Today, August 22, we received a comment on our blog from Sullivan Ent. Basically they thanked all of the girls for auditioning and wished them good luck. Perhaps the results of the Youtube competition did not turn out as they expected, as there was no mention made of the Youtube voting. We wish them well in regards to their new movie and know it will be delightful!
However, as I was thinking about how to communicate this information to so many kindred spirits who took time to vote, I want to tell you that Joy had a blast doing the video and then receiving so many wonderful comments. Thanks to each of you who took time to vote. I can't believe just how many kindred spirits there are out there and how thoughtful so many of you were to vote. Joy received around almost 9000 views over the past few weeks so many wonderful comments and ratings because of you taking the time. You are truly wonderful and a blessing to us!
I do want to say, however, that our family has been blessed by literally hundreds of hours of very excellent, high quality entertainment by some of the productions of Sullivan Entertainment. We feel that Anne of Green Gables is practically one of our personal friends. I would also like to thank Sullivan entertainment for taking the time and money to produce such wonderful videos with great morality and good family values in a time when so few people have produced such quality entertainment. The Road to Avonlea is a 7 year series that we first saw many years ago. We have all 7 seasons and almost have them memorized. I would highly encourage any of you who are seeking great productions to try these out. You can find out more information about them by going to Sullivanmovies.com. (or look for more information below) Joy and Clay and I wish the best to Sullivan entertainment and hope that the new movies turns out great! Thanks so much for all of your support!
I want to thank each of you for becoming a part of this adventure. By God's grace and sense of fun, people all over the world have let Joy hear from her by your vote on Youtube. We know that many of you are not members of Youtube and have not been able to vote. Most of all, it has been a fun adventure and a real affirming time to our sweet fourth child, who has usually had to wait in line for attention! Thanks for all the ways you have made her feel loved. There are lots of talented girls who participated and we hope they all felt encouraged.
THE STORY: Joy is a born performer, and has felt for some time that God might want her to someday be a light for him as an actress or performer. For the past two years, while she has performed, sung, and acted in many lead and support roles, we have prayed with her that God would open doors of opportunity like this one for her to explore her gifts on a larger stage.
Many have sent letters to ask what performances Joy has been in. She has been on stage literally since she was 4 days old--as she performed with me in the promise for 2 years. She has been in musicals, dramas, and even a historical movie. She was a soloist in Wonderland, which played to an audience over the holidays of 50,000. She loves her youth performing arts choir and is this fall involved in a production of Little Women.
For those who missed this audition and want to see it, you can go to: This is the link for the Sullivan YouTube screentest group: http://www.youtube.com/group/screentest Go to “Videos” and look for “Anne Audition video by Joy Clarkson” (She is in the 6th page of videos!) ABOUT THE MOVIE: The Anne of Green Gables Prequel promises to be a wonderful family movie, produced by Kevin Sullivan, of Sullivan Entertainment, the same company that has given the world the award-winning Anne of Green Gables mini-series, and seven years of family-affirming TV in the Road to Avonlea series. You can visit their website at www.sullivanmovies.com. There is a link on the home page to information about the new movie and the audition process.
Thank you so much for joining the Joy Brigade. So many of you all over the world responded to us and to other blogs adn announcements who supported her. What a fun blessing it was to all of our family to see where all the blogs go! You are indeed our kindred spirits.I so appreciate your support and encouragement.
LESSONS JOY LEARNED FROM THE OPPORTUNITY!
We are thankful for all the ways our children have opportunities to grow and learn in life. I asked Joy what she thought she learned out of it. This is what she said:
1.It is always more work than you think to produce a video or article or to act in a play. However, every project in which I work, I get more experience and become more confident. (Joy is my cool-headed constant child!)
2. No matter how diligent you work, you are not always going to get responses from directors, or agencies or publishers, (like with your first books, Mom!) But if you believe it is a skill or gift God has given, you still need to keep trying and trying.
3. If I am ever in charge of a production company, I will try to make sure I communicate to anyone who participates in my program, because I sure would have liked to have at least received an email from the company. It taught me what I would do differently. But if they are like my mom and dad, they receive more emails and correspondence than they can answer, and another thing mom and dad said was to try to give people the benefit of the doubt!
4. Mom and Dad have always said that if you want to become a leader in an area, you need to understand that a person who puts herself in front of others always becomes a target of someone--and that is just a part of public life. I used to see that for my mom and dad, but now I saw it for myself. But I received so many positive encouragements, that the few negative comments didn't bother me, but just got me more used to the process. I would rather perform or write or work hard in front of other people and get some negative comments than to never have the opportunity to work.
If you want to see more of Joy's story, you can go to this link.
More... THE BACKGROUND STORY: Joy literally came out of the womb performing on stage. At four days old, she was wrapped in a cloth that was slung around my neck as I played the role of a crowd person and an older Mary at the cross, in a large-cast amphitheater production. By the time she was 12 months, she was “in character” every night, holding her little hands up to Jesus as He passed by her singing a song. As our ministry grew and expanded, she has loved being on the speaking “stage” with me and greeting the moms at our large hotel conferences. Over the years, she has performed in children's musicals, plays, reciting poetry, giving speeches and singing solos.For the past two years, Joy has prayed regularly that someday God would open the doors for her to have a bigger role in movies or on stage. "Mom, there are such bad themes and immoral people in movies and television series. I hope some day, our family will be able to bring light to these places and tell them about family and beauty and good stories. Will you pray with me that God would provide an opportunity?"
So we have prayed. I didn't really think much would come from little Colorado Springs as the movie industry here is not exactly big-time. She has been so persistent and faithful, but we were thinking more about God opening some door when she was 18 or older. However, when a friend sent an announcement to us about Kevin Sullivan holding an “open casting” call for a 10-12 year-old girl to play the part of a young Anne of Green Gables, it looked a lot like a door. Prospective Annes were invited to post a 2-minute video audition on the Sullivan group page on YouTube, where viewers would vote on their favorites.
Joy went straight to work, staying a couple of hours in her room on Saturday morning writing her monologue to capture the spunk of Anne and get in lots of different expressions of Anne's life! Then she began to work on her costume (from period clothes she had as a junior docent at Rock Ledge Ranch!), and began to practice morning, noon and night. Finally, by Sunday afternoon, she had convinced us that she was serious about this and that we needed to film her audition and post it to YouTube.Clay and I talked to her about it on Saturday and reflected that we thought just to have written her script and prepared everything was a great experience. As we talked and prayed with her, she said, "Nothing may come of this, and I understand that, but shouldn't I be faithful to do my best if God provided this opportunity after praying for years that he would?!" She had a point! So, on Sunday afternoon, Clay faithfully filmed her monologue--probably about 40 times! (You can't imagine how many times helicopters, planes, a zooming motorcycle, several loud cars driving by, dogs barking, our neighbors wind chimes, and a spider climbing up Clay's arm provided constant interruptions and humorous memories as we tried to get just one good take!)
We appreciate your support for this wholehearted child!