Hi guys,

I've searched as many scripts as I can possibly read without my eyeballs falling out of my face, but there's just nothing on here that really fits what I'm looking for.

This summer, as I have done every year for the past five years, I plan on making a film to enter into the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, which offers the highest grand prize of any film festival in the world: $101,000. Not to mention another hundred grand that will be split up into different categories.

The plan is to film something in June and July. The deadline is October 1st. The festival is next January.

What I'm looking for is someone who can help me develop and write a fifteen minute Christian film that can be made on a small budget, and that is made up of a cast of a few teenagers and possibly a couple of adults as minor characters.

I'd be happy to provide some footage of some previous work I have done as a Director of Photography. This will be my first time directing though.

I'm just a student, and that obviously means that there is no payment. There's no payment for anyone involved, actually. You will receive a writing credit and a copy of the DVD, and if the film wins any of the more significant categories (that offer something more than a few hundred bucks) you will receive five percent. If it wins the grand prize, you will get ten percent, which is around ten thousand dollars.

If it doesn't win anything, then we all have longer resumes.

Please PM me if you're interesting. This is a serious thread. I know I've committed to filming pre-written screenplays on here before that have fallen through, but this being specifically developed for my limitations would most definitely make it easier to pull everything together.

Can't wait to hear from y'all!

-Chris

Chris,

Do you have an idea, or are you looking for pitches for the most part?

I have ideas and even developed something of my own a few weeks ago. But, as always, my imagination is much bigger than my wallet and resources .

So I'm very much open to pitches.

You might wanna add some more info, since you're looking from something pretty specific... What do you mean with a 'Christian' film?

By Christian I mean a film centered around a very overt Christian theme. Not just a film with good morals, but a film that is specifically Christian based.


-Chris

Here's one from the short section about a guardian angel.

http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-short/m-1205808381/

The thing is that on the second post, replying to ste, the writer says he is planning to shoot it:


"Yeah, I'm actually in the middle of lining the script so I can shoot it here in town for a grade. If filming goes as planned, I plan to extend it to about 40 pages and film that, in hopes of submitting it to a film festival."

Gabe

Right you are, Gabe. Sorry Christo. Keep looking.

Chris,

Can it be anti-religious? Or is it a "praise-the-lord" kinda script you're looking for?

Sniper: It's for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be the "Praise-the-Lord" kinda movie.

Yawn!

Quoted from sniper Yawn!

Tsk-tsk, Rob.  It may not be everybody's speed, but let's be a little more tolerant.

I think "The Passion" showed that there is a pretty big audience out there for this kinda' stuff.

I didn't like 'The Passion'. Overly Hollywood ending, I mean the hero coming back from the dead? Come on! ;o)

Quoted from bert Tsk-tsk, Rob.  It may not be everybody's speed, but let's be a little more tolerant.

I don't mind religion or religious movies, I just think the other way around is much more interesting from a writing/storytelling standpoint. A "praise-the-lord"-movie sounds very Hollywood-ending'ish - hence the yawn.

Quoted from sniper I don't mind religion or religious movies, I just think the other way around is much more interesting from a writing/storytelling standpoint. A "praise-the-lord"-movie sounds very Hollywood-ending'ish - hence the yawn.

Haha from my standpoint, it would be like Al Gore doing a documentary that's anti-Global Warming.

The goal is not to be Hollywood at all. The goal is to have the same high quality production values but tell stories that are more appropriate for a Christian audience. It doesn't have to be a film praising the Lord, but everything about the film has to glorify Him. A biography on Billy Sunday's life is just as much a Christian film as a film about David defeating Goliath.

I think the main word that would describe what the film must be is reverent.

And yes, Bert's right. The Passion proved there is an audience for this type of film. The fact that this festival--a Christian film festival that didn't exist six years ago--can now offer the highest grand prize of any festival in the world is reason enough to get behind this type of filmmaking.

And I'd just like to point out that, while I'm sure intentions were good when referring me to the script, a film about a clumsy Guardian Angel is not the type of thing I'm looking for. Films like that are very much damaging to a Christians world view, no matter how entertaining.

Anyway, I think I've got the story I'd like to develop into a script from Sandra E.

Thanks for all your responses, though.

-Chris

PS: This response is most defintely not intended to start a religious debate, and I humbly ask that you not turn this thread into one. Thanks!

Speaking of Christian stories, do you need permission from anyone to adapt stories from the Bible? I assume you wouldn't.

There's a word missing between "you" and "permission". I'm going to infer that you mean "need".

No, you don't need permission to adapt stories from the Bible, since the writings are (supposed to be) at least two thousand years old.

Quoted from ABennettWriter There's a word missing between "you" and "permission". I'm going to infer that you mean "need".

No. There's not.  

Quoted from ABennettWriter No, you don't need permission to adapt stories from the Bible, since the writings are (supposed to be) at least two thousand years old.

Thanks. I didn't think so. The same would go for Shakespeare, too. Yeah?

Re-make Milton's Sampson Agoniste.

It is religious.. and oddly cool.

You could modernize it - think Baz Lurman's Romeo and Juliet.  It is what I'd do if I was religious and wanted to make a christian film.

Still, it might be a little above your budget.

Since Shakespeare's been dead since the 1400s, I don't think he'd mind.

You have to be careful not to copy someone else's interpretation. You can't remake R&J as a modern day gang fight in Venice Beach, CA, just like you can't put Iago and Othello on a basketball team and call it O.

Copyright expires 75 years after the writer has passed away, unless otherwise noted. I know with Peter Pan, another book was written to save the characters.

Before you adapt anything, do your research on the copyright.

Back to the Bible, since it's over 2000 years old, you have nothing to worry about.

I don't think Milton would mind a remake of Sampson Agoniste.  One he is dead.  And two, he wrote it off of four lines from the bible.  If he took Chris to court he wouldn't have a skeletal leg to stand on.  When I said modernize it, I meant style wise.  Don't think Sampson would be very good on a basketball court, but done in a stylized way like R&J? Yeah, I'd see it.  It would need a great deal of editing down... Milton was a bit verbose, but in this time of war this story would fit in well.

I saw an adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor that was set in the Old West.  You can modernize things any way you want.


Phil

I seen a minimalist version of Hamlet where everyone wore star trek like uniforms.  It was a blast.

A lot can be done with written material if the director is willing to give it a unique vision and place. As long as the writing is good... the visual part is just an added bonus.  Same with acting.