How and why did you begin creating The Oath? What drives you, as a producer, to want to tell this story?

The Oath is a creation of myself and partners Adam Bussell and Bret Miller as the flagship project of our narrative production company, DYNMC Films. We’re committed to creating socially impactful, culturally relevant and stylistically unique narrative content.

2020 is a year that may never leave us, along with its ongoing social woes. What verse would we contribute to this disorder as filmmakers? As we doom scrolled in a state of lockdown, the shared experiences of our generation began to define us in a new way. Endless mass shootings, the January 6th Insurrection, police murders, economic recession, a mismanaged global pandemic; all gut punches to our worldview, shattering our sense of safety. This drove us to develop a story that encapsulates a poignant emotion; Political Horror, the sudden realization of how ignorant the body politic is among us, how corrupt our institutions are, and how daunting a task it is to enact real change. Then, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s attempted kidnapping took place and we realized that the thrilling story elements were the perfect vessel to cultivate these complex themes in a film. 

What drives me to tell the story of The Oath is an unshakable feeling of responsibility. As James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it’s faced.” White supremacist domestic terrorism is here and we must face it with bold art like this. In the wake of countless civil rights protests, the perpetrators of the worst atrocities of our time look like me. As an ally, I support the victim’s movements and amplify their voices, and I believe my demographic should be among the loudest and most defiant forces against such homegrown racism, misogyny, and hate. 

Michigan is a hotbed for the radical rightwing militia movement. Looking back at my youth there, I see signs of grooming that thankfully never took root; The boy scout troop chants, the summer camp with gallows in the woods, the college hall with a noose hanging from the ceiling, the segregation of a redlined Detroit. If my background makes me uniquely qualified for only one thing, let it be this; To disavow and expose rightwing white supremacist militias and the radicalization they thrive on. The Oath is our chance to face it head on, deconstruct the dangers of radicalization and dismantle it from the inside. 

This film hinges on execution and walks a very fine line to deliver a nuanced message in an entertaining way. The Oath analyzes familiar voices in a new way, and exposes very prevalent and common identities for what they truly are. If done well, I truly believe it has the power to reverberate in the zeitgeist of our time.