Shownotes
Episode 77 - Vision Video and Redeem TV - Projects and Distribution
In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, Geoff and Jaclyn continue their conversation with Bill Curtis, delving into his current work and projects under Redeem TV and Vision Video. Bill discusses new ventures such as season four of Vindication, a documentary on George Whitefield, a mini-series on revivals, and a film about Barnabas and Paul. The discussion also covers the need for producing children's programming, the process of working with filmmakers, and the role of Christian media in both Christian and mainstream audiences. Bill shares insights into the types of projects they seek, the distribution process, and the influence of true stories in faith-based content.
Highlights Include:
- Upcoming Projects and Collaborations
- Focus on Children's Programming
- Distribution and Filmmaker Collaboration
- Christian Media Consumption Trends
- Appealing to Non-Christian Audiences
- True Stories and Their Impact
- Closing Remarks and Appreciation
Bio:
Bill is president of Christian History Institute which owns Vision Video and Redeem TV. Bill has worked in the Christian media field since 1990 and has executive produced dozens of programs including Until Forever, Vindication and the Torchlighters series.
Bill on IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2966252/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr
Redeem TV https://redeemtv.com/
Vision Video Distribution https://vvdistribution.org/
Vision Video DVD https://www.visionvideo.com/
The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers, talent agents, and distributors.
It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association
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Copyright 2024 Ivan Ann Productions
Transcripts
Welcome to the faith and family filmmakers podcast.
Speaker:Jeff.
Speaker:And I are speaking with bill Curtis today.
Speaker:This is part two of our interview, and we've been learning about distribution through redeem TV, envisioned video, and all the things that bill Curtis is involved in.
Speaker:And what we want to start with right now is what are you currently working on?
Bill:Well, we're working on a fair number of, new projects.
Bill:We're working on a season four of Vindication, which is, now all filmed and in post production.
Bill:Just finishing up a documentary on the life of George Whitefield.
Bill:We're in the middle of a mini series on revivals.
Bill:So this started out as a three hour series, and it'll probably end up as a six hour on the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, revivals from the 20th century.
Bill:The Holy Spirit's work in revivals.
Bill:We put out a film called Asper Revival Desperate for More last year, which kind of was an offshoot out of that series we weren't planning or expecting.
Bill:Um, there's a new film just about
Bill:to come out on the life of Barnabas and Paul,
Geoff:and that
Bill:which tells the story of Barnabas and, looks at how influential he was and that.
Bill:If we didn't have Barnabas, there may not have been Paul the way we know him today.
Bill:Um,
Bill:And is that going to be a narrative or documentary?
Bill:a documentary.
Bill:Okay.
Bill:we're working with our folks at Revelation Media, Steve Cleary, and their team on more iBible episodes to tell the, the Bible's a narrative.
Bill:Um, so the book of Genesis is complete and now they're working on the story of Jesus.
Bill:We released, um, the latest episode of Torchlighters, which is episode number 23 on William Carey.
Bill:Um, those are, uh, a few of the highlights.
Bill:One other film that is just about to come out is called Under Pressure, that looks at the story of a pastor in Ukraine, who, when the war broke out a few years ago, was basically drafted and had to leave his church, to serve in the military.
Bill:So now it shows the difficulty and the struggle and just the challenges of, God's command to love our neighbor when you've got people shooting at you and his desire for, some of his guys who are dying around him to know Jesus and, just the ugliness of that war.
Geoff:Wow, that's a challenging story to tell.
Bill:Yeah, very.
Geoff:does your viewership on RedeemTV reflect a kind of an equal proportion with regards to the ratio of, documentary versus narrative?
Bill:Uh, it would.
Bill:I would think it'd be pretty close to documentary versus narrative.
Bill:What we produce and get involved with would be much more heavy on the documentary.
Bill:side, but we license a lot of narratives.
Bill:That's what people seem to really like.
Geoff:Okay.
