David A.R. White (Mercy Streets, The Moment After) is a busy writer, actor, and producer who has joined forces with his fellow leadership team colleagues at Pure Flix Entertainment to launch Outreach Cinema, a new venture that will put faith-based feature films (and everything needed to promote them) in the hands of churches to use as a community outreach tool. White serves as a member of the leadership team of Outreach Cinema.

 

The first film arrives Dec. 31 of this year: The Wager stars music legend Randy Travis, Nancy Stafford (Judging Amy, Matlock), Jude Ciccolella (24), Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers), and Candace Cameron Bure (Full House) in a dramatic adaptation of Job's story, told in a modern-day Hollywood setting.

Infuzemag.com recently spoke to David about The Wager, Outreach Cinema, and the challenges of creating theatrical-quality films with a strong core of faith.

 

---

Samuel: How did Pure Flix and Outreach Cinema come to life?
David: Pure Flix came about a couple of years ago. I'd been producing films, and we basically started with a team of Michael Scott (Travel the Road), Byron Jones (head marketing guy behind the Left Behind series), and Russell Wolfe. Recently, Randy Travis and his wife Elizabeth joined us, too. We've produced three films so far, and have been acquiring films for distribution, as well.
 

Outreach Cinema is a marketing and distribution company that specializes in the promotion and releasing of films primarily to the church. We want to bring movie nights back to the church, like there were in the 1960s and '70s. There were always problems with those old projectors and prints, and folks got frustrated with all that. So when VCRs came out, it kind of died.

But last year alone, the church spent about a half-billion dollars on A/V equipment. The church is realizing that using media in the church is a good way to reach people who don't necessarily come to a church, to experience what it's like to be with church people. So we are hoping to provide a great opportunity for churches to use this as outreach.

As Christian filmmakers, we make them to encourage the church, which the church can then use as outreach tools to witness to people. The timing is such that we wanted to develop a program to do specifically that. When a pastor orders a movie, they get a whole turnkey package -- movie posters, handbills, even a press kit for local TV and media. Also Bible studies and guides, sermon notes, etc. Our whole thought behind this was, "Let's make it easy for the church to use." Why not just go directly go to the church?

Outreach Cinema has a unique model for distributing films. Can you explain that a bit? Why go directly to churches first with these films, rather than through the usual theatrical route?
Well, not all the films do this. We're doing it with The Wager, when it comes out New Year's Day. The primary goal is to encourage the church first and foremost, so we thought, "Let's reach them first." Our goal is to provide churches with a movie a month. We're on a quarterly basis now, but we'll get there. It's a great way for churches to reach into their community, to reach people where they are going, where they live.

It seems like Hollywood is beginning to discover that family-friendly, even Christian-oriented entertainment can be very profitable. Why do you think this shift has occurred?
There's no doubt that The Passion of the Christ turned the tide. Studios started to realize that the Christian filmgoer, the faith-based market, actually exists. Around 160 million people attend church at least once a month, so that's more than a niche. When the numbers came out on The Passion, they realized they were ignoring a major market.

They're slowly developing faith-based labels, but they're corporations, and it's hard for them to put in a clear message about Jesus Christ in this movies. Things get watered-down. Now, I'm thankful they're making more positive movies -- I think that's great. Our primarily goal is to encourage the church, to bring in a message of hope in Jesus Christ.

How did Pure Flix Entertainment discover The Wager and decide to make this the first release for Outreach Cinema?
The Wager is a special movie because it was based on Bill Myers' best-selling book. It's a modern-day parable of Job that asks some tough questions. Can someone live out the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount? When struggles come, when we're hit from every angle in our lives, will our faith stand, or will we fall?

What is The Wager about?
God and Satan have a wager. Satan picks this movie star who's up for the Academy Award in one week. The wager is that the man cannot live out Jesus' most famous teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. Suddenly this movie star's problems start to rise in his life. He has trouble on the set of the movie he's currently shooting. His marriage is in trouble. He starts to struggle with his faith, too, and then things start to get worse in a hurry. Will his faith survive being tested? Will his family? Will he?

