Alumnus channels students’ ‘Potential Inside’

Liberty’s National Broadcasting Society chapter hosts movie night fundraiser

Liberty alumnus Scotty Curlee spoke to students on Friday at The National Broadcasting Society’s fundraising Movie Night, which featured his nominated film, “The Potential Inside.”

As the producer, director and lead role of the film, Curlee gave those in attendance the unique opportunity to hear his story and directly learn from his experience in the film industry.

“I knew that I wanted to have a ‘life work,’ something that could potentially have a lasting impact on the lives of people. But I didn’t have a set plan on getting into the film industry,” Curlee said.

“The Potential Inside” traces the journey of a professional biker who seeks to reconcile struggles in his faith. The sports backdrop holds a deep plotline that addresses human struggles particularly relevant to the Christian faith.

“The goal was to develop…a story about being a Godly father, a loving husband, while having the correct priorities in life as a believer. It’s a tall order and you see in the film that the main character doesn’t get it all right… at least not in the beginning,” Curlee explained. “It is through the purifying process as a believer that God shapes him into the husband, father and ultimately, the Christian that he needs to be.”

He describes the movie as a story that everyone can identify with and firmly believes in creating movies established on experience or research. Curlee himself is an avid cyclist of 18 years who competed in the 1992 Olympic trials.

He now devotes his time to creating faith-based films out of Virginia. Curlee’s work with Abandon films led to the production of “The Potential Inside” as the first film in a series of five films that are dedicated to “changing the world through cinema.”

The religiously focused film has been warmly received, even on a global scale. Curlee said the film had been nominationed at seven worldwide festivals, including locations in the United States, Italy and South America.

“The most rewarding thing about what we do are the emails we received from people whose lives have been positively impacted through the film … that is Holy Spirit working in people’s hearts,” Curlee said. “I pray that our next film will have the same or even greater impact on the world.”