The Ministry of Motion Pictures Podcast

We are living in a very exciting time to be a filmmaker. An industrious filmmaker can build a powerful production package of equipment for very little money. But where do you begin? There are so many options, and so many pitfalls, that if you're not a gear head, you can easily get lost and spend money on things you don't need or can't use. I have invited Joseph Palma of B&H Photo & Video to help us navigate the gear landscape.

John Grooters is a Michigan-based filmmaker who has traveled the world making films and media content that promotes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with Paul's conviction expressed in Romans 1:16 -- no shame. John produces a wide variety of productions, and has created films about persecuted Christians for Voice of the Martyrs, including the docudrama Tortured for Christ which is based on the biography of VOM's founder, Richard Wurmbrand.

We have an exciting episode today, and one that may be marking a very interesting development in the film industry. Would you ever consider a faith filmmaker a voice of diversity? Well, it is, at least for a new independent film company called Mutiny Pictures. Mutiny is a new effort founded by Colleen Butler and Producer Ben Yennie, who was my guest on this podcast back in April.

Ben has been focused on helping independent filmmakers navigate the shark infested waters of Hollywood, and now he is taking the next step by forming a company that will develop, market and distribute their own projects. Colleen was part of the marketing effort of The Passion of the Christ. She's spent many years working in marketing and development, and now she's Head of Development at Mutiny.

In this episode we'll spend some time getting to know Colleen, talking with her about the marketing campaign for Passion, and then Ben joins us to talk about Mutiny Pictures.

I love filmmakers who are bold and think outside of the box. My guest, Stephanie Quick is a producer who has done just that. In fact, in the past 7 years she and her nimble team of missions workers have produced 8 movies, armed with DSLR's and Black Magic Pocket cameras, with their studios based in home bomb shelters in the Golan Heights.

The organization is called Frontier Alliance International, founded by Dalton Thomas. They are a strategic aid effort, and a missional media production company. Their films are, what I would characterize as, cinematic documentaries, and they are available to watch on Youtube for free. Their film that caught my eye was Sheep Among Wolves II which is about the explosive growth of the church in Iran. It has been watched over 600,000 times.

They produce numerous podcasts covering Middle Eastern issues, and they offer video Bible teaching that focuses on Israel, prophecy, and eschatology.

Ben Howard was the driving force behind Sony Provident for a great many years, and has recently formed his own media company called Third Coast Content. Some little known facts about Ben, he began his career as an intern for Josh McDowell, and Ben is a weather buff and has been a storm chaser who has chased tornadoes. I think that has something to do with his success in the film business.

In this episode, Ben and I talk about his experience in faith-based filmmaking in the past 20 years and what is happening with his new endeavor, where he sees his role as a shepherd of ideas and talent.

We have a fun episode here with my guest, Kevin McCreary, the young man behind the YouTube Channel -- Say Goodnight Kevin. Kevin is, what I would call, an entertaining film critiquer. You heard me right -- not a film critic -- a film critiquer. Kevin is like a good script doctor who has a keen eye to tell your story back to you in order to point out it's weaknesses, problems, and strengths.

And, what's more, Kevin is wildly entertaining.

Film criticism is, generally, not very exciting stuff for the average person. Our relationship to film critics is the same as our relationship to Consumer Reports. It's rare to find entertaining film criticism. Remember the TV show Siskel and Ebert? Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were both informative and entertaining, not because they were fun, but because they were serious -- and they were often pitted against each other on merits of a film. They were far more entertaining when they disagreed.

Kevin McCreary is serious and fun. You're always guaranteed some laughs as he unwinds the film to offer his keen insight and constructive criticism -- and I emphasize constructive because he's doesn't just criticize films, he is instructive.

His motto is -- "Holding Christian films to the same standards as Hollywood."

As I've said in previous episodes, the faith-based film genre needs good film critics in order for it to grow and thrive. Kevin stands among the best.

Andy Peterson is Senior Creative Media Executive of Aspiration Entertainment where he has helped launch dozens of feature films and series projects. He is also leading Aspirations documentary initiative called Docs/ology, and in 2012 he founded the Justice Film Festival which is held in NYC every November.

Aspiration has a unique grid that they use in developing and marketing projects. While they do aim projects at a faith-based market, their target audience is a lesser known, yet potentially larger consumer that they identify as the "rising aspirational audience." This audience includes much of the faith-based audience, but also reaches those who feel they are not being serviced by the existing dimensions of faith-based media.

My guest is Bob Elder, the Chief Impact Officer of Collide Media Group which specializes in helping creatives bring their projects to market through marketing, branding and partnerships. They've worked for film projects such as Hacksaw Ridge, Overcomer, I Still Believe, and Apollo 11.

Bob has been working in Christian retail and marketing for decades, and has seen the faith-based market develop into what it is today. He has weathered many dramatic changes, including the demise of brick-and-morter Christian stores, and with all of his experience, he has developed a keen sense of today's market.

My guest in this episode is Ben Yennie, the founder and CEO of Guerrilla Rep. Media, which is a consulting firm for media producers, helping them with business planning, financing, distribution and marketing. The Mission of Guerrilla Rep media is To Help Filmmakers build more sustainable companies from their projects.bI invited Ben to talk about the changes we're experiencing in the film marketplace and to speak directly to the needs of faith-based filmmakers. But whether you're in the faith-based arena or not, Ben offers a lot of valuable insight to independent filmmakers.

I love film history. Last year I interviewed Dr Terry Lindvall who wrote two in depth books on the history of Christian film. Today's guest, professor, critic and podcaster, Tyler Smith, has also contributed to the study of Christian film history, not with a book, but with a wonderful documentary called REEL REDEMPTION. What I appreciate about Smith's film is that he identifies patterns and motivations for each period of film history, and provides his own commentary on their merits and flaws. And at the end, he gives Christian filmmakers a call to action, which comes from one of the leading figures in the French New Wave, Jean Luc Godard. I absolutely loved this documentary. It is far from exhaustive. You might find some things missing from it, but this is not it's purpose. It's meant to put Christian film as a movement into an accessible and easy to understand perspective to help Christian filmmakers know where they are and see their way forward to becoming a movement that can cinematically contend with the best.