Based on the best selling novel,
Tin house publishers proudly presents, the dramatic audio
edition
left
behind.
It's not an audio book. And it's not
a film series.
Directly between these media lies the medium of
audio drama. Such as 144
episodes about the end of days?
Based on the best selling novels, how did
Gap digital working with Tin dale House publishers,
proudly present the dramatic audio edition of
left behind
Speculative fiction like no other genre
reflects the creativity of God.
If you look at the scriptures, you're gonna
have to see that God you is
imagination more than rational discourse.
We are supposed to be image bearer for
a vastly creative god.
Reading fantastical fiction opened a portal in my
imagination for a place other than just a
materialistic world.
I experienced the gospel story with the mind
of someone who loved adventure and loved the
idea of life conquering darkness.
We're wired for stories that reflect how we
see the world in ways that are true
The story is either pointing to christ or
it's pointing to our need for christ.
Welcome back to Lower haven studios for fantastical
truth, the podcast from lori dot com, which
we explore, Fantastical stories, bo God's glory. I'm
S Burnett burnett the publisher of Laura Haven
an author of a new science fiction adventure
novel releasing it next year from Enclave publishing
and I did not even know that this
episode was on my bucket list. And yes,
you are definitely welcome here unless you are
literally nikola nikolai because this is episode 02:19,
how did gap digital turn left behind
into a cinematic audio drama.
And we're gonna be joined today by Todd
Bust the engineer of that awesome series.
We're also going to discover how the left
behind audio drama turned me into a stand
because I did not even imagine when I
was first reading those first 3 left behind
books, that it could turn into a dramatic
audio
edition. And again, this is different from an
audiobook book. A fact that his still, I
checked to this day,
escaped the, Amazon
classification system. You start looking for the dramatic
audio, you find the audiobook and vice versa.
They need to categorize these things. The same
thing for Spotify or any of the other
podcast feeds you need a complete separate section
that's labeled audio drama. Why shouldn't audio drama
be even more popular now in the days
of podcast guys. We used to get these
things on Cds. I still have Zach. I
still have 12 of the 4 Cd packs.
Wonderful packaging for the left behind audio draw
and then also the left behind kids audio
drama. They had 1 too. We'll talk about
it in our next episode, but I'm probably
gonna be bouncing off the walls here just
because I love this series. I probably wouldn't
be even be doing this if it wasn't
for audio drama, and the left behind audio
series that came along right when I needed
to kind of a level up to my
audio drama interest. Steven I was just talking
with someone yesterday,
about the whole concept of audio drama, and
it was really funny. He's like, oh, yeah.
My dad used to talk to me about
these old time radio theater programs that kind
of what an audio drama is I'm like,
it is kind of a niche thing isn't
it? It's not something that you hear normally.
It's not just a movie with the screen
off,
and it's not simply an audiobook, and it's
not a podcast.
It's something like all 3 of those things
combined into something even better. I really got
into audio dramas though, Stephen in 20 20
during the whole pandemic dark times. When I
just had to get out of my house
as often as I could, and I went
on these long walks.
And I found all these different audio dramas,
1 really cool 1 called, have you ever
heard of the left right game? It's like
a paranormal mystery
story, and it was based off of a
reddit post, and someone, you know, kept going
with that and then it turned into this
audio drama, and now apparently it's gonna be
coming to Netflix Amazon Prime.
Another 1 that Listening to just now is
called Lime.
It's like a Sci 5 mystery
and it's, like an investigative reporter, hot on
the trail of all these weird disappearance.
And I think they've also
adapted that. I think it was on Facebook
video oddly enough years ago.
And so this is a a really fun
genre because of all the places it can
go. I know another way that people adapt
these is turning them into, like, animated videos
and that sort of thing, but it it
really is its own medium.
And it's something really fun
to listen to when it's done right by
an expert audio engineer. So
I'm I'm really looking forward to listening to
Todd and in how he put this series
together and just all the little tips of
what makes this kind of format work really
well. Well, so far, we've had a 1
or 2 episodes about another famous probably the
most famous, Christian made audio drama, Adventures Odyssey,
which this year celebrates the release of its
1 thousandth
episode, and I think they're having their first
land based fan convention in Colorado Springs, Colorado
08:09 9 5, but there are many other
Christian audio dramas as well. There was the
whole lot focus on the family radio. A
They series, which did the chronicles of Na
and a bunch of other Cs Lewis stories
as well as simply classic literature and some
original productions too I remember audio dramas called
Down Gilead Lane. There was something about frogs
from the Chuck Olson. I think if I
remember right, and then there is jungle jam
also by Phil La who's been on the
podcast twice before. Phil episode about Odyssey specifically
was episode 100 if you wanna go back
and listen to that. But now we're gonna
hear from a colleague of fills in that
industry. It was also done sam commodity production,
but has been on the cutting edge from
the cassettes to digital from the analog to
digital transfer in the 19 nineties and then
partly that into, drama production. First off, however,
at lori dot com, we explore not just
amazing Christian made dramas, but amazing Christian made
fantastic. Novels and every Friday, we have a
review of a new 1. You can check
the website and see what we've recently recommended
as a great summer read or you can
subscribe free and get that info delivered straight
to your inbox whenever we publish it. We'll
also send you the invitation code for the
Lore haven Guild our Castle in the cloud
on Discord, where we enjoy monthly book quests
into the best Christian made fantastical novels
that we can find.
That includes many novels from our top sponsor
enclave publishing, which is celebrating
realm makers and sending nearly 2 dozen authors
to the realm conference,
Oasis family media owns Enclave publishing as well
as member companies Sky Turtle Press and Oasis
Audio
Realm as a Christian led Riders conference in
Saint. Louis this year on the weekend of
July 18 through twentieth.
That weekend authors will get to meet fans
and friends
starting with Thursday evening when we celebrate the
book release of the nightmare virus by
future podcast, guest, nadine Brand,
She will be at that event, signing books,
and for more information, you can visit realm
maker's dot com. We look forward to seeing
you there.
Gonna post a complete list of all the
authors that are on the docket from Enclave,
which, now this year includes yours truly, and
a couple of other newcomers whose book titles
can't even yet reveal, like Angie Dickinson and
Mari
Arrest.
That'll be in the show notes for episode
219
that link or you can go to lord
haven dot com slash podcast.
Well, going on the road means you get
to enjoy some can sessions, and I like
to lead with this leftover
concession, get it. That is for the people
who come here specifically because, hey, I heard
there was an end time discussion, well I
know the correct end times view. Chances are
you do, and we probably summarized it fairly
in episode 216,
which was our episode about times debating. But
the rest of the 5 episodes in this
series, we are celebrating the left behind series
And today, we're focusing on the left behind
audio dramas. As I mentioned, it's often badly
confused with audiobooks books, but I cannot state
this clearly enough, and you'll hear samples later
on in this episode of this high production
cinematic streaming series that just has 1 work.
They didn't actually film anything with cameras. They
just recorded everything,
who then supplies the visuals for this storytelling
you do. I ever since the twenties radio
drama has been a theater of the mind,
and that tradition continues now 100 years later,
that doesn't mean it's not intense. Audio drama
can actually be very intense. I'd say even
more than the books, and that does call
for some discernment because
I still remember to this day, a very
vivid portrayal about what happens to...
Let's just say the, the the the literal
Rendition in the left behind series of the
woman riding the beast when the antichrist decides
that the Babylon
religion is no longer useful to him they
do some various things with an ice sculpture
and take him out. He he got what's
coming to him and the audio rendition that
was quite visceral. So might not be for
kids, but there is a kids left behind
audio drama 2 that we will talk about
in our next episode, by the way, you
can find as of this recording, the first
48 left behind episodes on Spotify
and in our last episode 218 that we
actually spoke with Chris Fa. We'll name check
him a few times in this episode because
He actually c wrote the adaptation for almost
all of the left behind audio drama series,
we're approaching that from 2 different angles. You
know, something I really appreciate about audio dramas
is that it's just as fun for my
kids to listen to these in a long
car ride. Than it is to watch, you
know, a movie or something, which is great
because a couple of my kids
get motion sickness. And so they really can't
or shouldn't
be watching Netflix or a Dvd or something
like that.
