Nate Fleming's Blog, page 22
January 14, 2016
January 5, 2016
Hollywood Finally Notices Success of Christian Films
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hollywood has finally noticed the success of Christian films such as last fall’s War Room and 2014’s God’s Not Dead!
Los Angeles, California – Alex Boese of the Spaghetti Harvest Media Marketing Group (SHMMG) of San Bernardino, California announced at a press conference on Monday that his company has decided to take a page from the faith-based handbook. This year, SHMMG will begin encouraging studios to release secular film advertisements with relevant Bible verses.
A big Hollywood power lunch meeting from the 1950’s.
“At a recent big Hollywood power lunch meeting at Soho House,” Mr. Boese said, “I convinced some of the town’s biggest players that using the Bible is the best way to attract the elusive faith-based audience, a key rising demographic that has proven to have very deep pockets when they feel they are being serviced.”
Mr. Boese went on to explain that “faith-based” films (also known as “faith and family” films, “family-based and faith-building” films, “faith, family & family, faith” films, and “building family and faith in the faith and family building” films) have gained popularity over the past few years, in large part thanks to the grass roots social media marketing efforts of the small independent studios which produce them.
A key way these studios have utilized social media is by producing images showing key verses from the Bible and a logo of the film that can be easily shared from Christian film fan to Christian film fan. Often the images will also show stills from the films to help drive the Bible verse point home.
“If we want to attract that F&F audience, we have to play by their rules,” Mr. Boese commented. “If that means using the Bible to sell tickets, then so be it. After all, if the Bible is good enough for Christians as a marketing tool, then it’s good enough for us.”
Mr. Boese’s comments were briefly interrupted as a man started shouting about cheapening Scripture by using it to sell products, but he was quickly ushered out by SHMMG employees. The incident was quickly forgotten by those in attendance. [note to editor: consider redacting this paragraph]
Mr. Boese ended his presentation by revealing several different advertisement mockups that SHMMG had developed. He announced that these Bible advertisements would be likely soon begin showing up on each respective film’s social media feeds, pending approval of each film’s marketing department.
“This is a new day of partnership between Hollywood and the faith-and-family-based community,” Mr. Boese said confidently. “And by the way, using the Bible this way should help us to sell a LOT more tickets.”
Time will tell, Mr. Boese. Time will tell.
For more information, read this article.
January 2, 2016
Can a Christian Film Play in China?
One of the questions this video raises, “Can a Christian film play in China?” grabbed me for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve lived in China for the past four years, and while here I’ve enjoyed several Hollywood blockbusters on the big screen. Second, I’ve learned about the incredibly stringent guidelines that China places on the western films it allows to be shown in domestic cinemas.
Bottom line? A Christian blockbuster, as Erwin proposes, would have an incredibly difficult time showing up on a Chinese screen for a multitude of reasons. And considering that China is set to be the biggest film market by 2020, this is something that Christian filmmakers need to be considering as we become more and more serious about the films we are producing.
Which brings me to the point of this blog post. Considering China’s enormous untapped film market, and considering that Christians typically want their films to be a positive force in the world for the sake of the Gospel, what can filmmakers of faith do to try and ensure that their film stands at least a chance, however small, of being seen on Chinese screens?
I have three ideas, and unfortunately, none of them are easy.
1. We need to create true blockbusters.
Transformers 4: The number two highest grossing foreign film in China history.
Here’s where Erwin and I agree. Christian filmmakers, producers, investors, all need to be purposeful about creating real, true blockbusters, and this is not an enterprise to enter lightly. China typically only accepts blockbusters in the list of 34 foreign films that they permit to be shown each year, and the foreign movies that have done well in China share the following qualities of a blockbuster: they are four-quadrant, they have lots of big action set pieces (films aren’t typically dubbed into Mandarin, so the action has to keep the audience’s attention), they star big name actors and/or directors, they are parts of successful franchises, they have eye-popping SFX, and…
well… muscle cars and giant fighting robots are always a plus.
The typical small Christian-made dramas will not make a dent in things in China when produced as foreign-made films. In fact, they would never get chosen.
And so, we do need to attempt our own blockbusters, if we want our films to play onscreen in China.
Of course, the argument could be made that attempting a Christian-made blockbuster could very easily lead to our own Christian version of Battlefield Earth (one of the most horrid films ever made, in John Travolta’s attempt to make a Scientology blockbuster), but if done well, it could be also be pretty amazing.
If done well.
2) We Need To Take the “Christian” out of “Christian Blockbuster”.
Yeah, I know. This would be a deal-breaker to many Christian investors. I can hear the rich Christian businessman now: “What’s the use in dropping millions into a picture that won’t have a Gospel message?”
