Jenkins Entertainment Behind the Scenes

First clip released from What If...

2010-06-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

15 years ago, Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo) left the love of his life and his calling to be a preacher to pursue a business opportunity. Now on a joy ride in his brand new Mercedes, his car mysteriously breaks down, and he's introduced to a mechanic (John Ratzenberger) who isn't what he seems.

Nice review from the Dove Foundation

2010-05-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.dove.org/reviewpopup.asp?Unique_ID=8345

Great coverage about What If...

2010-05-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hey, check out this link to tons of cool stuff about What If.... Great review, good interview, pictures, the trailer, etc..

http://www.christian-movie.com/what_if_movie.html

Debut of What If... trailer!

2010-04-12T16:33:00.001-07:00

Never-before-seen trailer for What If.... Spread the word!

Interesting interview...

2010-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

There's a young teen who does a blog and writes for various online publications, and he's really sharp and cool, so I did an interview with him. Check it out.

My appearance on Fox News...

2010-03-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Here's my brief appearance on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" discussing faith-based films.

Hilarious trailer parody...

2010-03-11T00:01:00.001-08:00

Extensive Interview With Dallas Jenkins on Filmmaking

2010-01-22T09:55:00.001-08:00

Check out my extensive interview with Rex Sikes' "Movie Beat," where I discuss in detail the nuts and bolts of filmmaking. Of note to anyone interested in the behind the scenes of how movies are made. Worth it if you have a few minutes: http://bit.ly/8SNSqm.

Pictures from the What If... set, days 8 and 9

2010-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

In no random order, here are some pictures from the set from last year during our three-day trip to Grand Rapids.

In a scene between Kevin Sorbo and Toni Trucks (as investment banker Ben Walker and his assistant Claire), the camera gets a closeup of a letter Ben receives.

I discuss the best way for John Ratzenberger (Mike the Angel) to punch Kevin Sorbo...

...and he executes it.

We shot the film with two cameras, which meant that at certain times, one of the cameras could be taken away for "establishing shots" and "B-roll." Establishing shots are usually scenery shots or shots of locations that don't require any actors. B-roll involves random shots of activity that again, doesn't require lead actors. In this case, we were on the 17th floor of the building getting shots city buildings as well as a couple shots from a distance of Mike the Angel's truck driving into the city.

To make Mike the Angel's truck look older and more roughed up, co-producer and set dresser Harold Cronk and I spritzed water and then tossed dirt on it.

Filming some close up shots inside Ben Walker's minivan. The black sheet you see on the passenger side is to create shadows that look like branches and random objects.

To get big power onto the 17th floor of the building, we had to extend cable up the outside of the building.

Yours truly playing a gas station attendant with Kevin Sorbo.

Setting up a scene inside a limo which unfortunately we later cut from the film.

Inside the lobby of the office building.

"What If..." Post Production Video Blog #8

2010-01-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest video blog for What If..., where I talk about music, my DVD commentary, and the final sound mix, along with behind the scenes footage. And if you're a Friday Night Lights fan, you should appreciate my t-shirt.

If you're reading this on facebook, go to http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com.

Interesting Article on The Blind Side and Christian Audience

2010-01-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Blind Side has tackled Hollywood, passing the $200 million mark this week. Nicole LaPorte examines the underground, faith-based force that’s fueling the film’s success.

With the phenomenal success of the film The Blind Side, which this week crossed the $200 million mark at the box office—an astonishing feat for any movie, but especially for a female-driven drama, a genre that generally lands in the $40 million neighborhood—Hollywood is awash in rapturous proclamations.

Sandra Bullock is the new Will Smith (i.e., a star who can single-handedly carry a blockbuster)! Sports-themed movies are no longer toxic (a case made by recent films such as Leatherheads and The Express)!

But what no one seems to be talking about is the force that had a great deal to do with why The Blind Side, which was made on a modest budget of $29 million, is suddenly one of the most profitable films of 2009: Christians.

To read the article click here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-06/hollywoods-latest-christian-blockbuster/

Cussing in Christian Films?

2010-01-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a reprint of an old blog I wrote in 2007. Thought it was interesting and still relevant...

In the last week alone I've had two detailed email "debates" about the issue of cussing in movies. It's been fascinating. The first one came because my Dad and I got an email from a viewer of the film "Though None Go With Me," which she saw on DVD. She was horrified because at the beginning of the film, one of the characters (a doctor) says, "I brought him into this world, and I'll be damned if I let him suffer because he can't afford medical insurance." She believed that using the word "damned" was inappropriate, sinful, and offensive, and it compromised the Jerry Jenkins name.

I've also been discussing the issue with someone who's interested in helping raise money for "Mountain." In the script, there's a fair amount of cussing (no F-bombs or blasphemy, but a few other choice phrases) because the story is about a bunch of drinking, fighting mountain people in 1920's Virginia.

This issue has always puzzled me in the Christian community. My films aren't intended to be Christian films or made solely for the Christian market, but because my films do come from a Christian perspective and worldview and usually include some Christian characters or references, I have a relationship with the Christian market.

That said, I've always wondered why most Christians have no problem watching films that contain the sins of betrayal, murder, stealing, lying, or drunkenness, but they can't stand to see someone commit the "sin" of saying a bad word. I didn't mean for that sentence to sound condescending, but it does puzzle me. I think that faith-based films have a tendency to be so sugar-coated and sanitized that the ultimate redemption they try to portray is tempered. The message of Christianity is that God can redeem and save the dirtiest of souls, and that hope can be found in the midst of the most vulgar of circumstances. I don't believe that films should be titillating or present wrong behavior in a glorifying or endorsing way (not sure if I'm being grammatically correct right now, but bear with me), but I also believe that sanitizing it in order to be "safe," "clean," or "family friendly" really ignores an important aspect of the Christian message.

The Old Testament, for example, is full of disgusting, horrifying, and yes, vulgar stories. Several translations tell of people "pissing on a wall," "eating their own dung," or one man "spilling his seed on the ground." Of course, the Bible always portrays an overall message of good over evil, of hope and redemption triumphing over immorality.

Therefore, in the case of cussing in films, it seems odd that we would treat that sin as worse than others and as something to avoid at all costs.

But let me illustrate my point through a scene in my script for "Mountain," which is the true story of Bob Childress, a man who went from being the biggest fighter and hardest drinker in the 1920's mountains of Virginia to become a life-changing preacher. Here's a scene that takes place during the period of time when he's trying to be a better man:

OUTSIDE CHURCH

Bob talks with other members. A MAN approaches.

MAN
The Heller of the Hollow at a Presbyterian church! Childress, you got no right readin' from the Bible.
BOB
I'm tellin' yuh, I ain't the same man.
MAN
Like hell you ain't! Your cousin Jess, your whole damn family live by stealin' and fightin'!
BOB
You jus' watch yerself!
MAN
You a sinner your whole life.
BOB
I reckon I'm still a sinner...but I been saved.
MAN
I don't believe you changed a lick. God got no place for the likes a you.

Bob punches the man, knocking him out. Bob realizes what he's done.

BOB
Aw, hell!

He falls to his knees.

BOB
Lord, please forgive these damn fists.
(covers his mouth)
And this tongue.

BUGGY - NEARBY

Lelia and Maggie stare at Bob. Reverend Smith walks up.

REVEREND SMITH
The Lord changes some slower than he changes others.

Now what's the greater sin portrayed in the scene? The fact that he punched a man or that he swore? I would say that he punched a man. But either way, why would it be okay to show the punch but not hear him say a bad word? This is what has always confused me about certain people's reactions to movies. I think the scene is very poignant and a creative and efficient way to show on screen one man's transformation from the "old" to the "new," which is very difficult to do. Showing a spiritual transformation is about as hard to do on film as anything--it's easy to show someone losing weight, or someone getting smarter, or someone learning how to box, or a building turning more beautiful. And it's also easy to show the moment in which these ideas are formulated--"I need to lose weight because my fat is killing me," or "I need to train for this big event so I can win," or "This building is broken down and ugly and needs improvement."

But showing someone have a spiritual heart change is extraordinarily difficult, and most movies fail at it, which is why most Christian movies never break out of the church basement. The reason is that it's so hard to show, in a short amount of time, someone's NEED for God, and then to show how their relationship with God has changed them. Do they smile more? Do more good things for others? How does their life improve? What if their circumstances don't improve (which is realistic in real life, but is rarely, if ever, shown in faith-based films)?

So how do we effectively and efficiently, in the course of 2 hour movie, show a heart change? Even more difficult, and in our case, how do we show it in the span of the first 40 minutes of the movie so that we can get on to the ministry part of Bob's life? And on that same train of thought, how do we show the transformation of the whole region? Especially when we don't have the benefit of a book format, where you can discuss people's thoughts and motivations without having to show them.
I suppose, if we really wanted the film to be as clean as possible, we could use narration, or we could have characters say things like, "I used to cuss, but I don't anymore." But I believe that would make for a static and sanitized movie. And what it would gain in appealing to church families it would lose in being unrelatable or dynamic to someone who isn't a Christian but was interested in the film.

In my opinion, a great way to show the spiritual transformation of Bob Childress, and subsequently the region, is to use the tools we have as artists--words and actions. In the scene above, in one page, we have efficiently and dramatically shown what is going on inside of Bob's heart, without being cheesy or overly simple. By using rough actions and rough words in the first part of the film, and then showing a lack of those actions and those words in the latter part of the film, we are showing victory. And I confess I wouldn't see the point in sanitizing those words to protect our ears as we watch the film, anymore than I would see the point in sanitizing the actions to protect our eyes. The "F-word," or the Lord's name in vain, would probably be pushing the envelope unnecessarily, because those words are considered so strong and inflammatory in our culture that they can be a distraction. Not that I would be adverse to using the "f-word" in a film if it had a strong and specific purpose, but usually, it's just window dressing.

Anyway, those are some of my recent thoughts on this interestingly controversial topic. FYI, I do believe that there are some movies that can and should do without cussing, especially if they're marketed to families. And I also recognize that certain people go to films for different reasons, and sometimes they don't want to smell the dirty sewer of life, they just want some clean entertainment. That's totally fine. I've been part of movies that fit that description, especially Though None Go With Me (the word "damned" excluded). It's just not the type of film I'll usually make.

(UPDATE: Seeing as how my new film, What If..., is the most clean film I've made, obviously I've made some adjustments since I wrote this, although I still hold to the points made in this article.)

Trailer on the way...

2010-01-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

I just saw the first cut of the trailer for "What If...," and I'm pretty excited. As with every first draft of a trailer, a lot of work still has to be done on it, but the foundation is there. It's also a nice reminder that we've got good stuff to work with. The images look great, the storyline lends itself well to a trailer (unlike Midnight Clear, which didn't have a clear enough storyline to be distilled into 90 seconds), and the moments are touching.

I can't wait to get it out there, we should have something available in a couple weeks.

Job Opening at Pureflix Entertainment

2010-01-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

Email me at dallas@jenkins-entertainment.com if you're interested...

Pure Flix Entertainment Job Description:

Pure Flix produces 6 feature films per year. All the Features are faith based and have a strong Christian World View need someone who has background in this area who can edit and deliver the material to a Christian audience. Below is the Job Description.

Editing and Graphics:

Prepping material for editors
Sound syncing
Online of final edit
Color Correction
Repurpose Trailers
Create alternate versions of movies and trailers
DVD authoring
Conversion to multiple formats
Laying off masters
DVD burning
Editing (a variety of promo material, movies, and trailers)

Graphic Design:

Creation of Sales Sheets
Design of email blasts
basic promotional material

Needs to have experience in the following programs:

Final Cut Studio (including final cut, compressor, DVD studio pro, color)
Photoshop
Illustrator
After Effects
Toast
FTP
Web Software

This person must have strong technical background in a post production environment and know Mac computers extensively. We are looking for someone who can handle a variety of programs and also has a strong sense of design. This is a full time position in Torrance, CA and the salary range will be from $30K-$36K per year depending on experience. Currently, we are not offering benefits other then the salary.

New Article on Debby Ryan...

2010-01-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

Check out Susie Magazine's cover story on Debby Ryan, one of the stars of "What If...," as she discusses her career and the movie.

Success of "Blind Side" Opens Doors

2009-12-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

The massive success of The Blind Side has shocked Hollywood and opened studios to a market they're still trying to figure out--the heartland. Stories about Christians or Republicans are rare in the mainstream movie world, but seeing as how over half the country attends church regularly, it would stand to reason that more films portraying people like this would be made. To their credit, studios are working to appeal more to this market, which is difficult because many of these pepole aren't traditional moviegoers.

Hopefully, that will open some opportunities to filmmakers like me, who understand that market and how to appeal to it, and who have stories to tell from that world. I've said before that it's imperative to tirelessly prepare for the moments when the industry shifts and starts looking for something that you have to offer. Even when I'm not making a movie, I'm working overtime to make myself a better filmmaker, because I want to be ready when studios say, "We need more stories from the heartland," or "We need filmmakers who can relate to the faith-based audience."

In my book-reading and movie-watching, I've been concentrating on filmmakers like Frank Capra. I just read his book of interviews, and I'm about to read his autobiography. The next movie I watch will be Ben-Hur, and after that Capra's "You Can't Take It With You." These are films that were hugely successful with heartland audiences, so I want to understand what made them tick and learn from their success and artfulness. When you see a trend devleoping in Hollywood, look for films in the past that were successful the last time that same trend developed.

I happen to know that my favorite book of all time is being developed as a feature film at a studio. It's a story set in exactly the kind of church I grew up in and covers themes and characters that I know inside and out. I'm going to be a candidate to direct it, so I'm already preparing my pitch for the interview I'll have when they're looking for directors. I hope to convince them that no one knows this kind of film better than I do, so I'm going to make sure that's actually true.

Of course, first things first--I have to finish "What If..." and make sure it's great.

"What If..." Post Production Video Blog #7

2009-12-30T16:50:00.001-08:00

Hear the latest regarding picture correction, DVD Commentary and "ADR" with the actors, and an update as we get closer to completion. Includes some images from the film. For this and all the other video blogs, check out http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com.

Can "Christian films" appeal to the mainstream?

2009-12-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, a good friend of mine and pop culture analyst emailed me to challenge me on some of my recent blogs and choices in my career. Specifically, he thought I was making a mistake by talking about making a "Christian movie" and broadcasting myself accordingly. See my articles on Big Hollywood (http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/djenkins). I've maintained that embracing the core Christian market and making a lower budget film marketed primarily to the church crowd is a smart business decision as well as something that gives me the chance to make a good film in a market that hasn't had too many good films.

He found illogical a comment I'd made about hoping my film would still appeal to all markets. He said that that was unlikely because of the fact that the film was being marketed as "Christian" and added the following:

"...but if you feel you have to do this then I think you should at least count the cost and understand that this way of securing the base is by definition exclusionary and uninviting to those who are not already predisposed favorably toward Christianity and Christian movies."

I responded with the following...might be of note, even if you disagree:

Yes, the MARKETING isn't necessarily "inviting" to those who aren't fans of "Christian films," any more than the marketing of a horror film as a horror film isn't necessarily inviting to those who aren't fans of horror films. That said, it's certainly a worthwhile goal to make the FILM appealing to all.

Note what I said--"we always want the film to appeal to everyone." I didn't say "we want the marketing to be geared to everyone." There's a big difference.

I'm making a film that follows the conventions and boundaries of films that qualify for the Christian market. No language, no lust, include the gospel message, uplifting ending, etc.. Because of that, it's a waste of resources to try to market the film to everyone. Marketers know this in every genre or niche--if you've got limited resources, make the most of them by targeting the already existing marketplace.

