Christians in Cinema BLOG

Because of a family emergency, I spent the last few days in Omaha, Nebraska. That gives me access to my dad’s library of World War II films. A couple of years ago, my sister gave him the special edition of “Band of Brothers,” the HBO miniseries based on the heroic group of men known as […]

If you’re an independent filmmaker, you’re an entrepreneur. If you’re an entrepreneur, you might want some help or encouragement. You need The Big Idea.Find your passion and follow it. That’s the idea behind Donny Deutsch’s The Big Idea. Airing nightly on CNBC, he brings on guests whose entrepreneurial spirit has reaped for them great rewards. […]

I’ve read a lot of press releases and articles lately that refer to the wonderful success of Facing the Giants from our friends at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. It’s tempting to look at that story, look at the budget, and do some kind of differential equation that projects equal, or even greater, results. […]

This week, oil prices continue to surge, jumping at least $7 since the beginning of the week. The U.S. economy is already feeling the effects of the housing market slump and its related credit squeeze. Some analysts predict the price per gallon will reach $5 easily before the middle of summer. The cost of oil […]

Is it a well-thought-out campaign or a runaway train?
As a follow-up to Part II, here’s proof that the folks at Premise Media and Motive Entertainment are excellent students of Public Relations. This quote from Christianity Today’s newsletter mentions the amazing amount of free publicity they have received due to the controversy surrounding Expelled: No Intelligence […]

Hollywood Connect is a ministry of Christians working in Hollywood that offers seminars, panel discussions, and one-on-one mentoring for Christians coming to work in Hollywood. They believe in “raising the bar for industry Christians to compete heavily in the secular Hollywood market and to influence our culture.” I had the privilege of speaking with Nancy […]

Joseph Q Simpkins, who shared pictures from his new Red One camera, as well as special effects, sent me a link to a “sermon bump” filmed by Evan Vetter, the media guy at his church. It’s called “Pursuit,” and is really well done.
There’s a guy at my local church who is very gifted in capturing […]

I read a post by Kevin Kelly at “The Technium” called 1,000 True Fans. He makes the assertion that an artist needs to only find 1,000 “true fans” to make a living. Curious, I read his description of a true fan:
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. […]

“Movie” is actually a shortened version of “moving picture.” And its root word is “move.” I had this realization today as I’m aching from 3 days’ worth of manual labor to clean my latest purchase. I thought about the film that our producers just wrapped (the filming portion), and realized how similar the processes of […]

One of the first films I saw in a theater was a horror film. “Friday the 13th” (part 85, or something like that.) Prior to that, my movie-going had been limited to “Ghandi” and “The Competition.” I was a baby movie-phile.
This was a birthday gift from a friend (what a gift!), and it was horrifying! […]

I’ve had a running conversation with a friend of mine about an interesting question: Why do people react more strongly to crude language in a film than to violence?
I went to see “Definitely, Maybe” this week. No violence there, but the language was objectionable. It wasn’t crude language, in fact, just the opposite. It was […]

At last week’s meeting of the Biola Studio Task Force, writer/director Lauralee Farrer asked:
Where do we get the idea we’re supposed to make money with our art? If we don’t are we not going to do our art?
The question was asked during a discussion about her newest film, a documentary entitled The Fair Trade. Lauralee […]

As little as 7-10 short years ago, no one had heard of the i-Phone or i-Pod. Blu-Ray? What was that? DVD players were still fairly new technology. Television was mostly broadcast or cable, and satellite television was in its infancy.
Major changes in many aspects of the film industry have occurred in the last decade as […]

It’s no longer sufficient to buy advertising for things you want to sell. You need a hook, something for people to hang their hat on, a cause that makes people “willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.” (I’ve always liked Man of La Mancha!) The question is: What’s your hook? What’s your cause? […]

Last week I attended a networking luncheon here in Visalia. I had a pocket-full of business cards and was ready to meet and greet other women attending. The speaker that day was Susan Essex, Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Warner Brothers Pictures. Part of her role with Warner Brothers is putting […]

In a recent post on his Change Revolution blog, Phil Cooke quotes from a review by William Lobdell in the LA Times. He refers to the film “Conversations with God,” which is not strictly a “Christian film,” but is in the faith-based category. Lobdell says he wants to ask God “When are the majority of […]

Intervarsity Press Publishing’s blog recently posted an article that poses the question: Is Christian publishing a business, a ministry, or both? The answer? Yes. You could ask the same question about Christian filmmaking. And the answer would probably be YES, as well.
I know this: You don’t go into Christian filmmaking to get rich. The distribution […]

Remember the game about Kevin Bacon? Conceived by 3 students of Albright College and turned into a computer model by Brett Tjaden, called the Oracle of Bacon, it theorizes about the connectedness of people. On average, people working in Hollywood have a 2.9 Bacon number. In other words, take almost any 3 people in Hollywood, […]

In a recent article by Terry Mattingly of Scripps Howard News Service, producer Rick Eldridge bemoaned the decision by 20th Century Fox to release The Ultimate Gift under the Fox Faith label. His concern, a valid one, was that labeling the film as Fox Faith would submit it to vitriolic attacks by a media that […]

I get a lot of questions from people who want to get a start in filmmaking from a Christian perspective. Here are some great places to find filmmakers to connect with, as well as help for your career:

International Christian Visual Media: This network of independent filmmakers sponsors the annual Crown Awards and a Catalyst Conference. […]