My response to that question would be simple: Romans 1:20.
God reveals Himself in the artistry of creation. Why can’t we attempt to reveal Him in the artistry of our creation, too? There may be a time for being obvious, but as Jesus proved in his parables, there is also a time for just telling good stories and trusting God to do the rest, to make the audience work for their dinner – as Andrew Stanton said about storytelling.
For a film made by Christians to be big in China, the message would need to be shifted from preachy to artistry, or it would it would never be accepted. Christian filmmakers need to become more skilled in the use of imagery to convey our messages: metaphor, imagination, beauty, awe, wonder… these are aspects of artistry that are consistently missing from our films. Learning how to use these tools could not only make the films agreeable to the censors in China, but possibly to the unchurched in America as well.
Can you imagine a non-didactic film made by Christians that people around the world wanted to see because of the excellent storytelling and artistry? In fact, I posit that if we were to do this well, trying to make a film that would play in China could actually help save Christian filmmaking from itself.
[Just a note: Noah and Exodus, two very mainstream Hollywood Bible epics, weren’t accepted as one of the 34 foreign films allowed in China during the year they were produced. And these were big movies with big names made by big studios. But they didn’t stand a chance. Why? Because they were too biblical.]
3) We Need To Find Partners
Having said there is no place for the small dramas, another way to get the opportunity to tell our stories in China is by partnering in co-productions with Chinese companies. Any film producer who is truly interested in learning how to take advantage of the growing Chinese market should be in Hong Kong and/or the Mainland forging alliances and friendships with filmmakers, producers, and investors. The good thing about these sorts of films is that they can be smaller, which might help take care of the problem that making blockbusters is the only solution. Such films might not get the same financial returns, but they stand a better chance of actually being made, and would have the added benefit of getting the filmmaker’s feet in the door.
British actor Joseph Fiennes (R) and Chinese actor Dou Xiao attend the press conference of the movie “The Last Race” in Tianjin, north China, June 24, 2015.
A perfect example of this can be seen in an upcoming film, The Last Race, an unofficial sequel to the Academy Award winning film, Chariots of Fire. The film, which is due to be released this year, tells the true story of Eric Liddell (played by Joseph Fiennes of the upcoming Risen), the Olympic runner who went to China as a missionary after the 1924 Olympics and who died in a Japanese internment camp in 1945.
The Last Race was written and directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Shin, produced by Canadian Michael Parker, and distributed by Hong Kong powerhouse Alibaba Pictures Group (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). It’s hard to say how much the film will bring out Liddell’s faith story, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.
—
So, what do you say, Christians filmmakers, producers, writers, investors? Are you serious about making films that can have a worldwide impact or are you just satisfied to see your name on a marquee at the local cineplex after your church rented the space for the night?
Are you willing to undertake the hard work, step out of your area of comfort, and for many of you – risk everything to try? Yes, you may fail. Unless your name is Spielberg or Cruise, you probably will fail. After all, as Erwin says in the video quoting an unnamed filmmaker, “If we knew how to make hit films that’s all we’d make,” and so even making the attempt is a gamble of epic proportions.But this sounds like what filmmakers all around the world do every day.
So why not go for it?
December 18, 2015
The Tale of Little the Chicken and the Birds from Far Away
Once upon a time, in the Doah of Shenan, there lived a Chicken named Little. This chicken had a nice life, enjoying all the bounty of being a chicken in the glorious, lush Doah of Shenan, where the water ran cool and clean, and no miserable clouds of gloom ever darkened the skies.
On the day that our story starts, Little the chicken was sitting at home watching Fox News. I cannot tell you why a chicken would watch a news broadcast by a network of foxes, but for whatever reason, she did. In fact, all of Little the chicken’s domesticated avian friends watched Fox News every day, listening with baited breath as the foxes told them what was going on in the world – that it was a fearful time for all birds of the Doah of Shenan, because of the dangers posed by those birds who lived in far off lands.
“Those birds are terrible,” Little thought, watching another broadcast, where that handsome Fox News reporter, Sly Fox, was talking about how the far off birds wanted to take over all of the Doah of Shenan, that the far off birds could not be trusted.
Just then, Little the chicken’s little chick arrived home from bird school, which was held every day at the head of the river. “Hello, little chick!” Little the chicken said. “How was school today?”
“It was great!” the little chick responded, chucking his school bag onto the floor and opening up the refrigerator. “We learned about the birds from far off lands!”
Little the chicken’s head snapped up. “You learned what?”
“About the birds from far off lands,” the little chick said, his head inside the refrigerator as he looked for something to eat. “Teacher taught us about their chicken scratch.”
