Faith Hope and Love Talk Show (Women Who Worship Conference)

Today on our show Faith, Hope and Love, we have a special guest. Her name is Linda Flannery. She is the owner, executive producer of Inspire Entertainment. She's going to be telling us a little bit about what she does and this brand new movie that she has out. Help me welcome Linda Flannery. Hi, Linda. Thank you. Come have a seat. So, Linda, let's talk about you. You're a very interesting woman. You are the owner and executive producer of Inspire you Entertainment. Tell us a little bit about you.

Well, I founded Inspire you Entertainment a few years ago when I actually did the movie Only God Can.

Right.

And it is a company that will do what we will see, specialize in are Christian films and inspirational films. My goal is to be able to have people to show real life situations and be able to reach people through a message.

Absolutely. Have you always been in the entertainment business?

No.

So this is just a brand new. Is it a brand new endeavor?

It is for me. And something that would not have happened had God not completely led me all the way because I knew nothing about the industry. My career started out really with working with CIA in a technical capacity. But I was fortunate enough to be at Barcelona at the Olympics.

Right.

That kind of dates my age. But anyway.

Well, you look good.

Well, thanks. Then I did Atlanta and ran their security information system.

Wow.

For them in Atlanta. So I have a technical background and a good solid business background, which has helped me kind of transition over into, I think, being a producer.

Absolutely, yeah. So this is your first film.

It is.

Wow. So how long did you. Did it take you from start to finish idea to concept. Idea concept to something in your hand?

Okay. Well, it was. Not that I'm not the writer.

Okay.

Okay. So I first became involved with this Right. When I attended a Bible study. Okay. So let me start that. But for me, it was brought to me when I was at a really broken period in my life. My husband had decided that he didn't want to be married. And after 25 years, so fixed breakfast one morning for everybody, went upstairs and he goes, linda, I need to talk to you. And I said, oh, okay. I'll be right up. He's sitting at his desk and I walk upstairs and he just says, you know what? I think I'm done. And I'm like, what do you mean you're done? Done with what? Done with us. That's basically what he was done with. So at that point, I was totally, totally broken. I quit my job at that point because I was. We had moved to South Carolina. I live In Charleston and I was consulting back and forth, but I had. My two youngest were in middle school, which is a really hard age for kids. And I just completely felt like I lost me.

Well, your whole world was just wrecked.

At that point, crashing down because I thought we had like a solid marriage and my life really was perfect. I mean, it seems perfect, but it wasn't. So I was depressed and I decided I was going to work on myself and I was not going to give up on my marriage. That's number one. I love my husband and I knew just that there were issues that must be that he needed to work through. But I also used that time to work on me. And during that time I was invited to this Bible study. So get back in that. But point is, my heart was really open and they were doing a table read of the script. So I was just sitting there and I thought, oh, well, this will be interesting and different and fun. But never in my entire life had I thought about anything to do with movies.

So this was completely out of left field.

It was completely. God, I don't even know why he asked me to get involved, to be honest with you, because it. It really, really wasn't something I thought I could ever do. And so I listened. And as I was listening, I just started thinking, okay, this is really good. There is an amazing message in this movie and I need to be involved one way or another. And so I prayed about it and just started to. I decided actually in a really, the faith that I was going to fund the movie. So not knowing anything, and mind you, I've usually made good business decisions. Okay. But I did. I felt like I was being led, that this was what I was supposed to do.

So you were all in?

I was all in completely. And I also had never worked with anybody that I'm working with now. And actually the interesting thing, the only, you know, I'm working with a few people, but Randall Owens, who you just saw up here, directed the movie.

Yes.

And so we connected at that point and during the filming. So he was the director, did an amazing job on the movie. I produced it. And initially I thought that was all I was going to do was just sort of invest and then that was going to be it. But as things had it, I became more involved, flew to la, didn't know anybody in la, but now I kind of know everybody. I'm involved with Pure Flix, Sony, a lot of the big industries. Wow. Yeah, I just.

God will trick you. Big doors always swing on little bitty hinges Don't They.

That's the thing. I. All those doors to get those meetings and to get in front of the people, you know? Like I said, I was thankful I had some business sense, but I could never have done that on my own. There's just. There's no way.

Only God can.

Only God can. That's right.

Only God can. Well, I heard that you have a trailer.

We do have a trailer. Ah. And I would like. Y' all want to watch it?

Do you want to see the trailer? Let's go to the trailer.

Every year, my college spring sorority has a reunion. When I try to talk about my faith, it's like. Well, they just make fun of me. I know what that's like. He is a man after God's own heart and mine. Sarah is a wonderful girl. She's just got some crazy ideas about life. Everybody here knows what my gift is. My latest book. Y' all have been my family since college. My Charleston hearts. I have a husband who constantly cheats behind my back. I walked past this mirror. I looked like a dead soul. And that's when I called you. What do I have? Just my words written in a bunch of books. There has to be something more. God has made me a whole new person. A better person. I feel free.

One fatality has been reported. Grace Williams of Beaufort, South Carolina.

Deep inside, you know. They're in the cot.

You wish you'd been me instead of Gracie. Oh, she's dead.

I don't know what's right anymore. I don't know what the truth is. I can't do anything without it. I need you. I need you, too. I'm really tired of trying to figure it out on my own. I know that there has to be a better way, but I don't know.

If this is it.

Nobody walks through those church doors by mistake. Nobody. Blood alcohol alone was close to killing her.

Please help me. I don't want to do this anymore.

You're not gonna do this alone, okay? This is gonna help you more than me.

Help me with my lack of faith.

Pray, Sam.

Only God can. Only God can. You know, there. I don't think there's any way that you can be involved in a film like this and not be able to relate to some of those women. Can you relate to some of those women?

I probably relate to all of them, you know? Really?

You probably are one of those women, right? I probably. I think I am.

Yes. Or I. I. Someone close to me, you know, that you know, is. And. And I think that's what's so beautiful about the movie is that these women, they're real and they're going through real issues that absolutely. That we all live through or know somebody that's going through.

And pain touches every one of us.

Pain touches every one of us. And just the hope. And I hope and see in the trailer that you were even able to see some of the love that really does exist between the bond with these women.

Yes.

Even though they don't like what they're doing, sometimes they still love them.

Right.

You know?

Absolutely. Absolutely. So what do you think that audiences will walk away with from seeing this film?

I hope they'll walk away with realizing the importance and the power of forgiveness, as well as witnessing the movie has a very strong component on witnessing to your friends. And a lot of people don't really know how to do that easily. And I think finally, the last thing I would hope they'd walk away is to never give up and to always have that hope. Because with God, all things are possible.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

It's a pleasure.

We'll have to have you back so we can talk more about that.

Okay.

What did you say here? You know, brokenness does usually lead us one of two places. It leads us to the left or to the right, either up or down. And I know for me, I found myself in very broken places not long ago and over several times in my life. And I believe pain touches our life sporadically. And I do believe that it's not always the enemy. It's not always somebody else's fault. I do believe that the things we walk through make us who we are. What about you? I just believe that what we walk through makes us who we are. And we were talking about this earlier today, that, you know, even our muscles, until pressure is put on a muscle, it doesn't grow and it doesn't get stronger. And so I'm thankful today for the pressure that's been put on my life because it has made me the strong woman that I am today. Amen. What about you? What about you? So until next time, thank you for tuning in. And remember that there's always faith for today, hope for tomorrow, and love that never fails. Until next time. God bless you.

Sam.