The Great Turkey Town Miracle

Movie Audio (00:00):

It's 8 55 in the morning here at K X T. Stick around for the network use at nine. Wow. Can't believe we

are getting close to Thanksgiving until tomorrow. This is your morning mouth. Connor McLoud. The

station's been sold. That was your last show. Talk about dead air bus boy gas station attendant. Use car

salesman. Seven stations in 15 years. Dad, I'm scared we're gonna have to move again. No, no, no. I'll

sort something out. This fits perfectly into my five year plan. So should we get you fitted for your

uniform? Kill me now. I'd like

Movie Audio (00:31):

Everyone to meet our new procurement director, Connor McLeod.

Movie Audio (00:34):

The homeless shelter. Yeah, the House of Hope. We're gonna

Movie Audio (00:36):

Need a hundred grand to keep the shelter open. And for Thanksgiving, 4,000.

Movie Audio (00:41):

4,000. Thousand thousand. Turkey <laugh>. 4,000 turkeys. Welcome to Turkey Town. Make that 3,999.

We gonna find 4,000 turkeys by Thanksgiving. We have less than a month. He's a washed up dj. Most

people are depending on you. The only Turkey here is this guy. Just need a plan of action. What I need is

a miracle for why I'm with you. You shouldn't feel alone in this. Go find a few thousand turkeys. God,

this is Connor McLeod here. I'd like to make a donation to 2000 Birds. If you could just forget about all

the stupid things I've done in my life. I do one of those lows and fishes miracles. That'll be really Great.

Starting to see a pattern. You're such a dad

Movie Audio (01:29):

Looking

Speaker 1 (01:30):

Good, dad. Ugh. I hate seeing myself on tv. You really do have a face for radio <laugh>. Ouch.

Ron Lyons (01:40):

Welcome to CelinaRadio.com. I'm your host Ron Lyons, and this

Speaker 1 (01:48):

Is the voice of

Ron Lyons (01:50):

Celina, Texas.

Ron Lyons (02:07):

Guys, welcome to another episode of CelinaRadio.com. And on today's episode, we've got two very

special guests that happen to have had a small dream that is about to become a massive reality. That's

right. We've got two guys that dreamed of making a movie. And what they did is combined their lives

into one character, wrote a screenplay, and then decided to film it in Celina, Texas. This November,

we're all gonna be treated to this fantastic movie called The Great Turkey Town Miracle. Now, the two

guys behind this movie, the two guys that actually wrote it based on their life experiences, are Steve

Denny and Joren Christensen. And they were kind enough to come into the studio, sit down with me and

talk all about the Great Turkey Town Miracle. Uh, they had an absolute blast filming in Celina, Texas and

this community absolutely wrapped around them.

Ron Lyons (03:19):

Now here's the really cool part. We all know that Celina has been through our challenges lately. We just

had an election, we've had a complete change in power in the city, and it's kind of really pulled at our

seams a lot. I have a feeling that the Great Turkey Town Miracle, the movie is gonna be something we

can all wrap around and it may just bring the healing that we all need to this community. So guys, sit

back, relax, and let's hop into this interview with Steve and Joren. I think you're going to have a blast

listening to these two guys. Guys, I'm here right now with two guys that you don't know right now, but

you most certainly will, especially coming up close to Thanksgiving this year. And that is because they

happen to have this little project they've been working on and it happens to be a movie. And sitting here

with me right now, I've got Steve and Joren. Steve, how you doing, buddy?

Steve Dini (04:35):

Living the dream, Ron, living it, living

Ron Lyons (04:37):

The dream every

Steve Dini (04:38):

Day in Celina.

Ron Lyons (04:39):

I absolutely believe that about you. For some reason it just seems like you're the kind of guy that like

takes life and absolutely has a blast without, am I right?

Steve Dini (04:50):

Yeah. You've you've met me for 15 minutes. You got me figured out.

Ron Lyons (04:54):

Absolutely. And Joren, how are we doing buddy? I am ready to go. Happy to be here. Alright, so you

guys have something really unique. It's something that's very different. We've had a lot of different

celebrities on the show and things like that over the years, but you've got a movie coming up and it's got

quite the interesting story. And we're not gonna give away the, the ending of the movie 'cause we're still

early. So as we speak, we're sitting here right now just off the square in Celina, Texas in a house that's

pretty hot right now. So it's kind of hard right now to feel like Christmas and Thanksgiving. But the, the,

the timing for the release of this movie, it actually will be very holiday like, is that correct?

Steve Dini (05:34):

That is correct, absolutely. Yeah, we're gonna have a premiere on November 4th, and we're going to

release it in theaters November 10th.

Ron Lyons (05:44):

Okay. And can we, can we say what the name of the movie is right now?

Steve Dini (05:46):

I hope we say it about a hundred times. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Ron Lyons (05:49):

Talk to me.

Steve Dini (05:50):

Wait, it's called the Great Turkey Town Miracle.

Ron Lyons (05:53):

The Great Turkey Town Miracle. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, so we've got Turkey Town, so we know it

has something to do with turkeys. Right. And we've got Miracle in the name. Yeah. Right. So can I, can I,

can I guess that this is, is there some sort of an element to this movie that makes it a bit of maybe a, uh,

just a feel good kind of a movie? Am I, am I, I'm thinking I'm envisioning like Hallmark Christmas movie

kind of thing. Is that, am I close?

