THE DEER TRAIL.

Kenny and Jackson—

I know that was a lot. There's years of history behind what I'm trying to say, but here's what I need you both to hear.

I believe we have the movie. Now I want you two to make it.

Kenny, I heard what you said about Camp Mary. One weekend didn't make you an artist. You were an artist long before we met. What happened there was part of a much longer journey—and a room of people got to receive what you've been carrying.

This isn't your entire biography. It's the trail you've been walking as you leave one path and find another. The leaving, the returning, the relationships, the uncertainty, the songs, the people you met, and the things that only start making sense when you look back.

The music is how we experience that journey.

We don't need to keep telling people you're talented. We have the performances. Let them listen. Give the songs room. Let people see your hands, hear your actual voice, sit in the pauses and experience the room.

Then show enough of what happened behind that music that they hear it differently.

Jackson, the guide is there to help you find the material—not to tell you what the footage is allowed to say. You're the filmmaker. Kenny understands the music and the life behind it. Get together, go through the archive, and find the film that is actually there.

We have The Deer Trail music video, and I want it to have a real place at the beginning or the end. Test both. We don't need to run it twice just because we love it.

And we don't have to keep the entire Jimmy Flinders set. What matters is what that chapter reveals: Kenny can leave a belief system without having to throw away every song, memory and person connected to it. Keep the music and conversation that make us feel that. The complete set can have its own life outside the feature.

Hollow Bone needs to be part of the story because it helped make the story possible.

Stephen and I are building something around questions we've both been living: How do we give before we know what comes back? How do we help people move beyond fear? How do we support creation in a way that allows the work to continue?

Hollow Bone funded this film. Stephen and Mary opened their home. People brought their time, gifts, experience and care. Kenny brought his music. Jackson brought his eye and his work.

I want the audience to see that exchange—not sit through a pitch about it.

And I want what we make to help create another opportunity after this one.

My proposal is for 50% of the film's revenue to go to Hollow Bone, with the other 50% shared between you two. We need to agree exactly what that means, including expenses, the division of your share and the relationship to existing production payments. I want it written down clearly so nobody is working from a different understanding.

The intention is simple: the organization that helped fund this gets replenished, and the people making the work participate in what it creates.

Kenny, you decide what you are ready to tell about your family, faith, marriage and everything else. I'm not asking you to expose something because an audience might respond to it. Tell what is true and necessary. You don't have to make anyone a villain, and you don't have to make me a hero.

Our friendship has meant a lot to me. That can be present without the film needing to prove it.

My target is a watchable rough cut by Halloween—October 31. Not a finished release master. Something complete enough that we can sit down, watch the whole film and understand what works, what's missing and what needs another pass.

Tell me what that requires: the footage you need from me, interviews, working time, equipment or other practical support. Let's be clear about the remaining scope and what it takes to finish.

We are not waiting for a label, producer or distributor to tell us whether this is worth making. Those conversations can happen around the work. They don't need to hold it up.

The film ends before the campaign. My plan is for Start With I Love You to take it into the world through screenings, live performances and the launch of Hollow Bone. People watch the journey, then get to hear Kenny in person and participate in what comes next.

We don't need to predict all of that inside the movie.

We need to finish something we believe in.

I'll help get the materials together and keep working on what comes after. Kenny, bring your voice, your music and the parts of the trail you want people to walk with you. Jackson, lead the edit and tell us what the film needs.

You don't owe me a movie that proves I was right. I'm asking us to finish a movie we can all stand behind.

I love you both. Have fun with it. Make it honest. Let the footage surprise us.

Now let's make the fucking movie.

— Craig