Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 02/18/25

Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Now there’s something of a divine mission statement for the storytellers among us – to focus a culture’s attention on what is good and true while nudging individuals toward a positive outlook and sense of purpose that yields positive fruit for all God‘s people. Given the darkness being put into the culture these days, it certainly seems as if much of the Hollywood storytelling power structure isn’t on the same page – or perhaps even the same book.

A few weeks ago I posted a conversation with Dr. Michael Guillén about his new Substack podcast More Than Meets the IQ in which he shared his modern Renaissance man perspective on where our culture stands as it rolls ahead into 2025 and beyond. Here the accomplished journalist, scientist and podcaster talks about how his Christian faith is fueling his recent deep dive into the entertainment business via a promising partnership with a like-minded former Disney executive and a very successful TV writer and showrunner.

JWK: So, tell me about your leap into the entertainment business with former Disney executive Steve McBeth and TV writer David Allen Johnson. Do you feel that the entertainment side of the media is as important as the journalism side?

Dr. Michael  Guillén: Oh, for sure. If you think about it what does the news do? The news media takes the wholesale live feed. They look at it and decide what they’re going to present to you. That’s the retail. So, they’re going from wholesale to retail. They’re the middlemen.

Who sits down anymore, by the way, to watch the evening news? I haven’t sat down to watch the evening news in years. I did World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He was one of the best. But who in the world sits down and watches the evening news and lets some anonymous people decide how to encapsulate the day’s news for you in thirty minutes? Seriously? I can tell you no Gen Z does. I have a Gen Z son. They don’t do that. I think it’s nothing but a bunch of old people or lazy people who are watching the evening news.

Now, you turn your attention to entertainment and they’re doing the same thing. They’re packaging a movie or a TV series. You’ve got a bunch of anonymous writers and producers – and actors who you kind of know but kind of don’t know. You don’t know who they are or what they stand for – although a lot of them are quite vocal and pretty obnoxious about it. You’re gonna sit there and invest an hour and a half of your time to watch a movie that was put together by people whose worldview you have no idea what it is? I mean, what is their worldview? I think many people now are very wary of that. We’re seeing that in the entertainment world.

You’re right. I teamed up with Steve and Dave, two incredible veterans of the business, and we created Exceleration Studio. Our whole purpose is to create content that we call eudaimonic. That is to say content that makes you feel good about being alive, being human. It gives you hope in life. We have no axe to grind. We have no political agenda – unlike Hollywood which clearly has a political agenda. It has for many years, going back to the sixties and seventies – but they’re hurting.

Talk about the end of legacy media. It’s the end of Hollywood too, my brother. I mean I speak regularly with my former manager. He lives in Studio City. He says it’s like a ghost town…The other day I was at his home. I said “Burton, are people taking meetings in Beverly Hills, Culver City, Century City, all those typical places you would take lunch meetings?” He said “No.” People are living in fear. There’s no work. Most filming isn’t done in California anymore. It’s too expensive. They’re all filming in Canada, Australia, Morocco or Georgia. Domestically, there’s a lot of production going on in Georgia and in North Carolina. So, Hollywood, as most people might imagine it, is dead. It’s dead – and it’s not coming back.

It’s partly because there are many different ways people can imbibe their entertainment. They don’t have to just go to a theater or watch a small number of television networks. You know, they’re getting (their entertainment) on their phone. They’re getting it from independent producers.They get it on TikTok. I look at my Gen Z son. When he’s not working or going to school, he’s on his phone. He’s being entertained on YouTube and TikTok. That’s where these kids are getting their entertainment. You have YouTubers and TikTokkers who are far more famous and have much greater followings than Brad Pitt. Seriously. So, we’re gonna capitalize on that.

By the way, I have some news…We are going into production on our first series. It has to do with country music…Top names in country music are involved. They’re champing at the bit. They can’t wait. Over the holidays we got the greenlight and we’re good to go. So, stay tuned for that. I’m happy to update you in future talks. So, Exceleration Studio is going gangbusters. We could not have picked a better time for talking about it.

JWK: It seems to me that, beyond the political preaching, one problem with Hollywood movies and television series is the dark tone. I remember growing up and watching a lineup of network TV shows. A lot of them started off with a theme song that would kind of bring up your mood and the stories that followed were generally optimistic. Today, the messages coming out of Hollywood are mostly depressing. The tone of the music they use and the stories they tell are depressing.

MG: You’re absolutely right. You know, on a Friday night my wife Laurel and I will sit down at the end of a long week. We just really want chill for an hour and a half or two hours. So, we have all the streamers. I mean I do that because it’s my business to do it. It’s not because I love what’s on. We have Amazon Prime. We have Netflix. We have Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Discovery+, all of them. My gosh, John! We will just scroll through what’s available…It’s just so depressing and dark – but you know what? That’s the kind of people who have ruled Hollywood now for decades. They are dark and depressed people so they want to share their darkness and depression with others…It’s actually kind of comical. We went through a long period of time when if you went to a pitch meeting or a story meeting with one of the majors the people would all dress in black. That was the thing to do. It was very “artiste” to dress in black. It was kind of a signal to everybody that you were a “serious artist,” right? God forbid that you should wear color (laughs) because that would peg you for I don’t know (what). This is the stupid mentality that you get in Hollywood…It’s a very materialistic worldview.