But as you said Steven, it, it's like
a film, but you supply the visuals And
I think I know why this isn't always
popular with people. It's because
it really depends on the acting. It also
depends on whether or not
The story was written with audio in mind
or whether it was just sort of tacked
on at the end. There was General market
Sci f series Really liked called sleeping giants.
It was definitely made for audio because the
entire book
is a series of interviews, like like transcripts
or recordings or first person like narration as
their discovering this robot and trying to bring
it back to life.
And so the entire book is just dialogue.
It was perfect is an audio drama. They
hired all different actors for all the different
roles. A couple actors kinda rep some of
the same roles.
I loved it.
And then the second book happened
where they had a lot of different actors.
Including 1 actress that fans seem to universally
dislike
because it it sounded like a a much
older person, it was supposed to be a
child.
And she'd grown up on another planet, and
it she sound like she was from the
bronx.
So it was just a total mismatch of
casting.
And then in the third book, they got
still a different actress and then
They brought back another actress for a different
part, but she played a different character and
was so confusing.
I couldn't even finish the third book. Just
said forget it.
You've totally lost me. And I also think
some of the writing in the third book,
I don't think it the story knew where
it was going.
But that is not gonna be the case
today. I've listened to the left behind cinematic
audiobooks very recently and man. I have a
huge fan of those
So buckle up everyone. Well, you don't need
to buckle up to write in as our
next guest is, I hear a voice made
4 radio announcing his arrival, and I think
he's the only 1 in this particular race.
So I'm throwing up the doors to welcome
him now.
Todd Be has just rolled into the studio
on his 12 speed
bike. It has been a while since we
talked about this left behind legacy series gave
us a chance to reconnect after very long
time ago, When Todd, I was a
But of I don't... What what was I...
I don't even know if you remember I
was a studio Ga fly. I actually visited
the studio once and I think interrupted do
you guys lunch from Ar, but he was
very kind to gave us a tour,
my touring group there around the the wheaton
campus, but welcome to Laurie Studios.
Oh, man. This is exciting. Yeah. It... We
had so many people coming through the studio
during the left behind era. I do recall
you though specifically because you forgot to put
order into the guest box. So I'll get
that from you at some point. On, that
probably Went bankrupt. And. I'll, I will I
will send that I'll will send that over
with the, cash app or something.
There you go. Yeah. With the interest and
inflation included. What was left behind? Like, 5
years ago, 6 years ago. I you know,
here's the issue here. Glory appearing, the 12
volume released 20 years ago in 20 o
4.
Wow. Yeah. So Jesus returned 20 years ago,
We are now in the millennial reign by
the way, and it is glorious indeed. Yep.
Yeah. Not quite, I think every times position
would agree that that's not exactly the true
position, But, Todd, you had a life before
left behind and the left behind dramatic audio
series. I mentioned if you could just give
us a quick bio and then, tell us
what led you to biblical truth and
This line of work.
Yeah. I was as a kid fascinated with
anything with buttons, so it was either gonna
be a recording studio or a 07:47
cockpit, both of which I had posters of
up on my wall as a kid. By
god's providence, I ended up in radio,
was mixing live sound,
led to radio, led to radio production, led
to drama production, spent 16 years with Moody
broadcasting. During that time, built up my own
business, and a 96 was to take it
independent, was sitting at my desk in a
small office 1 morning thinking.
Hearing a lot about this left behind thing,
and and we went to work developing that
as a series, and that really was life
changing. It's It's a retrospective for you guys
who listened to a lot of drama
pretty pivotal. I got allowed me to use
that series to, build a business,
employ a lot of actors
expose a lot of people to the gospel
through the process
and
do some storytelling telling where the leash was
taken off, and I was allowed run free
with creative process. So the leash was taken
off, and I have listened to the entire
audio drama several times through, actually, I know
you've listened to it more because you've had
to stay up late,
doing the mix on 144
episodes, not a hundred 44000, but a hundred
44, 12 episodes
based on 12... It listen to a thousand
times. So I think it's about right. You
know I that would editor. I've never really
landed on the prophetic number of episodes. Thank
you, Steven That. 12 in terms well, once
you see these very book of revelation type
numbers. You you can't un them. And then
you realize we... We we in revelations Why
your studio is called Gap digital. And it
is in the Chicago area, which, of course
is
setting to a vast amount of the left
behind storyline,
how did Gap digital specifically get started and
you were doing mixes for adventures odyssey, radius
at, like, what are some of the other
projects that y'all worked on in and around
the same time? Yeah. I started actually
back in the eighties back when the core
of the Earth still cooling.
With a little company called Gordon audio productions,
and people say Gordon, and I say, yes.
Because nobody has ever asked me to spell
Gordon, which is not necessarily the case with
my last name, so I just used Gordon
or audio productions, but then,
through
an amazing set of circumstances
was working for Ron Hut producing his program.
The armed forces network approached him and said,
we have an opportunity to air your program.
He said great. He said it's 30 minutes.
I said, oh, when we have a 60
minute program. He came to me and said
what would it take to cut our 60
minute program down, which had a lot of
drama. It was weekly with kids, kids doing
drama, actors doing drama. There's a lot of
drama production in it. So we were already
sitting the groundwork for that. So what would
it take to cut the 60 down to
30. Now, this was on 2 inch tape.
This was all punch edits. This was all
analog
production in Studio b at Moody broadcasting, and
I said, well, I'm doing about 80 hours
a week right now.
And newly married, and I had to put
a picture of myself up in the kitchen,
so my wife remembered what I looked like.
I'd say
creating a 30 minute version of this is
another 20 hours.
So not really doable. He said, think big.
And I said, well, digital is coming around.
He said, what do you need? I said,
man, it'd be about 20 grand, a week
later he hands me to check for 20
grand and says do it.
I said, okay. So I went to work,
very diligent in terms of the shopping, pro
tools was just coming out.
But was
rift with problems. So I
was directed to another company called Spectral,
made it work.
We knocked our production time down to 30
hours and at a 30 minute version that
we aired in Europe for years
Other broadcasters,
Dave Arnold it focus calls me and says,
hey. What you do over there? And I
said, well, I put together a little thing
with the thing and the thing and He
says show me. So we ended up being
a broadcast rep for spectral synthesis, a company
out of Washington.
And we put in systems for ventures in
Odyssey, D James Kennedy,
your story our children's bible hour,
radio stations, Larry Bur.
And so we were traveling around helping
these ministries come up to speed, digital And
that's when I said, alright. I'm just gonna
change the name of the company to Gap
digital, and we really built the foundation on
digital technology and the efficiencies that it create.
These are the kinds of things you find
out. I didn't know that you all had
actually installed those systems. Some of those names
while Children's Bible hour. It was actually a
half hour folks, but that's okay.
I used to listen to that because it
was the warm up back for Adventures odyssey
on Saturday mornings at WJMM
fm in Lexington Kentucky. Nice. You know, it
I went to college right at the transition
of analog to digital for all this stuff.
And
I got on this bus for this student
orientation program at Texas a called Fish camp.
Sit next to this guy. And first thing
you asked me is, you know what M
mp threes are?
I was like, no. I'd... What is that?
And he's like, well, it's a way to
get the music track from a Cd onto
your computer. I'm like, oh, that's that's pretty
cool. Okay. Go into college next week. Everyone
has their computer set up on this network,
and everyone just doing the whole file sharing
thing, like, here's this album. Here here's that
album. 0MP threes. Oh, yeah. This guy in
the bus told me about that. And this
this is, like pre Naps, which is pre
itunes. It's you know, in high school, I
had done
a bunch of just video and audio projects
for fun, but it was all tape based.
