{"id":14185,"date":"2019-04-08T14:03:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=14185"},"modified":"2019-04-08T14:08:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:08:59","slug":"fearless-faith-atonement-pictures-work-transform-christian-filmmaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2019\/04\/fearless-faith-atonement-pictures-work-transform-christian-filmmaking.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFearless Faith\u201d and Atonement Pictures Work to Transform Christian Filmmaking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Atonement<\/a>
Atonement Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian movie lovers, rejoice! There is a new faith-based movie production company in town. Founded by film industry veterans Tim Warren and Kevan Otto, Atonement Pictures is \u201ca full-service feature film production, distribution and marketing company serving the Christian marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to provide entertaining content that the consumers are looking for,\u201d Kevan Otto said. To do that, the new company is aiming to break what they feel are the stereotypes about Christian films.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some discussion on how people feel that sometimes Christian movies can be a little too preachy,\u201d Otto said. \u201cI\u2019m not talking about watering down messages. I\u2019m talking about trying to\u2026 convey it with better storytelling and better production value. A lot of faith-based movies, not the bigger ones, they tend to feel the same and tend to have a little lower budget feel to them. What we are trying to do is continue to enhance the craft and continue to bring better storytelling to it but still bring the message.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message, Otto emphasized, is the most important part of a Christian film. It can, however, sometimes get lost if moviegoers are distracted by boredom. \u201cYou can compare it when you go to a church, and there\u2019s two preachers \u2014 a preacher who is dry and one who is dynamic. They\u2019re giving you the same message but they make you feel completely different when you leave church.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to ensure that the messages in their movies reach the right people, Atonement Pictures has an unusual way of booking some of its films. Rather than simply putting them in a movie theater and hoping for the best, Atonement Pictures books showings through different churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, people would go out and get the churches to do screenings,\u201d Otto said. \u201cAs [Atonement Pictures] developed a relationship with churches, we found that churches said, \u2018We would love to show your movie, but we don\u2019t want to show it in the church [due to logistical and spacing issues.] \u2026We want to show it as a church function but in a movie theater.\u2019 [This way,] churches can book a movie night\u2026and actually book a theater. They still take their congregation to go see it, but it\u2019s kind of a night out.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the method of booking that Atonement Pictures is using for their upcoming film \u201cFearless Faith.\u201d \u201cBesides just providing a good time, films [released in this way] need to have a way to have some grassroots to them,\u201d Otto said. \u201c\u2019Fearless Faith\u2019 is a film with this law enforcement component that we saw, and we felt based on the conversations we had that these two communities were looking to come together\u2026 [So far,] we\u2019re really seeing a lot of positive feedback from churches saying \u2018Yeah, we\u2019re going to reach out to our local law enforcement.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFearless Faith\u201d is about a police officer and \u201csome questions he starts to have, some things he\u2019s seen on the job, [it] gets him dealing with his own walk and his own faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story and the opportunity it provides resonate well with many church audiences. \u201cA lot of churches, especially a lot of rural churches are interested in hosting a law enforcement night and hosting their local law enforcement, almost a meet the police night,\u201d Otto said. \u201cIn the South, that works really well\u2026 We wanted to make sure that there wasn\u2019t just an opportunity to show it to their congregation but also as a way to outreach\u2026 So, the movies that we do that with and put in that program, we definitely choose those that have some sort of potential for outreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not every movie, however, is a fit for this sort of program. \u201cWe don\u2019t do it with all our films,\u201d Otto said. \u201cThis lends itself better for smaller budget movies, it\u2019s important that you use it to target areas where there would be interest. If you do it nationwide, you have to put it everywhere. With faith movies on a wide release, if it goes out on 600 screens, then 200 screens do all the heavy lifting. A faith-based movie in Birmingham, Alabama, for example, is going to do better than a faith-based film in downtown Detroit.