“Teacher taught you what?” Little the chicken glanced over at the television. Sly Fox was smiling as a graphic appeared over his head. The graphic said, “Far Off Birds Want To Eat Your Children!”
“She showed us how the birds from far off lands write things,” the little chick said, finally grabbing a bag of sour cream and onion feed and plopping down on the sofa. “It’s a lot different than our chicken scratch.”
This was too much for Little the chicken to process. Here she was, watching Sly Fox tell her that the birds from far off lands wanted to eat her children, and at the same time, the teacher at the head of the river was telling her children how those same barbaric birds scratched in the dirt?
“Did she make you scratch it?” Little asked, her voice shaking.
“Well, she said we could if we wanted to,” the little chick answered, his beak filled with feed.
“And did you?” Little asked.
“I dunno,” little chick said, surprised by his mother’s response. “I guess I did.”
Little the chicken’s heart froze in her chest. Her own little chick, the pride and joy of her nest, had been forced by the teacher to scratch words from far off birds in the dirt? Images of Sly Fox and his broadcasts swirled through her head, fearful images of birds from far off lands, coming to take her nest, her feed, her children. If only it were something simple like a falling sky, she could run and tell the king, and the king would solve the problem.
But this was worse.
Her baby, her little chick, had been forced to scratch in the dirt like a foreign bird.
Like the birds that wanted to destroy the Doah of Shenan.
“I have to do something,” Little said. “I have to stop this.”
“Do we have any BBQ feed?” little chick asked, licking the bottom of the bag of sour cream feed, oblivious to his mother’s concern.
And Sly Fox, inexplicably, stopped in the middle of his broadcast, and grinned.
—-
“We have to go tell Fox News!”
Little the chicken had gathered her closest friends together to tell them about the teacher at the head of the river, and they were all acluck.
Lucy the goose, Lucky the duck, and Tom the turkey all stood around the feed trough with Little the chicken, wide-eyed at the news that little chick had been forced to scratch like the foreign birds.
“I heard that she told them that if they didn’t scratch, they’d be sent to the butcher!” Lucy was saying. “And that the butcher works for the birds from far away!”
“My ducklings told me that she always talked about the birds from far away,” said Lucky. “And when she did, she had a longing look in her eyes, like she wanted to be one of them!”
“This is all a part of their plan,” Tom said, his eyes shifting nervously as he spoke. Was a bird from far away behind that tree? Behind that bush? “They want to get at our younglings, and then they’ll take us all over, for sure!”
Little the chicken felt more certain than ever that Fox News needed to find out about this, and then – once they did – the world would be made right. But Fox News was in the big city, and she was a simple country chicken. How could she ever stop this injustice? Who was she?
Little looked up at the sky, and just then, as if providence were at work, the clouds parted and a beam of light shone down on Little the chicken, bathing her in sunbeams and light.
And Little knew what she needed to do.
“Big Bird has spoken,” she said. “I’ll write about it on BeakBook!”
The other birds nodded, amazed that one of them had considered this way of getting out the word. Big Bird had definitely revealed this to Little.
“And we’ll share it!” Tom the turkey said. “We’ll stop this teacher or may all our feathers be plucked out and we wind up as Thanksgiving dinner!”
And Little the chicken scampered away from her friends, heading home, to her BeakBook account, and to her destiny.
To stop the birds from far away from eating her children.
—
To be continued…
December 17, 2015
Thimblerig’s Spoilerific Thoughts on Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens
I never thought being in Kazakhstan could give me a pop culture advantage. In this case, I was able to enjoy a most surreal experience: seeing Star Wars Episode 7 in English in a cinema in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a full day before most people in the United States. And it was a treat to be sitting in the audience with my 12 year old daughter and my 14 year old son, a multi-generational viewing experience that I’d not had before with a Star Wars movie.
After the lights came up, and the credits were rolling, I desperately wanted to write four words on my social media. Four small words that would have been the spoiler of spoilers. I actually laughed, thinking about how many friends I would lose with that little stunt.
And so I didn’t do it. I resisted the dark side.
Because I like my friends.
That, and I didn’t want to wake up some night with a lightsaber buried in my chest.
But be warned. Now, that I’m home, writing on my blog, I will write those four words. Not now, but very soon. So, if you have not seen Star Wars Episode 7 yet, and you are trying to steer clear of spoilers, then steer way clear of this review. Because it will be chock-full of spoilers.
***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS***
—
Having gotten that out of the way, I’ll start my review with four other small words, not spoiler words, but important words nonetheless.
Star Wars is back.
