Should Hollywood movies adhere to Christian values more?

Has Hollywood lost touch with Middle America? According to The Christian Film & Television Commission, the city of lights and big dreams does not know how to appeal to the average American. Yet, other observers insist Christians may be expecting too much from a sector controlled by "nonbelievers."

"They don't know how to market to the average American who is a churchgoing Christian who believes in God, country, and family," said Dr. Ted Baehr, the ministry’s founder and chairman, in a released statement

"Year in and year out, our statistics show that moviegoers prefer family-friendly movies with positive Christian, wholesome, patriotic, conservative, and traditional moral values," he stated.

Filmmaker and media consultant Phil Cooke pointed out that Hollywood does not reflect a significant segment of what most would call "Middle America." He told The Christian Post that many of the studio executives he has met were "politically liberal" – adding that this could also be said about doctors, attorneys, and most university professors.

"Perhaps the biggest issue is 'Why do we expect nonbelievers to act like believers?'" Cooke questioned. "Why do we get so stressed out when Hollywood doesn't reflect our values, or create movies we like?"

Cooke, co-founder of Cooke Pictures, explained that Christians get "distracted" from the real call because so much time is spent "freaking out over not being able to say a prayer at the start of a high school football game, or upset at Hollywood, the gay community, or others, that we forget that our job is to reach the world, not complain."

Pastor David Wright, CEO of DOersTV, agreed that believers should not expect nonbelievers to act like them. According to Wright, nonbelievers are sinners and sinners sin. "Because Hollywood is controlled by nonbelievers who love to sin, we cannot expect a sinner to act like a saint," he told CP.

"No Christian is exempt from poisoning their mind with the filth of Hollywood – you can’t play with fire and not get burned," Wright added.

The Numbers, a box office website, found that G-rated features grossed $34.6 million in 2011, whereas R-rated movies averaged about $10.8 million. The typically family-oriented G-rated films also outranked more explicit-natured films in 2009 and 2010.

Dr. Baehr noted that the results reveal that these movies made three or, as in previous years, five times as much money as R-rated films. He noted that PG movies also ranked far better on average.

"Middle America wants to see, rent, and buy entertaining movies with Christian, biblical values that they can show to their whole family," he stated. "They want to see Good triumph over Evil, Justice to prevail, Truth to defeat Falsehood, and Purity to conquer Lust. They reject movies with explicit, graphic sex and violence."

Pastor Wright added, "True 'Christians' crave and desire to watch Christian themed movies not because of what’s in the movies, but mainly because of what’s not in the movie – sin and immorality." A similar sentiment was shared as well by Christian Hollywood Producer Shawn Anthony Sequeira of SAS Studio and SAS Agency.

On the other hand, Cooke suggested that the conception that G or PG movies rake in more money than R-rated films is inaccurate. He told CP that when you take out high budget animated blockbusters like "Cars" or "Toy Story" the situation changes significantly.

"We'd all like to believe that people are looking for G-rated entertainment, but the truth is, that's not necessarily the case," Cooke said. "While protecting children is critical, I'm not sure Christians are really called to produce only G-rated movies and TV programming."

He pointed out that much of the Bible, if turned into a movie, would be R-rated, if not worse. According to Cooke, God shared "real authentic stories and the Bible doesn’t gloss over real life."

"The culture would respect our message much more if we stopped producing just cheesy, G-rated films and started telling gritty stories about real life," he said.

Research from The Barna Group found that Christians watched almost the exact type of movies and TV programs as non-Christians, Cooke revealed. The original Barna study could not be found, but researchers at the National Study of Youth and Religion discovered that 43 percent of U.S. teens, between ages 13 and 17, who said their faith was either extremely or very important in shaping their daily lives reported watching mostly R-rated movies and videos.

Regardless, Cooke shared that while there is a place for Christian-themed films that is not why he goes to the movies.