Geoff:Let's talk about what you're looking for when it comes to projects to work with, filmmakers to work with.
Geoff:Perhaps if people approach you looking for distribution, what's that process like and what are you looking for?
Bill:Well, we've got a burden for children.
Bill:There's not a lot of energy, in production with children's programmings, and we've always had a burden for that.
Bill:Unfortunately, it's very difficult to monetize.
Bill:But we're looking for projects, that'll really teach children about Jesus and, help them understand how much God loves them and, introduce them to Christian values and faith.
Bill:When you say children's.
Bill:Is there a particular age range for the audience that you're looking for?
Bill:preschool through, teens, we've done a lot in the eight to 12 year range.
Geoff:Yeah, I think in that upper range there's probably even more of a need.
Geoff:There's traditionally been more stuff published for the preschool and early childhood.
Geoff:Mm hmm.
Bill:We
Bill:love true stories.
Bill:Love stories that help people challenge in their faith, and that help people think.
Bill:We're looking at a series now called Across for possibly distributing.
Bill:It's a series that looks at immigration.
Bill:But as they say, they're not asking the political questions.
Bill:They're asking the Christian questions.
Bill:So trying to get a hundred thousand foot view of, why are these people coming and, and, you know, what's our responsibility to love them.
Bill:Not getting into the political range
Bill:at all.
Bill:But it was, it's quite a moving production.
Bill:Because we're Christian History Institute, we naturally have an interest in church history, or anything to do with church history.
Bill:So we're, we're kind of predisposed to that.
Bill:One program that we just released is on the life of T.
Bill:C.
Bill:Stallings.
Bill:It's just a documentary about his life and his journey growing up and the struggles of growing up in a poor neighborhood, um, with a, single mom, just really struggling, and just how with a couple key breaks, the Lord opened up for him, and his attitude and willingness to step into him, you know, how the Lord just transpired his life where he got to go to college and excel on the football team.
Bill:Amen.
Bill:Opened the door to his acting career.
Geoff:Is that available already on Redeem TV?
Bill:It is available already.
Bill:I believe at the moment it's in the, uh, The donate supported area.
Bill:But that will come out soon.
Bill:It's called T.
Bill:C.
Bill:Stallings, The Story Behind the Run.
Geoff:Okay.
Geoff:I actually saw a poster or an image of that online.
Geoff:I'd like to watch that.
Geoff:We're hoping to have him on our podcast.
Geoff:We've had a number of, the cast Vindication, actually, including Jared, the director, and, uh, Venus, Peggy Schott's coming up.
Geoff:I don't know if I'm missing any, Jaclyn.
Geoff:But, uh, But, uh, we're looking to have TC as well.
Bill:I'm sure he'd love to be in Todd Terry as well.
Geoff:Yes,
Geoff:yeah.
Geoff:We had Todd Terry on a bonus episode at one point.
Geoff:Yep.
Geoff:So if A filmmaker was wanting to work with you, Uh, what would be the process that they would go through?
Bill:Most distributors are looking for a finished product.
Bill:that's really what they want.
Bill:And certainly we love that too when it's all finished and it's got a bow on it and it's ready to go.
Bill:We're a little bit different though.
Bill:We will start earlier in the process.
Bill:You know, if someone has a script, and we like the treatment, it's very helpful to have like a, a one or two or three page description that describes the project.
Bill:And if we like that, we'll ask for the script.
Bill:actually have had a bunch of projects where we've helped develop it
Bill:From
Bill:the script stage.
Bill:Um, the film Until Forever we did a few years ago that way.
Bill:We read the script, we liked it.
Bill:it was years in getting the script done.
Bill:but we were partners in the production.
Bill:we'll also get involved with productions that they're in production or they're about to go into production and they're in post production and they just need a little help to get across the finish line.
Bill:so at that point we've been brought in and asked to give advice and guidance on finishing it.
Bill:So there's a number of projects like that, that we've.