Who do you see as the audience for The Wager?
I think the audience is very broad on this film -- everyone from 13 up, really. The thing that makes it special is Randy Travis' fan base, which is very expansive. Because of his fan base, we thought it would be a great one to lead off with.

This is writer-director Judson Pearce Morgan's first feature. Was there any hesitation about trusting the inaugural Outreach Cinema project to someone so young?
I've known Judson for many years. He's a good friend. When we came to him to do this, he was looking for a feature to do. He read the book and was really drawn to it, and really had a great angle on it. When someone has that creative vision, it makes it a lot easier to trust the project to him. Of course, I'd seen some of his short films and knew he was capable of making a strong film. But yes, he is young, and while there was some consideration at first, we felt very confident about Justin and his vision.

One of the things that make The Wager so compelling is Randy Travis' performance in the lead. Randy's long, often-hard road through the entertainment industry is well known, as is his faith. Did his unique combination of life experiences and his obvious talents make him the right choice to play Michael Steel?
I don't know all of Randy's story, but we just really felt he was the perfect person because of his real-life celebrity status, his own struggles in the media, and because he's also a believer. He understands the whole spiritual struggle going into it.

Randy could really identify with the character, and really brought Michael Steel to life. He was just perfect for it on so many levels. We're just honored to have him as part of a company, he's just so professional and devoted, and so kind to everyone. He really lives his faith, and he understands very well how hard that is for anyone. Of course, Randy is part of our company.

While The Wager deals with themes that will be of concern to any Christian, it never preaches, as such. Was it hard to strike a balance between keeping the film true to its "core" values, yet not dogmatic?
There are so many different levels in this movie, not to mention the sanctity of marriage -- when temptations come, how do you handle it? Temptations come in so many forms, so how do we deal with it all in terms of our faith? I think pastors can speak about all this for weeks following to build on the core.

Making a Christian, faith-based movie is not an easy thing to do. People can be offended so easily. Having a glass of wine, for example, in the movie may strike some folks the wrong way, even though it's not the hero drinking it. When we set out to make a movie, we don't want to offend anyone, but by the same token we want to show real people going through real spiritual struggles, and how faith relates to those very real situations.

We really think this film will lift and inspire the human spirit and help people understand that a life of faith is a life grounded in hope.

Everyday life is not a pretty thing, and we have to be true to the story, to the characters.

We're not making sermons -- we're making entertainment. We're storytellers, and we have to find a balance. It'll be a challenge to do that every time we make a film, and we appreciate all the prayers we can get!

This is a theatrical-quality release in every sense. As a producer, how conscious were you of steering the project in directions that would ensure that the production's quality would adhere to high standards?
That's another area we try to find a balance in. We're not blessed with huge budgets, not yet. But still we try to achieve excellence in every way. We're really proud of what we were able to accomplish with this film, and the production values are very high. We have all been in Hollywood for a long time, and we call in favors where we can to make up for the lack of budget. The people we've been blessed to work with are all excellent at what they do.

The cast is really strong. Was it difficult to attract this caliber of performer to a film with an obvious Christian theme?
We had a lot of connections with relationships here. The Wager took a couple of months to cast. Once Randy was in -- and he was the first one in -- then the others came in.

 

Jude Ciccolella, who played Mike Novick on 24 for the past few years, is a friend. Nancy Stafford is a friend, too. Candace Cameron Bure was someone we knew, and she really liked the script -- it was a chance for her to play a role she normally doesn't get to play.

Outreach Cinema has three more projects coming down the pike in 2008, all of which are very different from each other. Was it your intention to offer a broad variety of films -- documentary, comedy, drama, etc. -- to your audience?
The Wager comes out New Year's Day. The DVD comes out the first quarter of 2008.

 

We want to provide a broad selection. We want to do everything, primarily features -- comedies, dramas, anything that can inspire the human spirit with a clear message about faith and values.

To learn more about Outreach Cinema and how your church can get involved in bringing faith-based movies to your community,
click here.

See the trailer for The Wager here.

 

Comments (0)