However, my goal was to make a film that followed these conventions that would also be enjoyable and worthwhile to those who end up seeing the film who aren't evangelicals. That's not fantastical or a contradiction at all. They might come across it on TV, they might have it given to them by their Christian friends, they might read a positive review (critics do review Christian films), they might be big Debby Ryan or Kevin Sorbo fans, or in some cases, they might be curious to see a "Christian" film. I have many liberal agnostic film geek friends who say, "I have no problem with Christian films in general, I just want to see a good one."

What makes a movie successful long-term is word of mouth. The very law of averages dictates that some non-Christians will see the film early on, and if they happen to like it, they'll tell their other non-Christian friends. It behooves me to make a film that at least has a chance to get good word-of-mouth among non-Christians; it's a bonus.

I'm not a sci-fi fan AT ALL, but after enough people told me The Matrix was cool, I saw it and loved it. I don't like horror movies, but Paranormal Activity got enough good reviews that I figured it was different, so I saw it.

But the fact is, no one, not a studio or private financier, will spend the money on this film to market it to anyone but the base. As frustrating as that is, I have to adjust to it and act accordingly, and I know how to appeal to the base. But that doesn't mean I can't still make a good film that many non-Christians can like, too.

My latest article for Big Hollywood...

2009-12-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

I write about my attempt to actually make a good "Christian" film. Check it out here.

"What If..." Post Production Video Blog #6

2009-12-01T00:59:00.001-08:00

Just finished reading...

2009-11-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

...Frank Capra Interviews, edited by Leland Poague. It's fantastic. Tons of good stuff from a master of uplifting storytelling.

In my pursuit of watching more and more classic films and learning from masters, I just saw "Tokyo Story" by Ozu. Have to admit, I found it boring. Does that make me a lightweight? About to watch Mutiny on the Bounty for the first time. Saw African Queen and The Third Man for the first time recently--liked African Queen better.

Read this article on the state of the business...

2009-11-12T13:13:00.001-08:00

This is a phenomenal and informative article on the state of the business in Hollywood right now. It gives great detail and examples of how projects are getting set up. The business is changing, so read up here.

Post Production Blog #5

2009-11-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Footage from our test screening in North Carolina...

Results from test screening...

2009-11-03T17:57:00.000-08:00

I just realized I never posted the results of the test screening of "What If..." in Charlotte. Here they are:

The two key questions are "How would you rate the film" and "Would you recommend it?" The answers you're hoping for are "excellent" or "very good" for film rating, and "definitely recommend." The average score for Hollywood films for these questions is about 50-55%, a good score is considered 65%. We scored 84% for those two questions, which is terrific.

We also asked for their favorite and least favorite aspects of the film. These answers were all over the map, with only a few repeated answers, but there was a somewhat surprising answer for "favorite thing." The character/actor who got mentioned the most was the little girl in the family, 6 year old Megan, played by newcomer Taylor Groothuis. All of our actors got mentioned a few times, and none of them were mentioned in response to the question of negatives, but Taylor got mentioned the most often, which is really cool. This actress is on her way to a big career, so maybe What If... will be famous for being "Taylor Groothuis's first film."

The only negative mentioned a few times was that the film was a little long, which isn't surprising because one, we could still tighten it a bit, and two, there was little to no music in the film and the sound and picture were unfinished and rough.

Over 80% said that even non-Christians would enjoy the film, which is great because this film will be labeled as a "Christian" film, but we always want the film to appeal to everyone.

We also asked if people would purchase a ticket in theaters or purchase the DVD, or whether they would just rent it. At least 85% said "purchase," a chunk said "rent," and only two out of 115 respondents said they wouldn't see it again. Pretty strong numbers, so we're very excited.

I sat in the audience and wrote down every line that got a big laugh and made notes of all the lines that I thought would get laughs but didn't. In those cases, I either cut the moment out of the film or do what I can to spice it up in editing. There are also moments that feel long or unnecessary when you're watching with an audience, so it's always good to test the film at least once with an audience to see the difference between how a film plays in a room and how it plays on a computer monitor with your editor.

I'm leaving for New York in a couple days, where I'll spend a day with my editor to make all the final adjustments. Then we'll "lock picture," which is when we decide not to make any more changes, and we can concentrate on sound and music. Our composer Jeehun Hwang will spend the month of November writing and performing the score, and we'll put all the sound elements together in December.

The brilliant Frank Capra...

2009-11-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

"There are the critical minds as we know them here in the United States. Their base of operations is the Eastern seaboard and they're more or less allied to the European culture rather than to the American culture, certainly not to a city in Ohio a thousand miles away. So I've never had a very good standing among American intellectuals with my films. Certainly sentiment is an almost verboten emotion with the intellectuals. Why that should be I have not an idea, except it's perhaps too common, too ordinary--it's not arcane enough for an intellectual. Perhaps it's too simple." Frank Capra, responding to critics labeling his films "capracorn."

Interesting blog article on Christian films...

2009-10-27T03:18:00.000-07:00

Screenwriter John August has a popular blog on filmmaking, particularly regarding screenwriting, and he just wrote a very good article on the Christian film market. Check it out:
http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/making-christian-movies

Test screening audience questions for "What If..."

2009-10-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

Test screenings are common in Hollywood, of course...nearly every studio films does a couple of them. The results impact how the film will be marketed and in many cases impact reshoots and new endings.

I've never actually done one for a film, but we're doing one for "What If..." tonight in Charlotte at a Christian film festival. Below are the questions we'll be asking this audience. Because we still have a week or so to do more edits, we can still make some adjustments based on this screening.

“WHAT IF…” TEST SCREENING QUESTIONAIRRE (October 24, 2009)

How would you rate this movie:

__ Excellent
__ Very Good
__ Good
__ Fair
__ Poor

Can you mention a few of your favorite things in the movie (character, scene, story point, etc.)?

Can you mention a few of your least favorite things in the movie?

Did anything bother or offend you (please list)?

Was there anything at all confusing (please list)?

What’s the youngest aged child you’d allow to see this film?

__ 6 and older
__ 8 and older
__ 10 and older

Please rate your chances of recommending this movie to others:

__ Definitely recommend
__ Maybe recommend
__ Won't recommend

Would your church show this movie as a special event? __ Yes __ No

Please rate the Christian content in the film:

__ There was enough Christian content, and the gospel message was presented sufficiently.
__ There was enough Christian content, but the gospel message was insufficient.
__ I was disappointed in the Christian content.

How would non-Christians respond to this film (check all that apply)?

__ My non-Christian friends would enjoy this film.
__ This movie would impact non-Christians for the gospel.
__ Non-Christians wouldn’t enjoy this movie.

Would you (check all that apply):

__ See this movie in theaters
__ Purchase the movie on DVD
__ Rent the movie
__ I won’t see it again

Do you like the title "What If..."? If not what would you call it?

Thank you so much for your time and attention, Jenkins Entertainment and Pure Flix Entertainment really appreciate it. Anything else you'd like to say about the film? Every little bit helps!

Took 2 and a half minutes out, not 12

2009-10-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of taking the entire sequence out, we just worked hard today to tighten it and make it as efficient as possible. I think it actually works better now. The only thing left to do is to test it with an audience, which we're doing this Saturday night. I'll post the questions we'll be asking the audience in the next few days.

How can I cut 12 minutes out of my movie?

2009-10-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

The most important time for a director to be objective is in the editing room. This is when you have to look at all the footage you've shot, all the blood, sweat, and tears you've put in, and be honest about what works and what doesn't. The editor and the audience don't care how long a scene took to shoot, they don't care about the actors you love to work with, and they don't care about fun something was. If it doesn't work, it needs to go.

Right now the film is a smidge under two hours. That's a little long for a romantic comedy, but it's not bad if the film works for those two hours. Right now the film works, but there's a section near the middle of the film that doesn't work great. It's a 12 minute sequence that involves about 5 or 6 scenes and nearly all the characters in the film. But each of the scenes within the sequence have their own little problems, some larger than others, particularly in one huge scene that took nearly an entire day to shoot.

I've got to figure out what I'd lose from cutting this sequence compared to what I'd gain in terms of pacing and tone. It sounds like no big deal, but it's huge. I care about the actors in the scenes, I care about everything I shot; obviously, if I didn't like it from the beginning, I wouldn't have had it in the script, and we wouldn't have shot it.

Filmmakers refer to this as "being willing to hurt your baby." No one wants to hurt their baby, but if it makes the baby better in the long run, sometimes you have to give a spanking or take something away from it.

My editor Frank doesn't want to lose the sequence, my wife does want to lose it. I'm back and forth. Some artist I'm being, huh?

Either way, I need to work hard tomorrow on the whole sequence to make it as good as possible. Frank leaves on Wednesday the 21st, and we have a preview test screening on Saturday the 24th, so I want to give the movie every chance to be acceptable to the test screening audience so I know what I have and what works. I'm going to trim the sequence as much as possible, cutting anything that doesn't advance the story and try to make the scenes as smooth and as watchable as possible. But if the audience doesn't respond to it, it just might have to go.

One week until we're "done" editing...

2009-10-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

I've been working with Frank every day on the edit. It's been going really well, and what a relief to not have to build the scenes from scratch like I've always had to do. Now I just watch what he's done and make any adjustments I think are necessary. We argue occasionally, but for the most part I like what he's doing and only make changes if I feel a strong need for them.

In the past, as I've said, I've always watched the raw footage with the editor and built the scenes with him from scratch. It hasn't been awful, as it allows me to get 100% familiar with the footage and make sure I don't miss one second of anything I like, but it can also cause me to miss the forest for the trees and lose objectivity. Now that Frank has edited the first cut, I'm able to only change things I think need changing, especially because I trust his judgment quite a bit.

This movie is a Christian romantic comedy, which basically means that we're not trying to get too "arty" outsmart ourselves. When in doubt, we go for what's going to be most pleasing to the audience. That said, it's been interesting and very artistically fulfilling to work with Frank, who doesn't necessarily share my spiritual or political beliefs, and who normally edits and likes films that go against the grain a bit (not to mention the Oscar nominee "In the Bedroom"). He's also seen twice as many films as I have and understands the art of film and the language of cinema as well as anyone. All that to say, he's not going to let the film ever be silly or groan-inducing, but he's also been aware of the needs of the Christian and dramedy genres and cooperative to that end.

The other day we were debating over which take to use of a particular scene. It's the scene where Mike the Angel (John Ratzenberger) basically tells the protagonist Ben (Kevin Sorbo) the meaning of life. It's an important moment that addresses the thrust of the film, and John had two different takes. I was arguing for one, Frank for the other, and at one point he said, "I hate to say this, but the take you like is the one I'd expect from a Christian movie." Say no more. It's no secret that Christian movies aren't usually great (I wrote an article about this trend here), and we'd like to do our best to raise the bar a little. Someone like Frank can help us do that.

Check out http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com for our latest pictures from the set and video blog from the editing room.

Post Production Video Blog...

2009-10-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth post production video blog from "What If..." Check out http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com for more.

"What If..." 2nd edit done, "Riven" outline turned in...

2009-09-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

I sent Frank about ten email pages of notes on the first cut of the film, and he's already executed most of them and sent me a new version of the film. He works fast.

There are a few things that can only be executed when we're together. Most of the time, a director has to communicate their vision to the DP, the actors, the editor, etc., and assuming communication has been solid, they can execute it on their own without "over the shoulder" directing. But occasionally there's a specific kind of scene or something tricky or specific or stylistic that requires more direct involvement from the director, and we have a couple of those that we'll get to when Frank comes to L.A. in less than a week.

On Friday I spent a little time looking at a couple scenes Frank adjusted based on my notes, and it's always sobering when you realize that a change you wanted just isn't possible because the footage isn't there. "What was I thinking on the set" moments are common for everyone.

Also, we designed a new look for the What If... blog page, it looks a lot sharper and more relevant to the actual story. It's at http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com. I'm also going to be uploading some new exclusive pics there in a day or two.

Nate Scoggins turned in his first draft of the outline for "Riven," and it's exciting to see. I'm convinced it's always best to have screenwriters do an outline of at least ten pages to make sure everyone's on the same page before they write a complete draft of the script that goes in the wrong direction and requires extra work to adjust. Nate wrote a very good outline, but there are a few things we needed to discuss, and now it'll be easy for him to make those adjustments in outline form before he commences the script.

We've been on the same page on everything so far, which is great, even including the music we listen to to get inspired with this story. By coincidence, we're both listening to a ton of Jars of Clay--the movie is about broken souls, and Jars always writes about broken souls, so it's perfect.

Two nights ago I was driving to a conference I was speaking at, and it was 11:30 at night, and I texted Nate to see if he was awake because I'd just gotten inspired with some thoughts about the key scene in the movie. He was, and we ended up talking past Midnight about the story, and it was cool. I actually got choked up while I was describing how the scene could look, which is probably a good sign.

Speaking of the conference, I showed 15 minutes of the rough cut of the movie to about 150 or so attendees, and it went really well. This is the worst the movie will ever look, and it was playing on a cheap screen from a DVD player in a room with sunlight coming in. Not the best venue. But people laughed, were engaged, and I got a few genuinely enthusiastic responses afterward. That was encouraging.

Man, I just tried to say "afterwards" instead of "afterward," and spell check flagged me. I didn't realize "afterwards" wasn't a word. All righty.

Normally I like to write about difficult things, because I want my blogs to be honest, but things have been going pretty well over the last few months, so now it's reading more like a promotional tool for my films. I'm sorry about that!

So much going on right now, I'm trying to find time to write blog entries. Right now it's 2:25 am...I must away...

FIRST CUT FINISHED
Published: September 19, 2009
As I discuss in my latest video blog at http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com, our editor Frank Reynolds has completed and submitted the first edit of the film. This is usually called an assembly and is for the purpose of just seeing the movie put together in raw form. Normally it goes:

1. Editor puts together a rough assembly, just to see all the footage in one piece to see if there's anything missing or scary.
2. Director and editor work to get a first cut done, which is still pretty rough, just to see if the movie plays and makes sense.
3. They fine tune, taking chunks out, working on pacing, etc. After showing it to people, getting some feedback, they...
4. Put a scalpel to every scene, working hard to produce a "locked" cut, before turning it over to the composer.

However, because we don't have a lot of time to submit too many edits, and because Frank is too much of an artist to just sloppily assemble the film together, this first edit is somewhere in between 1 and 2. I'm giving him notes while he's still in New York, so over the next week and a half, he'll produce something closer to #2, and once he gets out to L.A. and we can work together, we'll work towards getting something like #4. After that we'll have a screening to get some feedback before we officially lock the picture.

The saying goes, "The movie's never as good as the dailies (the raw footage), never as bad as the first cut." That's pretty much true. Because of that, I feel very good about this film. The first cut isn't pretty, but Frank did a very good job overall, and the film obviously works. Normally there are some red flags, things that make us think we might have to reshoot or work some magic to fill in gaps, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

It's currently 2 hours and 15 minutes long. I'd like to cut at least 20 minutes from it, and that's without cutting any scenes. There are some pacing problems in the first third of the film--we simply need to speed it up. There are a few lines throughout that we can cut just because once you see the film and see how the characters look, many times stuff in the script becomes unnecessary.

There's also a key scene that feels out of order right now--it's very important to build a good emotional progression in the story, especially when you're dealing with a main character's emotional and spiritual journey, so you can't have any key emotional beats come too soon. Again, sometimes things happen when you're shooting that can be both good and bad. For instance, let's say someone gets emotional in a scene. In the moment, it's good because it's moving and spontaneous--but when you look at it later in the context of the whole film, it feels out of place. Same thing with comedy--maybe a scene ended up playing more comedically than you intended, and now you have to make that work within the context of the film.

We have a few moments like that, especially one scene, so that'll take a little delicacy to make work.

I'm also a little unsure if the ending of the movie will have as much impact as I want, and that's obviously of VITAL importance, but I think we can make that work.

I showed the cut to the producers of the film at Pure Flix, and they had very few notes, which is a good sign.