Bill:been helpful
Geoff:Yeah.
Geoff:Yeah, I've been told that sometimes when a filmmaker is developing a project, that getting some advice from a distributor early on can be helpful.
Geoff:Where, as you're looking out to international markets, and such that you mentioned earlier, some insights can make or break possibilities, based on suggestions of if this little change was made, it would make it more accessible to more markets.
Bill:Yeah.
Bill:I mean, the earlier we can start the discussion in the production, the better it is and the easier it makes our job as distributor.
Bill:I mean, one little example is, we get a film that's 63 minutes.
Bill:Well, that works in a lot of markets, but it's not going to work, for domestic television.
Bill:It needs to be 58.
Geoff:a
Bill:or 48 isn't gonna work, but if it gets into 52, it works.
Bill:So just little things like that, you know, in cases we've been able to give advice, it's a lot easier to do that in the initial edit than have to go back
Bill:after the film's finished to re edit.
Bill:It's not huge, particularly domestically, but, uh, It all helps.
Bill:It all adds up at the end of the day.
Bill:Okay.
Bill:So let's just say, for example, I'll use myself for a moment being a screenwriter.
Bill:If I had something that I felt would be a good fit for your vision and, you know, being something that is going to Edify the body of Christ and bring forward the gospel message.
Bill:If I wanted to present that to you, would I first present a treatment or a pitch or how would that work and would it go to you or is there a particular channel?
Bill:How would I.
Bill:Try to submit.
Bill:Yeah, we're looking for something that we can look at in 10 or 15 or, you know, no more than a half hour.
Bill:We can look at it and get a good feel for the program.
Bill:that we can share it with other people
Bill:on our team and discuss it.
Bill:so yeah, that can come to me or it can go to Christine Howard on our team.
Bill:this
Bill:just happened yesterday.
Bill:The person sat in a pitch deck.
Bill:That's right.
Bill:We looked at the story and, it had a lot of the budget was in the right range.
Bill:I mean, it had a lot of things that, really look good.
Bill:This just wasn't a genre that, we particularly like to feel focused or feel called to produce.
Bill:It will probably sell quite well.
Bill:But we're, we're making decisions based on a lot of factors, not just market driven, what's going to sell.
Bill:Right.
Bill:and aside from knowing what the content is, knowing, here's the role the, filmmaker wants to play in the process, here's the specific help they need from us, you know, if they're, if they're looking for budget, here's kind of what they've got, here's what the budget they need to raise, the other thing we're going to look at real carefully is what have they done in the past?
Bill:Is there any track
Bill:record?
Bill:It's a lot easier to sign up.
Bill:To work with a filmmaker that we've worked with before, or one that's got a track
Geoff:some
Bill:making productions and
Bill:someone that
Bill:has made very little.
Bill:All right.
Bill:So here's a question for you.
Bill:Do Christians.
Bill:Consume Christian media.
Bill:Um, unfortunately, the answer to that is not very much.
Bill:It's a very limited number.
Bill:And that hard for me to wrap my head around that.
Bill:But when I look at my church and my small group and people outside of my work ministry environment, the vast majority of them, consume mainstream media, you know, Netflix and Amazon Prime and other streaming services.
Bill:there is a, Small set of motivated, engaged Christians that seek out intentionally Christian programming.
Bill:And part of that I get because, I mean, historically the production values haven't been as high as the mainstream market.
Bill:And you know, we just didn't have the budgets to work what they do.
Bill:From my experience, it's pretty limited once you get outside of the
Bill:Christian media
Geoff:get
Geoff:right.
Geoff:Okay, so then here's a question.
Geoff:what type of story?
Geoff:Do Christians watch the most and which ones do they watch the least.
Bill:That's a
Bill:hard question.
Bill:and I'm not sure I've got the answer to that.
Bill:There's a lot of interest in things that are kind of hard edged, that are political.
Bill:You know, there's a lot of interest in the end times.
