About Joe & Kathleen
Joe Camp, film writer, producer, director, author, passionate speaker, and the man behind the canine superstar Benji believes that anything is possible if you work hard enough and trust in yourself. He was told by industry “experts” not to bother with the original Benji film; that it wouldn’t work. He proved the experts wrong and now, after five Benji movies, he’s at it again with his new best selling book The Soul of a Horse published by the Crown/Harmony imprint of Random House in 2008. A book that is already in its fourth printing, has climbed to #4 on The Dallas Morning News Non-Fiction Best Seller List, and is setting traditional thinking about horses on its ear.
“Many have called The Soul of a Horse the ultimate love story,” Joe says, “because we were six months into horses before I discovered that Kathleen – my lawyer wife – had been deathly afraid of them from the beginning. Her prior experience with horses, before us, was, in her own words: “from the ground looking up.” Four trail rides as a teenager, on a horse named Jack. She was dumped all four times. Unbeknown to her at the time, Jack had also dumped a jet fighter pilot. Those were her last times on a horse until she gave me a surprise birthday trail ride. I had no idea that she was petrified throughout the entire six hours. And the next six months. This truly became a story of supreme sacrifice driven by unconditional love. But it was microscopic compared to the love shown through our new journey with mustangs. Stay tuned.”
Joe showed us the heart and soul of a dog when he created Benji. Now, in this engaging, emotional, and often humorous book, he deftly lures us into the heart and soul of a horse, unlocking the mystery of a majestic creature who has survived on earth, without assistance, for fifty-five million years.
Monty Roberts, author of the New York Times Bestseller The Man Who Listens to Horses , and world renowned clinician, said, “Imagine how inadequate it makes me feel to realize how recently Joe came into horses. The man is a natural when it comes to understanding how animals tick and a genius at telling us their story. The Soul of a Horse is a must read for those who love animals of any species.”
Camp has written, produced and directed seven theatrical motion pictures (including all of the Benji movies) cumulatively grossing well over the equivalent of $600 million in today’s dollars, making him one of the most successful independent filmmakers of all time.
Joe has also written the highly acclaimed followup to The Soul of a Horse – Life Lessons from the Herd: The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues, plus six eBook Nuggets from The Soul of a Horse, three novels from his own screenplays, the inspirational non-fiction book Who Needs Hollywood, a dog training book, and several children’s books.
Camp ignored industry “experts” who said the original Benji movie would never work. He raised the money from private sources to produce the film, but when completed the movie was turned down by every major film distributor in Hollywood. Camp and his partner Ed Vanston had to form their own distribution company and release the picture themselves worldwide from their offices in Dallas, with Camp personally developing the marketing strategy, writing advertising copy and press releases, and supervising each and every booking. In spite of the many obstacles, Variety reported the picture was the #3 grossing movie of the year.
In advance of release of the 2004 film Benji Off the Leash , Joe and his floppy-eared star traveled the nation for months, appearing on television, radio, in newspapers and magazines, promoting the film while passionately making a case for Hollywood to “clean up” their family films, and extolling the values of adopting pets from shelters. “This time around,” Joe says, “it’s all about proving that you can put food on the table and, at the same time, make a positive difference in peoples’ lives. It’s about living life with purpose, on purpose.”
When Camp struck out across the country in the Fall of 2001 to find the new Benji in an animal shelter, media flocked to follow him around. The American Humane Association had reported that the original Benji’s rescue from a shelter had caused more than one million adoptions. Camp wanted to recreate that model. Local and network television, radio and newspapers covered the search, with the ultimate selection being a feature on ABC’s Primetime Thursday . The search and Benji’s new movie generated more than one billion media exposures for the efforts of shelters and rescue groups all across the nation.
One of Joe’s favorite pastimes is working with the Piney Woods School in Mississippi. This historically black boarding school educates mostly high-risk kids from families below the poverty level, yet usually sends 100% of its graduates to college, many to some of the best colleges and universities in the country. “Of all we’ve done,” says Camp, “we’re most proud of the things we’ve accomplished for these kids. And the rewards are the greatest.”
Joe is also on the board of trustees of the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Ranch Santa Fe, CA. “Mike Arms, the Center’s president is the most amazing animal advocate I’ve ever met,” Joe says.
Even with all the accomplishments and media exposure, Camp is still in awe of his own success. “Inside, I’m still a kid sitting in a dark theater in Little Rock, Arkansas, watching Disney’s ‘Song of the South’ or reading books like the Black Stallion with happy tears rolling down my cheeks,” he says. “To be able to bring that that kind of happiness to others is very special.”
Kathleen has been an attorney for 23 years practicing in California and now has developed a passion for photography. She has taken all of Joe’s recent book covers and all the photos within the books and most of the photos on this blog. She is also prominently featured in all of Joe’s horse books and one critic called The Soul of a Horse – Life Lessons from the Herd the ultimate love story because Kathleen kept her fear of horses a secret even as she orchestrated the acquisition of their first three because she knew that at this particular time in his life he needed horses.
Since the couple’s move from the dry rocky high desert of southern California to middle Tennessee Kathleen has realized another lifelong passion: to teach kids. In the fall of 2011 she accepted an interim position teaching 11th-grade literature at the renowned Webb School in Bell Buckle, a college prep school that boasts more Rhode Scholars than any other secondary school in the country.
“It’s a God thing,” she says. “In fact the entire move to Bell Buckle has been a God thing. If you read Joe’s second book (The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues) you’ll understand why we had to be precisely here to acquire the knowledge to write that book, and nowhere else in the country would I, a practicing lawyer, have been able to leap frog into this wonderful teaching position at The Webb School.”
Follow our latest journey with these two amazing new arrivals from the wild.
In chronological order:
What an Extraordinary Weekend!
Firestorm’s Amazing First Day in the Playpen
No-Agenda Time – So Much Value!
An Amazing Birthday Gift from a Wild Mustang!
Follow Our Entire Journey
From no horses and no clue to stumbling through mistakes, fear, fascination and frustration on a collision course with the ultimate discovery that something was very wrong in the world of horses.
Read the National Best Seller
The Soul of a Horse
Life Lessons from the Herd
…and the highly acclaimed…
The Soul of a Horse Blogged
The Journey Continues
Go to TheSoulOfaHorse.com Homepage