Like you said, you know, making mix tapes
for friends,
or filming things on, like, a 8 millimeter
camera and then transferring it to a V
tape. And then in college, we got to
mess around with mini Tv cameras where you
could edit on a computer and that was
just so life changing.
But like you said, it kind of takes
your whole life away because it You think
it's gonna make everything quicker and easier. Now
you just get to do more things with
it. So you end up spending maybe more
time on on digital editing and audio. It
is part of the, lengthening the leash again,
using the dog retract leash analogy, which is
so useful in so many areas of life,
the
ability to create some things,
you can come up with the idea, but
to actually execute that
is difficult. The thing I loved about working
hut grab program is that 5 segments
across the hour and a different drama in
each segment, and we could go any direction.
And the acting troop that we put together
ear in Ami. And you're having a fight
with a pro z. Go.
You know, and so you
because it's audio,
you're not restricted by costume blocking lighting, makeup,
etcetera.
Which is your first plus,
but then you can also incorporate the imagination.
What would this sound like. I don't know.
Let's try a few things.
When you go to digital,
and it's faster,
you can try
more things. So, yes, it does
unleash you're suddenly drinking out of a fire
hose. And moderation is important. I just worked
with
a client a little while back.
Producing drama, where moderation was not 1 of
their hallmarks, and they were buried in deadlines
and backlog.
As a result. So you do have to
know when to say when.
And that's kind of the balance. Yeah. Now
the left behind sears, you said allowed y'all
all to, take the leash off and try
even more things with this drama, but Todd,
how did you all get into making
They left behind audio drama, which I will
remind faithful listeners is an audio drama, not
an audio, So it's already got audio
presumably
This is something completely different? Like, was this
the publisher idea? Was it your idea? What
is the origin story there? The origin story
is that as I mentioned and I went
independent, left moody after 16 years, and I'm
sitting in my, tiny office We rented some
office space. I built a 1 room studio,
and and I'm sitting in the office,
just basically,
brainstorming, you know, young business? Okay. How do
I put food on the table?
I had
heard
the sc butt about left behind. People were
starting to talk about it. It was early.
In the ascend of that title.
You know, I borrowed a copy. I took
a look, and Read the first chapter and
I go, well, this would drama ties
Pretty well. Was still going down to moody
on a regular basis and recording folks down
there and doing projects for them and for
others.
And so after 1 session down there, I
had about
18 actors and I said this gang. If
you're willing and have the time, hang out,
let's do a demo. I've got an idea,
I don't know where it's gonna go, but
I wanna try something, and that really was...
Let's...
Think outside the box here. And so my
conception of it
was
more about not word for work.
Okay. Not word for word, but concepts,
and concepts driven by sound.
And so we did a 5 minute demo
that may be some of the most exciting
audio that I have ever produced because it
was just free form. I mean, it was
it wasn't a scene followed by a scene.
It was more, you know, jets, and I
used movie music. And trailer music and really
put together you know, this impactful. Now we
had some voices and actually on the demo,
the gentleman who ended up playing Nickel carp,
poised Ra steel
because I had not yet done any casting.
So
That was interesting.
Now we had already produced new living translation
drama amortized bible for Ty day, so I
had their phone number. And I called them
up and said, listen, I got this idea.
Can I fly it past you? They said
sure. Gave of synopsis. I... I've got this
idea for drama sizing the left behind series.
They pulled together all the Big Wig presidents,
the comp controller, marketing guy etcetera. So forth.
Put him in a conference room, and I
wanted this thing to really z
So I'm rolling my little cart with general
Studio monitors and I, you know, wow my
Cd player. I'm not relying on whatever they
have in their conference yeah. No
on this. Now, I've got the gen monitors,
and I set up in the Conference room
and I hit play.
And 5 minutes ago as by, and they're
all kinda sitting there, and I'm trying desperately
to read faces in any ain't work.
And finally,
Paul Matthews, the money guy says, by How
much. And I slid them a proposal across
the table. He takes 1 look at it,
chuckle and slides it back and says, thanks
for coming.
Oh
no. No. No.
Bud wait.
Sitting next to
all Matthews is a gentleman. You're familiar with
by the name of Dan Bay.
We just talked to Dan. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
Yeah. Dan is a lifelong friend for many
reason but mostly for what he did in
the next moment. He said, hang on.
You can
turn these into radio, so. Right? That's well
in essence innocence, that's what they're em is
they're their, you know, their 25 minute
radio
episodes,
and he said,
Okay.
Why don't we try 12? I'll take it
out of my marketing budget. Okay. I'm gonna
give a call to Jim Sanders out an
ambassador and see if he thinks there'd be
any interest in it. About a week later,
he had 475
stations signed up to air this thing.
So
Dan said, it had to work.
I said... Wow. Yeah. So I had to
jump on it because suddenly, all these stations
are waiting for this thing. While we aired
12,
send them to ambassador. By this time, they've
doubled the on stations that are clamoring. Put
this thing on.
And
Dan says,
swing by. I got 2 more contracts, the
next 2 books. Right? The first 12 were
based on left behind. And then we went
on through the series. He gave me a
contract for 2 more books. I'm still in
this tiny studio where literally, I got my
mixer, and I've got a space behind me
where I'm doing foley,
and I'm using the studios downtown I'm renting
moody broadcasting studios to record the actors,
And, okay. If this thing really takes off.
So
I walked into the local bank
with, you know, like, 4 bucks in my
pocket in a couple contracts and said, John,
I had made friends with a guy who
was running the branch. I said John, I
need to buy a building.
S Gospel had run their radio ministry for
years out of a building in Wheaton that
I now own, and they had 2
simple...
Audio studios in the basement of that building.
And so it presented the opportunity for me
to take over 1 studio and then upgrade
the others.
And I showed John the contract, Ned said,
okay.
Let's go to work, and he did. And
the the gentleman in the Sba department did
an amazing job. I mean, god was orchestrating
this whole thing, and I walked to the
guy who owned the s a sla gospel
building offered him his list price because he
had laughed at us 4 years earlier when
be offered him less then.
You know, I was trying to get this
building for while, and we were able to
buy the building. And then the next call
was to John S.
John is a studio designer of renowned.
He's been doing it for many years,
true confession during study hall. In high school,
I would read Mixed magazine, and I would
look at his rooms and and really like
those the best. So this is the lifelong
dream of yours. That's that's really cool exactly.
Coming true now. Absolutely. So I called up
John, and I said I got this space.
And it's 96
feet from the corner of the building
to the first rail of the Union Pacific.
They said, yeah.
Alright. We got it. So he built electric
lady for Jimmy Hendrix in New York over
the subway.
And his claim to fame was, you can't
tell you're over the subway. Now any building
in New York where you're over the subway.
You know you're over the, electric lady? No.
Alright. And so he really pioneered a lot
of his isolation stuff, so he came in.
Our live rooms are floated. So in other
words, you could pick them up and move
them
because they're not bolted to the building if
you will, and they're floated on a system
that some guy with a huge,
very active brain does the math on it
says, okay, This room is gonna weigh this
much because you're gonna have these materials in
it And for that, we're gonna put this
system and a custom design a system that
this sits on. Wow. And and that is
where we recorded the bulk of the Levy
series. Now once we bought the building, it
took us 1 week to move from the
small studio over Take over 1, we took
over studio b of the Slavic Gospel studio
and went to work, and I've got great
video and photos of
everybody crammed in this tiny little live room,
and, you know, we did our foley in
there. And we had great sessions and so
good, and then upstairs was the green room
where amazing things happen.
The green room
may be just as important.