Steve Dini (06:17):

You are very close, Ron, because that's exactly what's happening here. We are, we based the movie on

our intertwined lives, Jorn and I, and, uh, it's based on a miracle that I witnessed when I was working at

a homeless shelter in San Jose, California. And we were collecting turkeys for the homeless they give

away to families on Thanksgiving. And my job was to, to collect 4,000 turkeys. And I didn't have it. I

didn't have the turkeys.

Ron Lyons (06:47):

And and that's a legitimate story. Like that is

Steve Dini (06:49):

A legitimate story. This a true story. It

Ron Lyons (06:50):

Really happened.

Steve Dini (06:51):

So on Thanksgiving Eve, we did not have the 4,000 turkeys. There was about 3000 families who were

gonna be disappointed, but God intervened and that's the miracle part.

Ron Lyons (07:02):

Gotcha, gotcha.

Steve Dini (07:03):

And you have to see the movie to see what the miracle is.

Ron Lyons (07:05):

Exactly. You have to see the movie. Yeah. And so, so you said it's a, it's kind of a, a, a combination or the,

the in the bringing together of something from both of your lives. And Joren, I I kind of, I'm very

interested, what is the part of it that's related to your life?

Joren Christensen (07:23):

Well, the main character, Conor McLeod, we kind of created a composite character between that

experience that Steve experienced when he worked at that homeless shelter in San Jose. And something

that I experienced in my personal life, I, I lost my first wife, uh, back in 2013. Okay. And, uh, and I had

two young adult daughters at the time, and so we kind of, kind of created that character, that main

character of our movie Connor. Um, he experienced that, that miracle that Steve experienced. But, but

the story carried him through losing his wife and ultimately, you know, got this new job because he had

lost his job as a radio disc jockey, which Steve also experienced at the beginning of the story. So this, this

Ron Lyons (08:20):

Is a legitimate combination of both of your life, and that's very unique and interesting. So I have to ask,

how did you guys get to know each other in the first place?

Steve Dini (08:31):

Well, back in the day, as the kids like to say, right. Uh, we went to the same church, Los Gatiss Christian

in Los Gatiss, California, which is, uh, close to San Jose in Silicon Valley. And Wanda, his late wife and

Joren were in a bunch of plays and musicals that we did at the church, because in those days, and the

pendulum has kind of swung back on this run that local churches don't do Christmas musicals anymore,

as much as we did in back when, when we were doing it. So every Christmas we'd do a musical. We had

an active drama department, and, and Wanda and JM were in a lot of our shows. And my wife is a

choreographer assistant director, and I was the director. And, uh, Joren and I, and, and Wanda got to

know each other. And, uh, then we parted for a while, Joren moved to Colorado mm-hmm.

Steve Dini (09:26):

<affirmative>, and that's where Wanda went to heaven in, in Colorado. And then he moved back and we

just happened to be at the same church service one day. And I, I saw Jorn across a crowded room, and,

uh, we reconnected and he helped us sell a couple of houses in San Jose. He was in real estate at the

time, and we said, let's have lunch. And then I told him about this miracle that I had witnessed, and he

said, oh my gosh, that's a Great story. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I said, yeah, but I can't, I can't flesh

it out to two hours. It's not gonna work. And he said, well, why don't we take my story and your story

and blend it together and come up with one interesting screenplay. And I said, when do we start?

Ron Lyons (10:11):

I like it. I like it. So, so essentially, and, and, and Joren obviously, you know, condolences, that's, that's,

you know, that's a, that's a, that's a major life event. And I, I I'm gonna ask you this, but is it, is it your

faith in God that has helped you come through all of that and, and maybe in, in some odd way, turned a

tragedy into something that's gonna be a blessing for so many people? Would you say that that's

accurate?

Joren Christensen (10:37):

Oh, yeah. Without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, God has brought me from, from a, a terrible, sad

tragedy. Uh, you know, again, I said, I had said earlier that I have two young adult daughters, and, and

this was our, they were only 20 and 22 at the time. And, and, uh, for them to have to lose their mom

was, was very difficult. Um, and we still miss her every single day. Um, I adored my wife and, and still

miss her, and it'll be, it'll be 10 years this coming November. But, um, God has brought a wonderful new

wife to me, and

Ron Lyons (11:19):

We've been married for

Joren Christensen (11:20):

Five years now, and

Ron Lyons (11:21):

Can, can we say that she's actually here with you today? Yeah, she's, she's, she's here. She's, she's

Joren Christensen (11:26):

Here as our's. She's kind of our social media crew, right. Now's Yeah. She's

Steve Dini (11:30):

Documentarian, I think is

Ron Lyons (11:31):

What you call very well, very well, documenting this podcast. And unfortunately, we happen to be in a

really messy room in this house right now. So

Joren Christensen (11:39):

Wendy, Wendy is a blessing to my life now. And, um, and so she was, she was with us as we shot Turkey

Town last year and, and will be with me for many, many years to come. Right.

Ron Lyons (11:51):

Absolutely. And God bless her for being the kind of person who can understand everything you've gone

through and still be willing to come in and make your life so complete. Oh, so, so God bless her for that.

