The Messengers: An Origin Story

Thursday, February 18, 2016 was a busier day than most. As Founder and Executive Director of Podfest, one of the largest annual conferences for podcasting in the country, Chris Krimitsos was running in seven different directions, locking down final details for the Second Annual Podfest, which was opening the next week.

As he was frantically crisscrossing Tampa that day, Chris was struck by just how many established and respected podcasters were going to be attending the next weekend’s conference – folks like Danny Peña, Glenn the Geek, Lee Silverstein, Katie Krimitsos, Jessica Kupferman, Dave Jackson, Diane Daniels, and so many more.

Chris began envisioning a way to utilize all the talent he’d have under one roof to inspire others via their stories. As often happens in creative endeavors, that kernel of an idea soon blossomed into a full-fledged film.

As a creative with years of experience in business, Chris knew that every good idea takes tons of focus, dedication and hard work to become a reality. But did he have a good idea? To answer that question, he turned to his friend Niel Guilarte of Wildstyle Media – someone who had considerable experience in film and television production.

“If this is a bad idea, tell me now,” Chris said, “If it’s good, we’ll all be shooting a movie this year!” Niel agreed and just a week later, Chris had hired a crew to shoot the first interviews at that weekend’s Podfest!

The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary was born!