from anaphylaxis from the grilled cheese sandwich. So talk about turning tragedy into something positive that will help and save lives. Dina and Thomas, Elijah’s parents started a foundation and wrote a law called Elijah’s Law that they successfully passed in New York state. And since then, I think it’s like five other states that require daycare providers to know about and understand the signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis, and also have epinephrine on site to administer it if there is an emergency. And as part of our documentary may contain, we ask them to come to Kansas City and see what they could do to get that law passed here in Kansas City and in misery in Kansas. So that’s part of the story arc for our docudrama is what happens with that.
Brad Burrow (43:33):
Is that still in production right now?
Jen Greenstreet (43:34):
That’s finished and it’s on the festival circuit.
Brad Burrow (43:37):
Okay.
Jen Greenstreet (43:37):
Yeah, it won an Impact Doc award recently.
Brad Burrow (43:41):
So did you follow them around while they were here?
Jen Greenstreet (43:43):
Well, yeah. We followed them to city hall and we had a city councilwoman. Andrea Boo. Her daughter lives with food allergies.
Brad Burrow (43:53):
I know the boos very well.
Jen Greenstreet (43:54):
Oh, you do? They’re my favorite
Brad Burrow (43:57):
Judge,
Jen Greenstreet (43:58):
Boo. Yes. Yes. Well, I’m a lawyer, so we’d all run around in each other’s circles.
Brad Burrow (44:05):
Well, their son was one of my son’s best friend in high school at Ken City Christian School, but
Jen Greenstreet (44:10):
Oh my gosh, what a small world
Brad Burrow (44:13):
Grant. His name’s
Jen Greenstreet (44:13):
Grant. Yes, grant. We know Grant. Yeah. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (44:16):
So they’re at K State together. Well, not together, but they’re both up at K State right now. But we know the booze very well, and we were at basketball and baseball and all that stuff together.
Jen Greenstreet (44:28):
Yeah. Yeah. So we’ll have to send a picture to Steve.
Brad Burrow (44:31):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (44:33):
Well, Andrea championed the bill to the city hall, and so we documented that whole process with Andrea.
Brad Burrow (44:43):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (44:43):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (44:44):
Very cool. Very cool. What a small world. That’s
Jen Greenstreet (44:46):
Funny. I know. That’s
Brad Burrow (44:48):
Funny.
Jen Greenstreet (44:48):
And actually, Whitney, who I told you, is practicing a lawyer now. She clerked for Judge Boo.
Brad Burrow (44:54):
Oh, did she really?
Jen Greenstreet (44:55):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (44:56):
Yeah. I’ve had some talks with him. It’s like his job is like, I don’t think I want his job. It’s kind of amazing, the stuff that he deals with on a daily basis.
Jen Greenstreet (45:07):
You probably
Brad Burrow (45:07):
Are pretty,
Jen Greenstreet (45:08):
Thank God he’s doing it. Thank God. Good people are out there doing it.
Brad Burrow (45:11):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to wrap up pretty quick here. The last thing I wanted to ask you about was Rise and
Jen Greenstreet (45:18):
Shine. Okay.
Brad Burrow (45:19):
Tell me about that.
Jen Greenstreet (45:21):
So that came to us through a board members brother.
(45:26):
Yeah. So Carrie McClinney sat on our board of directors for years, and she one day said, I want you to meet my brother, Randy Wooten. He’s in filmmaking in Los Angeles. So that was probably a decade ago. I was out in Los Angeles, and we met and continued speaking. He came to a couple of events. He supported Just Like You films, but he was always working in the narrative space. But he reached out to me one day and said, Hey, I have a project on Deck that I think just like you films would be a perfect fit for, it’s a narrative feature film about a teenager that lives with cerebral palsy. And so I read the script. I cried, of course, fell in love with it, met with the other production companies involved. Randy’s Company, which is Low Road Media, and Voyage Media, and Voyage was the one that kind of developed the movie, found the story. They actually are a podcast company,
(46:24):
And
(46:24):
They do podcasts with real people. And then when they find stories that they feel like would translate nicely into feature films, they go ahead and develop the movies.
Brad Burrow (46:33):
That’s a great way to come up with stories, isn’t
Jen Greenstreet (46:35):
It? Right.
Brad Burrow (46:36):
Yeah.
Jen Greenstreet (46:36):
Yeah. They’ve really got a good formula there. And so Robert Midas and Nat Mendel is the founder of Voyage Media, and Robert Midas is a film producer that worked for Michael Douglas. He ran Michael Douglas’ personal production company for a while, grew up through that company. Just wonderful people. And I was absolutely thrilled to walk down that road with them. They were looking, I think, to just like You films for us to provide the experience that we had with unique circumstances, bring that credibility and authenticity. We were instrumental in bringing an expert on set to make sure that all of our folks with unique circumstances were cared for and felt comfortable on our set. And they were there every single day, all day, so dedicated. And then also we provide the nonprofit fundraising mechanism for them as well.
Brad Burrow (47:32):
So that was a good fit for them too.
Jen Greenstreet (47:34):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (47:35):
We didn’t even get into that side of what you do. That’s a big part of it. Right. How much of your time do you think you spend just on fundraising?
