Edward T. McDougal grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He is the son of C. Bouton McDougal, Vice President and General Counsel for R. R. Donnelley and former president of The Chicago Sunday Evening Club, a long-running religious radio (1922) and television (1955) broadcast program, which had world renowned speakers that included Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr., John R.W. Stott, Ben Haden, Lloyd John Ogilvie, Bruce Larson, Stuart Briscoe, Jill Briscoe, Joni Eareckson Tada, Madeleine L'Engle, and Elisabeth Elliot. McDougal taught junior high English in the northern suburbs of Chicago for five years, and then he went on to begin writing and directing a series of hour-long Christian dramas for film, video and television distribution in over 30 countries. His first film was "Against All Hope" and it starred Michael Madsen in his acting debut. Three of the films -- "Never Ashamed", "Gold Through the Fire", and "Geronimo," were voted “Best Film of the Year” by the 400-member religious film & video trade organization, ICVM, and won awards at international film festivals. In 1998, McDougal finished production on the 35 mm feature, "The Prodigy", which opened at the Cineplex Odeon in Chicago and was released through Vanguard Video and Blockbuster June 5, 1999. McDougal Chicago Production Services, a separate equipment rental and production facility located in downtown Chicago, has provided 35 mm camera, grip and lighting packages and support services for many Chicago independent features, television commercials, and music videos which include such productions as "Scenes for the Soul" (Savoy Pictures), "American Reel" (Mariel Hemingway), and "Never Said" (music video, Liz Phair), as well as television specials for PBS. McDougal initiated and has helped to fund a series of non-profit films aimed at helping urban youth cope with the temptations of using and selling drugs. The series includes the films, "Through the Cracks", and "Crackdown" which won two Emmy awards and is currently distributed to African-American churches, schools, and institutions through Urban Ministries in Chicago. McDougal has conducted yearly seminars in screenwriting and film production since 1985 at Regent University’s graduate program in cinema television, and has been on staff at YWAM's School of Video in Burtigny, Switzerland (1998-2001), developing and teaching an intensive program in screenwriting and filmmaking. Edward has also taught filmmaking seminars in Nigeria, Hungary, at the Cornerstone Music Festival, and most recently in Russia and Kazakhstan where he