As what was going on in the recording
studio because a,
gentleman by the name of Jim To who
played Zeke
was probably the funniest human I have ever
met. Oh, he steals the show later on,
especially in the last half of the, audio
drama. Yeah. He does. And then
B,
Tom, who was playing Rh, had his church
praying during sessions,
for the conversations would that would take place
at the table. I was ask you about
that. Yeah. Yes. Marvelous that I had guys
marvelous.
The guy who claimed Hai Hem Rose
is, you know, you saying, you know,
someday, I may have to explain this role
to my grandkids. But right now, I'm having
a good deal of fun, You know? Because
it he was going actually Jewish then... He
was jewish. Actually, Jewish. That's marvelous Wow. Yeah.
That's marvel.
Oh, yeah. Jerry Jerry was phenomenal. And so
the conversations that were going on, upstairs the
green. We would do 2 days at a
time. So, you know, it'd be like, a
Thursday fry. A we'd hit it at 08:00,
we'd go all the way at to 4,
05:00 as necessary. Do the same thing the
following day. At Chris and Amanda moved out
to La. We sometimes had to fly them
back in to be, you know, for Buck
Chloe to to be part of the sessions,
but
Yeah. It's just, you know, so many so
many times, I look back and see the
divine hand just kinda orchestrating the whole thing.
That is absolutely wonderful to hear. All over
again. It's and Todd, I've started re listening
to the series now, just in celebration of
that left behind legacy.
So we're already talking about how you all
assembled what I would call the left behind
adaptation force.
So many actors that you all already were
familiar with, including many Christian actors in that
area. And for those who still remember, for
example, that Kirk Cameron is Buck Williams, no.
My my buck Williams is Christopher Taylor Rant,
if I member is named correctly.
And, no, Raf steele
is not Nico Carriage, Raf steel is Tom
Mc miguel.
Those humans have never met them. They made
me cry.
Absolutely
phenomenal actors. And by the way, the man
later on played Zeke, as 1 of the
best death screams ever. I don't know how
many times he did a death screen. I
think he died, the witness the witnesses roasted
him
I I think he died in the earthquake,
and that was a kid's audio drama series,
And then just a absolutely incredible, like, you
really felt the pain in Anguish of him
shuffling off this mortal coil several times. I
think he died up more times in Sean
bean.
How did you all find all of these
terrific actors,
including several
who believed in this project. I mean, I've
I've got that... Hold on. Let tell you
what. Before you answer the question.
Speaking of the actors. Alright. I don't know
if you remember this. And and and the
rest of that can't see this because this
is audio, but... Yeah. This is the hundredth
episode
This is the hundredth episode celebration poster.
This here is carp,
lee out from the the laser eyes that
the Oh, nice.
He's about to he's about to light you
up, K tony heat vision style. But instead
what he's done is he just gone into
the, temple to desk create it, and he
sacrificed a pig and there was a blood
everywhere and it was horrible.
Taking off the leash after all. Don't recommend
that. Yep. No. Don't Don't don't do that.
It's bla for me. How did y'all all
find all of these people? And just this
is some of the recruitment of all the
talent? I mean, Chris Fa doing the adaptation
for the first 11 and then Steve Wick
with the music and then the actors as
well. How do you find these folks? So
Roger Mueller was coming into our studio all
the time. Okay. Ended up playing Carp.
And so he was part of this session
where I said gang. III wanna do a
demo. Amy Lilly was on staff,
1 of the most amazing voice talents
in the world.
And so she was hat from the drop
of the hat. I mean, I was sitting
at my desk going. What if
Okay. Amy Will play Had. Got it. You
know, I mean, that was that was probably
the first role that was cast and locked
in. I didn't even talk to her. I
just so we'll work schedule around her. She
was fantastic. I did a quite an extensive
process
for...
Ray steele for Chris,
for Buck and Chloe,
a lot of audition. And
Tom,
nailed it on the scene... So the scene
where he comes home and goes up the
stairs and sees all the photos.
Yeah. Yeah.
When when Tom
auditioned that,
I had to go get the shop vac.
And vacuum myself up off the floor
because
he
absolutely melted the place.
And,
I mean, it was tied because Roger was
still in contention
as Rae steel at a nice edge to
him
but that scene showed me
what Tom was going to be able to
give in terms of the arc.
Because, you know, good storytelling
shows us
people changing. Right? Good storytelling causes us to
want the change. There's an arc. There's a
transition if somebody static and never changes. It's
boring.
But that scene was just...
So amazing. And so that locked in
my Ray steel. So I had some people
within the network that were
locked in. You're this... You're gonna be a
part of this. They... You know, and they
helped me out in the demo. I said,
gang, I don't know if this is gonna
go anywhere. If it does, I will definitely
reward your
willingness to hang out for another hour and
help me with this demo. Some of the
folks in that room had a
very nice 6 year run.
And
made a good bit of money and help
send kids to college, and I'm so proud
of that. I I really am am I'm
pleased we did that. But the 1 move
that really lit up our cast was contacting
comedy sports,
improv Olympics and the places where people
do stuff on the fly with their imagination
and use their voice.
These people are brilliant.
They have such great imaginations. They have such
creativity.
Okay? Amanda Phillips.
Chris Rant both out of that world, right?
Where you can think.
Alright? If I had
an audition and I had a stage actor
or a video actor, I knew it right
away. But if I had somebody who had
to create the scene in their mind and
then vocal it
Bam. Different level. I mean, it's it's it's
what I tell voice actors all the time.
You need to say yes and I understand
clearly without a shadow of a doubt that
you mean know.
And you need to do it with just
your voice,
and that was the differentiation. So we pull
to together a the audition were fun. You
know, it was a 6 year run. So
the audition eventually moved out to Wheaton. Folks
would come in, we'd cycle them through. We
had the whole... Process. We had a runners,
Brooks Sanford, who was very involved in the
kids series.
Would would sometimes be a wrangler. Right? She
would she would be taking the audition forms
and making sure all the information and sending
them down, so everybody was getting involved, and,
you know, that was a lot of fun
too. So Great cast. So you're saying this
took this took 6 years to produce from
start to finish with. 6 contractors. Yeah. We
did the rising.
And that was kind of the swan song.
Tin dale did their run
and helped us with the 12, and adult,
books, the 72 episodes, the kids drama,
and then they said, you know, what we're
kinda done. And I said, that's cool.
I'm gonna give a shot to producing the
rising. So I did the rising out of
my own wallet to see if the sales
would
cover the cost.
And it it took about 3 years to
do so. And so I wasn't in a
position to do the other pre and the
sequel, people have asked about that constantly, but
I I think the rising is fantastic. I
think it's 1 of my best productions. You
know, it kinda came after the bell curve,
and honestly, a lot of people don't even
know it's out there. So... Yeah. So doing
this over 6 years, so there was a
behind the scenes thing I watched a long
time ago from Star trek Voyager,
and the actress that played Bo torres Roxanne
and Dawson.
She talked about when she auditioned for that
show,
she realized that she was gonna
beginning into, like, a multi year multi season
show and it was, like, this big decision
for because I think it was her very...
It was like, her biggest role she'd ever
had.
And she realized in that moment. Like, if
I say yes to this, this is like
a family I'm joining. It's not just a
job because I'm gonna be part of this
or however for many years is an actress
and then how many years after that I'd
like fan conventions and stuff like that. What
was that like signing up these actors
did they realize that this is gonna be
a 6 year or beyond commitment like, I
didn't get people to to sign on to
that? What you mean to say?
Zach. Is... Did I realize this was going
to be...
It does start with you. Yes. You're going
to live and breathe
tribulation for the next 5 to 6 years.
So not quite years, but... Yeah. The interesting
the interesting thing about that is that a
lot of the folks
that ended up being core actors came in
as something else.
Alright. There's a voice in episode 1.
And I believe you have a clip or
2 from episode 1. We... This might be
a good place to drop that in because
it talks about the velocity video production but
we can also talk about some of the
casting implications. Now, I I wanna move into
that, after we pause for a second sponsor.