\u201d Using the church booking method, however, allows \u201csmaller films a way to do a theatrical release while targeting a group that\u2019s interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Atonement Pictures\u2019 outreach is handled by Graham Family Films. \u201cWe have a relationship with them,\u201d Otto said. \u201cBenjamin Graham, [who] runs [Graham Family Films,] he was my pastor. That\u2019s sort of how we started. They have a huge church outreach through their organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atonement Picture\u2019s method of booking through churches is unusual, but many movie theaters and studios have to use different approaches to draw viewers these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe film industry now is kind of going through what the music industry went through 10 years ago. We\u2019re seeing the digital world take hold and that\u2019s where people want to watch stuff,\u201d Otto said. \u201cTo talk about the digital world, [Benjamin Graham said,] \u2018I used to say, \u201cEveryone open your Bible and turn to this page.\u201d Now I say, \u201cTurn on your Bibles\u201d since I\u2019m seeing iPads and screens\u2019\u2026People want to consume the product differently. Theaters are changing to more be of an event\u2026 [by doing things such as] serving dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otto has directed nationally released films before, and Atonement Pictures does both wide and small release films. Otto\u2019s personal preference, however, is Atonement Pictures\u2019 method of booking through churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer doing the church release myself,\u201d he said. \u201c[For widely released films,] there\u2019s millions of dollars involved in advertising\u2026 and that\u2019s not something smaller films could do. I like the more grassroots approach. It gives filmmakers a chance to work with us and look at it almost as a ministry\u2026[You also know] you\u2019re showing your movie to a full house which is always kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for \u201cFearless Faith\u201d itself, there was a moving message buried in the events surrounding the film\u2019s creation as well as in the script. \u201cHow I came across the story was a guy named Keith Rushing called and said, \u2018My son wrote a script. He\u2019s a law enforcement officer here in Louisiana. We\u2019ve secured the financing, but we want you to help us take it to market,\u2019\u201d Otto explained. \u201cSo, I got on the phone with [the writer.] He\u2019s 29 years old, with eight or nine years of law enforcement experience, and he got a calling to make Christian films\u2026 He left the department on great terms.\u201d\u00a0 Much of \u201cFearless Faith\u201d was filmed in the same area Kevin Rushing used to work. \u201cThe sheriff asked him to come back every time we filmed,\u201d Otto said.<\/p>\n

In addition to being filmed where Rushing used to work, \u201cFearless Faith\u201d is based on his own experiences as a law enforcement officer. \u201cThere\u2019s a very dramatic ending to the film, and I don\u2019t want to give it away,\u201d Otto said. \u201c[But the protagonist] starts to wrestle with and realize that although he\u2019s in law enforcement and he\u2019s saving people\u2019s lives every day, what good is it really to save someone\u2019s life if their soul is not saved or protected? [The film] really touches on the importance of salvation and how important it is to have that fearless faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully the film not only conveys its message successfully, but enables churches to better reach out to law enforcement officers and offer the healing and understanding so many of our first responders need.<\/p>\n

More information on \u201cFearless Faith\u201d can be found on Atonement Pictures\u2019 website<\/a>\u00a0and the trailer<\/a> is available online now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian movie lovers, rejoice! There is a new faith-based movie production company in town. Founded by film industry veterans Tim Warren and Kevan Otto, Atonement Pictures is \u201ca full-service feature film production, distribution and marketing company serving the Christian marketplace.\u201d \u201cOur goal is to provide entertaining content that the consumers are looking for,\u201d Kevan Otto…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3957,1847,3],"tags":[3958,3224,1960,1027,1917],"class_list":["post-14185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-movies","category-movie-trailers","category-movies","tag-atonement-pictures","tag-christian-entertainment","tag-christian-film","tag-christian-movies","tag-movie-trailers-2"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cFearless Faith\u201d and Atonement Pictures Work to Transform Christian Filmmaking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ever wish you had better Christian movies to watch? 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