That's a absolute blessing. It's an amazing, it's a, it is, it's a, it's an major blessing. And it, I'm, I'm super

excited about this movie and I know you guys have got to be excited. We're nearing that final stretch.

What is the release date? Anticipated

Steve Dini (12:19):

Premier is November 4th of this year. Okay. And the wide distribution is scheduled for November 10th.

Okay. So we're in the final stages of post-production. We just saw the trailer, which we're really excited

about, uh, because it brought together the movie in such a way that I even wanna see it <laugh> again.

And I've, and I'm immersed in it,

Ron Lyons (12:42):

You know, you wanna watch your own movie? I

Steve Dini (12:44):

Love it. Yeah. I, I would, I would spend 11 bucks. Oh,

Joren Christensen (12:46):

It's gonna be Great.

Steve Dini (12:47):

Absolutely.

Joren Christensen (12:48):

Can't even believe it.

Steve Dini (12:48):

The trailer was just out of this world. And what's really exciting about it is because when we shot most

of it in Celina, right in in Christmas on, on the Square, right? Yep.

Ron Lyons (12:59):

Christmas on the

Steve Dini (12:59):

Square. And, um, we also were at the Hay Sugar, the ice cream place where I had the best chocolate

chip ice cream cone I think ever made.

Ron Lyons (13:07):

Right.

Steve Dini (13:08):

We, uh, ate at Papa Gallo's, we went into the toasted walnut. What else did we do down there?

Joren Christensen (13:15):

Probably brought the whole cast and crew for lunch one day at, uh, tender. That's

Steve Dini (13:18):

Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. So we are in, we are, it was like a Hallmark movie because we hope

that's a hint for them to buy it from us. By the way, <laugh>, uh, because that's Christmas on the Square

is right out of the Hallmark Hall of Fame,

Ron Lyons (13:35):

Isn't it? Isn't

Steve Dini (13:36):

It though? It really, really is. I mean, the lights and the people and the roasting chestnuts on an open fire

and

Ron Lyons (13:43):

Absolutely.

Joren Christensen (13:44):

I it's a beautiful scene.

Steve Dini (13:45):

It was beautiful. And we had a drone shot that came in, Ron, and it was hovering just as the lights of the

Christmas tree came on. Wow. I mean, we couldn't have timed it any better if we had planned it. And if

anybody asks, we did <laugh>. But you can see God working through this, this whole thing, the way

Joren set up all the locations. He got the city involved. He worked with Celina High School, we got

football players, drama kids, tell, you know, oh, Great process. And Joren was amazing to put this stuff

together. We

Joren Christensen (14:18):

Have to, we have a million thanks owed to, to Jill Rosa for, um, use of, uh, the, um, the Celina I s d admin

building. They let us use their building for many days. And I'm sure by the time we were finally out of

there, they must have just been breathing a huge sigh of relief. <laugh>. Yeah. And, um, and Celina High

School let us shoot in their stadium. Right. And in their theater. And, and many thanks to the Celina, um,

uh, advanced drama team. They were in the movie, the Celina, uh, marching band was in the movie.

Um, oh, I gotta say, um, Amanda Moe from the, um, the advanced drama team, she got a line in the

movie. We were thrilled to have her. She's gonna be in the credits of the movie. Nice. Um, it was, it was

just Great. We, we owe, thanks to Joe Monaco from, from the city of Celina. He, he helped set up so

many things, especially with Christmas on the Square. Oh my gosh. We just, the, the city of Celina and

Celina, I s b opened so many doors for us. It was wonderful working with them. Yeah. So,

Ron Lyons (15:24):

So like you were saying, you were, you were talking about God's timing and pulling things together all

the way from something as simple as the, the drone shot at the perfect time to, uh, having all of these

Great people in these Great positions that were able to kind of be a part of this and, and make things

happen. And so there, there's a reason you landed in Celina, Texas, because there's a whole world out

there. You could've gone anywhere else. So I'm assuming you guys, I know, I know Steve, you actually

live in Celina, right? Joren, you're, you're, you're a real close neighbor. You haven't gotten here yet, but

we're gonna work on getting you over to Celina as well. But <laugh>,

Joren Christensen (16:00):

I, I, I, I, I have to admit, I live in McKinney. Sorry.

Ron Lyons (16:04):

I guess

Steve Dini (16:04):

<laugh>. It's okay. We don't judge. Not

Ron Lyons (16:07):

Judge. We love our, we love our McKinney neighbors. We don't

Steve Dini (16:09):

Judge, we don't judge, but

Ron Lyons (16:11):

Is so, so, so Celina outside of the fact that the Christmas on the Square thing was so amazing and

everything. But how do you like Celina?

Steve Dini (16:20):

We love Celina. Um, we are California refugees. My wife, Sue and I, we did not bring our politics here.

<laugh>, I can assure you of that <laugh>. Uh, so, uh, we moved here in March of 21 to follow our

grandkids. We left part of our family back there, and it was, it was tough to leave them. They were, they

were not happy with our moving. But, uh, it's been, it's been, gosh, almost, what, two years now? We've

been here two and a half years. And the thing when Californians are not used to nice people,

Ron Lyons (16:53):

Ron <laugh>

Steve Dini (16:54):

Like you and everybody is so friendly here, the kids say, yes, sir. No, sir. Yes ma'am. No, ma'am. We were

so friendly. The first time we walked into, Hey, sugar to get an ice cream cone, I said to the gal behind

the counter, what's wrong with you, <laugh>? Are you all right? What's your angle? Young lady?