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Let's go to chapter 2 with the clip
that Todd already mentioned We actually have 2
clips that generously
provided from the archives of the Gap digital
studios, chapter 2, herald the end times from
the eyes to the ears. So, yes, some
actors that started out with kind of a
bit role like, for example, a baseball announcer,
would later go on to get a much
larger platform in the series Main cast. Let's
go ahead and here 1 little, clip from
episode 1 of the left behind audio drama
and see if you using just your ears
and your imagination can tell what's going on.
Hello?
Still.
Not at all.
Oh it's very nice.
Right here. I've got the bog on. It's
iced tea. Alliance.
Oh, Chester says hello.
Hello
Okay.
No. That's fine. Call as late as you
need to.
Well,
why wouldn't I be here?
Right. Talk to you then.
We're keeping our eye we don't expect it
to grow due to its massive pressure area,
which I continues to provide great weather for
the 7 portion of the country. Moving on
to our forecast, another beautiful they had that
for tomorrow. Spend time throughout the day, temperatures
right around our normal, and our computer modeling
show at least 4
on until after breakfast tomorrow.
Don't want you cutting any deals on it.
But we do recommend as that you get
some shut eye. It's a long ride to
the camp, and we've got a tough week
ahead of us.
Now, if you can't sleep, please, at least
keep it down so that others can. You
freshman are listening. Right?
More importantly, we don't want to bother our
driver Later tonight, We're gonna be in the
mountains and that's no fun the station Wagon
look alone this big monster. Right?
This might also be a good time to
be praying that some great things will be
held happening this week. Hey?
Right well, and lord willing, we'll see you
in the morning.
That you all had me from that first.
Episode in that moment to just kind of
setting the table entering the world of left
behind a world ready for a rap first
So much information packed into there, but Tata
wanna hear from you about the logic behind
that scene, which isn't in the book, but
which is definitely set in the book. Like,
what what goes into that adaptation as you're
thinking about the philosophy and the creative there?
So this is was me walking into Tin
dale with my hair on fire saying, yeah.
It's gonna be based on your book, but
it's not gonna be word for word. And
I knew they would have to run it
up full and make sure that, Tim Le
hey and Jerry Jenkins we're gonna be okay
with that. And that's where...
You know, the risk was, but
sound is emo.
Right? And so what I was displaying with
that scene and there's elements similar to that
in the demo that I took Ind is
that
I want this to be
as much about sound telling you a story
as words
telling you story because we have that potential
That's what audio drama does. It allows you
to use sound
to tell a story. So we're layering.
Okay? If you can listen to 1 of
any 3 things,
and my intent is to get that same
vibe going. And I do this numerous places.
Once we're on the
airplane heading over, and I believe that's in
the second clip. This is called before and
after,
and this is
the way that sound is being used. Now
some of it is borrowed
from the book. Yes, So it connects to
the book. But it's more about using sound
to tell the story so the legendary, unbelievable
actress flo sc,
taking the phone call there with Chester the
cat on her lap, we have crickets.
Right?
A very evo and for many a comforting
sound. We have
a baseball announcer that if you listen to
him says beautiful night here Buzz feel. Okay?
That's Greg Lac, who eventually became Sean on
Judah.
That's part of the casting hierarchy
Fun.
But, yeah, Greg was just in doing bit
parts.
1 other casting note, or in the early
episodes
We used a gentleman by the name of
Dan Tu,
who was in his eighties sounded great as
a as an eighties actor He said, you
should you should call my daughter. You should
call my daughter. His daughter was pam tu
who had a big run as Hannah peel.
So a lot of this going on, But
back to the layering, so we've got all
these layers, but then
1 of the most powerful and fun characters
that work with is the composer.
So I told Steve.
Yeah.
Okay.
In retrospect, guys, actually, I would have had
float not hit why wouldn't I be here
so hard? You know, I just have her
kind throat. Why wouldn't I be? Throw that
away, and let Steve tell the listener,
what she just said was important, which he
did with a nice, what else is motive,
low end. Right?
In some of the scenes later in this
series,
there's so much going on, you got apocalyptic
earthquake stuff falling all all over the place,
you can only fit so much into an
audio landscape before the ear is the ear
fatigue and the listener checks out.
The number 1 way to get that across
is just pumping the low end, so you
get that 50 cycle. And not everybody's gonna
be able to hear it if they're on
cheap earbuds, not gonna be there, but it'll
lean up into the hundred 20 hundred 50
cycle. Low end just tells you... Okay. Something's
going important. Right. And and that's so key
because, like, I've been listening to these major
studio produced audio drama podcast.
Just with with some big name, like A
list actors,
and and they're they're just overwhelming to me.
Like, it it's
there was 1 I listened to. It started
out as a really interesting concept. It was
like, a guide a radio station and there's
a blackout. And so
People are still able to call on their
cell phones, and he's taking calls into very
simple format, very very minimal foley.
But now it's in season 2,
and there's like, car explosions and bridges blowing
up and airplanes crashing, and there's just like,
way too much going on. I'm like, Yeah.
You can't take a Hollywood movie and cram
it into my earbuds, like, it doesn't work.
And I really like what you did when
that scene there.
Where there's just the the really simple sounds
of, like you said, the crickets, the cat,
the iced tea, the the Tv and the
background, it's like, oh, I'm listening to
a woman in her own home at night
talking to someone on the phone. And then,
like you said that that loan note that
drops and goes, oh, I should pay attention
to this, And I love that part. I...
I know it's gonna happen by way like
oh, this person's gonna get rapture, like, it's
immediate, but it doesn't tell you that. There's
no narrator who's saying a little did she
know. Yeah. You are feeling it before. Yeah.
What like exactly... Let's go ahead and finish
the scene the other half there of this
is the after part. Let's go ahead and
queue that up and you can comments on
that before we move on to the rest
of the tribulation because the guys that wraps
only the beginning.
Something has happened here. I
I don't see
Jacob was on second.
Jacob was on.
Let tell I'm seeing thanks
look
folks
some running item.
Excuse me
Trouble man. It's my husband. Yeah, does he
need something? He's gone. I'm sorry? He he's
disappears.
Ma'am, it he probably slipped off to the
washroom while you were sleeping. I'm I'm sure
he'll be. Would you mind checking and take
this blanket?
Pete he's gone off naked.
He's a religious person and I know he
would be terribly embarrassed.
He's gone off.
See.
Well, maybe you should ask this fellow.
1
next to me.
The 1 that was wearing that soup.
I'll I'll be right back. Todd, I don't
have to ask you what's happening in that
scene because we just heard it. There's no
need for narrator, no need for commentary, but
nevertheless, I want to know some about the
adaptation going into that scene.
Yeah. I mean, Zachary you make a good
point. There's only so much you can take,
but at the same time,
sometimes,
chaos
is what needs to be communicated. So if
if you don't pull back and allow... But
the scene to breathe, you can overdo it.
But
what I wanted was a sense of confusion.
So if you listen to com. He's doing
the Ra announcement. We're gonna pass out for
an entry cards. There's a mom running around
Jessica, Jessica, and she's got a little panic
voice. Okay. Mh. Which is adding to it.
And then you got the conversation if you
wanna stay front in center,
You got Chris, inner talking about the person
who was just sitting
next to them. And the whole thing, and
then we've got Steve little just a tiny
bit of low end. Our composer just a
little bit of low end and they're telling
out, okay. Something's
different.
Okay. The other thing is sounds. Okay. An
unanswered phone.
Yes.
Subtly saying...
Lonely.
The cat
troubled.
And if you wanna listen to Greg doing
the aaa ball call
I'm almost certain Kobe was on second.
So layering.
And, you know, if I feed you 1
thing,
That 1 thing has to be compelling, and
maybe your world doesn't resonate with whatever that
1 thing is. But if I put 3
in, even if none of them are absolutely
your jam,
there's this sense of chaos that's being developed.