We've got to be done by October 19th, because we're screening the film for an audience a few days after that to see how it plays before we officially lock picture and get the composer going. So four weeks to get this all done! Not a lot of time...

DISTRIBUTION DISCUSSIONS
Published: September 4, 2009

We're co-producing this film with Pure Flix Entertainment, a company that is also a distribution company. They focus primarily on straight-to-DVD releases and on a church screening program, and they do distribution and marketing, which makes them a nice fit for us because we don't want to do that. So we know that, at the very least, Pure Flix will be doing a strong DVD release, and we're confident they'll do a great job.

That said, when "What If..." is completed, we'll show it to the big studios to see if they have any interest in buying us out. This is what has happened on all the films we've made so far. As with any independent film (a film financed and produced outside of the studio system), we made the film and then showed it to the studios. For Hometown Legend, Warner Brothers purchased distribution rights; for Midnight Clear, Lionsgate purchased them.

I had a good chat with Pure Flix today, and we're all on the same page. We think What If... has a chance to be special and to do really well, but until we actually see it, we're unsure of how exactly this will all pan out. If a studio wants to purchase rights and release it theatrically, we'll be open to that if we feel they can make it work financially; if we decide we want to release it theatrically, we can look at that option as well and raise some extra money. But either way, we know that we have a strong safety net in the Pure Flix distribution system.

Of course, it's impossible to know what chances the movie has until we see it. So right now the next step is simply for me to work on making a great film. If the film is only pretty good, then our chances for wider distribution are slim anyway. But if the film is great, and people respond very strongly to it, then our options are broadened significantly.

NO PRESSURE, RIGHT?
ON INSPIRATION AND TWITTER...
Published: September 2, 2009
Well, I'm finally on twitter. Sigh. It's going to be primarily geared towards the film stuff, so if you have any interest in getting more frequent updates on what we're up to or little tips and info on filmmaking, find me at www.twitter.com/dallasjenkins. I'll also be posting pics from What If... there that you won't find anywhere else.

Right now, while I wait for the editor to finish the initial assembly of the film, I'm spending time making sure that I'm primed and ready once it's time for me to go in and shape it. That means not only looking at raw footage and re-familiarizing myself with everything that I shot (so that if I don't like something Frank did, I know what the alternative is), but also continuing my work and study with other films and books. Inspiration comes from everywhere--I remember watching Traffic for the first time when I was making Hometown Legend, and it gave us a few great editing ideas for a few scenes.

As I've mentioned, my netflix queue is filled with as many great films as I can think of that I haven't seen. One right after another, trying to increase my film vocabulary and appreciation. All of the great filmmakers of all time have seen every important film ever made; I've got a long way to go, as I got off to a late start because I grew up in a pretty strict home when it came to entertainment. Plus, when I started getting into films, I didn't work as hard as I should have to see the classics.

Today I'll be watching The Manchurian Candidate for the first time, and later this week I'll see The Third Man. I also continue to do a lot of reading; I've discovered that my style and tastes are similar to Frank Capra's (although I'm nowhere in his league, of course), so I'm reading a few books on him. It's important to not only watch the films of your favorite filmmakers, but to find out what they were thinking and why.

I've also created a "What If..." folder on my itunes so that I can listen to the songs that most stir me up for the emotion or story of the film. Because this film is a romantic comedy with a lot of heart, I'm listening to songs that are more sweeping and uplifting and emotional (Snow Patrol has two songs on the list, as does Coldplay--also loving Avril Lavigne's "Keep Holding On" and Taylor Swift's "Change." For my next film "Riven," which is set in a death row prison and is more raw, I'll listen to rootsy/bluesy/country-ish stuff.

Besides being a director, I have to be a business man, so I'm spending a lot of time updating all our websites and keeping marketing going. It's no fun, but it's part of the marriage between art and commerce. Grief, I sound like a jackass.

Director's Diary Video Blog from set of What If

2009-09-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Updates...

2009-08-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

There are some new pictures and updates on the "What If..." site, http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com.

Good movie streak...
Published: August 18, 2009
Right now I'm on a streak where I believe the last eight movies I've seen in the theater have been very good. I recommend all of these films for various reasons:

Up, The Hangover, The Proposal, Away We Go, Funny People, 500 Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, District 9

I think Funny People is very underrated--my wife and I really liked it. The Proposal was surprisingly witty and well-done. District 9 was stunning, you really have to see it to believe it. I was especially charmed by 500 Days of Summer; wonderful movie, surprisingly good message.

Now, some of you might be offended or turned off by some of these films, so please check the ratings or the details of what's in the films before you see them.

Editing has begun
Published: August 11, 2009
It's been a few weeks since I've blogged about the film. I hope you took a look at the videos on http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com.

Since shooting, most of what's gone on has been purely technical. Transferring footage, getting paperwork wrapped up, etc.. I was finally able to watch the footage in raw form, although some of it didn't have sound yet. I have to say, looking at footage has made me more optimistic than I've ever been on a film. Everything looks how I hoped it would, and the performances are just as good as I thought. This has a chance to be really good; hopefully, I won't screw it up!

Frank Reynolds is the editor on this; he came on board Midnight Clear halfway through and did a great job for me. He's out in New York doing the assembly, which is the very first edit of the film. He basically takes all the footage and comes up with a longer version of the film; he tries to make it good, but his primary focus is to simply put the story down and let us see how it all works. The larger adjustments come next, and then the finetuning commences. He'll come out to L.A. for the finetuning. The whole process will take about a month and a half or two months, and then we work on music and finalizing the sound.

Frank has forgotten more about film than I've ever learned, so it's good to have someone who can look at the film from a different perspective and see what he comes up with. As a director, it's important to not be married too strongly to any one thing. A lot of times you fall in love with a moment or a scene because you know how hard it was to get it; but the audience doesn't know or care about any of that, and neither does the editor, so it's important to grasp what he sees.

For the next few weeks, I'll just be catching up on business stuff, watching a few scenes as he puts them together and sends them to me online, watching lots of movies to keep my brain active and creative, reading books on filmmaking for the same reason (right now I'm reading "The Director's Idea," which is great), and preparing to be out of commission again once Frank gets out here.

More to come...

Video Blog...

2009-07-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Check out http://whatifmovie.wordpress.com for daily video blogs from the set of "What If..."

Things heating up...

2009-06-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

30 hours until we start shooting, and so much is happening so fast. Bad news is that we lost one of my favorite locations, but some of the good news is that all of our locations are still great. We did a tech scout today, which is when the heads of each crew department visit all the locations to make sure all the practical needs can be met, and everyone agreed the locations looked and felt great.

I've got an interesting bet going with a few people on the production team. I'm betting that I can keep our "2nd meals" at 3 or fewer for the 15 day shoot. What's a 2nd meal, you may be asking? Every day is supposed to go 12 hours. By law we have to feed people "lunch" at the six hour mark, and if we go longer than 12 hours, we have to feed them at the 12 hour mark. That 12 hour mark meal is called "2nd meal." If you give it, it means you've gone into overtime, which no one likes.

I believe I can keep the production from doing more than 3 second meals in our 15 days, even though our schedule is tight. I'm betting $100 with a few people who believe I'll do more than 3.

Kevin Sorbo and Kristy Swanson got in tonight, and the three of us went out to dinner. It was great. Both of them are really sweet and cool, and it's obvious we're going to have a good and productive time together. When you're going to be in the trenches with people for three weeks, you typically want to like them, and we've got that covered here. Kevin and I are buddies anyway, but tonight was the first time I've met Kristy in person, and she was terrific.

Tomorrow we do some wardrobe fittings to make sure they like their clothes, and I'm meeting with my cinematographer Todd Barron to prepare a shot list for the first week. A shot list is when you literally plan out all the shots you plan to make for each scene, type it up, and give it to the production staff so they can have a decent handle on how long things will take.

More to come...

Cast filling up...
Published: June 23, 2009
Today was my best day of pre-production. Great news all day.

Kristy Swanson is officially booked as Wendy, our lead female character. We're getting quite a cast. Kevin Sorbo plays Ben, the hot-shot investment banker who gets a glimpse of what his life would have looked like had he followed his calling to be a pastor and stay with the right girl. Kristy Swanson plays Wendy, the right girl. John Ratzenberger plays Mike, the angel who gives Ben the glimpse and acts as a guide through the process. And Debby Ryan, big up and coming Disney star from "Suite Life On Deck," plays Kimberly, the older daughter in Ben's "alternate life."

Had a little scare with Disney, as they wanted to make sure it wasn't a "right-wing fundamentalist" movie before they released Debby, but they read the script and were fine. Hearing that news this morning got the day started right.

We're also finding some awesome locations. The opening and closing scenes of the film take place in a bus station, and we're going to turn a huge warehouse into a de facto bus station, which will look very cool. Most times the locations you find force you to compromise in some way, but occasionally you get the cool experience of finding locations that open the movie up even more and give you better opportunities than you thought you'd have.

One week from shooting...
Published: June 21, 2009
Woke up this morning to the news that we've cast our Wendy! The great thing is we got someone who will bring a little name value to the project and has a ton of experience. We'll make an official announcement about all our cast as soon as they're all official.

It all happened very fast, which was cool. Got her the script a few days ago, she said "I'm in" last night while I was sleeping.

Auditioned a girl today for the part of the 6 year old. Sometimes it's good to cast locally (saves money and is easier), sometimes it's better to find someone from L.A. who has more experience and fly them in. The girl today doesn't have much experience, but she's absolutely adorable and could be great. We'll make a decision there in a couple days. I should have the whole film cast within the next 3 to 4 days.

The locations are all coming together; spent some time today with the production designer and art director going through the house where we're shooting all the family scenes. We had to make sure that every scene could be shot there without any problems. For instance, there always has to be enough room for lights, the camera, and all the actors, obviously. So you're not only looking for rooms that have depth, but you're looking for places where you can place the camera that will take up as little room as possible, even if that means the camera being outside the room (shooting through a doorway or window).

Whenever you don't have depth in the film, or enough distance from the camera to the subject, the film always ends up looking cheap.

One thing cool about the house is that it's owned by a couple that LOVES my Dad's books, and they share the values of the film, so they're letting us pretty much do whatever we want. We've already chopped down three huge evergreens in their front lawn, and we're choosing colors with which to paint their interior walls. Most of their walls are white, which never looks very good on film. I'm trying to depict the home life as warm and inviting, so we're looking for light, warm colors. Light browns, greens, oranges, etc.

Gonna make a few more tweaks to the script based on locations we're finding, and then next week is going to be crazy as the crew and cast start showing up.

Still don't have a Wendy...
Published: June 17, 2009
Man, this is frustrating...we're trying to cast our lead actress but have been failing for over a month. Every time we've got someone, something gets in the way, whether it's schedule or money or some other silly reason. We're less than two weeks from shooting and we don't have a lead girl!

Last night I saw an online audition from a girl in Chicago who was fantastic. I'm driving 3 hours to meet her today, so we'll see if that works out.

In Michigan...
Published: June 16, 2009
I'm in Michigan now, and we start shooting in less than two weeks. Wow. Everything's going quite well, actually. The producers we're working with at Pure Flix Entertainment are terrific; totally on top of everything. Yesterday we drove around looking at and choosing locations. When choosing locations, it's all about the balance between art and commerce. One location looks perfect but has bad sound issues, or lack of parking, or will be too expensive. Another location doesn't look perfect but has all the perks we need. Another important aspect is that you want the locations to be as close to each other as possible. Every time you have to move all the trucks and cast/crew, it takes time and costs money.

We're completing our casting right now. Kevin Sorbo is the lead, John Ratzenberger is Mike the Angel, Debby Ryan (upcoming Disney star) is one of the daughters, and we're about to close a deal on our lead female. Most of the rest of the cast is coming out of Michigan and Chicago, so I'm spending half the day today looking at online auditions for "day player" roles (roles where the person works for one day). Local casting is always an adventure. Sometimes you find diamonds, sometimes you get people like from the opening weeks of American Idol.

I'm going to be video blogging every day from the set, so stay tuned for more regular updates...

Shooting one month away...
Published: June 1, 2009
Right now we're holding auditions for the female lead and are down to a few options. I'm doing callbacks tomorrow; we've seen about 15 women, gotten them on tape, watched the tape a few times, and are seeing a few tomorrow who will read a different scene. This is such an important process--80% of directing is casting properly, so we have to get it right. Never ever ever settle for someone less than your best available option, even for a small role, because a bad performance can kill a film.

We're closing deals on two of our key parts (announcement coming), which is great. With one of the parts, we're getting a great performer, but we had to expand the role a bit to get this person involved. Some star actors are willing to take less money to do a role, but it needs to be worth it for them, which makes sense. We added a few scenes and moments within the context of the film because of the value this person brings to the film, and it looks like it's going to work out. We're very excited.

We start filming on June 29th, and we still haven't really nailed down all our locations, so we've got a ton to do. Scheduling and locations are the hardest parts of a low budget films. You have to schedule so that you can work around the schedules of your actors, but you also have to make sure you're being smart about WHERE you shoot. It's a juggling act. As the director, I've got to constantly make adjustments, because sometimes the Assistant Director (who does the scheduling) or the line producer (who pays the bills) will say, "You can't have this location because it's too expensive," or "We need to make this scene take place outside because we won't have time to go inside," or "Can we lose this character in this scene because we can't afford him on this day?"

I could be a selfish artiste and get riled up, or I could make some compromises and do what I can to work within the limitations I'm given. I choose the latter, because I need to get my film made on time and on budget.

I'm spending some of my time fine-tuning the script, some time working through the schedule, some time auditioning the actors, some time choosing locations, some time talking to the production designers and cinematographer about the look of the film. I'm leaving for Michigan in a couple weeks, where I'll have a little over two weeks to get ready to shoot. It's going to be a whirlwind.

Final script changes...

2009-05-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

We're wrapping up the contract stuff and have already begun sending the script to cast potentials. We've chosen an editor, cinematographer, and a composer, so we're on the fast track. Right now the biggest decision is location. We've been planning on shooting in L.A. all along, but Michigan has become a possibility.

Michigan has this program where if you shoot a film there, you get a 42% tax rebate. Basically, 42% of your budget comes back to you in cash; they do this because they're trying to entice filmmakers to spend money in their state and increase tourism and interest. So we're flying out to Michigan in the next few days to check it out and see if we can make a good low budget movie there.

I'm also doing some work on the script; the script works well now, but I want to make some changes that will make it even more enticing to our core audience, as well as make sure the movie doesn't feel too much like other movies in this vein. The story is about a man who gets a "glimpse" into what his life would look like if he had made a different choice--a la 17 Again, 13 Going on 30, Family Man, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.. We want to honor the genre but also make sure there are unique twists, so I'm working on that now.

Big Hollywood Article

2009-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

I just wrote an article for the growing and popular website "Big Hollywood," entitled "Why Are Christian Movies So Bad?" You can read it here. It's already gotten over 200 comments, so join the party.
Solved the ending to my film...
Published: April 16, 2009
The key to an audience-pleasing movie is a great, uplifting ending. On this film, I've been focused on being more audience-friendly than I have been in the past, so we had an ending that was ultra-happy and whatnot. Unfortunately, it didn't really make a lot of sense, so I've had something in the back of my head bugging me about it. Fortunately, a great conversation with a filmmaker friend of mine birthed an idea that is both uplifting and realistic, so I'm excited.

It's so important to surround yourself with people who will challenge you, who will say "no" as often as "yes." Encouragement is great, but if one really wants to improve, having a group of friends who will tell you what's wrong and needs improvement in your projects is essential.

On another note, well-known author Angela Hunt just wrote a really nice note on her blog about Midnight Clear:

The other night I had some time to kill, so I opened my Netflix queue to see if there were any "instant" movies I could watch online. I discovered "Midnight Clear," and I knew it was based on a book by my pal Jerry Jenkins, so I settled back to watch it.