I know I’m speaking generally but I’ve been in this business forever. So, I know these people. They tend to be atheistic with a very dark, depressing  worldview. They’re angry at the world. Everybody is oppressing them. They’re victims or they want to make other people victims. It’s just a dark and depressing way to live. So, it’s not surprising to me that it shows in their work.

We at Exceleration Studio, man, we’re just full of life! We’re full of optimism! You know, we’re not stupid. We see what’s going on in the world. We understand there’s a lot of hurt and all that but what are we gonna do? Are we gonna add to the darkness and depression of the world? No, we want to give people light, hope and optimism through entertainment.

For example, Laurel and I sat down the other day to watch Conclave. We thought “Hey, it’s about the Catholic Church. That could be really interesting.” Oh, my God! I won’t spoil the ending but Lord!

JWK: I know the ending. I know what you mean.

MG: We were so angry. We sat down for two hours for this piece of garbage – and it is really just a piece of garbage. So, whoever is reading this interview, just stay away from it – but it’s typical. Look, stop expecting anything better than that coming out of Hollywood. Look to the independent producers. Let me tell you something, John, right now where the action is – where the really good movies are – is with independent producers. I mean they’re pumping out their fair share of garbage but they’re (also) pumping out some real gems.

So, when we’re scrolling through all the major streamers, we’re on the lookout for little indies. You know, we’re very careful. We take a look at the trailers. We do a little research online before we invest our time but we at Exceleration Studio feel like there’s this huge untapped market and an audience that’s thirsting for content that will be uplifting. Not namby-pamby Pollyannish, we’re not saying that – but stuff that is substantial in a way that number one (causes you) to think, makes feel good, gives you some optimism (and) gives you some hope. Imagine that! Imagine that you could expect that from entertainment!  

JWK: I think optimism is something that people need. I would say the entertainment business, at least since about the year 2000, has been providing almost the exact of opposite.

MG: Oh, absolutely! You know what’s interesting, for the longest time – if you look at the history of psychology – what you’ll find is that it’s mostly dealing with mental pathology, people who have mental problems that are kind of serious and so forth. Then it wasn’t really until just fairly recently that the whole area of what’s called now positive psychology (opened up). Can you imagine that they even have to give it a name?

William James is credited with being the founder of positive psychology…The reason I’m bringing this up is because, in many ways, the news media that we’ve been talking about, the Hollywood we’ve been talking about, is kind of akin to traditional psychology which deals with just darkness, depression and what’s wrong with you. Suddenly, with positive psychology – which, by the way, is now the hot topic in psychology (with) Martin Seligman over at the University of Pennsylvania (among those spearheading it) – it’s about not what’s wrong with you but what’s right with you. In other words, how can you live a positive uplifting life-filled life as opposed to, okay, you’ve got this problem and that problem and omigosh! It’s all about the positive.

I think that that positive psychology outlook is the one that we’re bringing to Exceleration Studio – and also that I’m bringing to my Substack platform. I want to give people hope. When I talk about news events I give the background. Then I try analyze it. I try to make sense out of it…and then I try to be a little bit positive (and) give (people) hope because, otherwise, what are we left with, John? We’re just left with nothing but darkness and depression in this world.

JWK: As I see it, a primary mission of storytelling is to give people a direction of hope.

MG: Yes. I think so. I think when you look into the story arc of an individual, the individual can start out being a psychological mess – being dark and depressed – but you want to watch that character grow. There has to be a story arc. That character has to go through challenges. He or she triumphs over those challenges and, in the end, is a different person filled with light and hope. That’s traditional entertainment. I mean that goes back to Aristotle’s definition of entertainment. Yet we’ve lost our way. Why? Because we have a bunch of characters in Hollywood who have brought their dark and depressing worldview (to the rest of us). They feel like it’s their job not to entertain but to message.They just want to bury their dark and depressing messages in their stupid entertainment. We don’t have to put up with it anymore. Thank God, it’s a new day!

JWK: A great example of what you’re talking about, I think, is the TV series NYPD Blue. When the show began, the character of Sipowicz was a drunk and bigoted cop who was, as you say, a mess. Over twelve seasons, the character found God and, by the end of the series, was respected by everyone and became captain of his squad. It was a very believable transformation. They took this character that was very dark and turned him around.

MG: Yes, absolutely. If you look at one of the most popular movies ever made, It’s a Wonderful Life, look at Jimmy Stewart‘s character. He goes through hell! I mean it’s at a point where he’s at the edge of the bridge. He’s about to jump into the river!