On the fact that you got 3 things
coming on. And Zach your point is again,
very well taken. It can't be overwhelming. Yeah.
And that's why you try to balance
all those things.
We did this another favorite moment of mine
is in the cockpit
where
Hat has just informed Ra that people are
missing
and he comes back and gets on the
radio
and his c pilot is listening to a
speed bird trying to contact our app now
ng 1 of the things that I'm obsessive
over is accurate language. So if you're gonna
do cop,
talk cop. If you're gonna do aviation, talk
aviation, study it and make it authentic.
You know, as a writer, if you're pho
it in,
10 4 there control, you know, I'm out.
I I... It's
it's not that hard to really go authentic.
So we really went the extra mile. I
actually sat
on a transatlantic landing flight and talked to
the spare pilot because flights over x number
of hours. They gotta rotate. This guy came
out took a seat. I said, listen I
know you're gonna catch some shut. And I
bend your ear for just 2 minutes. He
said, oh, sure. And we talked about Rf
and S wick and all the things
that they do on transatlantic crossings because you're
away from. Radio, you're using Rf, you repeat
the name twice, and there's all these things.
And so
the Rf radio has a higher degree of
static. And so when Rae
responds,
and he says,
Chan wick S wick,
Speed bird,
Pan heavy
and there's just
that is 1 of my favorite emo sounds
because
people aren't there. Yeah. People are flying the
plane. It's absolutely absolutely for all we know
the plane is down in the drink at
this point. People gone. So emphasize Static.
Can be motive
for listeners in this podcast. This is just
the first episode. Y'all had to do this
143
more times,
not always on a flight, not always at
the rapture, but you had even more complex
special effects happening, and then Todd after a
while
y'all did the first 36 episodes covering the
end of Nikola nikolai, which really even after
a world war, you raised the bar there
with that last episode 36. And I'm I'm
burning through these things, you know, because the
only way to listen. And what was this
the year 4001,
I forget when it was I got
drama 3. The only way to listen is
to have 1 of those big stereo with
the Cd rack that you carry around and
no what no no M mp threes, there's
no bluetooth at y'all all now I wasn't
necessarily listening to this on Cassette, but the
Cds were the the top of the line
technology back then.
And suddenly, there's this earthquake and, wow, I
cannot imagine, we could have a whole episode
just about the challenges of mixing that without
the advantages of your Hollywood
special effects there, y'all are doing
disaster theater
and plague after plague after plague. And I
remember even when I was starting to
discover that, hey, y'all were actually pretty accessible.
I could just
email
the guy at the top of this studio
and bless your heart, you know, the servants
aren't there as well as being very busy
with the business.
You took time to correspond with me back
then, And I I was having idea like,
hey, I think this is what you should
do with the demon locusts and I forget
what I said, but I remember feeling very
validated when booked... 5 finally came out the
drama for that. Like, yeah. It sounds
basically, like what I thought they should do,
and I was looking forward to the plagues
are looking forward to the the meteor, the
demon locusts, Like, what are some of the
post production challenges they are coming up with
the sounds
of the great
tribulation and the first half, which isn't so
great. Well, Steven, momentum is a wonderfully dangerous
thing.
When when we're far enough into the series
that, you know, Tin said, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
So
we're probably gonna keep going with this. I
mean, they didn't guarantee it, but after the
first contract and the success of those episodes.
2 more contracts,
And at that point,
the president of Tin, mister Mark Taylor
dropped me a note and said,
soft spoken guy,
a brilliant guy. His father is the 1
who came up with the living bible, riding
the train down. Kenneth Taylor, of course. Yeah.
Yeah. So
taken over,
Mark Taylor. He
told me,
you know, Todd,
In the first 30 days of these episodes
airing on radio,
our hard covered sales, which were already
really record setting
tripled.
Oh, my goodness.
I never
we're probably going to keep going. Like...
Was this good news, Todd or bad news?
Oh, no. It was Was phenomenal because here's
the thing momentum. Okay? So we're asking that
same question, Steven. How do we create this
sound. Oh. There's an interesting challenge. How do
we create this 1. I mean, you know,
series. There's all kinds of stuff that you
just can't dial up and say, wonder what
that sounds like, I'll listen to it from
a sound x library. No.
1 instance of that was that there a
scene where
chai and buck are trying to get out
of
town, and they ski steal a school bus,
crash it through a chain link fence where
Ken has the lea jet ramped up,
on the runway and,
you know, hail a gunfire through police ball
blockade all that stuff. They dive in, you
know, you talk about the opportunity to overdo
overdue it, Zach. This was this was primed
to overdo it. But... So I'm looking at
all the layers of this very short. Seen.
I mean, it's not more than 2 and
a half minutes, but there's a lot of
complexity. And I, what if. And so
that's where, you know, I I checked Bell
police was still off. I called up some
folks out in Rock, which is
about an hour west of where we're at.
And they had a they have a race
racetrack out there where they raise school buses,
and they do so in a figure 8,
I go.
Okay. These are my guys. Picked up the
phone. Hey.
Any chance you guys would be willing to
crash a school bus for?
This is such man stuff. I just love
this.
Half a beat and...
Yeah.
There's only 1 way to get the sound
of a crashing school bus and it's 2.
And I said school bus. Okay. Let's go.
So we bought a station wagon at a
junkyard,
full glass,
everything in place, and we put it in
the middle of the Rock Speedway parking lot.
And we drove out there with the team.
I am bracing myself in the door of
the school bus,
with a fish pole and a stereo shotgun
microphone
over the front bumper of the bus, and
we ram that poor day for wagon a
dozen times with the school bus.
And,
the car
was barely recognizable.
By the time we were done, the school
bus. At a slight coolant, and that was
it. Those things are tanks.
It's absolutely remarkable.
And then, for the Lee jet, our composer
Steve Wick, just happened to know a guy
at his church whose job was to sit
there and wait for the phone to ring.
Alright? Some guy with a lot of money.
Who would occasionally say, I wanna fly my
friends over to,
Michigan to watch the football game,
fire up the Lea jet. So he had
to on a monthly basis, go and make
sure, you know, do certification process for the
Lee just to make sure the end is
running and everything.
Invited us along. So I'm on the phone
with Mark Jewelry out at focus, working
working on some odyssey stuff. And I'm following
Steve, onto the Tar at Bar aurora Airport,
and he turns around a corner, and here's
the hanger wide open, and I swear the
angels were singing because the lights were on
There was this beautiful shiny lee jets sitting
inside the hanger, and I said, Mark, I'm
gonna have to call you back and I
hung up on it
because you know, as an aviation geek. Suddenly,
I'm looking at this. And we got to
do everything. Ramping up the engines run and
I've got video of me running with the
recording rig towards the l jet as he's
spool up the engines, I dive in We
closed the door, and that's what we used
in that particular Amazing. There's nothing quite like
practical effects for a production. That's, like like
you said, you you could go through all
these digital libraries and now, of course, there's
all this Ai generated stuff, but actually being
there in physical. Space with an actual jet
or an actual school bus. Yeah. Just no
way to top that. That's... Yeah. That's amazing.
That's that's quite a dedication to craft there.
Well, I especially appreciate the time when you
all crashed and meteor,
into the Atlantic Ocean in order to get
that sound effect deep impact style. There Yeah.
That a lot work. Yeah. Y'all travel to
Frank Pre door in the Dragons throat, opened
it up and release the demonic locust horde.
In order to bite men for, 5 months
and then have them be tortured for an
additional 5 months that that was a bit
inconvenient Yeah. I signed a non disclosure agreement,
but, it's now expired. So Dolores at the
Nsa was huge in making that happen. She
was... You know, I dedicated the scene quietly.
I couldn't put it publicly in the credits,
but Dolores at the Nsa. She allowed us
access to... Props the Dolores, was she the
voice saying,
dawn.
Bought as a un accredited cameo, there a
lot of filters.