An hour and forty minutes later, I was bawling like a baby. The story concerns at least five characters whose lives intertwine, even momentarily, on Christmas Eve. To its credit, there are no miraculous conversions, angelic visitations, or heavy sermons . . . instead we see one Christian man doing what's right because it's right, and then we see how his actions multiply and bless the lives of other people in need of a loving touch.

This is a lovely film, produced and directed by Dallas Jenkins, Jerry's son. Stephen Baldwin stars, and does an excellent job. Excellent production values, too.

So look for this movie wherever you buy or rent DVDs. It's available at Amazon.com, too. I think you'll like it a lot. Uplifting . . . and you don't have to wait until the Christmas season to enjoy it.

~~Angie

Getting closer? Maybe?
Published: April 14, 2009
Last month I said I hoped we could get done within a week. I'm saying the same thing now. We finally were able to get in a room and discuss the contract stuff face to face, and it was a great meeting. As I said before, I'm always going to go this route--get in a room, address every question/concern until you're done. Now we're at the legalize stage, and hopefully that won't take too long.

Nothing's ever as simple as "We like each other, we want to work together, we agree on the basic terms." Someday, perhaps a miracle will happen and it'll be that simple.

I continue to try to watch 3-5 movies a week, which is something I think every person in film should do. Sounds obvious, but it's amazing how much of a difference it makes in your understanding of cinema and film language. It makes me a better filmmaker. Last week I saw Tootsie (2nd time), Terms of Endearment, and Some Like It Hot. I really think Terms of Endearment is overrated, Some Like It Hot is terrific, and I think that Tootsie might be one of the best films ever made. Truly amazing.

Tweaking script, finalizing contract

2009-03-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how long everything takes when making a film. I simply refuse to never give a timeline again, it's always wrong. We verbally agreed with Pure Flix to make some films back in September, and now it's March, and we're just finishing up all the contract stuff. It's no one's fault in particular, but lawyers always go back and forth and can never get their schedules together, the producers get interrupted by other projects, holidays come in, etc.. It's remarkable.

Our screenwriters for the project we're about to do, title still in the air, are Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. They're terrific to work with and delivered a great draft. In the past month or so, I've been tweaking it to fit my specific vision and personality. At this stage, I usually work with a friend of mine from college, Wes Halula (he wrote Midnight Clear), who's exceptional with dialogue whenever I tell him, "I want to say this in this scene, help me." The key is always to maintain the overall vision that you agreed on with the original writers, and to protect their work, because usually there are good reasons why choices were made. But at the same time, it's ultimately the director's job to incorporate all the elements (writing, acting, photography, editing, music, etc.) into a coherent theme that fits their specific vision, and that always involves some tweaking.

Most of it's dialogue tweaks, but sometimes it might be a scene or a character choice that the writers feel strongly about but the director doesn't. It's always important for the director to believe passionately in every line and scene, so if he or she wants the writers to change something, and the writers don't agree or can't see it, then the director needs to go ahead and make the adjustment. A director should never ask a writer or actor to do something that the director can't articulate well himself.

But at long last, I feel strongly about the script, including all the minor stuff. The timing is right because we're finally at a point in our contract discussions with Pure Flix where all the major stuff seems to have been worked out, and we have clarity with each other. We'll be meeting with them this week to finalize it all, and hopefully we should have everything signed within a week. In the future, whenever we're working with another group, we're going to have everyone get together, including the lawyers, to talk about the general issues. Then I'm going to demand that the lawyers spend an afternoon together hashing everything out, and then if there's anything remaining, we're all getting together again to finalize it.

This script has been fun to work on. This time around, we're going straight for a particular market, and it's actually somewhat freeing. I've always maintained that I was making films that were for everyone, which often ended with me making a film that was tough to market to any one group. Someday, I'll hopefully get back to the place where I can make any film I want without having to be obsessed with marketing, but I don't have the clout for that yet. For now, we're making a film for the Christian market, we're making no apologies for it, and now that we've fit within the parameters of that kind of film, my sole focus now is on simply making the best film I can. And realizing that you have a specific market in mind makes a lot of your decisions easier.

Hopefully we'll wrap this all up this week, and we can get into the fun part, and I'll be doing several blogs a week.

Some older blogs taking us to the present

2009-02-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

Below are some blogs I'd written that had gotten deleted...these give a decent rundown of how we got to the place we're at now, which I'll update tomorrow.

SEPTEMBER

I'm starting to wonder if Mountain is ready to be made. Maybe I've just been pushing a square peg into a round hole, I don't know. I love this project, I think it can be great, but if it can't be made the way I want to make it, then perhaps I need to do something else.

I've always said that I want to make movies that are mainstream and treated like normal films but that also come from my worldview and perspective of faith. Not traditional "Christian" films. But right now the market doesn't seem to have room for that. Even the studios want to package and label something that they can sell to the hardcore evangelical community. They don't know how to find and market to people like me. And it's making me wonder if I just need to embrace the beast and be part of it for awhile. If I can still make decent movies that I can care about, maybe I should go ahead and "go Christian" and make a little money for awhile before I try getting nuanced or artsy. I don't know.

What I do know is that Hollywood is a business, and the people who succeed are those who find a hole and fill it. Our company has something to offer Hollywood that they want, but we've been holding it back in favor of doing something different. Was that the wrong move? Am I gambling instead of playing it smart?

Maybe I can change the way Hollywood and audiences look at faith-based films. Maybe I can make them better; satisfying the core audience but creating something of artistic value that slowly buy surely raises the bar. Is that selling out? Maybe not. As a good friend of mine said, "It's not selling out as long as you tell the truth."

Either way, I'm working through it, and we should know more about what we're doing next in the next few weeks. And if it's not Mountain, I may have to deal with that.

OCTOBER
Well, it looks like my passion project "Mountain" isn't going to happen. The project has simply taken too long, and a good chunk of our funding was withdrawn.

I'd normally be pretty depressed about this, but in a way, I'm feeling pretty settled. This project is obviously not meant to be right now. I've fought it for years, and perhaps this is for the best; perhaps this is protecting me from a mistake, I don't know.

So what's next? I'm thinking I may have to embrace the beast and try to hit a few singles and doubles instead of trying for a home run. The Hollywood industry is telling me they want stronger, faith-based product, stuff they can really market and sell more easily. So far, I've been doing stuff that's more nuanced and difficult, and it hasn't worked. I've got to accept that. I've got to make my investors some money, and there seems to be better ways of doing that than what I've done so far. So I'm ready and willing to do a few lower budget, more "faith-based" films than what I've been doing.

Is that selling out? I don't think so. I still plan to make good movies, and I certainly plan to vastly improve the quality of movies that have come from the Christian market. And I'm never going to lie in my films, telling stories that don't reflect reality. But part of being a filmmaker is making smart business decisions, and so far, I haven't earned the right to take big risks and try to change the market. If I can make a few movies that make some money and earn us some status and trust in the industry, then perhaps I can push the envelope a little more. I'm in this for the long haul, so I guess I'm going to have to pull back, start again, and this time start small and build up.

Was this my original intent when I got in the business? Not really. But that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. I'm on a journey, and this is part of it. Hopefully, I'll be able to follow God's plan for my life, whatever that may be. I'm not very good at hearing God's explicit voice, so I often have to rely on open and closed doors. The "Mountain" door seems pretty clearly to be closed.

NOVEMBER
As I mentioned, "Mountain" is in a coma for awhile, and we're moving on to something else. I would be sad about it, but it's been obvious in the last few weeks that we're doing the right thing.

Right now independent movies are becoming increasingly squeezed out of the marketplace. They simply don't have the marketing dollars to compete with the big studio releases, and many of these films, even the good ones, are going straight to DVD and not making much money. Additionally, the studios that have shown interest in "faith-based" product, which is one of the unique things we can provide, are only interested in or able to go after one segment of the faith market, and that's the hardcore evangelical crowd that typically is interested in one kind of film.

Because of all these factors, I don't think "Mountain" would have had a chance to be very successful, at least at this point in time. So we've decided to partner with Pureflix Entertainment to do a couple of smaller, faith-based films, and really work within the system that's currently in place. My long-term goal is to do some films that can really resonate on a larger scale and to a wider audience, and perhaps some of these early films can do that. But our primary, short-term goal is to simply make some good movies that have a strong message that can make a little money through the channels that Pureflix has been setting up.

If we can make some money and get a little attention, perhaps we can build on it and take a few more risks. But we're going to go one small step at a time.

The cool thing is, we've got a project that's currently in development that we're pretty excited about. Pureflix introduced me to a writing duo that is fantastic, two guys who had the exact same urge I had to go in this direction. Our primary objective is to make higher quality films than what the Christian market has provided thus far, and these guys can help us get there. If the films get better, hopefully the market will grow and mature, and we can really start to compete with what's out there in the mainstream. And ultimately, we'd love to be a valid and legitimate part of the mainstream. Anyway, these guys are going to take the next month or so to rewrite an already good script, and we plan to be in pre-production by early 2009.

The current plan is to start shooting in the spring, and while we're making this first film, we'll be getting another one written. Then, while we're marketing this first film, we'll make the second one. And so on.

I'll have more details for you when we make the deal official, and once we start pre-production, I'll be blogging daily like I was going to do with Mountain. And when shooting begins, we'll be doing video blogs from the set. It'll be very cool and give you a chance to see a film get made step by step, with behind the scenes looks at the cast and crew and all the details that go into getting a film done.

Stay tuned!

Update, plus a nice note from Midnight Clear viewer

2009-01-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

In the next couple of days, I should be getting the revised screenplay for my next film from the screenwriters. I'm doing a film currently entitled The Call, and it's basically a faith-based take on films like Family Man, It's a Wonderful Life, etc., films where the protagonist is allowed a glimpse of an alternate life. We're hoping to shoot sometime in March, depending on how the script continues to develop. I'll keep you updated, of course, and once we start pre-production, I'll be doing a weekly blog, and once we start shooting, I'll be doing a daily video blog.

We've also decided that Riven, the book my Dad wrote that came out last year (and for my money, is his best book), is going to be the second film in the Jenkins/Pureflix partnership. We will be talking to screenwriters in the next couple of weeks and hope to be in production by the end of the year. I'm actually going to send a letter to Joe Eszterhas, the famous screenwriter of Basic Instinct, Flashdance, Music Box, and Jagged Edge, among others, who recently became a Christian. I know it's a long shot, but I think he'd be interested in some of the films we're doing. His books are incredible (any aspiring filmmaker should read The Devil's Guide to Hollywood), including his recent one, Crossbearer, which is about his conversion. Maybe Riven will strike a chord, or perhaps Youngest Hero, which is about baseball, one of his great loves. We'll see.

I recently allowed a church in Florida to show Midnight Clear at their monthly "dinner and a movie" night. They have a ministry to the homeless and thought that my film could speak to some of those who struggle around Christmas. I just received the following note from the organizer, which meant a lot:

Thank you so much for blessing our socks off with letting us play your movie. Remember me I go to the little church on the west coast of FL that works with and helps the homeless. We had our movie night in December, I myself was a little disappointed with our numbers that night, we didn't have as many people as usual, but God still worked in amazing ways. Most of them we won't know until we reach Heaven. I did find out today, as I was talking with of our homeless guys after church today, that your movie "Midnight Clear" made a huge impact with at least one person this Christmas. Tommy has been missing for awhile from our church and wasn't at church for the Christmas Eve service (as he had promised he would be). He told me tonight, that he was laying in the woods (his "home") singing Christmas carols to himself. It was one of the loneliest Christmas' he ever had, he plans on next Christmas already will be different. He also mentioned that thinking about the movie "Midnight Clear" helped him get through it (he didn't even know I organize it). He kept thinking about different scenes in the movie and how it related to him. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I know you will never know on this side of Heaven what kind of an impact you made. It helps the guys to know that they are not throw away people that they too can still make an impact in someones life. Keep up the good work and God Bless!

Thoughts on faith-based filmmaking

2008-11-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is an interview I recently gave for a magazine on the topic of faith-based films and the retail market.

2008 Trends -- Faith & Family Films

Looking back on 2008, what happened in the world of faith and family films? How did this portion of the industry grow, change, or regress?

It's hard to say if it's growing or regressing, but it's definitely changing. The studios are proving that they only know how to reach one part of the Christian market, and that's the core church crowd, the crowd that showed up for "Fireproof." And they're also showing that they don't know how to do it themselves; they need Christian filmmakers to make the films and even spearhead the marketing.

The market is growing, but I fear that it's only growing in one direction. I think we're getting further and further from the idea of a mainstream faith-based film; any faith-based films are going to get pushed into one particular box.

Looking forward into 2009, what trends or changes are studios anticipating?

There will be more films like Fireproof--lower budget, straight-on Christian movies marketed directly to the church crowd. The idea of doing a faith-based film and then marketing it like a mainstream film is going to be less viable.

How can retailers prepare for 2009?

They need to develop stronger and more direct relationships with the Hollywood studios, and make sure that they're communicating clearly what they want and need. The studios are listening more than ever.

What products do you have coming out in 2009 that retailers should start to have on their radars?

We're developing a couple of films with Pure Flix Entertainment(Hidden Secrets, The Wager) that we're very excited about. Jenkins Entertainment plans to have a bigger role in this growing movement.

What can retailers do right now to help capitalize on Christmas DVD sales?

The Christian market is really starting to embrace faith-based films; we're where Christian music was 20 years ago. As Christian films get better and more common, the retailers need to really communicate that to their consumers. Movies can be a massive business, but right now, the consumers don't really look at their local Christian store as an outlet for a wide range of choices.

How has the level of "Christian filmmaking" improved over the past few years?

It's improved in some ways, in that the the production is being taken more seriously, the actors are getting better, etc., but we've still got such a long way to go. We've got to find a way to be more artistic, as opposed to just turning the camera on to film a message. And if we increase the artistic quality of our films, which is glorifying to God (the greatest artists of the early centuries were Christians), the audience will start to appreciate that part of it even more, and we can increase sales. And better yet, we might even make a film good enough to be appreciated by non-believers on a mass scale.

Where does "Christian filmmaking" need to go to continue to be relevant to consumers?

In addition to getting better artistically, we need to offer a wider range of genres and storylines. Romantic comedies, teen dramas, even crime stories need to be considered.

Looking out 5+ years, where will this portion of the industry be, or what is your hope for the future of faith and family films?

It can only get bigger. There's such a big audience, and it's being underserved. As long as we continue to make better films, the industry will grow. My ultimate desire is for there to be more mainstream films with Hollywood-style production values and size that come from a faith-based perspective, as opposed to the current status of Christian films being set apart from secular films. But until the market supports that, we have to work within the system and hope to improve it.

Is there a phrase that accurately describes this type of filmmaking other than "faith and family" or "Christian?"

I wish there was.

How do you anticipate VOD or any other type of downloading video service affecting how retailers sell their products in brick and mortar stores?

They should be in conjunction. Hopefully, the retailers can be part of the VOD movement.

How would you motivate consumers to purchase or even to just begin being interested in faith and family films?

It's all about word of mouth. If a retailer has something really good to offer, the audience will embrace it. Retailers haven't always had much to be excited about.

Why is it important to support faith and family filmmaking efforts?

Because film is the most important medium of all time in communicating messages. Films combine every audio and visual element imaginable, and for the last 50 years, Christians have backed off and let filmmaking be controlled by people who don't share our values. That's our fault. But that can change if the films we make are successful, so consumers must vote with their dollar and help these films succeed if they like them. If they make money, then more will be made, and we'll have a better chance of impacting culture.

Plugging along...

2008-07-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

I wish I had more to report, but it's the same old-same old. This is the movie business, unfortunately. Movies take time. It's a wonder any movies ever get made. Once we go into official pre-production on this film, the updates will come daily, and we'll also have video blogs a few times a week.