Ron Lyons (17:16):

Oh my goodness. And she

Steve Dini (17:17):

Just didn't kidding have a clue what I'm, you know, talking about. Right. But we're just not. But the, the

friendliness of the people is just, it's got a, it's got this hometown feel right? That what America used to

be

Ron Lyons (17:31):

Absolutely.

Steve Dini (17:32):

And I think would like to be again, but that may never happen. But the people are wonderful here. Um,

the service people we've had renovating our house, they're on time, they call back, they have decent

prices, uh, they bend over backwards to make you happy. We couldn't be more pleased

Ron Lyons (17:51):

To live. So you've had a Great experience. We had

Steve Dini (17:53):

Texas, we've Great experience here. Texas. It's a wonderful town.

Ron Lyons (17:55):

Joren, what are we gonna have to get you to move over here? My friend? <laugh> sounds to me like

you're missing out <laugh>.

Joren Christensen (18:02):

Yeah, I kind of feel like that. I mean, when I was scouting locations, I, coming from California, I was, I was

so nervous walking in the door of, of, uh, the Shamrock gas station Right. And walking in the door of Hay

sugar to just say, Hey, we're gonna be shooting a movie. And we were looking for locations. And I, I was

wondering if maybe we could possibly think about maybe using, everybody was like, sure, we'd love

you, <laugh>. We'd love for you to come. Yeah. We'd absolutely love it if you'd shoot a shoot a part of

your movie in our location. Yeah. There's opening doors and opening doors and open. I was stunned.

Nice. Yeah. I couldn't believe what I was hearing

Steve Dini (18:39):

They's, it was amazing. They're so welcoming here. Yeah. Good.

Ron Lyons (18:40):

Good. That makes me very, very proud of this community. And I've been here for 30 years and I've

watched it go from 1700 people up to, gosh, just the tens of thousands now. And, and so many people

are coming here, and we all know that, you know, we're not gonna stay this small town forever. Right.

But one thing that's very unique about this town and something that I think is gonna help us hold on to

our heritage in that small town fields, this town square right here.

Steve Dini (19:10):

Absolutely. Yes.

Ron Lyons (19:11):

So, so much is centered around this town square. We may grow big giant neighborhoods out there, and

what used to be farmland and, you know, all that kind of thing. But as long as we hold onto this, we've

got an anchor to our past. And I think you guys kinda hit on a gold mine when you decided to come here

and film a movie like that, because this is straight out of a Hallmark movie. Absolutely.

Joren Christensen (19:32):

It's without

Ron Lyons (19:32):

A doubt.

Steve Dini (19:33):

Yeah, without a doubt. Doubt that

Ron Lyons (19:34):

Kind of a deal.

Joren Christensen (19:34):

So, and, and it really, you know what, it just, it emulates through the movie too. You feel that hometown

feeling right through the film. It's incredible.

Steve Dini (19:45):

Yeah. It's got a Great feel.

Ron Lyons (19:53):

You know, all this talk about how amazing Celina is just reminds me of how absolutely incredibly blessed

we all are to be a part of Celina, Texas. And my small contribution to that is not only this podcast, but

I've got a group on Facebook called The Best of Celina, and it's been growing like crazy. It's definitely the

fastest growing group in Celina, Texas. And the reason it's growing so fast is because it's so positive and

uplifting. You can go on that group and you can meet people, find out what's going on in town. If you

have a small business, you can promote your small business. It's wide open. And it's exactly what we

need in Celina, Texas. Now, there's other groups out there, but boy, it doesn't take a whole lot of time to

get the negative vibe on some of those pages, and that's just not present on the best of Celina. So I

would welcome you to come to the best of Celina Group page, join it, tell us who you are, be a part of

that community, and get some uplifting and amazing feelings about this community that you're a part

of. It's what you deserve. It's what we all love is Celina, Texas. So come out there, get your little piece of

the best of Celina.

Ron Lyons (21:41):

Steve used to be a dj. Right? Talk to me about that.

Steve Dini (21:44):

Well, um, when I got outta college, um, I wanted to be a, a, a jock. I wanted to be on the air. And I got

drafted, spent two years in the Army, a all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia. Thankfully I came back in

one piece. And, uh, then, uh, we, I went to Vietnam right after we got married. So the first two years of

my life, Sue and I were separated. We're celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary here

Ron Lyons (22:11):

Pretty soon. Wow. Awesome.

Steve Dini (22:13):

Yeah. You know what the secret to our long marriage is, Ron,

Ron Lyons (22:15):

Talk to me

Steve Dini (22:16):

Every year. It's two weeks in Hawaii. I go in June, she goes in August. <laugh>. It's an old one, but it's a

good one. Right. And

Ron Lyons (22:26):

It still works.

Steve Dini (22:27):

It still works.

Ron Lyons (22:27):

Got you. You got me, you got me with it.

Steve Dini (22:29):

I had you. I went to work at a little radio station. Uh, it was half, uh, gospel programming and half

Spanish.

Ron Lyons (22:37):

Okay.

