Things heating up...

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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.