Recent movies I've seen: Being There and The Last Detail, both by Hal Ashby, the director I'm studying right now. He and I have similar style sensibilities, so I'm watching all of his films. Both were great films, although I'm not always emotionally connected to Ashby's films; I'm not quite "anti-establishment" enough, I guess.

Books I've read/am reading: the book on M. Night Shymalyan was great (did I say this already? guess I should re-read my blogs, but I'm too lazy), and I'm currently reading "Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know." It's pretty good. Always good to get a reminder of the basics.

More Casting...

2008-06-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Still playing the casting game, trying to find the right actor who's not only available (which isn't easy to find) but interested in a non-studio picture. There are a few names that I think are really interesting, but I really don't want to talk about them here. So what I'm left with is yet another boring, unproductive blog, and you're left with reading it and thinking, "Is this how movies go, or is this guy a moron?"

The script is getting good responses from the agencies, so hopefully something will break through soon.

Continued casting
Published: June 5, 2008
I wish I had exciting things to report, but there really isn't much. We're continuing to pursue a lead actor for the film. Our next offer is going to the actor I actually think would be one of the best people in Hollywood for the part, so I really hope he at least reads the script.

I just finished reading "The Conversations with Walter Murch," which was great and insightful. He's not only a genius editor and has great things to say about the directors he's worked with, but he's got good insights on storytelling, pacing, etc.. I'm now reading "The Man Who Heard Voices," the book about M. Night Shyamalyan's making of "Lady in the Water." It's important not to just read "how to" books, but "behind the scenes" books as well, because they give important looks into the mechanics and personality of Hollywood. Dealing with people and understanding how a set operates is just as important as learning the craft.

In the last couple weeks I've seen The Wild Bunch (pretty ground-breaking for its time), Shampoo (didn't actually enjoy it all that much, as I found it meandering and ultimately empty, which was the point, but it didn't work for me), and Harold and Maude (very funny, and I wish I would have watched it before I made Midnight Clear, but it also didn't reach me emotionally). I'm going to be watching Bound for Glory next; I'm on a Hal Ashby kick, as his style seems very close to mine.

Casting

2008-05-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

We've officially made our first offer for the lead role in Mountain. We just don't want to lose any time while we're completing the financing deals. I'm going to keep names off this blog for now, but hopefully I'll be able to make an exciting announcement in the next few weeks.
Please forgive any glitches or mistakes with the new site, we're working to perfect it.

Slow but sure...
Published: May 05, 2008
We seem to be making bits and pieces of progress here and there. We're currently in discussions with a few different financial options. One big foreign sales company has verbally committed to a $1 million "minimum guarantee," which is something that they give to a bank in exchange for a loan of that amount. That would get us close to our budget, and with the money that comes from whatever state we shoot in, we'd be just about there. There are also a couple other private investment people and groups that I'm talking with, all of which have some level of serious interest. Who ever knows what's going to happen? This is my least favorite part of the whole process. We're also going to talk about casting this week--we might just go ahead and start making some offers.

I'm currently reading "The Conversations with Walter Murch," a book of interviews with the legendary editor Walter Murch. Terrific book. Up next are a couple similar books, interviews with Truffaut and Kurusawa. I'm watching "The Seven Samurai" today, "Wild Bunch" tomorrow," and I watched "The Godfather" a couple days ago. I'd seen it before, but watching it after reading some of Walter Murch's comments on it was great. I'd always encourage filmmakers to watch films before or after you read some good analysis or inside info on them. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that The Godfather is a solid film. I know that may put me in the minority, but I'm holding strong in that belief.

Georgia on my mind....

2008-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a trip to the South, where I first gave a few workshops at a media conference before spending a day in Georgia.

I was given a tour of Senoia, about 30 minutes south of Atlanta, which has an incredible studio called Riverwood. I came away from the visit believing that there is no question that Mountain could be shot in that area and be very authentic and high quality. I also met with a few potential investors. Who knows if anything will come out those meetings, but they were relatively encouraging. Either way, I've gotten to a place of contentment where I believe that I need to take things one day at a time and simply focus on being in God's will. Where I'll be in a few months really isn't my business (I stole that line from Phil Vischer, the Veggietales creator who I heard speak a few days ago), and I'm fine with that.

We've also been discussing casting, possibly making offers now. There's some consensus about Kevin Bacon, so he might be the first guy we approach. He's someone who has unique appeal both to American "heartland" audiences but also in the foreign market. Some actors are either/or, but Bacon goes beyond that, so he's probably going to be our first approach. I'll let you know what happens.

Depression

2008-03-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I write this with some frustration and embarrassment, but a blog is a blog, warts and all.

It looks like the financing we had lined up, that was such a sure thing, has fallen through. I'll spare all the details, but the company we were talking to won't be able to put a deal together. Everything's still good on our side; our money is real and we're ready to go, but they weren't. So we're somewhat back to square one. So maddening.

So we'll pursue some of the other options we have, some of which are actually promising, but we're only going to give it another three or four months. So we'll see how this all turns out. I continue to watch a movie a day and read a book a week, furthering my education and preparation as a filmmaker. If I get the chance, I'm going to make a great film, that I know, and anyone who gets involved in this project is going to end up being very proud of it.

Still not much to report...
Published: March 17, 2008
I wish I had big news, but the money stuff is still taking a long time and is complicated. This is my least favorite part about filmmaking, the whole "paying for it" stuff.

That said, I just finished one of my favorite directing books of all time; normally I have to force myself to keep reading academic filmmaking books, but I was excited every time I sat down to read this one. "I'll Be In My Trailer," by John Badham, is a book about directing actors that I'm recommending to every director I'll ever talk to. It's not just boring theory (I've read some books on directing actors that were boring and meaningless, normally written by teachers), it's written by a successful director with dozens of anecdotes from actors and directors. Go get it right now if you're a filmmaker.

Not much to report...

2008-02-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

The money and legal stuff is taking awhile, as it always does, so there's not much to report. In the meantime, I continue to watch movies, read books, and now I'm starting to look at paintings. Some of the movies I just saw include Nashville (I appreciate Altman but don't "get" him--too emotionally detached), 400 Blows (loved it--what a devastating film), Witness (BEAUTIFUL), and I'm about to watch "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Both 400 Blows and Witness had great composition in the shots, something I'm really working on.

I continue to read MacKendrick's "On Directing," which is deep and difficult but helpful.

I'm already having some conversations with my production designer Jim and DP Randall. They both agree wholeheartedly with my ideas about shooting the first chunk of the film in a raw, desaturated way, with the latter part of the film more composed and colorful.

Really hope we get this money stuff taken care of ASAP, I'm eager to get going.

A Perfect Film
Published: February 12, 2008
Just read this from Roger Ebert:

"Now what do I mean when I say a film is perfect? I described Atman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" as perfect, that's what I mean. A perfect film is serious or funny or anything in between, but in its way it owns wisdom about life, and we learn something from it. Our attention is fully engaged by it. If we are movie critics, our notebooks rest forgotten in our hands. It is cast so well that the roles fit the actors like a second skin. It has dialogue that functions to accomplish what is needed, and nothing more; it can be poetry, prose, argument or bull----t, but we believe the characters would say it. There is not an extra or a wrong shot. The compositions make everything clear but not obvious, and they work on an emotional level even if we're not aware of it. And when it's over we know we've seen one hell of a film."

I'm going to post this wherever I can to remind me of what I'm shooting for.

Script, locations, movies, books
Published: February 6 2008
I think we're pretty much done with the script. I can't think of any more things I need to do to it; or, at least, I can't think of anything I CAN do to fix any of its needs. At some point you get to close to it and don't know what works and what doesn't. I feel like I've addressed most of the problems that my friends and advisors have pointed out, so I'm feeling pretty good. Right now the script comes in at 111 pages, which I think is too long. Page count is usually equal to minute-count. If the movie came in at exactly 111 minutes, that wouldn't be awful, but I'd prefer to get it down to 100. Just not sure how to do that at this point.

I had a good talk with a production studio in Georgia that might end up being our shooting location. Nothing has come from Virginia, and with the money we'll save shooting at one location, along with the fact that Georgia offers a 10% or so tax rebate (meaning you get 10% of all the money you spend in Georgia returned to you at the end of shooting), I'm leaning in that direction. I should be flying out there to check it out in a month or so.

Just watched "Badlands" for the first time, the Terence Malick film with Marty Sheen (I can call him Marty because I'm in the biz) and Sissy Spacek, made back in the 70's. I'm trying to watch as many great films as I can, of course, but I'm concentrating on films that have a lot of exterior locations, made by directors known for the visual brilliance. The film really was gorgeous. As I've said, I plan on shooting the first half of the film, when things are rough and raw, with a loose, rougher style, and the second half of the film more composed and pretty. I already do loose pretty well (although I'll get better), but I'm not as great at the composed, pretty stuff. It's not my tendency, but it sometimes needs to be. After watching some Wim Wenders, Kurosawa, and Terence Malick films, I feel like I'm getting better versed on the subject.

Finishing up "Our Southern Highlanders," which will help me understand the setting better, and then I'll read "On Filmmaking," by Alexander MacKendrick, which will help me shoot said setting. Hopefully.

Research

2008-01-30T16:23:00.000-08:00

Still working through the deal with these guys for financing of Mountain. Nothing indicates the money isn't real, but we have to figure out all the particulars of how it's going to be distributed, who's in charge of what, etc. The least interesting and most frustrating part of making a movie by far.

In the meantime, I finetune the script and prepare for making the film. I'm currently reading the book "Our Southern Highlanders," a book about the Appalachians written in the 1920's. I remember when I made Hometown Legend, I read a book called "Friday Night Lights" (which inspired the best show on TV) while we were already in pre-production. A regret of mine on that film is that I didn't read that book sooner. I underestimated how valuable "color" is to a film, the little facts and figures and characterizations that go into creating a world that people want to see. If you as a filmmaker become an expert about the topic that you're telling a story about, then all the "color" that you understand will make its way into the film and add authenticity. For instance, you can tell when watching a sports film if the director didn't understand the sport.

I'm making a film about the Appalachian mountains in the 1920's, so I want to know as much as I can. And in reading this book, I've already read a few things that I've added into the film, whether it's an interesting anecdote, a description of a cabin or a custom that the people performed. These things can provide cool background to the main story, and as a director, understanding these things will allow me to better supervise the production design, accents, even the accuracy of the dialogue. If I read something in a book that makes me think, "Oh, cool! Very interesting! That's something I didn't know, and now that I know it, I'm a better human for it!" two things will result--one, I'll wonder why I started talking like a moron, and two, the audience will probably have a similar reaction when I portray it on screen.
Contracts

Published: Januray 21, 2008
So now we get to the contracts stage. I like the money guys and producers who have approached us on Mountain, they like me, and now we exchange deals. To be frank, I suck at this. I tend to want everyone to be happy, I don't like fighting for my stuff, I always assume we'll piss off the other side. My lawyer is the opposite--he doesn't want to give anything up, he thinks I deserve everything, etc. I suppose that's good. So we end up somewhere in the middle.

We still haven't made too much progress on the location thing, although I'm talking to a Georgia production facility tomorrow. I'm guessing that's our most likely location if we don't end up shooting in Virginia. Man, I want to shoot in Virginia, the actual setting of the story, so bad. Doesn't look like it's going to happen, though.

Still finetuning the script. Trying to get it as tight as possible. We've decided to alter history a bit and put Bob in attendance at the famous courtroom massacre. In 1912, there was a massacre after a man was found guilty in a courthouse--his family shot the judge, a jury member, the sheriff, etc. It had a huge impact on the community, and the subsequent national media attention really affected Bob (main character) because it caused him to realize that the rest of the country didn't live in the ignorant and dangerous way the mountaineers did. We've decided to actually put him in the courthouse to witness the massacre, which cinematically will personalize it more and send Bob quicker on his journey towards change.
Mountain journal
Published: January 8, 2008
I'm going to start journaling more frequently here as we start the new year with the development and hopeful production of "Mountain," my passion project. I'll try to do this once a week, and perhaps you can get a glimpse into the process of how a movie gets made.

Today, Monday, Jenkins Entertainment officially secured our side of the financing. I won't give details, but we put a chunk of money into an account, combining investments from a few different people including our company. There is a financing group that loves our project and has verbally committed to bankrolling the picture assuming that they can verify our funds. Today was that verification. So now they get their stuff together to put up the rest of the money and greenlight the movie. Of course, we have to agree on all the terms and the contracts and all that, and that will likely take some time, but we're moving along.

Ironically, there's another company that is showing the same interest. I met with these guys a couple months ago, and they said they were in, but they didn't get back to me with anything official. The group from the above paragraph came in out of the blue, so I hit the ground running with them. After all these years of frustration with this project, it's bizarre that I might actually get to a place where I'm turning money down.

Here's how this current group came about, it's quite a story. A producer from Texas named David Chandler, who's been trying to get some projects set up out here for years, has always loved Mountain. We became buddies through our discussions about each other's projects, and he's always tried to get Mountain in the hands of various people, but nothing has come of it. We don't have a deal or anything, he's just been doing what he can on the side. Anyhoo, a couple months ago his aunt was in a small town in Georgia and struck up a conversation with a stranger, who told her about all the developments that were taking place in this town. For some reason, she mentioned a movie studio and gave David's aunt a brochure. David's aunt then passed it on to David, who decided to contact this production facility for the heck of it.

He cold-called them and said basically, "I know you guys are a production facility and aren't investors, but I've got a cool project that should be shot in the south, and I'm wondering if you know of any money guys who are shooting some films at your place." The guy gave David contact info for some guys, David got ahold of them, sent them the script, and wala (how do you spell that?)--they loved it, one of the producers grew up near where the story took place and had heard of Bob Childress (the man on which the story is based), and they wanted to make it. Unless these guys are liars or stupid, neither of which appears to be the case, they've got the money and are on board. All they needed was proof from us that we can guarantee some funds as well, which we did today.

Funny how God works, assuming He cares about my career and the movie business and actually has a hand in all this. Of course, I know He cares about my career, but sometimes I think we think He's devoting more time to our vain pursuits than he actually is. Either way, I'll take it and give Him credit for anything good that happens.

So right now I'm preparing to make this movie assuming everything gets in order. I need to get the script in great shape before it's sent to actors, so I'm doing some last minute minor adjustments and clean up.

One common note I'm getting from a few people is that there's a problem in the first act. This story is about a man who goes from being the hardest drinker and biggest fighter in his mountain region to a preacher who civilizes it. The thrust of the story is in the change he brings to the people in this depressed, backwards, deep mountain region, but we also need to take some time to show how he transformed. Not an easy task, because we have to do it in 20-25 pages so we get to the meat of the story quick enough.

Our trick is to try to show what would lead him to be desperate to make such a big change in his life. That's easy to talk about--"he was sad, depressed, felt like his life wasn't going anywhere, and actually contemplated suicide"--but not easy to portray on screen. We've got plenty of moments and incidents in the script that cause Bob to be frustrated and angry about how insane and violent the mountain region is, but we need moments of inner turmoil for Bob as well; private moments that show how dark and down he is. So that's what I'm working on right now, just moving a few things around, making slight tweaks, trying to spotlight those moments.

The good news is the majority of people really like the script a lot. The bad news is that those who don't love it make some decent points. It's always easier when someone doesn't like something you've done but they can't give good reasons why. That said, I think it's more important to seek out people who disagree with you or don't like something you're creating than to surround yourself with unconditionally supportive people. I'd rather hear bad things now, while I can still correct them, then read them in the paper from a critic after the movie's out.

I'm also reading Steven Soderbergh's journal while making "Sex, Lies, & Videotape," which was his debut feature. I suppose that journal is inspiring this in some ways. It's a great book, from the perspective of one of my idols, about a movie that really changed Hollywood in many ways. I'm reading this while also reading books and watching DVD's on Appalachia. I'm making a movie about the Appalachian mountains in the early 1900's--I suppose it's a world I need to know really well. I also figure that maybe I can get a few nuggets that would look good in the script.