Steve Dini (22:37):

So when the Spanish DJs didn't show up, I had to do the morning show a couple of times, <laugh>, and

they called me Al Wow. Is

Ron Lyons (22:47):

What they called me. Nice.

Steve Dini (22:49):

And so, uh, that's kind of where I got my spiritual base, because I was listening to programs like Jimmy

Swagger, right. Of rest, Chuck Swindall. Oh, yeah. Um, and all those guys, Dr. David Jeremiah and I

started listening. And so that's how my wife and I got saved. We got saved at a bo a matter of fact, it's

your church, uh, Joren mm-hmm. <affirmative>. We got saved at a Bob Harrington concert. Wow. But

that's a whole different, uh, path. But we, I worked in radio and TV for years. I was a TV weatherman. I

did a lot of commercials and I got fired all the time,

Ron Lyons (23:22):

<laugh>.

Steve Dini (23:23):

And so the fourth time I got fired, and that's what Connor does in the movie. Right. He gets fired like

seven times in 15 years. Right. I was about on that pace. And so I had been volunteering at the high

school to direct their musical every spring. And the principal had said, Hey, you need to be a teacher.

And I said, well, what do I have to do? And she told me and I did. And then 25 or 20 years later, they

named the stage after me in the theater.

Ron Lyons (23:53):

Wow. Wow. Was

Steve Dini (23:54):

That they did over a hundred shows.

Ron Lyons (23:55):

So, so I want to go back to your radio stuff. So what, so you, so it was, uh, uh, a Spanish speaking station.

Is that right?

Steve Dini (24:04):

Half and half. It was, uh, a little station in Santa Clara, California called K K E G L. And uh, part of the

program was Spanish. Right. Music, uh, mostly Mexicano. Right. And then the rest of the time was these,

uh, religious shows. Wow. Jimmy Swagger's, Haven of Rest, chucks Man Do, do. And so I, my job was to

play those. And then when the Spanish guys didn't show up, I did their radio shows for 'em.

Ron Lyons (24:29):

I got <laugh> <laugh>.

Steve Dini (24:31):

I played the first track on every album I did the library.

Ron Lyons (24:33):

The most unique story I've ever heard about somebody doing that. That's

Steve Dini (24:37):

Awesome. That's what happened. And then, so when I finally got, I, I was at the school, uh, but in

between, I got fired once. And so I was looking for a gig and I saw that the, the, uh, this homeless shelter

in San Jose was looking for a procurement director, which I'm not, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant,

but when I first meeting, I found out that it meant I had to collect all the frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving.

Gotcha. 4,000 frozen turkeys by

Ron Lyons (25:06):

Thanksgiving 4,000.

Steve Dini (25:07):

'cause it was a tradition in San Jose. The families would line up at this shelter every Thanksgiving, and it

was covered by the press. And the 49 er players were there. And, and the newspapers were there. And

everybody watched these turkeys being handed out to people along with, uh, mashed potatoes and

pumpkin pie. It was my job to get the turkeys. Gotcha. And that's what happened with Connor. He got

the job after getting fired, and then he worked at the homeless shelter, and they said, Hey, you're

responsible for collecting 4,000 turkeys. How am I gonna do that? Well, that's your job. And that's where

the movie starts.

Ron Lyons (25:46):

What a unique and awesome way to get into this. So, so Joren, you don't have the same, like, you

weren't a DJ or anything like that. I understand you were like an international singer for a while or

something like that. <laugh>, talk to me. Talk to me. How, how in the world did you get to writing

screenplays and doing movies and stuff? How does that happen?

Joren Christensen (26:08):

Well, I was a church pastor for about 15 years. And way back in the early two thousands, I was on staff

at a church and one of my other associate staff members, and I, way back in probably 2003 or four, we

kind of talked about writing a screenplay one time way back then. And it, you know, we were raising kids

and we were too busy and we just never really got around to it. But fast forward to about 20, maybe 15,

and he reconnected with me. And, uh, and he told me he had an idea for a screenplay that he'd like to

try to write it. And he asked me if I'd help, if he'd help, if I'd help him out. Right. And so we, we wrote

that together. Well, then when I ended up back in San Jose after my wife died, I was sort of telling Steve

about that. And that's when Steve told me that he had the idea for Turkey Town and asked me, well,

hey, would you help me write this one? So I was kind of writing sort of two screenplays simultaneously.

Gotcha.

Ron Lyons (27:17):

And

Joren Christensen (27:17):

So that's when Steve and I were writing. And so now I've written actually a number of screenplays. And

it's, and at first I really just kind of thought, oh, this is just kind of a fun hobby and thought it'd be a

Great time, you know, kind of collaborating with friends. Right.

Ron Lyons (27:35):

And

Joren Christensen (27:35):

Here we are, and now it's just kind of, you know, turned into something more, more real.

Ron Lyons (27:40):

I thought it would be, it's turned something very, very real now that that little, uh, what you call it, the,

the teaser for the movie and stuff, that looks fantastic. That's the trailer, the trailer, the trailer. It looks

really, really good. And, and probably by the time this podcast goes live, there's gonna be a number of

people who have seen that. And, and it looks fantastic. I'm super excited to see this. And so this is gonna

be a go to the movie, buy some popcorn, get you a soft drink, sit down and watch it kinda movie. Is that

that correct?