Now. That was a lot of people who
probably don't want their names associated with that
because there was a lot don't go want
to be demon people in a darkened room
around a suspicious burning shape in the floor
chanting the name of Abe but Yeah. Within
a stone throw of the wheaton college campus,
we probably don't not talk more about that.
So
we could talk so much more about the...
Us assassination, Roger Mueller's performance, all the other
amazing, actors,
a Chris Fa adaptation. We already talked with
Chris Some about that. We gotta get to
the end here, Todd because you got places
to go, and I I know that you're
working next by the way, on that that
millennial kingdom drama with 1 episode
for each year of the millennial rain... Literal,
millennial reign of Christ on earth, of course.
Not a whole lot of killing involved there,
though, because millennial randy Crisis. I don't know
where the drama is gonna come from. But
anyway, let's pause for our third sponsor and
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Alright. Let's talk about the legacy of left
behind the dramatic audio siri, I cannot say
it like your announcer. And by the way,
there was an announcer in the middle, and
then the third announcer was Aqua aquaman. I
remember, he was Scott
justice league Scott Rum. Yes. Yeah. I mean,
Aqua aquaman a Christian now. So thrilled to
have Scott help out. Yeah. Yeah.
Unbelievable. And so Yeah a, a cool thing.
We had something we had something else going
in the studio Rex Carol came in and
laid down the Guitar lake, and, you know,
early Christian Rocker would know that name. So...
And and then AAA
phenomenal of a Trumpet player who is renowned
in the city, David Ge,
John Gig had some roles.
He was on,
Moody's staff, and he had a few roles
in the drama, but we got his, his
brother to come in and play Trumpet
on our theme, which we custom recorded, Steve
of course wrote that. We even had Erwin
Lu, pastor of Moody Church, do the recording
that was left behind,
and
you know, okay. Cool. I I gave him
a script for that, and he said, so
what is this? And I said, well, this
is the video tape that's left behind at
the church
that is to be played out. Oh, I
see. So he took the script and he
ran with it. He pasteur the He did
his own pastor it. Yeah. And it sounded
very pastor. It was phenomenal. So we finished
the first 12 episodes, and I saw I'm
a church
Julie and I attended, Moody Church. We met
there. He's performed our wedding. And so,
I saw I'm a church on Sunday right
after the first set of Cds came out,
and I... Faster.
Remember that
tape you did,
for our drama
here... Here's the final product. He said, this
this this is Lafayette High book 1.
Yes. Oh, praise God. No. I don't have
to read it.
It's even better than an audio block. You've
got Yeah. Got it hold. Drama,
and then you all go from book 1
all the way through to book 12, which
released, I guess, 20 o 5, because by
then, y'all were having to go faster and
faster. And I think pump out 2 of
the pajamas per year instead of 1,
I still remember your email, Todd, you're, sending
out to fans or you said faster, faster
you fool.
Yeah. It's just feeling that pressure. But book
12 comes out. Those final, 12 episodes adapted
by the way, by Derby Ke, who's been
on, this show before and We're gonna have
him back to, right after you. Yep.
Jesus comes back in the book in in
20 o 4. So Lia know, They say
no 1 knows the day or hour, but
I do. It was in March of 2004.
He comes back, and there's a lot of
unique challenges now with adapting that. And I
just wanna hear some about that before we
then catch up to where you are now,
and then they'll send you on your way,
but what's it like then adapting?
Now, the glorious appearing, the the real final
final second coming of of Jesus Christ. Well,
this is
you're you're very good cog
recognizing the dangerous
territory that 1 wander into when 1 tries
to po
on what the glorious
appearing would actually sound like. And so we
tried to
put fences around it and just say, this
is 1
creation of a
possible scenario. This is an imagining. This is
we are not making theological statements. We're not
es
experts. We are not po
on how we think it's going to be.
This is just our
interpretation. And for the most part, we didn't
get any blow bag, it's basically
designed to peak the imagination our What would
it be like? What would that feel like?
And mostly,
mostly, what we wanted was the emo content
again right back to episode 1. How does
this make you feel?
Then, episode 01:44.
How does this make you feel?
What happened was the actors,
some of whom as I said, we had
to fly in from La.
Because they had moved on in their careers,
Chris and Amanda,
Chloe and Buck,
predominantly,
there was a real joy
at the reunion
of the actors,
which dovetail tailed perfectly
with this reunion
in episode 01:44.
So
that was the primary thing. We didn't wanna
say, well, it's probably gonna happen like this.
And then this mountain gonna split open. And
this is what the pit looks like and
sounds like.
We basically wanna join it.
As the underpinning
of the closing episodes. Y'all got it because
I'm thinking now about the sounds scape the
actors of that reunion scene in 144.
So spoilers. There's a little bit more reunion
between characters who have passed on, you know,
Jerry Jenkins found them dead. As he was
a pants of the character growth of the
series, but they all come back at the
end when Jesus comes back because, you know,
you you have a resurrection And then suddenly,
you, Ken r is there. Bruce Barnes is
there. Both of Ray wives are there, and
and it's a little awkward, but everybody is
just gonna... Have to work around those things
for the millennial kingdom,
and and it works. I remember, I mean,
I I liked to the book. But I
remember Todd just listening to the drama, and,
yes, it awakened that sense of longing for
the return of Christ. However you believe that's
gonna happen.
Pre amid post millennium, no millennium, you know,
pre, whatever,
all orthodox christians believe that he is coming
back and every eye I will see him,
and it might
might be a little something
like those last 12 episodes of the left
behind audio drama, and then it's on into
eternity
when we'll have a lot of our questions
answered, and I think Todd, though, a production
like this
will have a place in the kingdom.
For the faithfulness that you all had, and
the creative excellence that you all clearly were
pursuing,
with the guard rails and everything, but wanting
to illustrate something that many Christians have long
for
throughout the centuries. And so just as a
as a fan as a stand, whatever, for
now going on 20 years, something 25 actually,
I just say,
bravo, I know you got more stuff sensitive
then. I'll hear about that in a moment,
but I just wanted to thank you for
that.
Well, I appreciate that, Steven, and and it
was my design from the start yet to
do drama with the leash off. But it
was also my design and my challenge to
the guy is doing the cast,
doing the writing the script, that the gospel
was clear, at least once in every book
when this stuff came out.
At the time, audible
I mean, back in the day, Audible was
mono,
9 k sampling. Right? So that was... Yeah.
That wasn't gonna work for me. So I
needed some other way to distribute it. So
I went to work and I created a
site called ear flick dot com.
And distributed it that way. And that was
pretty labor intensive. And so we have since
owned a away to use a,
a middleman if you will, that distributes. So
this series is available on
itunes, Apple books
spotify now apparently. And I'm getting all these
emails saying, hey. How come the leader episodes
aren't on Spotify.
And even know the earlier whoever's were runs
Spotify. But, okay. Yeah. The first 48. And
but this is the only way to listen.
See the Cds there. Outside Y'all change the
art after but cd. What's that? Yeah. The
Cd compact disc, 4 inches. It is available
and people are still funny. And that I
find so satisfying
because again, the gospel isn't in it. And
if even if they don't listen to
you know, Vernon Billings,
AKA,
Erwin Lu,
explain
why
people are watching that video tape? And what
has happened? And how to rectify that situation,
which is absolutely clear.
They're all... They're being challenged to think about
this scenario and that in and of itself
and is a provocative
nudge.
If you will, in and each 1 of
the books we have something built in that's
designed to move towards a clear gospel presentation
if not, a provocative nudge to think about
end times
issues. And so that's... You know, the fact
that we're talking about this 25 years later
is very gratifying,
but I'm also
really pleased that these titles are still out
there, they're generating interest people are finding them
through library systems. They're finding them through Spotify,
I'm not trying to sell them
anymore. Oddly, they are selling like crazy, and
I'm g.