All right, that's enough for now.

Tampa Screening

2007-12-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Tampa Bay, Florida, where Midnight Clear was screened for over 700 people as part of a fundraiser for the Tampa Crisis Center. It was a pretty remarkable event, and the film seemed to resonate with people. When I made the film, I didn't think of it as the kind of thing that could be connected to "causes," but it's been a nice bonus. The president of the crisis center absolutely raved about the film.

Regardless of anything else, and as cheesy as this sounds, this is why you make films. Whether they're strictly entertainment or have a message, you make films to arouse some sort of emotional or passionate response in people. One of the women from the crisis center came up to me after the screening and couldn't talk because of her tears. What's better than that as a response to the film you spent so much time on?

So if there's a piece of advice in all this, it's this--when you're writing or directing your film, think about the potential audience response while you're shaping the story or scene. Think to yourself, "What is it about this film that will affect that one person sitting in the 10th row, hoping the film will move them in some way?"
Review
Published: December 6, 2007
This review represents EXACTLY what I'm trying to do in this business. I'm not sure I can put it any better:

Fund-raising

2007-11-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

We are getting closer than ever to making something happen with Mountain. I recently told you that a company guy that had liked the script was no longer interested because they thought Midnight Clear was a "snoozefest." Well, it turns out that it was somewhat of a misunderstanding, which I discovered after I wrote him a passionate letter that was basically a last ditch, "for the record" attempt to let him know that I was capable of making a film he would want to be a part of. I outlined my specific vision for the film and included details of how I've been preparing for it. It seemed to make an impact, as he said he still liked the project and saw no reason for me not to direct it. We'll see what happens, but you never know!

We've got about 4 or 5 different financial options that seem to be presenting themselves. None of them are locked in stone or anything; obviously, if they were, we'd be making the movie. But they all have some viability and potential. We want to make the film in the Spring, which means that once we find a real production partner, we've got to move fast.

More to come...
Updates
Published: November 8, 2007
Been awhile in my blog, I guess I've just been lazy. A few things going on:

1. In the "that hurts" department, there was a studio that was really interested in Mountain, the project I've been developing. One of the head guys really loved the script, was excited about it, and was talking about putting up some money for the project. Then he saw Midnight Clear, the feature I directed, thought it was a "snoozefest," and said he wasn't really interested in the project anymore. The thing is, I've gotten enough good reviews of the movie, and have had enough success with festivals, that I can handle a bad review or a negative comment without getting too depressed. Plus, I know the strengths and weaknesses of the movie and know that it might not be for everyone. But obviously, it's not fun to lose out on a project because of your own work. It also makes me concerned that there might be an actor who's interested in Mountain but who doesn't like Midnight Clear.

Anyway, I decided to write him a letter to outline my vision for the project and basically tell him that I believe the movie's going to be great, and that he'll be proud of it if he gets involved. I figured it can't hurt anything, what have I got to lose? We'll see what happens.

2. I had a meeting with a producer who's part of a big movie fund for a slate of films, and he wants to make Mountain. We'll see how serious it is, and we'll see how the structure works out, but it's certainly promising. I'll keep you updated.

3. I'm working with a local Virginia businessman to meet with the Virginia governor and local authorities to discuss the idea of shooting the movie in Virginia and actually getting possible funding or tax incentives from the state. I really believe that shooting on location, where the story took place, is the best option, but we're going to have to go to where it's most financially viable.

4. The book I'm about to read is called "Save the Cat." I've heard it's a terrific book for screenwriting, and I want to take the time to make the Mountain script even better. I'm also reading Roger Ebert's books, "The Great Movies" and "The Great Movies 2." He basically gives great critique of some of the greatest films of all time, so while I'm currently getting caught up on some of the great all-time films and studying them, I can read his critique afterwards to get additional perspective. This is a great tool for a filmmaker who's seeking to learn what makes a film great. I just saw Godard's "Breathless" for the first time, and some of his techniques were revolutionary. It's important to not only see films from those who influence you, but from those who influences the influencers.

So if you're in the early stages of your film education, I'd recommend renting the movies that are in the AFI Top 100 list, or Ebert's books, and then reading Ebert's analysis of what makes them great.

More to come...

Sorry It

2007-08-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Been on vacation for a few weeks, haven't gotten to this blog in awhile. If you read it by any chance, I apologize.

First off, the novel my Dad and I wrote that comes out in October got a nice review from Publisher's Weekly. Here it is:

Midnight Clear
Jerry B. Jenkins and Dallas Jenkins. Tyndale, $9.99 paper (204p) ISBN 978-1-4143-1659-8

Most Christmas novellas are as gentle as snow falling in a well-contained snow globe: everything is muted and soft around the edges. But this story by Jenkins (Left Behind), a novelization of the December DVD release Midnight Clear starring Stephen Baldwin, takes on some darker themes than the usual holiday fare: one character is a realistically portrayed alcoholic, another a young mother whose husband is brain damaged after a devastating car accident, and another an old woman carefully cleaning her house on Christmas Eve to prepare for her planned holiday suicide. The other two characters are a depressed gas station owner and a disillusioned youth pastor, both of whom are wondering why life is so stultifying and hard. Jenkins is not a lyrical writer, and many of the story's transitions are abrupt and more suitable for a screenplay than a novel. But these are surprisingly genuine characters, and the novel doesn't have a contrived ending. Though the characters discover the hope of Christmas in the ordinary kindnesses they render each other, their difficult circumstances don't change overnight. The simple story, refreshingly devoid of treacle, becomes all the more hopeful because of the characters' earlier despair. (Oct.)

We're currently working on getting all our "delivery items" to Lionsgate. Note to filmmakers--make sure you're keeping good track of all your paperwork and contracts, and have in mind ahead of time that if you get a distribution deal, you're going to have to deliver all your key items and contracts to the distributor. The movie is scheduled to release December 4th.

One bummer--I shot the movie with a few "choice" words, a little vulgarity here and there that in my opinion fit the characters in the film and their level of roughness. I think the movie plays better to adults anyway. I was always planning to release two versions of the DVD--one mainstream, and one "clean" version for Christian bookstores. But Lionsgate, in their attempt to appeal to the Christian market overall and deal with two marketing strategies, only wants the clean version. In a way, this is my fault. If the film would have been more successful, I would have been able to dictate this kind of stuff. But because it's not a big-name, high profile film, Lionsgate needs to do everything possible to get an edge in the customer game, so I guess I'm stuck. Oh well, I still think my idea will work for a film eventually.

Chapter One

2007-07-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the official first chapter of the novel I wrote with my Dad, set to come out from Tyndale in October:

December 24, 8:15 a.m

Lefty
Lefty Boyle's rusted '76 Caprice sat half a football field from the other cars in the factory parking lot, and he was in it - head back, eyes closed, mouth open, drooling.

A loud knock on the window interrupted the Hallmark portrait.

The car door opened from the outside. "You alive in there?"

The voice belonged to Kamal, the janitor who'd served as Lefty's alarm clock for the past three days.

Lefty stirred. "Yeah."

With that word came a stench of alcohol and morning breath that almost startled Lefty fully awake. Almost.

"You're fifteen minutes late. Dale's looking for you, and he's more ticked than usual."

Lefty tried to sink back into sleep. Nothing to think about. No reminders of, well, anything. Sleep was good.

Kamal nudged Lefty's shoulder. "You hear what I said?"

Lefty opened his eyes a sliver, but the morning light blinded him. He saw just enough to be reminded of where he was. He didn't remember exactly how he had gotten there, but fortunately, routine was his guide. As long as he got to his workplace parking lot at the end of each night, he would be where he needed to be the next morning.

"Yeah, Iâ€™m coming. And thanks for making me late!"

"Oh, gee, I'm sorry! My boss, who pays me, wanted me to do something more important than waking you up. Next time Iâ€™ll tell him I work for Lefty."

For a foreigner, Kamal had an impressive grasp of American sarcasm.

Lefty grabbed his mangled toothbrush from the visor and stumbled out of the car. The effects of sleeping upright for six hours, combined with his usual morning headache, nearly caused him to collapse. He steadied himself against his car, rubbed his eyes, and took a deep, nasty breath. He found the factory entrance up ahead, trained his eyes, and headed toward it.

Two minutes later, his shoes shuffled across the sticky floor of the factory bathroom. Lefty brushed his teeth and smoothed his greasy hair. He noticed a mustard stain on his shirt and, thinking quickly, turned the shirt inside out and took another glance at himself.

The shirt idea was a good one. Perhaps today had some promise. And wasn't it the twenty-fourth? Yeah, the last day before a holiday break for a few days. He could make it through today no problem. He straightened his shoulders and stared confidently at the image of himself before spotting his boss behind him in the grime-spotted mirror.

"Hey, Princess," Dale said, "when you're done putting on your makeup, get your royal behind into my office." The door slammed behind him.

Lefty's shoulders returned to their slumped position.

Merry Christmas.
Kirk
It wasn't even 8:30 in the morning, and Kirk was tired. Not a good sign.

The call had awakened him at 6:30. Kirk found it hard to believe that his seventeen-year-old employee had magically fallen sick the day before Christmas, but he was at least impressed the kid got up that early to call him. If only he was as committed to his work . . .

The fact that it was Christmas Eve wasn't what annoyed Kirk about coming in. He had no special plans, and he wasn't a big holiday guy anyway. It was more that he had gotten his hopes up about sleeping in today. Kirk took only a handful of days off each year; and when he did, he slept in till noon, worked on the porch he'd been building for years, and relaxed. He'd been looking forward to today for over a week, and he'd been in the middle of some deep sleep when he was informed that this day would be the same as the 360 or so other mind-numbing days of the year.

Kirk wheeled into Mr. K's Quick Stop and parked in his usual spot, off to the side, amid loose gravel and tall weeds, close to the woods. He glanced up at the rusted sign. Good grief, what a cheesy name. That he was responsible for it made it worse.

He unlocked the door and two padlocks and stepped inside. His place. Four rows of "convenient" goods (healthy food was inconvenient, apparently) in front of a wall of beverages and frozen food. The side wall bore random fishing items and included a tiny, greasy eating area no longer open for business. Large banners, depicting beer and cigarettes consumed by people who looked nothing like his customers, hung from the ceiling.

For most gas stations of this ilk, opening meant turning on the pumps, the cash register, and the food machines. But try as he might, Kirk couldn't break the routine he'd started when he first bought the place and actually gave a rip. Toilet scrubbed. Garbage emptied. Soap dispenser filled. Paper towel and napkin canisters loaded. Merchandise organized. And, of course, brewing the gourmet coffee. He knew that offering gourmet coffee at a place like this was akin to offering a filet mignon at a hot dog stand. His store and his customers didnâ€™t deserve gourmet coffee. But he couldn't do the instant stuff. Just couldn't.

He finished the brew, wiped down the counters, and tossed some loose trash. For the local trailer park families, shirtless smokers, meth addicts, fisher men, and long-distance travelers who thought the Southwest would be a good Christmas location, Mr. K's Quick Stop was ready.

Sorry, We're Closed became Yes, We're Open!

Merry Christmas.

Eva
Eva was determined that her death would cause no complications for anyone, and since today was the day - or rather, tonight would be the night - she thought it best to prepare.

She trudged through her house toward the kitchen, running through a mental checklist of the tasks she needed to accomplish today. She had always made a point of ensuring nothing was left undone or turned on when she left the house for vacation; she certainly wanted to make sure of the same now that she was leaving her house forever.

As Eva grabbed the cat food bag from her kitchen counter for the last time, it wasn't sadness or remorse she felt. Just a sense of duty. She would accomplish her tasks today with calm and dignity. She would not cry, she would not be overly sentimental, and she would not act scared. This would be like any other day, just perhaps a little busier.

Eva lugged the bag out to her driveway and, leaning against the house, bent and filled the bowl. The sound brought Scrappy, the neighborhood stray, running. As the cat dug in, Eva emptied the rest of the food onto the concrete. Scrappy would need enough to last however long it took for someone to discover Eva's body.

Merry Christmas.

Mary
Mary pulled into the drop-off spot at the elementary school a bit too fast. Her morning routine with Jacob always seemed rushed now that she was raising him on her own. At six years old, Jacob had no problem getting up at 6:45 every morning. But Mary did. She would turn on the Disney Channel for him, go back to bed for half an hour, then slam through the morning to get him to school by 8:15 and herself to work by 8:30. It helped that she didn't need to look flawless and that she and Jacob were both fine with Nutri-Grain bars in the minivan as their breakfast of champions.

Jacob's too-cute teacher, wearing a too-cute Santa hat, bounced out to greet them. "Hey, Jacob!" Megan said. "How're you doing, buddy?"

Jacob smiled and waved, unbuckling his seat belt.

Megan's smile vanished, and she cocked her head.

Here it comes.

"Hey, Mary. You doing okay?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Seriously. You doing all right?" Megan lowered her voice, as if to emphasize the seriousness of her question.

Mary paused. Megan wasn't going to let her off the hook, especially today. "As well as can be expected. Seriously."

Thankfully, Jacob struggled with the door, and Megan rushed to help him out of the van.

As he ran off, Mary called out, "Love you, Jacob! Be good!"

Without turning or slowing, he hollered, "Love you!"

Mary turned back to Megan. "His juice box is in his backpack. Heâ€™ll try to tell you I forgot to give him -"

"Got it." Megan smiled knowingly, then looked puzzled, peering in at Mary.

"Hey, you know those seats are adjustable."

Mary had been riding low in the seat, reaching for the wheel, for a year and had gotten used to it.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, this is the way Rick liked it, though. I just . . . you know . . ."

Megan backed off. "Yeah. Okay. See you at noon?"

Finally.

"See you at noon."

Today was December 24. This conversation would not be the last of its kind, Mary was sure. People are just trying to be nice, she reminded herself.

Merry Christmas.

Mitch
Mitch exchanged his car for the fifteen-passenger van in the church parking lot. The van needed gas for a dozen small trips all afternoon and evening. This jaunt to the gas station would mark the only time he would be in it without a load of loud teenagers.

It was going to be a miserable day, plain and simple. In six hours, when he had to take his youth group kids caroling, it would get really miserable. But this was also the one-year anniversary of the accident.

A year before, Mitch's car had been in the shop, so Rick, his best friend and one of the youth leaders, gave him a ride home from the church youth party. The drunk driver never slowed as he raced through the intersection and rammed the driver's side of Rick's car. Mitch suffered cracked ribs and a separated shoulder when Rickâ€™s body drove him into the passenger door.

Mitch had needed a sling and bandages. Rick had needed epic, emergency surgery. A year later, he was still institutionalized.

Everything had changed that night. Everything. Rick wasn't really Rick anymore. On the rare days he was settled enough to have a moderately coherent conversation, they had nothing to talk about. Most days Rick was like a two-year-old, everything included - tantrums, diapers, you name it. Either way, the casualness and shared sense of humor that had defined their friendship were gone, replaced by awkward small talk.

Mitch hadn't visited him in weeks; it was too hard, and the visits didn't seem to do much for Rick anyway.

Now, as Mitch passed through the same intersection, he got that same chill and couldn't keep from looking both ways repeatedly. He'd passed through it hundreds of times in the past year, but it was always the same. Every time, random details of the accident flashed in his mind. The screaming of a woman bystander, the blood pooling in Mitch's lap, the flashing lights of half a dozen cop cars and ambulances. Every time, he shuddered and felt weak because of his reaction.

The fact that the accident had taken place on Christmas Eve made forgetting or ignoring the one-year anniversary impossible, even if he had wanted to. Eventually, Christmas Eves might feel normal again. But so far, this one wasn't looking good.