Steve Dini (28:09):

That's, we hope so. I mean, that's what we'd like to see. And then eventually we'll get some sort of

streaming platform. Right. That, we'll, we'll like to run it on later. You know, talking about the odds of us

getting this done are so, I mean, the, the odds of winning the lottery <laugh> are better Right. Than

getting a movie made. Right? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's about the same. Right. And because I hired a writing

coach when I first started, and he told me that every year in Hollywood there's about, not with the

writer strike, of course, but in normal times there's about 20,000 scripts that are submitted to various

Ron Lyons (28:46):

Producers. Wow. Wow.

Steve Dini (28:46):

Of those scripts, 1% are actually option. Or a company will say, let's do this of that 1%, maybe up 1% of

that 1% actually gets to the theater. So the fact that we got a movie and we're getting a movie made the

odds against that are so astronomically high, it's really is a miracle.

Ron Lyons (29:13):

So can can you tell me a little bit about, like, what is that process for you guys in this particular case?

There's probably 10 different approaches that, you know, a person could take if they were trying to do a

movie. But how, what, what path, if you don't mind sharing that, what path did you guys take to get

from your concept to where you are right now? What's, what's that journey look like? Well,

Steve Dini (29:33):

The question that every screenwriter asks is, now that I've written the screenplay, what do I do with it?

And my writing coach turned me on to a service called Ink Tip. And every Thursday I subscribe to it.

Every Thursday I would get leads from production companies that were looking for scripts or movie

scripts. And it used to get 15 or 20 a week, but now, because of the strike, I might get five or six every

Thursday. Well, we saw this producer, Angus Benfield of Bridge and Aborn Production, who was looking

for a faith-based holiday themed movie. And so I sent him through this ink tip. I sent him our log line,

which is a one line description of the movie and our synopsis, which is a one page. And I sent it to him.

And usually either you don't hear anything or they say, thank you for submitting, not what we're looking

for. Good luck with the writing. Right. I hear that. What, a thousand times maybe? Probably quite,

you've

Joren Christensen (30:38):

Heard that probably quite, quite often. Okay. Hundreds

Steve Dini (30:39):

Of, hundreds of times. Because I've read seven or eight screenplays now, and a few of 'em have gotten

some traction. Most of the time I don't hear anything. Well, Angus sends an email back and says, Hey,

this sounds interesting. Send me the script. Which we did. Two weeks later, he sends us an email and

says, I want to do this movie and I want a star in it. And we're, Joren and I are. Yeah, right. Sure. You are

<laugh>. Alright.

Joren Christensen (31:03):

What's so, so you didn't

Steve Dini (31:03):

Believe Amber?

Joren Christensen (31:04):

I can't tell you how many times Steve would call me and say, yeah, someone tells me they're interested

in our script. And, and we just go, okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay, well I'll send it to him. Yeah. What

Steve Dini (31:15):

I usually do is I call Joren and say, Hey, I submitted for five projections today,

Joren Christensen (31:20):

<laugh>. I

Steve Dini (31:22):

Understand. You know, so the, and so we were very dubious about this. And so we checked him out on I

M D B Pro and we looked on his website, grace, uh, bridge and Acorn Productions. The guy's legit, he's

originally from New Zealand. His wife's from Australia moved to Southern Cal and has been making

movies for maybe, what, 10 years or so? Yeah, I think so. And he's a small independent production

company. And, uh, he grilled us a little bit. We vetted him, he vetted us, he grilled us on what kind of

faith-based are we talking about here? What, what is, what's the miracle about? Is this a true story? He

asked us questions like that. Right. And that was in what, 2018, I think is when we first started this ball

rolling. Yeah, probably. And he told us, well, I'm gonna put this in the queue. I've got three or four

movies that I want to do, but your, your movie is fifth in line. I really love the script, but I'm gonna, it's

gonna be fifth in line. And then about two months later, he emailed us again and said, let's do a zoom

call. I'm moving you up in the queue because wow. I read this script and I absolutely love it and I think it

needs to be made nice and I wanna shoot it in Celina.

Ron Lyons (32:33):

Okay. Which is incredible.

Steve Dini (32:35):

And which is incredible because it's, they're friendlier here. There's not as many rules and regulations to

choke it off. It's cheaper than la.

Joren Christensen (32:43):

And then on that Zoom call, he said, okay, I'm moving you up to the third in the queue. But then when

he heard about Christmas on the square, right. He said, oh my gosh, that's like six months from now I'm

moving you to the next in the queue.

Steve Dini (32:59):

Right. Wow.

Joren Christensen (33:00):

So he pushed us right up to the top. He said, actually, he said, I'm moving you to next in the queue if you

can get us Christmas on the square. Yeah. That's when I started talking to Joe, Joe Monico, right away.

Ron Lyons (33:10):

So, so at this point, the, uh, the excitement level's gotta be like really starting to level up. And the reality

that this may really happen is starting to just kinda,

Steve Dini (33:20):

Until I saw the trailer, I still didn't think this was gonna happen. I mean, and I was on the set, I have a

part in the movie, <laugh> Jorn has a part in the movie, and I thought, I'm gonna wake up and I'm gonna

be late for my radio show in San Jose, and it's gonna be 1997 <laugh>.

