Carrying on the Torch

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by Sunny Gazowsky

Andrew’s story begins with his father, Michael Gopaul. Michael got saved at the Voice of Pentecost Church at the age of 30. He soon began filming many of the church services and events such as weddings, camping trips, plays, etc. Before long, this hobby grew into a real love and passion for filming and he became very skilled behind the camera.

One day, God called Richard Gazowsky into the film industry to start a Christian film company called WYSIWYG. When Michael heard this, it was his dream come true and he became one of the founders of Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks. He was the head-cameraman and at many times, the only cameraman. Michael began to bring Andrew and his older brother, Michael Jr., to the sets and on location shoots to help him film. A love for cinematography started to grow in both of the Gopaul boys. At a young age, they had the opportunity to work next to their father on many occasions; life was perfect.

Suddenly, on September 12, 1996, when Andrew was only nine years old, his father had a stroke and was in a coma for 11 days. Within that time, they sent him to three different hospitals in three different cities. Everyone at WYSIWYG and the church started to fast and pray and help Andrew’s family as much as possible. When Michael came out of the coma, he needed to have surgery followed by physical therapy. For three months Andrew and his family worried about his father’s condition. Finally, they received a phone call from the doctor saying that Michael could come home; but the stroke had left him with the mind of a two year old child and he was also suffering from short-term memory loss.

Andrew’s mother, Susan, stayed at her teaching job for as long as she could but taking care of her husband and four young children was also a full-time job. Finally, she had to make the difficult decision to leave her job and give her family her full attention. Eventually, they lost their home and had to leave everything they had except for one bag of clothes for each of them. Another caring family in the church opened their home to this family of six in their time of need until they could find another place to stay. Over the next few years, the Gopaul family moved to five different locations. Just when it seemed that hope was lost, God provided Andrew’s family with a beautiful house with plenty of room for the entire family, a place that they could call home.

About this time, WYSIWYG started production of its first TV feature film and Andrew, by now in high school, began helping on the film crew after school hours. He loved being on set so much that it was all he could see himself doing for the rest of his life. The last two years of high school he had fewer classes so that meant more time during the day to work with the film crew at WYSIWYG. “It’s like working in Heaven,” Andrew said. “It is my description of the perfect job. I know why my dad loved it so much. I pray for my dad everyday and one day we will work together.”

Andrew is carrying on his father’s torch.

Sunny Gazowsky, the son of Richard and Sandy Gazowsky, is the team leader for stunts. He has done stunts for the Roman Trilogy and is currently preparing stunts for WYSIWYG’s next feature production. ‘Gravity’.

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