You know, I wish that was the case
with the rising because that I could have
done more. The other thing in the 25
year rearview view mirror that might need clearing
up is as we wouldn't couldn't necessarily to
the same cast. Quite a few people. In
fact, our tune ben slash triple ball club
announcer
no longer with us.
Oh,
flow has passed, Of course, a good number
of the folks I'm looking at the glorious
appearing cast list right now.
It would be difficult.
Some of those folks are no longer with
it. So there was a time and a
place and the hundred episode and the a
hundred 40 fourth episode and the glory appearing
where we flew a lot of people back
in to be a part of those episodes,
and that was a good bow on, A
And then the rising, we went a different
direction in terms of the casting, but we
had some of the regulars back in. Darby
Ke is actually featured in the rising as
well.
In a in a scene. So
we're just really blessed that God gave us
the opportunity to run this series. Well, besides
the, you know, the clear gospel
presentation for listeners that may not know the
lord yet. 1 thing I really appreciate listening
to this
is all of the situations that Ray or
a buck or even chloe were in where
they were surrounded by people that didn't share
their faith. And they're trying to articulate
what they believe are just sort of navigate
these awkward
social or professional situations like we're
On the plane and
in in the tribulation force and everyone's listening
to the broadcast from s Judah,
and everyone's kinda laughing at it. And and
he's
that he's been out is a Christian. So
they're like, oh, you really think all this
stuff is true.
And then, you know Bak he's in the
the newsroom?
And same kind of thing like, you know,
why why are you following all these crazy
religious stories? Like that this is all just
bunk.
And so they're they're both trying to give,
an answer for their faith while,
while trying to stay employed, but but trying
to stay faithful to the Lord.
And it just really struck me as I
was listening to that this week, Todd, that,
you know, I'm reading a book now It's
life in the negative world by Aaron Ren
And so I've been thinking a lot about
how how much the world has changed in
the last 25 years and yet, this is
imagining a much more negative world in the
future. Where believers are
locked up, where they are gui, You know,
in later books, where they absolutely
pushed to the edges
and yet, and and they're very young in
their faith having to navigate this. And I
think that's why I originally love this book
because I I first read these books. As
missionary in a closed country,
where I was people
who had no other Christian friends, no Christian
family members
we're trying to put together these, like, sell
groups like they're doing in the book, just
very small pockets of believers. Yeah. Yep. And
it just really spoke to me in that
moment, and it really speaks to me now
when we're, as as Christians were facing very
different kinds of pressures than we ever had
speaks And I think that's why this book
continues to encourage me because as a christian,
we can see that God will bring us
in fellowship with others.
He will give us the words to say
he will give us the courage that we
need, and we we can get through it.
Yeah.
Man. Pretty I like well said. Well, Todd,
you've got to place at to go, and
you also... I saw in my background research
to narrated the end. Higher new living translation
of the bible. So if you fa listener
enjoyed,
the tones of Todd dean's voice. You can
get that to narrative reading the entire bible.
We'll put those links in our show notes.
But Todd, as you head out, back on
your bike. I mean, what else are you
doing? How can folks keep up with your
work? I, I'd sell us some stuff I'm
very willing to buy right now. I'm just
really thrilled that the the series is showing
up on the various outlets,
a wonderful little side hustle that developed.
1 of the guys who I'm looking at
again on the glory appearing cast list who
came in who was early on,
gentleman by the name of Dave Gap as
he walked into the studio 1 day for
a session, and he was wearing
the
the jacket,
of a women's triathlon series, and I said,
well Dave, I'm pretty sure you didn't participate
in they said, no. I'm the announcer. And
I said, oh, too early interesting. Yeah. And
He and and that turned into, for the
last 20 years,
I've had a nice
opportunity to announce sporting events.
And so the Chicago triathlon on the Milwaukee
Marathon, the Detroit Marathon, I'm leaving it a
couple days to do bike race announcing,
and
it's been a great opportunity to get out.
And, you know, you can
kind of,
pigeon hole.
If all you do is go to the
studio, and you work with ministries,
and you're surrounded by Christian, you can lose
touch, And so, the know, allows me to
get out and,
interact with people, create great friendships,
put on great events, take the same quality
commitment that I have in my production and
bring it to the productions that are live,
and that's kinda fun. We've also
really,
I'd love
I mean, you know, Paul C writing just
hang on. I'm gonna have to tighten down
my Seatbelt belt because he does such creative
things. And we've just finished a,
5 hour
production on the life of Joan of Arc,
with Paul that he wrote, and we did
the production on that. Spent 2 weeks in
London recording.
And the young lady who did the lead
on that just.
Absolutely nailed it. And so still
excited to do drama,
still looking at possibilities also working with an
organization called River Cross that's using storytelling,
to help kids that are trafficked in Africa,
and so we tell,
the story from the African perspective, We go
to London and have Africans. Do our voices
there.
And then we take them into villages with
battery powered and solar powered players and we
get small groups together and play them, and
then we just ask the question, do So
what do you I think in the only
story? And
through that, we start cracking open some of
these secrets. And oh, kids.
Head to freedom. So, again, this power of
storytelling there. That's a... It's
sobering,
but rewarding project, as well to be helping
out River cross with air drama production. Todd
gap digital dot com is still running after
all of these years, Are there any other
links that anyone needs to go to to
learn more about your work and to that's
an analog
site. So you can't actually get to it
from a computer. You have to get to
it from a fax machine. I unless that
Unless we updated it to your digital. Maybe
we did. Yeah. Okay.
Exactly. I up the modem. I up the.
It's the nineties. Again, it's a Buck Williams
connected to the ground and the
For full line. On the back of the
chair. Yeah. That, man. That sound takes me
back. So, yeah.
Dot com. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gap digital com
todd dot com is is out there. On
the announcing side as well. But
most Just love people to spread the word
and drop a link for a friend who
you think might enjoy the series or and
then
start conversations and just say, would you think
of that? I found this drama series. It's,
you know, it's out there.
Would you think of it? And see if
it doesn't allow
conversations to take a turn that might not
otherwise,
be standard for procedure, and, you know, somebody
who might be interested in that, and use
it as a tool.
That would that would be super gratifying. God's
used it as a tool know, it's not
me. I'm
just doing what I am called to do
graciously gifted to do through the resources that
I have.
But now he can use this storytelling
as as a tool to start strategic conversations,
that would be phenomenal.
Alright. Well, let's keep the conversation going and
look forward to sharing more about the left
behind series as we explore left behind legacies.
So Todd thank you so much for stopping
by. Gods speed to you and yours and
all your creative endeavors even after the tribulation.
My pleasure guys real real fun.
Steven, I really like what Todd had to
say
about good storytelling
shows us people changing.
It's not just people doing things. It's how
doing those things changes them. So we would
love to know from you our listener,
What are some of your favorite audio stories,
whether cinematic audio or audiobooks,
where you saw someone change Now, we've mentioned
adventures in Odyssey, I imagine a lot of
our listeners are already fans of that. But
if you've listened to another cinematic audio story
and you'd love to tell us about that.
Send us a note, podcast at laura haven
dot com. And if you have thoughts just
about this whole genre, we'd love to know
that too. So send us a note, Find
us on Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter and leave a comment there.
Next on fantastical truth, some Christians think that
in an end times rapture event
Young children would automatically go to heaven. But
what about the older kids? What about the
teen rebels who disobey their parents or won't
go to church? And reject Jesus.
The left behind the kids series explored the
exploits of the young tribulation force
This series also was adapted for its own
fantastic dramatic audio series by our next guest,
Darby Ke.
Regardless of your age, whether you like the
grown up series better or the kids series
better, or maybe you've never Even read these
books, we appreciate you going on this particular
ride. We enjoy stories from many different
perspectives within
Christianity, and we like to celebrate the people
who you may not even heard of who
are faithfully making these stories
and joining us on this mission to continue
seeking and finding his fantastical truth.