A Story Given preserves your history – your legacy – with a touching video interview, while also giving a family in desperate need a gift of the same.
How will you be remembered?
How can we preserve our own legacy, while helping others? Easy! A Story Given…
Overview
How will you be remembered?
As I approached 50, a nagging question assaulted my mind. How will I be remembered? And I wasn’t just thinking about how people will remember me as a person, but literally … how (by what means) will people remember me?
I thought back to my amazing dad and step-dad, both gone too young. I can still almost remember my dad’s laugh, but not quite. I have no videos of either of them. And I certainly don’t have their life’s story. Oh, what I wouldn’t give now to be able to see them, hear them, and feel their spirit as they told me their story.
With both my father figures, there were several months where they were terminally ill, yet healthy enough to have made a video capturing their amazing lives. Why, I ask now, didn’t I make that video?
And now, as an older dad and married to my soulmate, the question takes on a more urgent, different perspective.
Why have I not done this for my family, right now, just in case…??? I’ve got life insurance … but isn’t this just as important … maybe more important?
I also considered the potentially selfish aspect of it all. Is it fair for me to the spend the time and money to do my own video, when there are families out there who really need it? There are certainly others who need this more than I do.
But I believe that everyone can win — where I can preserve my legacy, we can help others in desperate need, and we can help the filmmakers who make it possible with deeply emotional, rewarding jobs. It’s called win/win/win, and it’s the core value of my nearly 20 year old communication firm, Tethos.
Learn how below.
For those who can
Those with the resources purchase a video memory package. (It’s perfect for a 40th or 50th or 60th birthday gift!)
You’re prepared with a list of questions to think about and a few forms to fill out. You’re then professionally interviewed by a film crew, who then takes that footage and any photos you can supply, and makes a well-produced video.
We have a list of the most important questions, and a way to help guide you through your life’s story.
The video is then supplied on several flash drives to be stored with your attorney or in a safe place, or can be securely uploaded if you’d like.
It should be easy, and hopefully fun. But the ultimate reward is the feeling when you’re done — that peaceful feeling knowing that your legacy is preserved for your children, grandchildren and beyond. (Or, if you live for another 50 years, you’ve got an amazing snapshot of your life up to now!)
And you’ve done a good deed. A great deed.
Your video funds one for someone in need.
For those in need
An ill parent with young children probably doesn’t have the time nor the resources to worry about how to preserve their life story for their kids. But if it were easy to do, and at no cost to them, it could possibly be the most rewarding gift in a tragic time, and perhaps provide a little peace in their moment of need.
Each paid legacy video funds a video for someone in need.
And if we don’t have the funding to send a film crew out to you, then you can use our step-by-step instructions on our website to make your own (coming late May 2021).
For filmmakers
Our goal is to help small firms and/or independent filmmakers find projects which are incredibly emotionally rewarding, and which can also supplement your income.
There are 3 ways this works great for filmmakers:
Steal this idea!
Work with us as your Producer, and/or
Be a potential crew team member
First … we encourage you steal this idea! (Yes, you read that right. Take it!) Use our suggested business model (coming May 2021) however you’d like. We welcome your feedback so we can continually improve the model, and we appreciate (but by no means require) a concept fee (5% suggested) so we have the resources to continue to develop the concept for you.
Second … We can serve as a Producer if it helps you. We’re not in this to become a large company. We’re here to serve as a catalyst, so that business model will spread to others … so that we can help more families in need. If it’s useful, you can refer us a client, and we can serve as the Producer, with any or all of the following services: billing, customer service, question management, interviewer, equipment coordinator, scheduler, finding additional crew, editing, handling delivery details, and more.
Finally … you can also just register with us as potential crew. If you’re in lighting, sound, camera, or editing, you’re in need. We’ll contact or refer you when we have a family in your area. Contact Us >
For Anyone
We’ve got a secret. You don’t need us! You don’t need an expensive film crew or nice lighting to make a video that carries on your legacy. You just need a video camera, and maybe a few tips.
See our Make Your Own webpage for simple ways you can do this yourself. (Coming in late May 2021)