JWK: A great movie.

MG: Talk about dark and depressing psychology, right? Talk about a dark worldview! Then the angel comes in and shows him what life would have been like without him – and Jimmy Stewart’s character comes out of that with a renewed appreciation for his life and the contributions he’s made. Well, that’s what makes that movie so popular. In today’s Hollywood they would probably say “Yeah, let him jump into the river. That’s real, man! That’s what happens!”

JWK: That’s what they do with a lot of these reboots. They take something that in it’s time was optimistic and they invert the whole sensibility. I’m thinking of Star Wars, Star Trek and things like that. They were very optimistic originally but the new versions are much darker.

MG: Oh, yeah – or look at the characters from The Wizard of Oz. Now we’re making spinoffs of the Wicked Witch. I’m not a big Marvel movie fan…but now Loki or whatever evil character has got his own spinoff. In other words, it’s become fashionable in Hollywood to take all the kind of traditional villains and turn them into heroes.

JWK: Or Joker too, right?

MG: And Joker! Yeah, let’s do a whole thing on Joker! Let’s glorify the Joker! This is why, the bottom line, the people who have been ruling Hollywood for the last several decades – really actually since the seventies, so that’s quite a few decades – are like the dinosaurs. Maybe some of them don’t know the asteroid has hit – but the asteroid has hit, baby. They’re on their way out. They’re going the way of the dinosaurs.

You know, we have a Hollywood liaison at Exceleration Studio. We’re still in conversations with them because you will find the odd person in Hollywood – especially, now that they’re very desperate, they’re looking for work. So, now they’re open to ideas that may come from somewhere besides their dark and depressing worldview. They’re open to it because they see little dollar signs.

JWK: There’s a shift going on, I think.

MG: Oh, yeah. We’re seeing it with our Hollywood liaison. She’s taking meetings every day with these people – with all the major studios, all the major producers and so forth. They’re in a panic mode. They’re starting to read the room, John, but it’s taken them this long. It’s taken for the asteroid to hit the Earth for these dinosaurs to finally look up and see that they’re on their way out. So, either they join up with the new guard or they’re out – permanently out. Many of them are permanently out.

JWK: So, what can we look forward to over the next year?

MG: You know how you look at a busy runway and you see the airplanes stacked up waiting to take off? That’s Exceleration Studio right now. I mean I’ve told you about the country music one but we have airplanes stacked up and, I’m telling you, it’s a whole new world right now. The people who are approaching us to go into business with us are unbelievable. It’s actually quite exciting.

John, I never would have thought in a million years that at this phase of my life (all this would be happening). I’ve had such a successful life, such a blessed life. More than I deserve. I’m no better than the next person but the Good Lord has blessed me with enormous success. I could easily be just lounging around at my ranch here in North Texas having a good life – but the Lord has ordained it to be otherwise. So, we have these airplanes, these projects. We have movies and streaming series that are just lined up. 2025, for us, is shaping up to be a hugely busy, busy and exciting year where we’re going to provide this huge audience out there that’s just thirsting for content…with plenty of stuff to watch. Stay tuned.

End Note: The Good Guys are Winning! Backing up what Dr. Guillén says, Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad of all shows, believes that it’s time that Hollywood starts lifting up heroes “who give more than they take” over villains like Walter White, Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter.

Upon receiving the Writers Guild Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement at the Beverly Hilton in LA, Gilligan said these words related by the Hollywood Reporter: “All things being equal, I think I’d rather be celebrated for creating someone a bit more inspiring. In 2025, it’s time to say that out loud, because we are living in an era where bad guys, the real-life kind, are running amuck…,” he said from the stage at the Beverly Hilton. “Bad guys who make their own rules, bad guys who no matter what they tell you, are only out for themselves. Who am I talking about? Well this is Hollywood, so guess. But here’s the weird irony, in our profoundly divided country, everybody seems to agree on one thing: there are too many real-life bad guys, it’s just we’re living in different realities so we’ve all got different lists …As a writer, speaking to a room full of writers, I have a proposal; it certainly won’t fix everything but I think it’s a start. I say we write more good guys.”

After that line drew some notable (and encouraging) big applause from the crowd, he added “For decades we made the villains too sexy…Viewers everywhere, all around the world, pay attention. They say here’s this badass, I want to be that cool. When that happens, fictional bad guys stop being the precautionary tales they were intended to be. God help us, they’ve become aspirational…Maybe what the world needs now are some good, old-fashioned, greatest generation types who give more than they take…Give this some thought. Made-up bad guys are fun and they’re easier to write well, but maybe we could use a few more George Baileys and Andy Taylors. I think characters like that make our country a little bit better during some other tough times in our history; if I created them, I’d be proud, indeed.”

Amen! Let’s get to it!

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.