The Lawn Is On Fire

'Dad! Daniel set the front lawn on fire!' 

As a veteran father, I did not panic. 

I had seen it all. Our family held the record for bone breaks at the Colorado Springs Orthopedic Office. My  children are type AAA.  They played hide and seek on the roof, dove off a dam and swam in the fountain at Fashion Island. 

Merely setting the lawn on fire did not phase me. 

Persecuted

A Daniel Lusko Film

Spring 2014

'Why?' Was my logical response. 'He's making a movie,' Becca replied.  

  'Which one?' I asked.  'Last of the Mohicans,'  she shouted.
Oh, the fire scene. That was understandable, he loved that movie. 

Daniel had locked on to a career in film like a laser at age fourteen. 

I remember emailing with him from Belize while he was in the New York Film Academy at Universal Studios. He said he felt like he was downloading film data like Neo from the Matrix. Film metaphors are part of the Lusko Lexicon. 

Later, Daniel worked in our video department at Connection Communications and we were also able to co-produce a number of documentaries. We travelled around the world from Panama to Israel and did some great work. We certainly had 'creative differences.' Just think of two big horn rams colliding on a mountain and you get the picture.  We survived and found common collaborative ground, Daniel thrived.  It has been thrilling to see the career track he has been on. It is very clear to me that God prepared the way and cleared the path. 

Daniel's first dramatic shoot for one of our projects, 'The Road to Rome,' woke me up to where he was headed. We recreated the scene where Paul the apostle is taken to be martyred. With a meager budget, Daniel leveraged his film Academy buddies and made it look Hollywood quality. In every scene we have worked on since, he multiplied the budget manifold. In other words, what gets on the screen in his films looks like ten times the hard costs. Directors who have $100 million to toy with should produce great films, but often don't.

Our first major documentary, 'Epicenter,' contained an epic interview we did in Jerusalem between Joel Rosenberg and Benjamin Netanyahu.  When I screened Daniel's rough cut of the doc, it blew my doors off.

Four years ago, Daniel wrote a screenplay about a scenario where a prominent evangelist is framed by the government because he refused to compromise and comply with a 'One Faith' movement. This was before it was obvious the IRS, DOJ and other organized government arms were targeting people of faith.

                        Daniel and Franklin Graham

His perseverance in pursuing this project has been legendary. Very few first time film-makers get their projects funded, cast six well known actors and maintain creative control.  Impressively, Daniel did, below is the first video teaser from 'Persecuted.'

      Leanne with Ezra, (not pictured, or born: Noah)

I am hugely proud of his achievements, and more so because he is a man of God, good husband and father.
Bravo Daniel.

PERSECUTED Official Teaser from Media on Vimeo.