Draft:Stephan Schultze

Stephan Schultze is an American writer, director, and producer of Christian narrative films and TV. He is also the department chair for Liberty University's Zaki Gordon Center in Lynchburg, VA, of which he is a co-founder with Dan Gordon. The majority of films involving Stephan Schultze are produced as a part of the Zaki Gordon Center's curriculum, with most of the students making up the crew. Schultze is also known for co-founding, with Dan Gordon in 2001, the now-defunct Zaki Gordon Institute of Independent Filmmaking (ZGI) (which was renamed to Sedona Film School shortly before it's closure in 2013)

Early life and career
Little is currently public about Schultze's early life, other than that he was born in 1962 and has been working in the film industry since 1989. His first IMDb credit is as a craft services member on The Abyss (1989). Schultze also worked in the SFX department on Tremors (1990).

Shultze is also credited as cinematographer/director of photography on several pornographic films ranging from 1995-1997.

Zaki Gordon Institute for Independent Filmmaking (ZGI) at Yavapai College
In 2000, Stephan Schultze teamed up with screenwriter Dan Gordon to start the Zaki Gordon Institute for Independent Filmmaking (ZGI) in Sedona, AZ. ZGI was created as a department within Yavapai College, a community college in Yavapai County. Schultze was the school's first instructor, while Gordon became the school's head instructor. ZGI experienced great success, with more than 500 enrolling students of all different ages and nationalities in its first year, despite only having 6 classrooms. By 2013 the school was a CILECT-member and 66% of graduates went on to work in the film industry.

In 2003, Lori McLaughlan was hired on staff for ZGI and eventually became the head of ZGI's marketing and public relations. She and Schultze were married on June 25, 2005.

In Summer 2011, Stephan and Lori Schultze both announced that they were leaving ZGI to help start a new film school, the Zaki Gordon Center, at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. The plans to form a film school at Liberty University had only been announced in March of that same year by Jerry Fallwell Jr. This was the first of a series of events in quick succession that led to the school ultimately announcing its closure in 2013.

The most damning of these events was Dan Gordon severing his relationship with Yavapai College. Gordon stated that due to the changing of course content, "I cancelled their right to use our name or our copyright-protected methodology and I ceased providing my services, which were offered gratis for twelve years, as lead instructor." Copyright does not extend to methodology.

This action by Gordon, disallowing the use of his son's name, caused ZGI to be renamed to Sedona Film School.

In 2015, Yavapai College opened the Film and Media Arts Certificate, a 12-credit course meant to succeed ZGI. It has since been updated to the Film and Media Arts Program. The program has multiple certificates available for study listed on their program website.

Zaki Gordon Center at Liberty University
Stephan Schultze stated that he would model the Zaki Gordon Center after ZGI, and he did. Both schools utilized block scheduling and required enrolled students to be full-time attendees, as well as focused on a hands-on approach of shooting and producing multiple films throughout the 2-year program.However, while ZGI was focused on independent filmmaking, with Dan Gordon specifically stating "We are absolutely not an industry feeder school, not for people who are looking for a job in the industry.", Liberty University's Zaki Gordon Center's website places emphasis on preparing students for the industry, highlighting several feature films including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Avengers: Infinity War as sets where alumni have worked following their education at the Zaki Gordon Center. Other statements have also implied a focus on employability. For example, Schultze once stated regarding the making of The Trump Prophecy (2018) using student labor, "I believe it will provide them with the edge they need for employment upon graduating."

The Zaki Gordon Center accepts 60 new students per year for the 2-year program, split into "cohorts" of 20 students each, with 3 cohorts per year for a total of 6 cohorts and a maximum of 120 students at any given time.

The Trump Prophecy (2018)
In November 2017, Schultze was invited by his friend Rick Eldridge to help produce The Trump Prophecy (2018), a film about Mark Taylor, a man who claims that in 2011 God told him that Donald Trump would one day become president of the United States. Schultze agreed, and with Liberty University's approval the film was produced as part of the curriculum of the Zaki Gordon Center's film program, which sparked controversy including a petition for the university to withdraw its approval, and complaints from many of the students. Schultze directed the film. Zaki Gordon Center faculty Scotty Curlee and Durell Nelson both starred in the film as actors. An alternate edit of the footage combined with reshot scenes was released as its own, separate feature film under the title First Responders (2022).

Eleanor's Bench (2023)
Schultze wrote and directed the pilot episode of Eleanor's Bench as part of the student's curriculum at the Zaki Gordon Center. The pilot was pitched to Sony for a TV-series and was greenlit for a single season, which was shot primarily in Lynchburg in the summer of 2022. The plot follows a woman named Eleanor (Karen Ambercrombie), a juvenile court judge who returns to her hometown, a neighborhood riddled with crime and poverty, partly to care for her ailing father. The series explores themes of grief, familial discord, and what it's like to be part of the marginalized, impoverished black population in an American city. The main plot follows Eleanor as she meets an old childhood friend, Jewels who has a young child, Drayvon, and an abusive boyfriend who goes by the moniker Smooky. One night, Jewels shoots Smooky and kills him during a domestic altercation. She is arrested and Drayvon enters foster care. Eleanor struggles with the decision of whether to adopt Drayvon, meanwhile Eleanor's father is dying of cancer. The series was released in 6 episodes on PureFlix.