I first met Drew Madison when he was six years old. He challenged me to a game of checkers.

I was nineteen and I'd been invited to a cook-out at a friend of a friend's camp house on the river in Knoxville, Alabama. The friend of my friend was Perry Madison, whom I met the first time that night, and would eventually marry.

As Drew's Bonus Mom, I had a front-row seat to his creativity.  He would often recruit me to assist him in recreating the elaborate black and white make-up of some WWF wrestler he was fascinated with (Sting, maybe?). I don't mean a pitiful attempt at duplicating the performer's persona. I'm talking about NOTHING but absolute precision and attention to the most insignificant of detail was acceptable.

Over the years the outlets for his creativity changed but he was consistently fascinated with movies. When he was ten, he began dragging a bulky video camera around the house to film himself in character depicting various scenes. Somewhere along the way, he decided he wanted to create films as more than starring in them.

Now a grown man, Drew graduated from the University of Alabama this past May. Needless to say, all of his moms and dads are incredibly proud of him.

For his final assignment, Drew was tasked with writing a script. The night before his paper was due, I sat across the kitchen table from him as he shared the work he was preparing to turn in.

The Legend of Oscar Pope is breathtaking from start to finish and in addition to giving him a high grade, his professor encouraged him to produce a short film from the script.

He went to work developing a production outline and video pitch to launch a crowd-sourcing campaign on Indiegogo.  Within a few hours of it's publications, his Indiegogo campaign had raised $1,000 and another investor pledged $5,000.

I'm so proud of the determination he's shown to pursuing his passion and I have no doubt he will accomplish his plan. I can't wait to inform people that not only is Drew my 'bonus son' but I also beat him in a game of checkers once.

Here's Drew's pitch for The Legend of Oscar Pope. 

 

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