The Greats Story Lab™

Where Storytelling Transforms Learning into Wisdom

The Greats Story Lab™ is a pioneering edumedia™ initiative: a not-for-profit creative research lab blending storytelling, emerging technologies, and the deep traditions of human wisdom to reimagine what education can be.

Founded by Dr. SJ Murray (Princeton-trained professor at Baylor University and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker) and Imagineer Courtney Becker, The GSL creates media (films, XR, gaming) that inspires meaningful play and learning, fuels character formation, and explores how stories shape our understanding of what it means to flourish.

We build content that speaks to the head and the heart—bridging past and future, screen and soul.

Our Mission

We make the big questions—the ones that shape lives—accessible to everyone, everywhere. From early shorts recorded in a walk-in closet to internationally awarded studio productions, we’ve grown into a vibrant lab where research, narrative craft, and cutting-edge technologies converge. Whether through short films, immersive media (like XR), or AI-assisted research, we’re creating Meaningful Realities™ designed not just to inform, but to transform. Our content is freely available (under a Creative Commons 4.0 license) for classrooms, conversations, and lifelong learning. Because education isn’t just for students. And wisdom isn’t just for the past.

How It Works

Beneath every film, VR experience, or digital drop lies a rigorous research pipeline. It’s a full-circle ecosystem.

  • A growing library of core texts—from Dante and Boethius to Baldwin and beyond.

  • Scholar-led, AI-assisted tagging and analysis for moral decision points, character arcs, and wisdom traditions

  • Statistical modeling to surface deeper patterns.

  • Story-driven edumedia™ outputs designed for maximum resonance.

What We’ve Achieved in Our First Year:

  • Reached users in 53 countries (and counting)!

  • Earned 7 international creative awards, and SJ has been recognized at the United Nations with a Logic for Peace Award, for democratizing access to education (SDG 4).

  • Reached over 3.5 million impressions on social platforms.

  • Surpassed 100,000 YouTube views in under 3 months (now rapidly approaching 1M views in 5 months).

  • Supported research behind multiple peer-reviewed articles.

  • Launched our first Boethius XR prototype at Baylor University.

  • Built a scalable tagging and annotation system blending AI and classical learning.

What’s Next

  • Our first feature-length edumedia™ unscripted film

  • A suite of XR projects designed for immersive moral imagination

  • A custom app and digital toolkit for reflection and lifelong learning

  • More ways to connect storytelling, technology, and the search for wisdom

Join Us on Our Journey

Whether you’re a student, scholar, educator, creator, technologist—or simply someone who believes in the power of story—we invite you to join us. Explore. Collaborate. Dream forward.

“We’re just getting started.” ~ Walt Disney