Sam Henderson is 45 years old, and he just decided what he wants to be when he grows up. It only took creating an Oscar-shortlisted short film to figure it out.
“I want to be a writer and director when I grow up. It’s taken a long time for that to be realized. But as I sit here today, it’s the truest thing I can say,” Henderson said.
Henderson, an actor, writer, director, and assistant professor in Baylor’s film and digital media department, has been on a wild ride the past few years. When he first began the script for his award-winning short film ADO, Henderson could never have imagined the journey ahead. But he did know he had something special on his hands, a project different than anything he had ever created before.
“Obviously, we did not know the film was going to do what it’s doing now, but we had a really good feeling about it,” he said. “We thought this … might be our shot.”
ADO centers on the story of Mrs. Hopkins, an aging middle school drama teacher played by award-winning actress Jenifer Lewis, whose class is interrupted by a school shooter while rehearsing their adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
Mrs. Hopkins, the film’s protagonist, was inspired by Henderson’s own mother, known to her students as Mrs. B, who has been teaching for nearly 40 years. In the wake of the devastating Uvalde school shooting, not far from where Henderson’s mother was teaching, he asked her what she might have done if put in a similar situation. Her answer was striking.
“I think the only chance I’d have is if the shooter knew me,” Henderson recalled of his mother’s answer. “If he remembered me. Because I don’t think he’d be able to shoot me if he remembered who Mrs. B. was.”
Their conversation left Henderson’s mind reeling.
“I know there have been a lot of examinations on this topic, and rightfully so,” Henderson said. “But I feel like a lot of the examinations leave the teachers behind.”
Henderson said he wanted to craft a story that gave deference to the teachers — to the people like his mom who tirelessly cared for these students day in and day out, despite a lack of fair pay, because of how deeply they care for their students.
“It didn’t all come together at that moment, but the spark of the idea did,” said Henderson.
“The writing process went by really quickly because I was so inspired,” Henderson recalled. “I had this feeling at the end of writing the script I rarely have. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s done. It’s ready. I can’t add anything else to it.’”
The excitement of completing the script was only the beginning, but the momentum from those first days of inspired writing carried him forward. Next came the logistics: sorting out funding, deciding who to involve, and creating a plan.
The Matthew B. Lindner Endowment for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, which supports faculty in developing film projects, gave Henderson the resources he needed to bring his vision to life. But Baylor’s presence extended far beyond financial support, as many of the key contributors to this project were Baylor faculty, students, and alumni. One of Henderson’s closest friends and most trusted collaborators, Maverick Moore, a professor in the Department of Film and Digital Media, played a central role in the film’s creation, serving as both associate producer and editor.
“How I got connected with ADO has to do, frankly, with our friendship,” Moore said. “We’ve been friends for 10 or so years, and over those years, we have always helped each other in small ways with our films.”
“To edit ADO was great because I got to go back to my roots as a filmmaker,” said Moore.
Moore said editing ADO allowed him to trace back to his roots as a filmmaker, traveling around Texas and working as a skateboarding videographer.
“When I was a kid, I would borrow my aunt’s camera and film my friends pulling pranks around the neighborhood or skateboarding. Eventually, [I got] really serious about making skateboarding videos.”
The style and technical skills Moore developed during those years made him uniquely suited for this project.
“It’s kind of odd how my roots as a skateboarding filmmaker, in a weird way, lined up perfectly with ADO,” he said. From the start, Moore recognized the potential in Henderson’s script, and as someone with years of experience, he knows the truth of the adage: “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.” In other words, a film can only reach its full potential if it begins with a strong script.
“I was really excited about the creative opportunity,” Moore added. “I was excited about the story, about its potential, and most of all, I was excited to collaborate with Sam.”
Before Moore could begin working with the raw footage and start editing, the film had to be shot. It was during this stage an unexpected problem arose, one which would ultimately prove to be what Henderon and Moore label a “miracle.”
Henderson and his team initially planned to shoot the film locally in Waco. The crew was assembled, the cast was set, and the location finalized. Jenifer Lewis’s arrival was the last remaining piece. However, after an accident left Lewis with a leg injury, traveling to Waco was no longer possible, throwing the production into panic. The team was left with two options: delay the shoot or relocate production to Los Angeles, where Lewis lived.
Henderson brought the dilemma to the chair of the film department, who oversaw funding, and explained the situation. He was met with understanding and trust.