Ron Lyons (33:37):

I love it. Right. Oh man. Yeah. And, and, and

Steve Dini (33:42):

No,

Joren Christensen (33:42):

I mean, it was, I still slap Steve around once in a while just to try to wake him up. Right,

Ron Lyons (33:46):

Right, right. Get him out of his tv. It's,

Steve Dini (33:48):

It's Steve, it's real Wake up.

Ron Lyons (33:49):

Okay. Had Angus actually ever been to Celina?

Steve Dini (33:53):

No.

Ron Lyons (33:54):

So so you sold him on Celina? Oh

Joren Christensen (33:56):

Yeah. Oh yeah. And I, and every single, um, location that I scouted, I sent him pictures and he goes, oh,

this is Great. Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is Great. This

Steve Dini (34:05):

Is, this is fantastic. Is this a postcard? Is this a real place? This? And we're like, yeah. And it's that

beautiful. It looks that good. Oh no, there's no place on earth that looks like this

Joren Christensen (34:16):

<laugh>. I'm sending him, you know, pictures of the, the Celina High School stadium. You couldn't even

believe it. I know, right? Yeah, because oh my gosh. Yeah. High schools in California don't look like high

schools in Texas.

Ron Lyons (34:26):

Yep. I understand. So, so here we are now. So, so has filming fully completed? Is it done?

Steve Dini (34:32):

Yeah, we shot last November

Joren Christensen (34:34):

And in the beginning of December, yeah,

Steve Dini (34:36):

We hit the ground running and we put in 12 hour days. And the actors stayed in, lived with us for a

while, and we got to meet the crew. A lot of the crew had worked on the chosen mm-hmm.

<affirmative>, uh, up in Oklahoma. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and uh, so we got to meet them. There

were some Great actors. Uh, one of our performers is Jessica. She lives in help me...

Joren Christensen (34:57):

in Fort Worth, or? No, she lives in Little Elm. Yeah,

Steve Dini (35:00):

Little Elm. Okay. Yeah. So there's a lot of local talent. Right. And, um, we just put it together and then

they went away for a while. It was very quiet. And then all of a sudden Angus comes back and he says,

okay, we're editing, we're in post-production. Uh, I'll send you stuff as soon as I get it. And then he's

been sending us reviews and the first, uh, cut and we had notes we sent back to him. And then he's, the

last version we saw was pretty, I mean, I gotta tell you Ron, you know, and I've, I, I was a, a a a, a big fish

in a little pond in San Jose. 'cause I, I, in those days it was only three stations. So everybody knew me

'cause I was doing a lot of commercials. Right. So I had a little small celebrity background there. But this,

when he sent us the, the video of this show, of the movie, and I saw my name on there with Joren as

one of the screenwriters, I got chills.

Ron Lyons (35:57):

Uh, it's amazing, didn't you?

Steve Dini (35:59):

I mean,

Joren Christensen (35:59):

Oh my gosh.

Steve Dini (36:00):

I teared up.

Ron Lyons (36:00):

Yeah. It's it's incredible.

Steve Dini (36:02):

I said, this is actually happening. It's

Ron Lyons (36:05):

Incredible.

Steve Dini (36:06):

This dream that we had that we were gonna have a movie made is actually happening. Surreal.

Ron Lyons (36:14):

So, so I don't think that you probably just like we in in many ways, and I can say this to you guys and

speak very comfortably about it, but we, we, we can't possibly always know what God's plan is and

what, how he's going to use us in order to do what you know, his will. Right. So in this case, I mean,

you've got to just not only feel good about the fact that you guys were able to, you know, pull together a

movie and get it shot and, and, and now we're facing, you know, its release and it's a big deal. And, and

like I said, it looks incredible, but just the sheer fact that you don't even know how many lives this is

going to impact in a positive way. There may be someone out there who right now isn't a believer that

may become a believer.

Ron Lyons (36:58):

There may be people who are looking for some hope and they may find it in this movie. There's just so

many possibilities that you'll never even know all of them. Right. You don't even know the number of

lives that your little dream that's just sprinkled with all of God's blessings is actually gonna go out there

and do. And that's just gotta be incredible by itself. It just, it makes me so happy. I'm so excited for you

guys. It's Great stuff. Now, I, I know that there's some, some connections to you guys were at, uh, Celina

High School. He did some filming there. There may be some, uh, I, I heard something about maybe some

scholarship type things, different things like that. So you wanna fill me in on any of that kind of thing?

Joren Christensen (37:38):

Yeah. Well it was, it, it was pretty awesome that Celina, I s d allowed us to use, uh, their facilities both at

the high school and at the admin buildings for no charge. Although they did say, you know, one thing

that they would appreciate is if, if they'd let us use their facilities, they would certainly appreciate it if

we'd, if we, the production would maybe provide a couple of scholarships to a couple of kids. Nice. And

so we were able to do that.

Ron Lyons (38:09):

What, what does this, like where do we go from here So the movie gets released and what, what's next?

Or are, are we gonna do a part two or are we gonna do another movie? What do what's, what's next? I I,

I know we're gonna get joined to move to Sona <laugh>. We've gotta work on that. Yeah.

