The 7M TikTok Dance Cult: Dancing for the Devil
Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult explores the experiences of a group of prominent TikTok dancers who are trapped in a cult masquerading as a management company. In the process the film uncovers disturbing truths about the agenda of Robert Shinn, the cult’s founder and pastor of the Shekinah Church.
Joining Matthew Sherwood on Factual America are executive producers Jessica Acevedo and director Derek Doneen, who discuss the making of the film and the challenges of interviewing people who are still in the depths of an abusive and traumatic environment.
The filmmakers explain how it takes a long time to recover from leaving a cult, how to build trust with the people you are documenting, and how the cult responded to the wave of criticism and bad publicity. In the end their film reveals so much about the lure of fame, the importance of faith and the bond of family.
“Nobody sets out to join a cult. Cult leaders don't come at you full blast with their manipulations on display, it’s little by little slowly inching you in over time so you’re not realising what’s happening.” – Derek Doneen
“Financial abuse and control happened there. It wasn’t until they started sharing some of those experiences that they realised that it was happening to them too and unravelled what they thought was a faith-based positive environment and showed it was really quite sinister.” – Jessica Acevedo
“The assumption is that people are fine and okay, but continue to dig deeper, ask the questions, have patience and meet people where they’re at because you never really know what someone’s going through. What you see on social media can be one thing but it’s worth asking how they’re doing.” – Jessica Acevedo
Time Stamps
00:00 - The trailer for Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.
04:12 - What Dancing for the Devil is about.
06:22 - The Wilking sisters and their family.
07:57 - The video that brought the Wilking sisters to Jessica’s attention.
10:14 - How the Wilking sisters ended up dancing in Los Angeles.
12:30 - Why dancers joined the 7M management firm.
17:57 - How the church responded to the criticism against them.
21:10 - How Derek got involved with the making of the film.
24:21 - The challenge of building trust with people who are experiencing abuse.
28:31 - How a safe space was created for people still in the thralls of trauma.
32:22 - The amount of time it takes to recover from leaving a cult.
33:44 - How to build trust with the people you are documenting.
36:28 - The difficulty there is for young people to be vulnerable.
38:33 - What has happened to the cult since the release of the film.
42:20 - The main takeaways from producing this docuseries.
45:41 - The next projects for Jessica and Derek.
Resources:
Dancing for the Devil
MovieMaker Magazine
Innersound Audio
Alamo Pictures
Connect with Derek Doneen
Connect with Jessica Acevedo
More from Factual America:
Relationship Hack – Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal
Dog Days: The Truth Behind Gunther’s Millions
Keep Sweet: The Cult of Warren Jeffs and FLDS