If the prequels showed us anything, they showed us that it was easy to lose sight of the feel and the energy of the original trilogy. It was easy to set out to make original trilogy prequels, but to make something else altogether. While each prequel episode had something redeeming, there was quite a bit more that sent them spiraling off into space.
The prequels were not terrible movies in and of themselves, but they were terrible Star Wars movies.
But now? Star Wars is back.
J.J. Abrams brought it back.
Yes, with this film, Abrams managed to restore several of the things that made the original trilogy great.
Star Wars is about people
Episode 7 works because it is a movie that is primarily about people, not trade federation blockades or secret clone armies. Yes, big events are playing out in this film, but they are the backdrop, not the focus. People are what matter in this film, and not just the good guys – both sides. Not only do the people matter, but they also act like real people. They relate. They argue. They emote. They struggle. They risk everything for each other, and for bigger things. They live, and they die.
Oh, boy, do they die.
But I’ll get to that.
Star Wars is about risk
In this new/old universe that J.J. Abrams has given us there is risk. Risk that someone may not make it out alive. Risk that someone may run away from their destiny. Risk that the darkness is much too powerful, and that the light side will never be able to defeat it. Even risk that the bad guy might fall to the light.
In this new film, everything can be questioned, the outcomes are not a given, and power is found in the strangest of places.
Star Wars is about fun
The movie also brings back the fun. We loved the original trilogy because they were fun rides they didn’t get bogged down in bureaucratic proceedings, or endless scenes of people sitting in chairs talking about things. The movies were about people in motion, taking us along with them as they lived on the brink of disaster. Episode 7 is a fun ride from start to finish. People do talk about things, but usually while taking deep breaths after just escaping one catastrophe, and right before plummeting into another.
And it’s not just roller-coaster fun, it’s also laugh-out-loud fun. This is a movie that is brimming with wit and humor. Not in a silly way (ala Threepio in Attack of the Clones), but in a real way. People say the kinds of things that people might really say in an attempt to blow off steam, or reacting to the madness around them, and you can’t help but laugh.
Finn and BB8’s interaction on the Falcon…
Rey and the stormtrooper in the interrogation room…
When the two stormtroopers come around the corner as Kylo Ren is destroying the interrogation room…
Finn suggesting to Han that they use the force, and Han’s reaction…
Han using Chewie’s crossbow for the first time…
And on and on…
Star Wars is about the mysteries of the universe
Specifically, the force – and the nature of the force. The prequels got all bogged down trying to make the force into a science. Episode 7 turns it back into a mystery. In this movie, the force is something that is unknown but not unknowable, and we get to see a new generation start to learn about it.
And there’s nary a mention of a single midi-chlorian, thank the Maker.
—
Ultimately, I walked out of the cinema feeling like I had just read a love letter. A love letter written by J.J. Abrams to all of us who loved the original trilogy. This was the movie we wanted the prequels to be, and then some.
Given, just like the films in the original trilogy, this is not a perfect film. The dialogue might be light years ahead of both trilogies, but it is still sometimes a bit corny. And in his attempt to make an homage to the original trilogy, Abrams veered dangerously close to just plain copying some pretty big ideas, situations, characters, and settings.
But it worked. Even with the flaws, the movie worked in spades.
All of that said, here are some bite-sized spoilerly thoughts:
There is no creature resembling Jar Jar in this film.
I now have some new favorite images of the Millennium Falcon, which still kicks butt.
X-Wing fighters are cool once again, especially when being flown by Poe Dameron.
Apparently, stormtroopers are now trained to duel with swords, and by extension, light sabers.
J.J. Abrams kept the sex out of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren is not nearly menacing enough, even with the heinous act he commits, but he has potential to grow into something pretty menacing.
Enough with the doomsday devices with kill-switches, already. An homage is great, but again with the one weak spot on the big space station? Please, no more.
Han Solo said “I have a bad feeling about this”, but Admiral Ackbar did not say, “It’s a trap.”
What happened to Wedge Antilles?
Teasing Luke before running the credits definitely answered the question of why he wasn’t in the trailer or the poster, and it’s because he’s really not in this movie. In fact, if this had been a Marvel movie, the scene with Luke would have been an end-credits scene – a tease about what was to come.
But the film worked. On all different levels, for this lifelong Star Wars fan, it worked. I am fully re-invested in the franchise, and will be there on opening night for Episode 8, if I am able.
And oh – I almost forgot. The four small words I really, really wanted to post on social media as soon as the lights came up? The spoiler of spoilers? The “I am your father” moment of this film?
Abrams killed Han Solo.
And while I may never forgive Abrams for doing this, I do have to admit that it was the perfect death for the old scoundrel – dying trying to save his son from the dark side, and then Chewie’s chilling reaction?
