As soon as he stepped onto ACU’s campus, Isaac Peery, freshman multimedia major from McKinney, set his sights on a big goal: to create a professional film production studio within ACU.

“My goal is to make Christian films,” Peery said, “good Christian films that are critically acclaimed and maybe win Oscars.”

In just four weeks, 16:3 Studios went from an idea to a studio with over 30 members.

AJ Hounshell, sophomore multimedia major from Lubbock, remembered the first time he met Isaac and heard about 16:3 Studios.

“It was the first Film Fest Chapel when Isaac came up to me and a couple of other people,” Hounshell said. “He wanted to make a club that could produce [short films] to make them really something wild and could even compete in bigger film festivals throughout the state and the country.”

During that Film Fest Chapel, Hounshell was with Jaden Frecka, junior multimedia major from El Paso.

“We had 11 people sign up and we were set,” Frecka said. “It was a very simple upbringing.”

Trent Phillips, freshman multimedia major from Leander, is also involved in 16:3 Studios. He met Peery during NSO and was immediately interested in helping the idea come to life.

“We were sitting in that meeting together,” Phillips said. “He had the idea, and we just met a bunch of people.”

The name for 16:3 Studios had an equally interesting beginning.

Frecka said that the first meeting was when Peery wanted to come up with an official name.

“We had a few options, but we couldn’t really come up with a distinctive one that everybody agreed on,” Frecka said. “I remember mentioning, well, what is your favorite verse? Maybe we can take something from the verse or just the verse itself.”

One of the verses mentioned was Proverbs 16:3, which says “commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

Peery created a poll with four of the most popular names in the official GroupMe, and 16:3 Studios won by several votes.

Hounshell said that the name speaks to the overall mission of the studio.

“We don’t necessarily have to make Christian movies like Passion of the Christ, for example, but we can make movies that are really, really good to tell really good stories that inspire people,” Hounshell said. “And I think if we do those to the best of our abilities, then that’s absolutely what we’re doing, is spreading Christ.”

The studio will be structured differently from Film Fest in several ways.

“Our thing is we get a big group, a big production team, and it’s bigger group sizes compared to Film Fest,” Peery said. “We produce multiple films throughout the year, and we submit to different outside film fests.”

Peery hopes to start submitting their films to film festivals like South by Southwest and Sundance and then move to other film festivals as the years go on.

Frecka said that for the moment, “our plans are to make movies, figure out where our chemistry is best, where our roles are best.”

Hounshell said the studio is for everybody who would like to join.

“Honestly anyone who wants to be involved can be involved,” Hounshell said. “When we have a massive group of people in the club … that really leaves room for a lot of people to pull together their strengths and make something great.”

16:3 Studios is open to students of all skill levels, including those who are just starting out.

“If you have a genuine interest in film – you don’t have to even know how film works – you can just show up and we’ll teach you,” Frecka said. “I would fully recommend it.”

To get involved in 16:3 Studios, Phillips said that the best way is to just reach out to anyone who is already involved.

“Just find somebody, reach out,” Phillips said. “We’ll welcome anybody. More hands is always better.”

Peery said that their ultimate goal is to create films that share the love of Christ with audiences beyond ACU’s campus.

“The main mission of the studio is to produce Christian films that reach a broad audience,” Peery said. “We want to make Christian films that are so good that … you want to keep watching.”