“He opened up the gates on the funding and said, ‘Do what you need to do to get the film done,’ which was a massive blessing for us,” Henderson recalled. With a decision made, production was back on track, this time with a largely new team, an almost entirely new cast, and a completely new city.
While the situation at hand was by no means ideal, both Henderson and Moore agree it was exactly what was meant to happen, even if they couldn’t understand why at the time. Moving the shoot to LA meant Moore, who is local to Waco, couldn’t be there on set. To those outside the film industry, this may feel like a setback, but, in reality, Moore says it was a “happy accident” and set him up for success as an editor.
“If they had shot in Waco, I would have absolutely gone to set,” Moore said. “And one thing about editing is it’s always best to have as much objectivity as possible. If I were on set … I wouldn’t have been able to edit the film with objectivity.”
Once the footage reached Moore’s desk, he was itching to begin. He described his editing process as “methodical,” explaining, “I watch every single take of every single shot. I label and organize the footage myself because I want to become familiar with it before I start editing.”
Still, for viewers wondering how he was able to create such suspense and intensity in the film’s central scene, the explanation is surprisingly comical.
“The central scene in the film is a showdown between the teacher and a former student who is a gunman,” Moore explained. “Because of the deadline, I had to edit that scene during a specific week. Unfortunately, my air conditioning was broken, so I was editing in Waco, Texas, in a house that was 98 degrees while waiting for repairs. I’ll always wonder if the intensity of the moment affected the edit.”
“I’ve told people it’s method editing,” Henderson added with laughter.
Despite injured legs, changes in plans, and broken AC units, ADO was eventually completed and received immensely well by its audience. The film was quickly selected for screening at six different film festivals and also won the HBO Short Film Award at the American Black Film Festival. Not only was this exciting in its own right, but the awards and recognition also made the film Oscar-eligible. When ADO advanced to the Oscar shortlist, Henderson and Moore simply couldn’t believe it.
The day the shortlist was expected to be announced, Henderson, Moore, and the rest of the team were on the edge of their seats. While Moore tried to distract himself with video games, Henderson distracted himself with work. He was performing in the Dallas Theater Center’s A Christmas Carol the same day and knew the shortlist could be released at any moment while he was on stage.
“I was definitely of two minds while the show was going on,” Henderson said. “My stomach was in knots.”
The moment the performance ended, he raced to the dressing rooms, hoping for a text with the results. Messages from Moore flooded his phone, but still no results. Full of anticipation, but too nervous to drive anywhere, Henderson decided to wait it out over a plate of pancakes at IHOP. Refreshing his phone again and again, the list was finally posted, and when Henderson saw ADO at the top, he let out an audible yelp right there in the middle of the restaurant.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Henderson.
“I still can’t believe it,” Moore chimed in.
It was only a matter of time before these two got “their shot.” For both Henderson and Moore, being immersed in film and art was all they could ever imagine.
“I’m just bad at everything other than filmmaking,” Moore laughed.
Henderson simply struggles to picture himself in any other world.
“I’ve been enthralled with the art-making process for a long time,” Henderson said. “It’s just been recently where it’s changed and focused on something very specific as it relates to writing and directing film, which I still feel very new at and very amateur at, even though I have to pretend I can teach it.”
Ultimately, up against other wonderful and powerful short films, ADO did not receive an Oscar nomination. But when the nominations were announced on January 22, disappointment was not the sole emotion these filmmakers felt. There was also a sense of pride and accomplishment.
“We can still lean back on the fact we feel like we did the best we could and the process itself was rewarding,” Moore said. “We didn’t do anything in the film purely to chase an Oscar nomination. We made those choices because we believed they made the film better. In that sense, I still feel like we won. It has been such a meaningful and rewarding experience.”
Beyond the accolades, the trials, and the triumphs, the most important thing Henderson took away from making this film was a simple realization. He wanted to do it again.
“My producer asked me, ‘So, are you ready to do this again?’” Henderson said. “She was halfway joking because we’d been through so much, and the film wasn’t even technically finished at that point. I told her, ‘Despite all the insanity of the past year, I would start a new project tomorrow if I had one.’”
That answer, Henderson said, made him realize he knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up. Someone who makes films.
“It’s the No. 1 thing I learned,” he said. “I think I would like to do it again.”