A tear-inducing moment the likes of which we haven’t had since Nicholas Meyer killed Spock.
But one point that I feel I should point out – in this case, Han most definitely did not shoot first.
December 11, 2015
Give the gift of the groundhog this Christmas!
Now it’s a bit cheaper to give the gift of the groundhog for Christmas!
Amazon.com has a special going now through Dec 13. Use the code “25OFFBOOK” at checkout under the “Gift cards & promotional codes” section to receive 25% off Thimblerig’s Ark!
In the interest of full disclosure, this is good for any book, but why would you buy another book when you can get a copy of Thimblerig’s Ark?
November 26, 2015
The Best News Story Ever
This story is – by far – the best thing I’ve read on the internet in a long, long, long, long time.
[image error]Police respond to woman screaming in apartment, find man inside afraid of a spider
By Will Heilpern, CNN – Posted Nov 26th, 2015
(CNN) – “Come on, mate, what have you done to her?”
Police were questioning a “flushed” and “out of breath” man who had answered the door to a flat in Wollstonecraft, a small harbor side suburb of Sydney, Australia.
The booming sounds of a man shouting “I’m going to kill you” and a “woman screaming hysterically” had earlier echoed through the apartment block, sometime before 2:00 a.m., Saturday November 21. The commotion disturbed neighbors, who were quick to alert the local police force.
“Where’s your wife?” asked one of the policemen.
“I don’t have one,” the homeowner responded, after inhaling some air.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” the officer continued.
“I don’t have one,” he said.
Unsatisfied, the same policeman pressed: “We had a report of a domestic and a women screaming, where is she?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I live alone,” the man protested.
The officers then told the man that neighbors had heard death threats, screams and the crash of furniture being flung around the apartment.
“It was a spider,” the man tentatively explained.
“A really big one.”
Incredulous, the policeman asked: “What about the women screaming?”
“Yeah sorry that was me,” he said. “I really, really hate spiders.”
A new theory had emerged — the man was indeed alone in the apartment, he was responsible for both the “womanly” screams and the threats to kill. They were not aimed at a woman, but an eight-legged arachnid.
November 24, 2015
November 23, 2015
The Lord’s Prayer and Star Wars
Let’s take back our theaters! Let’s take back Star Wars!
#PrayforStarWars
November 18, 2015
Nanowrimo • You Are The Hero Of This Story
—
You’re staring at the blinking cursor on your screen, doubtful that you will make your daily word-count goal.
Again.
“Why did I ever decide to do this?” you mutter under your breath. “This month was destined to end in failure!”
The cursor keeps on blinking.
Mocking you.
It’s that sentence. The Worst Sentence Ever Written. The sentence you’ve been monkeying around with for the past hour. You need to change it, but taking the time to change won’t help you reach your goal, and you’re already far behind in your daily word-count.
Your story is going nowhere. The characters are all one dimensional caricatures. The plot’s a dud, and the themes are non-existent, and…
…why did you think you could ever write a novel in the first place?
You slam your laptop shut and cry out in misery, “The mountain’s too tall, the forces arrayed against me too strong, and all hope is lost!”
But wait.
This sounds familiar, doesn’t it? You’ve seen this before, somewhere…
Frodo and Sam, emotionally and physically spent, edging their way up the rocky slope of Mt. Doom, the top of the mountain visible but unreachable under the burden of the ring…
Harry Potter, trapped in the besieged halls of Hogwarts, surrounded by the dark forces of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, desperate to figure out the location of the final Horcrux…
Lucy and Susan, holding onto one another in the bitter pre-dawn coldness, crying over the dead body of the great lion, knowing that all of their hopes died with him…
And then, it hits you. This is your dark night of the soul.
NaNoWriMo is your hero’s journey, you are the hero, and this is your point of decision. Do you turn back in defeat, or do you press ahead?
But it’s not just that. You’re also the writer, which means that this is your story.
You control the valiant champions fighting for good and the shadowy forces of evil. One side will win or lose at your beck and call.
This is your story.
It doesn’t matter if it makes sense, if your dialogue is believable, or even if it is well-written. What matters is that you finish.
And Hero, you are almost there.
With that knowledge, you are free to re-open your laptop and write, because this is your story.
And you are the only one who can tell it.
—
Nate’s novel, Thimblerig’s Ark, is available for a free Kindle download from November 19 until November 23 (PST) in celebration of NaNoWriMo. Go download and enjoy!
Thimblerig’s Ark 2: The Ark Heist, is being written this month during NaNoWriMo, and will be published in Spring 2016.