Merry Christmas.
Latest
Published: July 3, 2007
Well, it looks like we got a deal with Lionsgate for Midnight Clear, so that's pretty great. They're a great company that knows how to handle all kinds of movies. Interestingly, their acquisitions guy saw the movie at a screening I held in December that went awful. The movie wasn't quite ready, but he thought the Christmas element of it could sell.

Whenever you finish an independent film, you obviously want to get it to distributors. The best way is, of course, to get accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. We apparently came incredibly close. Then, you hope that it gets accepted into a few other great festivals. Another way to go is to simply hold an industry screening, where you send out postcards and perhaps a trailer to every acquisitions executive in town. Because it's their job to see as many movies as possible, it's usually not that difficult to get SOMEONE to come from each company. For Hometown Legend, the first film I produced, we got dozens of acquisitions executives to come, and the screening went very well. The acquisitions guy at Warner Brothers showed up and liked the film, and we had a deal.

On Midnight Clear, I arranged a screening, but the movie wasn't totally ready by the time the screening was held. It didn't look or sound very good, unfortunately. But thankfully, Lionsgate saw past that. The movie should come to DVD in December.

As far as that's concerned, I'm obviously disappointed the movie wasn't big enough to garner a theatrical release, but I can accept responsibility for that. When looking at the common themes of independent films that break out and get distribution, there are two things that really stand out. One, these films have one or two strong, central characters that really stand out and get noticed, either for the originality of the character or the performance of the actor. Our film had basically five lead characters, so i think I might have spread myself a bit thin in that regard. Also, most of these films have a lot of humor, even if the films aren't outright comedies. Midnight Clear doesn't have as much humor as it probably should have.

I'm very proud of the film, and I think it's a very good film. Is it a great film? Probably not. There are some choices I made aesthetically that probably held it back a bit, and again, I probably spread myself too thin emotionally and character-wise for a film this small. But the film will hold up well over the years, I believe, and I think it will be a good part of our library.

In the meantime, I'm reading a lot of books on filmmaking and watching a lot of movies. My close friend and successful filmmaker Scott Derrickson (Exorcism of Emily Rose) has been essentially mentoring me in that regard, helping me see some of my shortcomings and how I can grow. I'm desperate to become a great filmmaker, especially so that my next film, Mountain, can be truly great.

My plan over the next few months is to read at least ten books, and hopefully I'll be in pre-production on a film by the end of that time. The first few books I'll read will be on the industry in general (I'm currently reading "Tell Me How You Love the Picture" by Ed Feldman), and as I get closer to making a film, the books will be more and more about the specific aesthetics of film.

Dallas

Writing...

2007-06-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

One of the main problems that faithfilms have had is that they've been written in a way that would only appeal to Christians. Even successful "Christian" films haven't had much of an impact--financially,critically, or intellectually--outside of the Christian market. On the other -based hand, some religious or culturally motivated films from other groups have managed to cross over into the mainstream, films like Bend It Like Beckham, The Namesake, Big Fat Greek Wedding, or on a large scale, films like Schindler's List or The Last Samurai.

One thing that has kept Christian-themed films from breaking out has been a simple lack of quality. There are exceptions, of course, but even most defenders of the Christian film community would agree that there hasn't been much to crow about on the artistic scale.

But assuming for a moment that a high quality script could be written (and several have been, such as The Mission, Chariots of Fire, The Apostle, etc.), I believe there are five key issues that should be considered when attempting to create Christian-themed storylines and characters that would be accessible and compelling to a mainstream audience.

1. Show Christians with flaws. Many Christian-themed scripts present too rosy of a picture of the Christian experience. Oftentimes, whatever flaws that are presented are surface-level and quickly overcome or resolved. Unfortunately, that's not realistic, nor is it even an accurate portrayal of the Christian message, which is that we are all deeply flawed human being who are in constant need of grace. In fact, we would (or at least should) acknowledge that most of our biggest flaws are never fully overcome.

Of course, it's true that the overwhelming majority of Christians portrayed in mainstream films are usually the most flawed or crazy characters in the story, so there should be a balance. But faith-based films often go too far in the other direction.

2. Have self-deprecating humor. One of the great things about movies like Greek Wedding and Bend it Like Beckham is that they were willing to poke fun at some of the traditions and idiosyncrosies of their respective cultures and faiths. And they didn't do it harshly or with cynicism. The fact is, every people group has its own silliness, and far too often Christians seem to be unwilling to have a sense of humor about theirs. An audience member is far more willing to suspend his cynicism or wariness if he senses that the storyteller doesn't take himself too seriously.

3. Not every problem has to be solved by a Christian. In real life, many non-Christians are just as kind, generous, and truthful, if not more, as any Christian you'll meet. In many Christian-themed films, there are few non-Christian characters, even fewer who don't end up converting, and even fewer who help solve problems. It can be a turn-off to a non-believing audience member if he sees that in the world of the filmmaker, Christians are the only ones who have the answers or solutions. Think of Schindler's List and Greek Wedding--outsiders to the faith were oftentimes heroic or wise.

4. Show reality. This is similar to point #1, but I'm not referring to personality traits here. I'm referring to the fact that life is often dark and hard and difficult, and answers don't come quickly or easily, and solutions don't always arrive. If you look at the Old Testament, you'd see a grim and disturbing picture of life, and not everything wrapped up nice and neat. Too often Christian-themed films want to sugarcoat the human experience in order to maintain a G or PG rating. But the most important part of the gospel story is the fact that sin and evil exist, and that God doesn't always make life on earth a smooth ride. I believe that non-Christians would be more open-minded to a Christian-themed film if they thought it actually represented their life experience in some way, and not just the happy or clean parts.

5. Not every story has to end in a salvation experience. Many Christians think that a film isn't a Christian film unless it shows a conversion or includes the explicit gospel message. But think of the parables Jesus told, or most of the stories in the Old Testament--many of them were simple life lessons, or cautionary tales, or simply historical records. There are many fascinating and exciting stories from the Christian experience that don't necessarily involve an actual spiritual conversation, and that doesn't make the stories any less "Christian."

Hollywood studios are right now seeking faith-based entertainment to tap into a marketplace and business opportunity they never thought existed. Writers and filmmakers who are Christians need to be ready, and they need to be able to tell stories that can have wide appeal so that the studio will be incentivized to make even more films like it. And even more important, films like this can have the intellectual and spiritual impact on society that Christians want so badly to have.

Update

2007-05-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since my last blog. If any of you read it on a semi-regular basis, I apologize.

In addition to posting some of my general thoughts, I thought I'd make this more of a blow by blow account of some of stuff small production companies do. Maybe some of you would appreciate an inside look at it, I don't know. All it costs is my typing time, right?

Here are some updates on where we're at:

1. I've been touring festivals with Midnight Clear, having some good screenings. It's very important for any aspiring filmmaker to do the festival circuit thing at some point. Of course, you have to make a film that gets accepted into festivals, which isn't easy. I've been on both sides. My first short got rejected EVERYWHERE, it was depressing.

Midnight Clear's been odd, though. Frustrating and joyous at different times. The first festival I submitted to was Sundance, and it was a very rough cut. We found out that we basically got as close as you can get without actually getting in, and that they loved the film. Out of 2000 entries, we were in the top 5% considered. Two days after the rejection, which was also oddly encouraging, we were accepted into Cinequest, a great festival I'd really wanted to get into. And a week later, we were accepted into Sedona, another really good festival. So I was flying high, I figured we'd dominate the festival circuit.

Then the rejection laters came, from festivals big and small. Very disheartening. And now we're getting accepted into a few more, including three in one weekend coming up (Oklahoma City, Boston, and Waterfront). Just goes to show there's no rhyme or reason to it.

2. Still developing "Mountain," my passion project. Got a few different financial options, we'll see what happens. Our basic plan is to budget the project between $3 and $4 million, with up to $1 million to a lead "name" actor. The lead role is so juicy that we think we can get someone really good. FYI, my top choices are Josh Lucas, Christian Bale, and Woody Harrelson, with Hugh Jackman as my miracle option. Longshots, I know, but hey. Woody's not the biggest name around, but I've envisioned him in this role since the script began four years ago, and he'd be amazing in it. The movie is Matewan meets The Apostle. If you haven't heard of Matewan, it's set in the 1920's mountains of Virginia, during the coal miner's strike.

3. We've been talking with a couple of studios about about the possibility of a multi-picture deal. Right now there's tremendous interest in faith-based projects, and while my goal isn't to slide into the "Christian movie" factory the studios are running right now, I don't want to miss out on a good opportunity to get movies made. My Dad wrote a successful book series called "Soon," and there's some interest at a few places in turning them into movies. Doing that, along with Mountain, could make for a nice long-term relationship, where the studio puts up half of the budget for each production, we bring in the other half. It'd be nice to find a home.

As of now there's particular interest from two places, so we'll see how it goes. One company in particular REALLY loves Mountain, even though it's a difficult project to market.

Will keep you posted...

Books and movies

2007-04-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm often asked what movies or books I would recommend for people who are interested in the movie business in any way. I'll get straight to the point:

Movies that inspired my style or my desire to make certain kinds of films, in no particular order:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (the movie that made me want to make movies)
Pulp Fiction (the film that changed all the rules about storytelling and content--controversial, but a masterpiece)
Jerry Maguire (if I had a chance to make a bigger budgeted film, this is the kind of film I'd want to make--incredible structure, and a fanastic mix of humor and drama)
It's a Wonderful Life (in my opinion, a perfect film. Incredible structure, fantastic message, and I love how dark it gets before the redemption)
Erin Brockovich/Traffic (Soderbergh's storytelling and editing style have inspired me more than any other--he doesn't follow standard rules, he just shows you what he wants you to see)
Magnolia (Dramatic without being cheesy--so many incredible moments.)

American films every aspiring filmmaker needs to see:

The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca--For various reasons. Citizen Kane is the film every film textbook looks at, because it set the standard for last century's films, and it literally invented certain camera and lighting techniques. The Godfather introduced a new kind of film and hero; Pulp Fiction changed the film world and brought indie films mainstream; Casablanca is film school for its dialogue and pacing.

Books that can help those aspiring to be in the film industry:

"Behind the scenes" books on the industry (if you want to understand the culture of Hollywood and how its top people think): You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again, High Concept, Down and Dirty Pictures, Keys to the Kingdom, Hollywood Animal

"Educational" books, if you simply want tips on navigating through the industry or making a film: Adventures in the Screen Trade and Whose Lie Did I Tell?, Directors Close Up, Making Movies, Wannabe, Hello He Lied. The books by K Callan are great for people getting started.

Hope that helps answer a few common questions!

Dallas

Festivals
Published: April 6, 2007
Just got back from the Sedona Film Festival, which was nice. Festivals are a strange beast--at a place like Sundance, you're trying to sell your film and give yourself a chance to get an agent, a deal, or another opportunity. At a place like Sedona, it's solely about showing your film to a receptive audience. You're not going to make money from it, you're likely not going to get a deal from it, and there aren't really any "important" people there who are going to make or break your career. It's really the most art-driven aspect of the film business--your art being shown to an audience with nothing exchanged other than appreciation or dislike.

Ultimately, I need my film to be financially successful, or I can't make films again. But in the meantime, festivals like Sedona are a wonderful experience. The audiences seemed to respond well to the film, and when someone comes up to you after the film and tells you how much it meant to them, there's really no better feeling.

For any of you who are film students or just getting into filmmaking, I hope you get a chance to submit any films you make to a festival. Even if it's a 10 minute video, try to get it out there. It will not only be a valuable learning experience, it'll be one of the few times in your hopefully long career where money and commerce have nothing to do with the viewing experience.

Cussing

2007-02-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

In the last week alone I've had two detailed email "debates" about the issue of cussing in movies. It's been fascinating. The first one came because my Dad and I got an email from a viewer of the film "Though None Go With Me," which she saw on DVD. She was horrified because at the beginning of the film, one of the characters (a doctor) says, "I brought him into this world, and I'll be damned if I let him suffer because he can't afford medical insurance." She believed that using the word "damned" was inappropriate, sinful, and offensive, and it compromised the Jerry Jenkins name.

I've also been discussing the issue with someone who's interested in helping raise money for "Mountain." In the script, there's a fair amount of cussing (no F-bombs or blasphemy, but a few other choice phrases) because the story is about a bunch of drinking, fighting mountain people in 1920's Virginia.

This issue has always puzzled me in the Christian community. My films aren't intended to be Christian films or made solely for the Christian market, but because my films do come from a Christian perspective and worldview and usually include some Christian characters or references, I have a relationship with the Christian market.

That said, I've always wondered why most Christians have no problem watching films that contain the sins of betrayal, murder, stealing, lying, or drunkenness, but they can't stand to see someone commit the "sin" of saying a bad word. I didn't mean for that sentence to sound condescending, but it does puzzle me. I think that faith-based films have a tendency to be so sugar-coated and sanitized that the ultimate redemption they try to portray is tempered. The message of Christianity is that God can redeem and save the dirtiest of souls, and that hope can be found in the midst of the most vulgar of circumstances. I don't believe that films should be titillating or present wrong behavior in a glorifying or endorsing way (not sure if I'm being grammatically correct right now, but bear with me), but I also believe that sanitizing it in order to be "safe," "clean," or "family friendly" really ignores an important aspect of the Christian message.

The Old Testament, for example, is full of disgusting, horrifying, and yes, vulgar stories. Several translations tell of people "pissing on a wall," "eating their own dung," or one man "spilling his seed on the ground." Of course, the Bible always portrays an overall message of good over evil, of hope and redemption triumphing over immorality.

Therefore, in the case of cussing in films, it seems odd that we would treat that sin as worse than others and as something to avoid at all costs.

But let me illustrate my point through a scene in my script for "Mountain," which is the true story of Bob Childress, a man who went from being the biggest fighter and hardest drinker in the 1920's mountains of Virginia to become a life-changing preacher. Here's a scene that takes place during the period of time when he's trying to be a better man:

OUTSIDE CHURCH

Bob talks with other members. A MAN approaches.

MAN
The Heller of the Hollow at a Presbyterian church! Childress, you got no right readin' from the Bible.
BOB
I'm tellin' yuh, I ain't the same man.
MAN
Like hell you ain't! Your cousin Jess, your whole damn family live by stealin' and fightin'!
BOB
You jus' watch yerself!
MAN
You a sinner your whole life.
BOB
I reckon I'm still a sinner...but I been saved.
MAN
I don't believe you changed a lick. God got no place for the likes a you.

Bob punches the man, knocking him out. Bob realizes what he's done.

BOB
Aw, hell!

He falls to his knees.

BOB
Lord, please forgive these damn fists.
(covers his mouth)
And this tongue.

BUGGY - NEARBY

Lelia and Maggie stare at Bob. Reverend Smith walks up.