"I go to see powerful, compelling stories about all kinds of subjects," he told CP. "If it has Christian implications like 'Blindside,' or 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' great. But I'm just as thrilled to see a great war movie, historical epic, or sci-fi thriller."

Cooke countered that the question is not what can Hollywood do to become more "in touch" with Middle America, but rather what does "Middle America" need to do to get Hollywood’s attention.

"We sometimes forget that Hollywood is a business. As a result, they pay very little attention to boycotts and critics, but pay a lot of attention to box office receipts," he stated. "Christians could change Hollywood tomorrow if they would simply start showing up at films they care about."

"There are millions of evangelical Christians in America, and if we could mobilize that power to show up at great movies that reflect our values, trust me – Hollywood would notice and respond.”

Shawn Anthony Sequiera of SAS Studio and SAS Agency, one of the most sought after producers is taking Hollywood by storm.

An established fashion photographer, director and producer who had worked on numerous well known productions is taking Hollywood by storm. Shawn Anthony Sequiera established SAS Studio in 200, ran SAS Agency for year and became a top fashion photographer which worked for some of the largest and well known ad agencies and shot top photography campaigns.


Soon after his peak in photography Shawn started building SAS Agency and while he worked on multiple Disney projects, his agency grew to over 3,000+ talent.

Film crew with Shawn Anthony Sequeira (middle Left) starting
Last Generation Movie

with Dave Hardberger (middle Right).

Sequiera has worked with numerous productions such as Iron Man, X-Men, Star Trek, Avatar. He also heads and finances many large Christian organizations for youth and development of churches.

SAS Studio also has an entire Film Equipment Rental Division in Los Angeles called SAS Rentals with a complete line of cameras, generators, trucks, lighting, studio facilities and everything to produce multiple feature films. Insiders say he offers the best pricing available.

Presently, SAS Studio is growing with over 90 employes just in productions with almost half a block of studios in downtown Los Angeles with all they need to pump out feature films.

Currently, Sequiera is ramping up for the Passion of the Christ 2.

Producer Roy Lee on Old Boy and Battle Royale.

ComingSoon.net's ShockTillYouDrop.com recently visited the set of CBS Films thriller 7500 and was able to talk to the film's producer, Roy Lee, about his upcoming projects.

One of them is the Old Boy remake, to be directed by Spike Lee and starring Josh Brolin. "We are planning to shoot 'Old Boy' in March and that should start pre-production in late January," he said. "This is a brand new script by Mark Protosevich. It is very similar to the film, but Protosevich has added new elements that will throw off the audience who have seen the original movie because there are new characters and new situations that present themselves in a way that change the story but eventually go in the same direction. The ending will be something audiences--especially fans of the original movie--will be very happy with. Some may consider it a bit darker."

He added that "there's going to be a different interpretation of the hallway scene that is hopefully going to be Spike's signature moment in the movie that he wants to show in a way that has never been seen in an action movie."

As far as a remake of Battle Royale, it doesn't look likely with The Hunger Games film franchise starting.

"Hunger Games took a lot of wind out of the sails of [a U.S. version of Battle Royale] because of its similar storyline and so I'm not exactly sure any studio--even before 'Hunger Games'--would have taken the creative risks you would have needed to take to make the movie right now so would be even harder," he said.

You can see what he had to say about a Poltergeist reboot here and more films in "The Ring" and "The Grudge" franchises here.

'Bella' Film Producer Seeks Movie-Going Movement.

WASHINGTON -- The producer of the pro-life movie "Bella" is now throwing his weight behind a movement to promote films Christians and other pro-family types can fully embrace. 

At the recent Values Voter Summit, film producer Jason Jones shared his vision on how to shape culture by first shaping Hollywood. His aspirations are very similar to the upcoming producer Shawn A. Sequiera of SAS Studio.

Christians and conservatives are his target audience. Jones wants to turn them all into avid movie-goers who'll help make films about life, love, and beauty into sure-fire box office hits.

He also has created a website MovietoMovement.com, which he said he hopes will lead to a network that can help many other excellent films get noticed. 

