By Kalena Reynolds | Arts & Life Editor

Assistant Professor of Theatre and Film Sam Henderson and Senior Lecturer of Film and Digital Media Maverick Moore have been collaborating as friends and colleagues for over 10 years, both as professors at Baylor and on independent projects.

While Henderson and Moore have worked extensively in the short film space — while also co-teaching a class on it in the film department — the most recent project for the duo, a short film titled “Ado,” has made the shortlist for Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscars.

​While the short film has found enormous success, Henderson said he originally set out to make a feature film for his next project. “We were intent on … making a feature film debut, and it was just this chance conversation, this chance meeting I had with my mom relative to school shootings,” Henderson said.

​Henderson said the Uvalde shootings specifically struck a nerve with him due to his mom having been a middle school theater teacher for over 40 years.

​In the midst of a deep conversation with his mom, a sentence fell from her lips that ultimately inspired the entire short film.

“I think the only chance I’d have if I came face to face with the school shooter is if the shooter knew me, if the shooter remembered me, I don’t think he’d be able to harm me,” Henderson’s mom said.

​Ultimately, Henderson wanted to tell the story of people who are often forgotten in school shootings. “It seems like the people who get lost in this story often are the people who work there, the teachers, the people like my mom,” Henderson said.

​As the inspiration for the short film began to translate onto paper, Henderson and his co-writer decided that the school shooting in the film would occur while a group of theater students rehearsed a Shakespeare play titled “Much Ado About Nothing,” hence the title of the film.

​Henderson said he was a fan of Shakespeare and that “Much Ado About Nothing” is a popular play for middle school theater because “it’s funny and highly accessible.”

​As the writing process unfolded for Henderson and his co-writer, the duo decided it was crucial to invite Moore onto the project, given their mutual trust and friendship. While Moore and Henderson had been trusted advisers for each other’s work, “Ado” was the first time they had officially worked together on a film, onboarding him as an associate producer and editor.

​“I knew I wanted Maverick involved somehow, and I wanted him to be involved officially, not just kind of tangentially as a friend, but somebody who we could bring on and actually credit for doing something,” Henderson said. “Then the editing thing came next because he was the best option for us to edit the film.”

​Moore said the opportunity to serve as editor for the short film was incredibly special to him.

​“He really wanted to include me as an editor, and I was kind of in between projects and wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and to me it seemed like a return to my first love of filmmaking, which was editing,” Moore said. “So it was an awesome opportunity to do that. To actually collaborate closely with Sam, and to work on a project that I felt strongly about.”

​Once a team was established, Henderson knew that top-notch casting was a priority to convey the emotions portrayed in the script. Henderson decided to hire a casting director in Dallas to aid him in the process.

​“We were looking for, quote unquote, a star, because that’s how good we felt about the script,” Henderson said. “So we asked a lot of people, and a lot of people didn’t read the script.”

​However, a silver lining emerged, and the team was able to cast Jenifer Lewis as the middle school theater teacher.

“She read the script, and she hopped on a Zoom with us, crying, talking about how she had to do the film, and she viewed it as a part of her advocacy,” Henderson said.

​While Henderson said he had an incredible time working with Lewis, he said the most important part was letting her talent soar.

“I would be telling folks about directing Jenifer Lewis, and the reason why you cast someone like that is so you don’t have to.”

​As the production process came to an end, “Ado” debuted in Sydney, Australia, an event Henderson said was one of the most memorable moments of his life.

​“It wasn’t until we got to the end of that film, when people started applauding for the film, and kept applauding, and kept applauding, went through their credits, that it kind of dawned on me that we made something that people were going to react really positively to,” Henderson said.

​As the film’s notoriety continues to grow, Henderson said seeing his 16-year-old daughter, who plays one of the main roles, is one of the most special parts. “I’m so proud of Karis, who went toe-to-toe with Jenifer Lewis, was not intimidated, and took direction really well.”

While the Oscars process continues, Henderson said there are multiple ways to qualify a film for the Oscars. For his film in particular, they decided to take a more rigorous route to achieve qualification.

​“The most common way, but also the most difficult way, is by winning an Oscar qualifying film festival, which there are about 160, 170 in the world, but domestically and internationally.”

​This ultimately led to “Ado” making the shortlist for Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscars, which is a list of 15 films, and they will find out on Jan. 22 if they make it to the top five.

​“As a friend and as a collaborator … I was just thinking, ‘Oh gosh, what if the film doesn’t live up to the expectations, the hopes and dreams that he [Henderson] has,’” Moore said. “And I think to have gotten this far, it just taught me, don’t ever doubt dreams. Chase them.”