REVEREND SMITH
The Lord changes some slower than he changes others.
Now what's the greater sin portrayed in the scene? The fact that he punched a man or that he swore? I would say that he punched a man. But either way, why would it be okay to show the punch but not hear him say a bad word? This is what has always confused me about certain people's reactions to movies. I think the scene is very poignant and a creative and efficient way to show on screen one man's transformation from the "old" to the "new," which is very difficult to do. Showing a spiritual transformation is about as hard to do on film as anything--it's easy to show someone losing weight, or someone getting smarter, or someone learning how to box, or a building turning more beautiful. And it's also easy to show the moment in which these ideas are formulated--"I need to lose weight because my fat is killing me," or "I need to train for this big event so I can win," or "This building is broken down and ugly and needs improvement."
But showing someone have a spiritual heart change is extraordinarily difficult, and most movies fail at it, which is why most Christian movies never break out of the church basement. The reason is that it's so hard to show, in a short amount of time, someone's NEED for God, and then to show how their relationship with God has changed them. Do they smile more? Do more good things for others? How does their life improve? What if their circumstances don't improve (which is realistic in real life, but is rarely, if ever, shown in faith-based films)?
So how do we effectively and efficiently, in the course of 2 hour movie, show a heart change? Even more difficult, and in our case, how do we show it in the span of the first 40 minutes of the movie so that we can get on to the ministry part of Bob's life? And on that same train of thought, how do we show the transformation of the whole region? Especially when we don't have the benefit of a book format, where you can discuss people's thoughts and motivations without having to show them.
I suppose, if we really wanted the film to be as clean as possible, we could use narration, or we could have characters say things like, "I used to cuss, but I don't anymore." But I believe that would make for a static and sanitized movie. And what it would gain in appealing to church families it would lose in being unrelatable or dynamic to someone who isn't a Christian but was interested in the film.
In my opinion, a great way to show the spiritual transformation of Bob Childress, and subsequently the region, is to use the tools we have as artists--words and actions. In the scene above, in one page, we have efficiently and dramatically shown what is going on inside of Bob's heart, without being cheesy or overly simple. By using rough actions and rough words in the first part of the film, and then showing a lack of those actions and those words in the latter part of the film, we are showing victory. And I confess I wouldn't see the point in sanitizing those words to protect our ears as we watch the film, anymore than I would see the point in sanitizing the actions to protect our eyes. The "F-word," or the Lord's name in vain, would probably be pushing the envelope unnecessarily, because those words are considered so strong and inflammatory in our culture that they can be a distraction. Not that I would be adverse to using the "f-word" in a film if it had a strong and specific purpose, but usually, it's just window dressing.

Anyway, thsoe are some of my recent thoughts on this interestingly controversial topic. FYI, I do believe that there are some movies that can and should do without cussing, especially if they're marketed to families. And I also recognize that certain people go to films for different reasons, and sometimes they don't want to smell the dirty sewer of life, they just want some clean entertainment. That's totally fine. I've been part of movies that fit that description, especially Though None Go With Me (the word "damned" excluded). It's just not the type of film I'll usually make.
Cussing and funding...
Published: February 17, 2007
Have had some interesting financing opportunities for "Mountain" come up recently. At least five different producers or investor representatives have some level of interest in Mountain, and the film could end up being shot anywhere from California to Canada to Virginia. My ultimate preference would be to shoot in Virginia, where the story took place, because that would obviously be the easiest place to match the settings of the story.

When considering where to shoot a film, there are several factors to think about. You're trying to find the perfect balance between cost and authenticity. You want to be true to the story, but obvioulsy, if you're doing a movie set in space, you can't shoot on location. On a smaller scale, the same holds true for movies that take place in different countries or time periods. For instance, Cold Mountain took place in the American South in the 1800's, but the best place to shoot was Romania because of cost and efficiency.

The factors include:

1. Cast and crew base. Your crew will consist of several dozen people, and they'll be working nonstop for at least four weeks on indie movies, several months on bigger films. Best case scenario is to have a great crew available locally so you don't have to pay for hotels. If a great crew isn't available, you have to put them in hotels, give them "per diems" (cash for daily needs), etc. Same thing with actors--it's assumed that you'll pay to put a few of your lead actors in a hotel unless you're shooting in Los Angeles, but you don't want to have to put up all your supporting actors and featured extras. So ultimately, you want to find a location that has a good actor and crew base in the area.

2. Location costs. It costs money to rent an office, shut down a street, or close down a restaurant to shoot there. In Los Angeles, people are film-experienced enough to charge good money. However, if you shoot in certain towns around the country that haven't had a lot of films there, they often WANT you to shoot there, so they'll bend over backwards. On Hometown Legend, we paid a total of a few hundred bucks for all our locations in the film, which is unheard of. But the local area in Alabama wanted us there, knew we were adding economic value to the town, and were excited to host a real film. In exchange, we cleaned up our messes and even fixed a few town lights out of appreciation.

3. Authenticity. Obviously, you need places that look like the setting of your story. For Mountain, the story takes place in the 1920's in mountains of Virginia, so if we can get good deals on points 1 and 2, it would be ideal to shoot there.

4. Tax incentives. A lot of states (and countries, as Canada has shown) are offering tax breaks and incentives to shoot there. They recognize that by hiring their citizens and buying hotel rooms, food, equipment, etc., you are bringing value to the area. So they'll oftentimes give you significant tax breaks on everything you spend in the state. States like New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri are offering up to 30%, which is significant.

Anyhoo, that's my little film lesson for the day. Enjoy.

Dallas

Midnight Clear book

2007-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

My Dad and I have been working on a possible book deal for Midnight Clear. It would be a novel, based on the screenplay, but we would make it more than a traditional novelization. Most novelizations are just re-tellings of the movie, but we'd want it to be a little more than that. We're currently in discussions with a couple of publishers who are very interested. Hopefully, we'll have a deal to announce soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd provide the first chapter here. We wrote it as a sample for the publishers, and the response was very positive. Thought you'd enjoy it:

ONE December 24th, 8:15 a.m.

Lefty
Why is it a guy seems to drool in his sleep only when someone might see it? Nestled in your proper place at the proper time, the pillow stays dry. Otherwise, you might need a bib.

Lefty Boyle was not in his proper place at the proper time. His rusted '76 Caprice sat half a football field from the other cars at the factory, and he was in it - head back, mouth open, and yes, drooling.

A loud knock on the window interrupted the Hallmark portrait.

"You alive in there?"

Kamal, the janitor who'd served as Lefty's wakeup three days running, opened the door.

Lefty stirred. 'Yeah."

"You're fifteen minutes late. Dale's looking for you, and he's more ticked than usual."

Back to sleep.

"You hear what I said?" Kamal said, turning away.

"Yeah, I'm comin'. And thanks for makin' me late!"

Kamal whirled. "Oh gee, I'm sorry! My boss, who pays me, wanted me to do something. Next time I'll tell him I work for Lefty."

Lefty grabbed his mangled toothbrush from the visor and stumbled out. Two minutes later, in the nasty factory bathroom, he brushed his teeth and smoothed his greasy hair. He turned his mustard stained shirt inside out, then spotted his boss behind him in the mirror.

"Hey, Princess," Dale said. "When youâ€™re done putting on your makeup, get your royal behind in my office." The door slammed behind him.

Merry Christmas.

Kirk
The call had awakened him at 6:30. Kirk found it hard to believe that his 17-year-old employee had magically fallen sick the day before Christmas, but he was impressed the kid got up that early to tell him. If only he was as committed to his work...

Kirk wheeled into Mr. K's Quick Stop in his usual spot - off to the side, amidst loose gravel and tall weeds, close to the woods. He glanced up at the rusted sign. Grief, what a cheesy name.

He unlocked the door and two padlocks and stepped inside. His place. Four rows of "convenient" items (healthy food is inconvenient, apparently) in front of a wall of beverages and frozen food. The side wall bore random fishing items and included a tiny greasy eating area no longer open for business. Large banners hung from the ceiling depicting beer and cigarettes being consumed by people who looked nothing like his customers.

For most gas stations of this ilk, opening meant turning on the pumps, the cash register, and the food machines. But try as he might, Kirk couldn't break the routine started when he first bought the place and actually gave a rip: Toilet scrubbed. Garbage emptied. Soap dispenser, paper towel and napkin dispensers filled, merchandise organized. And, of course, gourmet coffee brewed. He couldn't do the instant stuff. Just couldn't.

For the local trailer park families, shirtless smokers, meth addicts, fishermen, and long distance travelers, Mr. K's Quick Stop was ready.

Sorry, We're Closed became Yes, We're Open!

Merry Christmas.

Eva
Today was the day. Or, better said, tonight would be the night. When you want your death to cause no complications for anyone, it's best to prepare.

Eva lugged the cat food bag out to her driveway, and leaning against the house, bent and filled the bowl. The sound brought Scrappy, the neighborhood stray, and as he dug in, Eva emptied the rest onto the concrete. Scrappy would need enough to last for however long it took for anyone to discover Eva's body.

Merry Christmas.

Mary
Mary pulled into the drop-off spot at the elementary school a bit too fast. Raising him on her own for the last year, her morning routine with Jacob was always rushed. At six years old, he had no problem getting up at 6:45 every morning. But she did. She would turn on the Disney Channel for him, go back to bed for half an hour, then slam through the morning to get him to school by 8:15 and herself to work by 8:30. It helped that she didn't need to look flawless, and that she and Jacob were both fine with Nutri-Grain bars in the mini-van as their breakfast of champions.

Jacob's too-cute teacher wearing a too-cute Santa hat, bounced out to greet them.

"Hey Jacob!" Megan said. "How ya' doin', buddy?"

Jacob smiled and waved, unbuckling his seat.

Megan's smile vanished and she cocked her head.

Here it comes.

"Hey, Mary. You doing okay?"

"Iâ€™m fine. You?"

Whispered now. "Seriously. You doin' all right?"

Mary paused. Megan wasn't going to let her off the hook, especially today.

"As well as can be expected. Seriously."

Thankfully, Jacob struggled with the door, and Megan rushed to let him out. As he ran off, Mary called out, "Love you, Jacob, be good!"

Without turning or slowing, he hollered, "Love you!"

Mary turned back to Megan. "His juice box is in his backpack. He'll try to tell you I forgot to give him - "

"Got it." Megan smiled, knowingly, then looked puzzled, peering in at Mary. "Hey, you know those seats are adjustable."

Mary had been riding low in the seat, reaching for the wheel, for a year and had gotten used to it.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, this is the way Rick liked it, though. I justâ€¦you knowâ€¦"

Megan backed off. "Yeah. Okay. See you at three?"

Finally. "See you at three."

Today was December 24th. That conversation would not be the last of its kind, Mary was sure of that. People are just trying to be nice, she reminded herself.

Merry Christmas.

Mitch
Mitch exchanged his car for the 15-passenger van in the church parking lot. The van needed gas for a dozen small trips all afternoon and evening. This jaunt to the gas station would mark the only time he would be in it without a load of loud teenagers.

It was going to be a miserable day, plain and simple. In six hours, it would get really miserable, when he had to take his youth group kids caroling. But this was also the one year anniversary of the accident.

A year before, Mitch's car had been in the shop, so Rick, his best friend and one of the youth leaders, was giving him a ride home from the church youth party. The drunk driver never slowed as he raced through the intersection and rammed the driver's side of Rick's car. Mitch suffered cracked ribs and a separated shoulder when Rick's body drove him into the passenger door. Mitch needed a sling and bandages. Rick needed epic, emergency care, and was still institutionalized.

Everything changed that night. Everything. Rick wasn't really Rick. Mitch felt so awkward around him. On the rare days Rick was settled enough to have a moderately coherent conversation, they had nothing to talk about. Most days Rick was like a two-year-old, everything included - tantrums, diapers, you name it. Mitch hadn't visited him for weeks; it was too hard, and the visits didnâ€™t seem to do much for Rick anyway.

Now, as Mitch passed through the same intersection, he got that same chill and couldn't keep from looking both ways repeatedly. He'd passed through it hundreds of times in the past year, but it was always the same. It made him feel weak.

He would have remembered the anniversary of the accident anyway, but that it was Christmas Eve drilled it. Eventually, Christmas Eves might feel normal again. But so far, this one wasn't looking good.

Merry Christmas.

Namesake movie
Published: January 9, 2007
I got my start in this business working for Namesake Entertainment out of Louisville. I worked there for over three years, right out of college, as they had optioned the rights to the Left Behind series. My time there was an invaluable learning experience.

This past weekend, their third feature film was released by Fox Faith. The fact that they've gotten so many films produced and released in the last few years is astounding, but this release brings up what is still frustrating about the "Christian film market." Fox Faith opened "Three" on 450 screens, and it grossed about $700,000, which is a pretty bad opening. Plus, the reviews were painful.

It seems as if studios like Fox are starting these "Christian" divisions and hoping the market shows up, but they're doing nothing to really massage or develop it. They assume the Christian market will support a film solely because of "the cause," as if the quality of the film or a normal marketing campaign are irrelevant.

I think the key for faith-based films to succeed in the long run is for them to be treated like normal films, with the Christian market used as a support and safety net. Think of films like Narnia or Walk to Remember. They were released as normal films, with either big name stars or big-time attention to quality. Then, the studios pursued the Christian audience directly to emphasize that this film was something they could trust. But before then, the audience had to believe that the film was something they could LIKE.

Three will probably end up being a moderate success for Fox on a financial scale. They'll hit a solid single. And I believe that Namesake is passionate about making successful and good films, and I hope that each one gets better. But I think the possibility of hitting a home run is there, if the studios would concentrate first on making great films before they focus solely on making sure it panders to Christians.

Kids film camp and brief update...

2006-12-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd point out an opportunity I ran across that might be interesting for parents of children who are interested in film.

http://www.cinequest.org/camp/campCQ.php

Good organization, good people--could be a great chance for your kids to start learning now.

I'm finishing up the music for Midnight Clear, and we do the final sound mix in early January. The film is almost officially complete! Will continue with updates as I get them...
Fun stuff...

Published: December 1, 2006
Got some bad and good news on Midnight Clear in the last couple days. Bad news is we got rejected by Sundance. Good news is they told us that they loved the film, that it was a finalist and got as close as you can come without getting in. One of the programmers raved about the film, saying it handled the inter-weaving storyline with "uncommon subtlety and grace." Depressing and encouraging at the same time.

Also, we found out today we got accepted into the Cinequest Film Festival! That's pretty cool, as Chris Gore's Festival Guide has it listed as one of the top 15 festivals in the world, and Moviemaker Magazine said it's one of the top 20 worth the entry fee. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Interesting article on mtv.com that features my Dad and me:

Have had a few screenings of Midnight Clear lately and have decided to do a little more tweaking. Got a little more work to do on the music, and I'm probably going to cut a scene and make a few tweaks elsewhere...right now I think the film drags a bit in the first half. It's a fine line, because it's intentionally a slower-paced, subtle film, but you also want to be compelling. If a scene you've created is meant to be funny and people aren't laughing, or sad and people aren't touched, then you need to evaluate whether the scene belongs at all, even if it's "good."

Welcome!

2006-11-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

Welcome!
I had a blog at the old version of the site, but that is gone now. Welcome to the new blog. No special categories, just weekly updates on what's going on with the company, some answers to common questions, and perhaps a few pretentious rants about movies and whatnot.

Quick update: Midnight Clear is almost done, as we're finalizing the sound mix. The music is finished, and it's really terrific. Our composer, Jeehun Hwang, is a genius. We have a screening for distributors Wednesday, November 15th, and a screening for cast/crew/friends/industry acquaintances on the 21st. The distributor screening is huge, obviously, as this will define our chances of getting good distribution. The goal is to find a distributor that can get the movie mainstream exposure while also exploiting the Christian market. I know the Christian market is a valuable resource for this film, and I know they'll appreciate the message of the film, but I don't want this picture categorized only in that box. Also, we'll be hearing from Sundance within a month if we're in or not. I have inside word that the film is a finalist, which is great, and getting in would be HUGE for the film. We'll see.

Most common question response:

The most common question I get usually refers to how to get in the industry, how to get scripts read, etc. As I mention elsewhere in this site, you should check out the books by K Callan, especially if you're an actor. There are dozens of other books that are helpful as well. In my opinion, though, the two best routes are to either move to L.A. and get a job in a production company, then working your way up; or, simply making a movie where you're at. Whether it's a $500 short film, or something bigger, simply getting something on video or film sets you apart. Then you can make the next one bigger if you can even make a tiny profit on the first one (selling it locally and to your friends and family, making a profit for yourself or an investor).

I'm not trying to get too comprehensive here in just a paragraph, I'm just trying to give a quick bullet point or two. The main thing is, I can't really read scripts sent out from around the country, and neither can most production companies.

More to come...enjoy...

Dallas