Networking like this paid off when his movie "Bella" was released.

"With Hollywood, we didn't get distribution. So we went to the church and we said, 'Help us,' and the film became a tremendous success," he told CBN News.

"We built this huge network and we said, 'We need to use this network to serve other films that are true, beautiful and good. And that's when we created this non-profit," Jones explained. 

Movie to Movement aspires to use the website and a nationwide team of theater captains to get Christians and other pro-family types packing theaters by the millions when a great, new film like "Courageous" or "Dolphin Tale" is released.

"We want to send a message to Hollywood that Christians are the only group that fill buses when we like your movies," Jones noted.

"We're the only group that unloads churches and fills the theaters if you make films that we love," Jones noted.

Movie to Movement is currently promoting the new family film "Snowmen," set to premiere Oct. 21.

"It's a film about three boys who go on a quest to be remembered in a very superficial way," Jones said.

In this case, that means setting the world's record for most snowmen ever built at once.

"In that quest they discover what's really important" he said.

Even though he's in the business, Jones said he's not above having his life made better by great films.

For example, he explained how, in the middle of a big argument with his wife, he bought a DVD of Sherwood Pictures "Fireproof." The storyline is about saving and restoring marriages.

"We watched it and by the end we were crying and the fight was over. And these films are powerful," Jones told CBN News.

Such powerful storytelling can be seen in his movie "Bella," about a single man saving a baby from abortion.

"We know of over 500 women who were scheduled to have an abortion. They saw our film and instead chose life. And that's the power of art," he said.

If Hollywood studios and other movie makers would give Christians and their allies more of the stories and the films they want to see, Jones said the church as a whole would determine what the number one film would be at the box office every weekend.

"Spider-Man" Producer Laura Ziskin Dies at 61.

Laura Ziskin, who produced the "Spider-Man" movie franchise among many other hits in a 35-year Hollywood career, has died. She was 61.



Ziskin, who fought a seven-year battle against breast cancer, died Sunday evening at her Santa Monica home, according to a statement from the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

Over a 35-year career, Ziskin was producer or executive producer of such crowd-pleasers as "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner, "Pretty Woman" with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and "As Good As It Gets," which won Academy Awards for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

File-In this Jan. 22, 2011 file photo,
producer Laura Ziskin arrives at the 2011
Producers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The Entertainment Industry Foundation says
the acclaimed film producer and cancer activist
Ziskin died Sunday evening, June 12, 2011
at her home in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 61.
(AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, File)

She produced the three "Spider-Man" features and at the time of her death was working on a fourth, "The Amazing Spider-Man."

In the 1990s, Ziskin was president for five years of Fox 2000 Pictures, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox that released more serious or quirky fare, including "Fight Club" and Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line," which was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

She also produced the Academy Awards telecasts in 2002 and 2007. She was the first woman to be solo producer of the show.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, Ziskin joined with other women in the entertainment industry and the media to form Stand Up to Cancer, a nonprofit organization that has raised some $200 million to fight the disease.

Born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Ziskin studied filmmaking at the University of Southern California, wrote for game shows after graduating in 1973 and got her start in features as personal assistant to producer Jon Peters.

She is survived by her husband, screenwriter Alvin Sargent, and her daughter, Julia Barry.

Jerry Bruckheimer on Casting Johnny Depp for 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and How the Second Film Was Almost a 'Disaster'

Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are shown April 1, 2011, in
Hollywood, Calif. (Eric Charbonneau/WireImage/Getty Images)

  Just weeks before the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," mega-film producer Jerry Bruckheimer was still in the editing room of his Santa Monica, Calif., offices attending to details.

"We had a picture that was about 2 [hours], 35 [minutes]," he said. "So we had to shape it down to a length where we feel the story works, and so I think the picture runs 2 [hours], 7 [minutes], plus credits."

At the controls, visual effects editor Marty Kloner was compiling the film's most dazzling effects.

