Digital Social Hour
How Failure Fueled My First Scripted Film Success | Rory Karpf DSH #1205
26 Feb 2025
🎬 How does failure fuel success? Tune in now as Rory Karpf shares how setbacks shaped his journey to directing his first scripted film, "GracePoint." From navigating Hollywood's ups and downs to rewriting a dream script during COVID, Rory dives into the power of resilience and embracing discomfort. 💡 This episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly is packed with valuable insights on filmmaking, personal growth, and the lessons behind chasing your passion. Discover how Rory transitioned from sports documentaries like ESPN’s 30 for 30 to creating an emotional thriller with a twist. Plus, hear untold stories about working with stars, overcoming challenges, and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest places. 🎥 Love thrillers and coming-of-age stories? "GracePoint" is a must-watch! 🎟️ Don’t miss Rory’s advice on pushing past fear and rejection to make your creative dreams a reality. 🌟 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation for more inspiring stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:09 - Making GracePointe Film Production 03:02 - Embracing Failure in Life 08:25 - Treating Everyone Equally 11:26 - Getting Started in Acting 12:41 - Emotionally Opening Up to Others 16:38 - Directing Techniques and Insights 18:18 - The Last Dance Documentary Analysis 20:24 - 30 for 30: Tim Richmond's Story 22:01 - 30 for 30: Dale Earnhardt Legacy 22:42 - 30 for 30: Christian Laettner Highlights 28:10 - Teenage Years and Growth 30:19 - COVID-19 Impact on the Industry 34:04 - How You Met Your Wife Story 36:16 - Success and Humility Challenges 37:47 - Battling Your Ego in Success 40:50 - Watch GracePointe Film APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Rory Karpf https://x.com/RoryKarpf http://www.rorykarpf.com/rorydirector/index.html https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-karpf-a248384/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ #fearoffailure #conquerfailure #myfilmmakingjourney #motivationalspeech #motivation
Full Episode
how do I want to handle this? Because this person's a very experienced actor too. Been on big movies, big sets, big directors. My first scripted movie, getting things off to the wrong start. So I knew I didn't want to go up to him and be like, hey man, you don't talk to me that way and be real confrontational. So I let it go until lunch. I was like, all right, I'm going to talk to him at lunch.
All right, guys, we got Rory here today, director of Grace Point. Thanks for joining us, man. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Just full disclosure, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm excited. This is crushingly disappointing, but you're going to have to watch it on your way back and then maybe put it in the comments what you think of it.
I will. I'll add a little comment to it. And I'm a big thriller fan like we were talking about.
Yeah, well, if you like thrillers, you're going to like this. You said your favorite film was Shutter Island, and there's definitely some comparisons to Shutter Island. Smaller budget than Shutter Island, but it's a thriller. And there's a big twist. I don't wanna give anything away. So if you like thrillers, do you like coming of age movies? I would say so, yeah.
Yeah, so there's that aspect as well. So if you like thrillers, coming of age, just a good story, definitely check out Grace Point. Can't wait. Yeah, there's a whole story with how you made this. You spent 500K, right? Instead of 13 million.
Yeah. Well, originally, so I got a manager in 2013 for the first time. I did a film called The Book of Manning. It was about the Manning football family. And this manager said, well, what's your dream? What do you want to do? And I said, I want to do scripted. I had done primarily documentaries and sports up until that point, but scripted was my dream.
Hmm.
So there was a script called Mercy Falls, which was the bones of Grace Point, but much, much bigger as far as budget. There were explosions and horses and mudslides, crazy things happening. And they attached some decent name actors to it. But like most things in Hollywood, it just kind of languishes for a while, and then it just goes away. So... I just thought it wasn't gonna happen.
Well, fast forward to COVID and I'm filming in this town in North Carolina called Laurenburg. And my DP, director of photography says, man, we should film a movie here. This town has so much character. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And he's like, you know what? You should take that film Mercy Falls and rewrite it so it happens in this town. And it was like a light bulb moment for me.
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