Jen Greenstreet (47:44):
I would say it became less when Betsy came on board. Betsy is our executive director, and she runs the nonprofit side, but it’s always, I would say at least 50%. And then when we have a yearly fundraiser called The Power of Film, which is happening in June this year. If anybody’s listening and wants to be a part of our event, it’s a
Brad Burrow (48:06):
Blast
Jen Greenstreet (48:07):
And it’s for a great cause. But when that fundraiser comes around, then I really have to spend some serious time. And my poor friends that have been with me for almost 19 years, 19 years, donating every year, they see me coming a mile away.
Brad Burrow (48:26):
That’s got to feel good that they’re being a part of something that’s helping people though.
Jen Greenstreet (48:29):
Yeah, I think so. And it lives forever. If you donate to the burn film, you’re still on that scroll that’s played at Children’s Mercy Hospital and all over the world. So
Brad Burrow (48:40):
Yeah, give a quick shout out to the rest of your team. We were going to do that, and this has been great. It’s like we just keep going. That’s
Jen Greenstreet (48:48):
Awesome. I know I could talk all day,
Brad Burrow (48:51):
But tell us about the rest of your
Jen Greenstreet (48:52):
Team. Yeah. So Betsy Lindsay came from a nonprofit background, and she worked for University of Kansas and Kaufman, and one of my friends introduced me to her, and she was, I think, going to kind of go on her own and wanted to find more contract work.
(49:14):
And
(49:14):
So we just hit it off and she fell in love with what we’re doing, and so she handles all of the nonprofit side. I sent it to the universe if I could duplicate myself, I just needed another one of me that will only think about nonprofit. I think Betsy just really has filled that role and done it beautifully. Mandy Kerns came to me with food allergies.
Brad Burrow (49:41):
Is that right? Wow.
Jen Greenstreet (49:42):
So every movie has a mom executive producer who believes passionately in spreading the knowledge and understanding around that unique circumstance. Every single movie, I could name them off for you, Mandy’s the one for a food allergies. But she just had such an acumen for production and for fundraising and everything that we did, and that passion for it, and just a desire to be a bigger part of it that I’ve just had so much fun, kind of like Isaac did for me, helping Mandy learn the business and understand production. And she’s come on as a producer now with just Lakey Films and a Director of Impact because her background’s in education.
Brad Burrow (50:20):
Yeah. Awesome.
Jen Greenstreet (50:21):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (50:22):
Perfect.
Jen Greenstreet (50:22):
Yeah, we’re a wonderful team.
Brad Burrow (50:25):
Very cool. Well, I really appreciate you coming on.
Jen Greenstreet (50:29):
Oh,
Brad Burrow (50:29):
The podcast. This is awesome. Where would somebody find, why don’t you give them the website? I know we have it up here, but tell ’em the URL to support the projects moving forward?
Jen Greenstreet (50:40):
Yes. You can find a set just like you film.org. It’s just like you films.org, and then we have a YouTube channel, and Instagram and Facebook and all of the things. LinkedIn.
Brad Burrow (50:52):
Yeah. Very awesome. Alright, the last thing that we have to do is the movie voice. And you have to be one of the best at this since you’re in the business. Alright. I dunno about that.
Jen Greenstreet (51:04):
I have people tell me that. I sound like Kermit the Frog, so can I do my Kermit the Frog Boys?
Brad Burrow (51:09):
Sure. Yeah, that would be awesome. That’d be awesome. Well, so this all started, I used to run around with the guy that ran the Miami Heat
Jen Greenstreet (51:17):
Oh, nice.
Brad Burrow (51:18):
And television network.
Jen Greenstreet (51:19):
Oh wow.
Brad Burrow (51:19):
And so I’d always do this in a whir One day he says to me, Hey, I want you to be the voice of the Miami Heat. And I’m like,
Jen Greenstreet (51:27):
What? That’s awesome.
Brad Burrow (51:28):
I thought it was a joke. And then he sent me a script and I did it. And next thing you know, for four years I was doing the voices. Oh my gosh. But it’s all a trick. It’s like in a world kind of thing.
Jen Greenstreet (51:39):
I can do that.
Brad Burrow (51:40):
They do in a world. So you just have to say in a world with real media,
Jen Greenstreet (51:43):
Okay, okay.
Brad Burrow (51:44):
What is it? You might want to send this to your agent.
Jen Greenstreet (51:47):
Okay. I love it.
Brad Burrow (51:47):
In a world with real media.
Jen Greenstreet (51:49):
Okay. Ready in a world with Real Media.
Brad Burrow (51:55):
Awesome, awesome. Great.
Jen Greenstreet (51:56):
I can be Box. I’m much better at that.
Brad Burrow (51:58):
Oh yeah,
Jen Greenstreet (51:58):
Not just a little bit.
Brad Burrow (51:59):
That’ll be the next podcast.
Jen Greenstreet (52:00):
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Brad Burrow (52:01):
Alright. Well thank you so much, Jen, for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. This has been so fun. And I love what you guys are doing and love. It’s helping people. That’s really
Jen Greenstreet (52:10):
Amazing. Well, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to spread the word.
Brad Burrow (52:13):
Yeah. So thanks for joining us, everybody. This is the In World Real Media Podcast. Share this, send it to your friends. There’s a lot of really cool content that’s coming out, and we look forward to seeing you next time. This has been In a World with Real Media. Thanks for joining us. And be sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow real media on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. So you never miss an episode.