The locally produced Montgomery, TX, mystery drama series Breaking Strongholds Season 1 hit new releases on Amazon Prime Video, and Season 2 is in post-production. The issue-based series is about harmful behaviors in our culture portrayed through an encouraging outlook. While it is entertaining and dramatically impacts all viewers, the positive impact spans the generations with a storyline about a missing person, a small-town detective, and his family in chaos.
The idea behind Breaking Strongholds came to fruition and was largely inspired by its producer - Carla McDougal, writer - Robin Murray, and director - Jake Allen. The team went around the community-at-large interviewing people who have undergone traumatic experiences, and one of the people interviewed had a tremendous impact on the team. Kim Hess had tragically lost her daughter in 2015, and in processing the aftermath, the foundation Cassidy Joined for Hope began.
The team knew this was not by chance and was timely. The series has a significant opportunity to support a local production company with local actors and enable the community to rally behind a positive narrative that the masses can view. Volunteers and donors were able to help this project launch from the grassroots stages.
More than 3,500 volunteer hours have been accumulated, including from the trained actors from the Houston and The Woodlands Next Level Acting Studios, with over 150 volunteers contributing to the project as a labor of love and support. Additionally, a list of community sponsors can be found on the website.
Robin Murray wrote the series for Reflective Media Productions. The media company started in 2010 with a team and a vision around a small film project and made two other films since then. Robin wrote the first season of Breaking Strongholds, and Terry Weaver helped write a small segment of the second season's content.
The series' lead actor was brought in before the production started to assist with fundraising and marketing efforts. Terry Weave saw the challenging opportunity as an actor, and he was all in. He knew it was his calling.
Terry is not an actor by trade, but after working alongside the organization and releasing his marketing videos for a Veteran nonprofit he organized, he was approached to audition for his first time in a narrative actor role. It was a sign for Terry, praying for seven months to find a unique way to let his light shine. He met the producer for another movie, We Are Stronger, that tackled veteran-specific issues like PTSD, and it resonated with Terry as a prior U.S. Navy service member who could relate to some more challenging days in the military.
Terry and Carla met in passing at a fundraiser, but she remembered his story and reached out to him seven months later. She sought him out from his social media videos, and he auditioned. The media company has performance directors who provide acting coaching on set and work as first assistant directors to help direct the performance under the director, Jake Allen. Many other actors in the production are trained and local from the Next Level Acting Studios. Breaking Strongholds, fully funded by the community, has already affected generations at different phases of their life stories.
"Since the community fully funds it, we have been able to give it away," Terry says. "God has used it somehow, and the show is now on a Securas tablet, similar to an iPad, which is given to every prison in the Texas prison system to further themselves, to include the prisoners on death row." Through the data, Terry and the team have learned that most Texas prisoners have watched Breaking Strongholds. As a result, Terry got to go in and meet some of the folks and dialog with him about the show. When he visited the Texas prison, a few inmates recognized Terry as the leading actor in the show. "Even though we didn't intend for it to reach that population, it's been widely accepted and used; now it has been approved in 10 other states."
The message of hope resonates with the inmates, and the theme for students from Breaking Strongholds will be far-reaching. Breaking Strongholds has also been recently released on YouTube, one of the most popular platforms for youth, and has gained much traction. Besides starting the conversation, an educational opportunity, along with the show, presented itself through a training link where multiple training guides are linked on the website to help ordinary people become trained in 'safeTALK,' a productive way to start a tough conversation.
"The good news is we can all make a difference," says screenwriter Robin Murray. "The safeTALK program saves lives, and we are glad to present it in our series. We need to build a network of support in our communities. Teachers, counselors, medical professionals, clergy, and law enforcement are on the front lines. Still, we are all capable of learning how to keep one another stay safe."
Season one has already won more than 35 film festival awards. In an ever-changing world with so many loud messages and young people negatively influenced on social media, Breaking Strongholds is a light in the dark. Our community is proud to have this production and its team call Montgomery County home. Watch season one on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Pure Flix. BreakingStrongholds.com
"The safeTALK program saves lives. and it is present in our series. We need to build a network of support."