Steve Dini (38:25):

He's, he's gonna wise up. He's gonna

Ron Lyons (38:27):

Smarter pretty soon. He's a real estate guy. He is gonna realize Celina, where that

Steve Dini (38:32):

<laugh> Turkey Town two, the Poultry's Revenge <laugh>. I don't know what could we do? But here's

some good news, Ron, talking about what's next. Angus Benfield, our producer is so enamored with

Celina that he's got two other movies that he's going to shoot here.

Ron Lyons (38:48):

Very nice. Yeah. That's

Joren Christensen (38:49):

What he's intending. Yeah. Yeah, they're

Steve Dini (38:50):

Pending. One's gonna shoot in November and then I think he's got one planned for next spring as well.

Very nice. That's incredible. And he incredible coming back. He's coming back. So we're gonna keep

writing stuff. I mean, I don't know if we're gonna hit the jackpot a second time, but, uh, he's optioned

another one of my scripts that he wants to shoot next year. And it's just been a, a Great ride. And we,

we talk to each other all the time and we say, we never thought this would ever happen to us. Right,

right. I mean, and you talk about God's plan. I mean, you can look back and God led us to Celina. He got

us into the house that we're in. He is taking care of us. Uh, and he gave us the inspiration for this movie,

which as you say, I hope affects some lives.

Ron Lyons (39:33):

Absolutely. And I believe that it will, I think this is a, you guys are, you're, you're, you're truly living the

dream <laugh> and in a and in a really, really good way. And you guys have such a Great relationship.

Y'all have some really good chemistry together. Um, and, and I don't, I don't know how much of that

conveys since we're not doing video here, but what I would like to do at some point is to do some video.

Maybe we talk a little bit after the movie is released. Maybe we get back together and let's talk about it

again. See how, see how that went. And uh, I think it's just gonna be fantastic guys. So, uh, gimme an

idea. We've got Joren coming here. You've got a script coming up. We've got some amazing things going

on. Is this, is this, is this the blessed life right now? Are we, are we living it? Are we doing it right now?

Joren Christensen (40:18):

Oh, Steve started this whole, uh, interview with, you know, that he's living the dream and Yeah,

Steve Dini (40:23):

I would have to agree. And Joren got me, he got me a little plaque that says that, which I have on my

desk in my office, living the dream. It says it right there.

Ron Lyons (40:31):

Love it. Well guys, don't ever stop doing that because you're really good at it. And and I thank you so

very much for coming in here in this nice hot house right off the square, <laugh> and uh, spending your

time. And Celina is going to love the movie. We love the fact that you guys decided to come here and

shoot the movie here. And we look forward to it. Certainly hope to see you guys at Christmas on the

square this year. Maybe just, well, you

Joren Christensen (40:55):

Will be there. Oh, we're gonna have a booth. We're gonna have a Turkey town booth. We have a booth.

There

Ron Lyons (40:58):

You go. Yeah, there you go. So it's gonna be good stuff. The

Joren Christensen (41:00):

Tagline for the Great Turkey Town Miracle is this Thanksgiving. Expect a miracle.

Ron Lyons (41:06):

I love it. I love it.

Steve Dini (41:08):

Yeah.

Ron Lyons (41:09):

All

Steve Dini (41:09):

Right guys. Thank you Ron Uhhuh, thanks for

Joren Christensen (41:10):

Having us. Uh, thanks

Ron Lyons (41:16):

Guys. What did you think about Steve and join Now I need to crack something real quick. And that is

that Steve doesn't pronounce his last name Denny like I do. D i n i. Denny, he pronounces it DEENIE. I

just have a hard time saying Dini for some reason. So Steve, my apologies. And now I'm gonna have to

have you back on the show in order to just pronounce your name properly throughout the podcast. So

my apologies for that. But you know what, I've got a second idea that might be actually a better idea for

those of you who don't know. I'm just gonna give you a little hint right now. Celina Radio is actually

about to go full-time online radio. And we may just have Steve Dini as one of the DJs on the show. He's

got that old time, old school talent, he's got a Great voice for radio and he would just be fantastic for it.

Ron Lyons (42:17):

So, tiny little hint right there. But what you think about the chemistry between Steve and Joren, it's

absolutely fantastic. And they have been able to take things in their own life, not all of them, good and

amazing and fun, and combine them together and turn all of those things into something that is going to

be a blessing to so many people. We're very, very blessed to have them right here in Celina, Texas and

have the movie that they have helped create coming out very, very soon that features so much of

Celina, Texas. And guys, we're all gonna, we're all gonna wrap around this movie and we're going to

come together as a community, or at least that's my hopes. And we're gonna really, really support this

thing. We've got some plans with the staff, the actors, Stephen Joren, but we're gonna do some fun

things coming up closer to movie time. So be on the lookout for that. This is going to be fun. And it's just

one more testament to how amazing Celina Texas is. And you know what I always say, Celina is only as

good as its people. And that means you, the people who are listening to this podcast right now. So thank

you for being everything that is amazing about Celina, Texas. So guys, until next time, stay safe and God

bless less.

Ron Lyons (44:08):

Sorry, I just wanted to get one more plug in here for the best of Celina Group on Facebook. Not gonna

play any crazy music. I, I will after I finish talking 'cause I always do that. But right now, don't forget, go

on Facebook, search the best of Celina and join the page. It's free and it's awesome and you're gonna

love it. So guys, I'll see you around town and definitely on the best of Celina.