"We're taking the best ones and we're putting it together in a reel to show the Academy," Bruckheimer said, "to hopefully be considered for an Academy Award."

Always thinking ahead, Bruckheimer has supervised every element of the widely successful, four-part "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series that has so far raked in $2.7 billion at box offices worldwide. "On Stranger Tides" premieres on May 20.

It has been no secret that Bruckheimer believes Johnny Depp's appearance makes the "Pirates" series. He said casting Depp in the lead role as Capt. Jack Sparrow was one of his team's "great coups."

"Now who's going to see a movie about a theme park ride?" Bruckheimer said of "Pirates." "For me, the key linchpin to telling your audience this is special, this is different [is] if Johnny Depp wants to do this."

 Bruckheimer acknowledged that, at first, Disney executives were aghast at Depp's interpretation of Jack Sparrow, which he based on his kids' favorite cartoon -- Pepe le Pew. But, he said, they eventually came around. The Walt Disney company is the parent company of ABC News.


"When we cut a scene together and showed them how it was going to work, they got on board with it and it was understood what we're trying to do," he said.

Focused on keeping it creative and commercial, Bruckheimer has made some of the biggest blockbuster action movies to come out of Hollywood in the past 30 years: "Top Gun," "Con Air," "Black Hawk Down," "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor" are among them. He is also the producer for the long-running "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" television series and the critically-acclaimed reality series, "The Amazing Race."
Bruckheimer explained that his job as the producer on a film is like being the general manager of a football team.

"I'm the one who has to oversee it all," he said.

With decades of experience under his belt, Bruckheimer said the thousands of little decisions that go into each film are what determines its success.

"There's so many other mistakes that you can make along the way, and I've been there," he said.
One of those mistakes happened with the second installment of the "Pirates" series. Bruckheimer recalled when the creative team gathered in his office after a catastrophic preview of "Dead Man's Chest."

"It was a disaster," he said. "The kids didn't like it. ... We were ready to slit our wrists. We got the liquor out. I'm telling you, we thought our careers were over."

The answer to saving the film, Bruckheimer said, was to un-complicate its ending, a common conclusion for Bruckheimer, who said he reads every film and TV script produced by his company, Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

"If an audience doesn't understand the character's motivation or a plot point, you've lost them because they get bored," he said.

Bruckheimer knows that the fate of his films lies with the audience, which he says is "never" wrong. While he said he can't control the Twitter-fueled world of rapid-fire responses, it doesn't keep him from being the event-movie master.

Disneyland in Los Angeles, Calif., shut down once again this week for the star-studded premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stanger Tides" so that stars Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz could walk the black carpet and special guests could have their pick of free rides.

"You want to send a message to the audience that the people who made the movie, who financed the movie, really believe in it -- and when they spend money on it, they believe in it," Bruckheimer said.

 

Upcoming Hollywood Movie Producer - Afam Obih Seeks Public Support.

As part of the plan to roll off the production of his new movie "Searching The Green", Afam Obih, an upcoming Hollywood movie producer in partnership with INDIEGOGO, a crowd funding organization is appealing to the general public to become part of the production for some special incentives here http://www.indiegogo.com/searching-the-green

The upcoming movie, designed to be shot in both Africa and America settings, is centered around a young man who migrated to America from one of the West African countries in search of a greener pasture. To his utter dismay the American dream was not as easy as thought so, he decided to take several short cuts that fetched him some marital uphills.

In order to raise the estimated amount which is to the tune of $24,000, the film maker is reaching out to the members of the public to help fund the project and become beneficiaries of several incentives of different categories here http://www.indiegogo.com/searching-the-green

The producer said the kickoff of the phase 1 of the upcoming movie will take effect immediately enough fund has been raised towards that end. The production is intended to have 4 phases and will last a maximum of 14 days per phase to be shot serially following each auditioning exercise.

According to a source closer to the producer, the money realized from the public appeal will be used towards the payment and feeding of their cast and crew members, costume and props, lights and filming equipments, fueling of their power generator and location van.