BY BARBARA SMITH
When Clinton Haby started his legacy film business in San Antonio in 2009, he says he was working "on an island." He knew of no one else capturing everyday people's life stories the way he imagined. Today, his StoryKeeping is a respected name in legacy filmmaking, and Clinton sits on the executive board of the Birren Center as treasurer while training to become a Guided Autobiography (GAB) instructor.
Clinton’s journey began with a desire to preserve his grandparents’ stories and is rooted in a belief that “people’s hearts and stories were always golden.” Though he began college studying mechanical engineering, he ultimately earned a degree in journalism. That blend of technical understanding and storytelling instinct continues to shape his work.
With a background in radio, Clinton’s first StoryKeeping interviews were audio only. But clients soon wanted more. “I want to see my dad’s face when he tells that story,’” they told him. He realized that to fully capture personal histories, he needed to become a filmmaker.
With no formal school for the kind of work he envisioned, Clinton learned by doing, constantly practicing, “recording everything all the time.” He progressed from a digital voice recorder to a single camera, then two, steadily expanding his skills. A lifelong innovator, he still considers himself a student of lighting, audio, and the craft of filmmaking.
Most StoryKeeping interviews take place in a single afternoon with storytelling filmed in the client's home. The goal, he says, is to “capture the complete emotional spectrum of laughter to tears to pivotal moments.” He enriches films with interviews, photographs, archival footage, music, and carefully edited storytelling to create lasting portraits of individuals so that future generations will "know exactly who that person is, what they love, and what they care about."
Clinton’s path to the Birren Center began in 2015. Wanting community and finding no professional association that fit, he joined the Association of Personal Historians (APH), where he later was invited to join the board as treasurer. It was there that he met Sarah White, currently the Birren Center’s interim president, which led him to the Birren Center. APH dissolved its corporation in 2017, but it is an experience that shapes his work today. "I never want to see that again for an organization devoted to life story." he says. For Clinton, sustainability is what keeps the art alive.
Recently, Clinton enrolled in the GAB instructor training to understand the community from the inside. The process has put the filmmaker on the other side of the camera, writing his own stories and reading them to a group of generous listeners. It is a different method, he offers, but it encompasses the same spirit, and it has deepened the sensitivity and empathy he brings to both formats. He also loves the moment when writers read their words aloud. "People have an actual emotional response when they read their words aloud in front of other people that they don't have when they're writing it." With his creative mind always firing new ideas, the experience has him imagining ways to bring his craft to GAB, such as recording writers reading their stories so families receive both the words and the sound of their voices. His developing project, Legacy Film School, aims to share his filmmaking knowledge with others interested in creating legacy films, personally or professionally.
Clinton’s advice to aspiring storytellers: “Start with what you have, keep learning, and let the next step reveal itself.” For marketing, he offers an equally heartfelt reminder: reconnect with what made you fall in love with the work.
Whether through written memoir, a GAB group, or a carefully crafted film, Clinton’s guiding principle is simple: get close to the story, remain open to what it reveals, and help ensure that the people behind those stories are remembered. Check out his website at www.storykeeping.com to see how he helps families preserve the voices and faces of the people they love.
