REXBURG— Rusty Earl is a video production professor in the Communication Department at BYU-Idaho. He’s also an accomplished filmmaker and producer. His films have reached countless audiences across the U.S. through channels like PBS, BYUtv, and YouTube.
With more than 20 feature length films, Earl has a passion for storytelling. His interest in human interest stories is what started his career in film production.
One of Earl’s videos is now a widely known Inspirational Message released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The video, “My Brother Hyrum,” was made as part of a social media contest. The Church invited members to submit photos and inspiring video clips for ideas for new content and Earl decided to make a video about autism awareness.
“So about maybe eight months, or 10 months later, I decided to make this little family video about my son's experience with autism as told through his sister's eyes,” Earl said. “And so that's why it's called my brother, Hiram. And we made it as something to do for the family. I remember being able to download some music from the Church at the time, from that little competition that they did. And it just felt right. It was just a simple, sweet story.”
After three years on Vimeo, the video picked up recognition from a producer at the Church of Jesus Christ’s Publishing Services Department named John Garbet. Earl collaborated with the Church on re-recording the video and describes the process as nothing short of inspiring.
“I got to see an email from (Elder) Neil Anderson talking about his comments, because anything that has a prophet's voice has to be approved somewhere up the chain. And so, to see that they were that careful with other people's stories, that they really were protective of children was very inspiring to me. And I got to say that one video alone, because of that, allowed me to do the work that I do today,” Earl said.
His recognition from “My Brother Hyrum” kickstarted his producing career. After teaching in high school, Earl found a job with Kansas State University, where he produced two more documentaries, “A Walk in My Shoes” and “Humanity Looks Good on Everyone.”
“A Walk in My Shoes” is a documentary series sharing the stories of international students on campus about the struggles of coming to a brand-new place different from the home they always knew.
“It was a tremendous success and they shared that with a lot of students and got them talking about what are we doing to help welcome people, so they don't feel like outsiders,” Earl said.
The short film, “Humanity Looks Good on Everyone,” was a special production in the eyes of Earl. The story is about autism awareness and how different countries are grappling with the idea of not only helping students in an educational aspect, but also how to help overcome some of the cultural stereotypes that are embedded in the Tanzanian people.
“As these good people, Tanzanians and people, and missionaries alike, worked and worked with the community, they were slowly chipping away some of these just false ideas that are prevalent in all cultures, but happened to be there at that time,” Earl said.
The stories of unsung heroes often get pushed under the rug, and storytellers like Earl are on a mission to make sure those stories are told.