Bill:things that are fear based, they all tend to sell well.
Bill:we are called specifically with our organization, our ministry to
Bill:not go
Bill:into that direction.
Bill:We want to keep the focus on Jesus and not get involved politically if we can, not that we don't personally have strong political feelings, but that's not
Bill:what we're
Bill:called to do as a ministry.
Bill:probably.
Bill:one of
Bill:the least
Bill:watched areas is, uh, the one we focus on, history.
Bill:you know, that, that's a pretty narrow subset, of what people want, But
Bill:that's what we feel God called us and we feel it's important to, you know, we can learn a lot from history.
Bill:Yeah.
Bill:Yeah, it's important.
Bill:And course there is that saying that those who fail to learn, learn to fail.
Bill:And also those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
Bill:And I think history plays into that because if you're not paying attention to what has been going on around you and understanding, you know, why it happened.
Bill:Then it could end up playing out that way again and again, and we're just doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Bill:So
Jaclyn:history is
Bill:The church has a long history of that,
Bill:unfortunately.
Bill:Yeah, definitely.
Bill:And I actually very much like history, especially when it's connected to the things that are going on with either the church or the Bible.
Bill:Like, even if I'm watching a documentary about a historical event that happened around the same time as a biblical event.
Bill:And then that way I can understand what was happening in the world while, you know, as.
Bill:This biblical time, um, as it's playing out and I can understand that.
Bill:Okay.
Bill:So that's something that is maybe factoring in to what was happening in the world.
Bill:During this Bible story.
Bill:And it's interesting to be able to start to piece those things together and begin to see the bigger picture.
Bill:The good thing about history is
Bill:it doesn't date.
Bill:It tends to be
Geoff:know,
Geoff:Right.
Geoff:Yeah.
Geoff:There's that?
Geoff:That's true.
Geoff:is
Geoff:So do you happen to know the stats for how many non-Christians consume Christian media?
Bill:I don't have hard stats on that, but I can tell you, it's a lot more than used to.
Bill:Because now, you know, so much of our media is on mainstream platforms on Amazon Prime and, Tubi and YouTube and
Bill:all these places where, you know, people who would never go into a church, will stumble across it.
Bill:I don't think that's predominantly what they're watching,
Bill:but obviously a much better chance that they can watch that, and if they've got curiosity or interest, it's readily available.
Bill:So what kinds of movies would peak the curiosity and interest of a viewer to stumble upon?
Bill:so that they would be drawn to it that they would want to watch it.
Bill:You know, even though there's a Christian message involved.
Bill:Well, I think a whole lot of things.
Bill:I mean, one example I can give you, we have this series that was done on suffering by Elizabeth
Bill:Elliott,
Bill:you know, 40 years ago.
Bill:It's just her sharing about
Bill:suffering.
Bill:And when the Ukraine war broke out, it just exploded on YouTube.
Bill:So somebody went on YouTube, I guess, and was searching suffering and that popped up.
Bill:And, so I think it's just kind of random ways,
Geoff:person
Bill:you know, the film Until Forever tells the story of someone who, a young person that tragically died of cancer.
Bill:So if someone's searching for stories like that, they can stumble across
Bill:all
Bill:kinds of things.
Bill:Uh, okay.
Bill:So when this story and the relevance within the culture, when they converge, then that's what draws people in.
Bill:Yeah.
Bill:And I think it's also easy with, you know, uh, you recommend, Hey, here's a great movie I saw,
Bill:To a non Christian friend.
Bill:You know, it's just easy
Bill:to
Bill:watch.
Bill:It's
Bill:a couple
Bill:of
Bill:clicks and
Bill:off you're going.
Geoff:I think there's also been, it's happening slowly, but there is some change.
Geoff:Not long ago, most Christian narratives, movies, fit a very narrow box.
Geoff:you might say to some degree, it's like the Hallmark model with regards to being very similar.
Geoff:there's a church service and a sermon.
Geoff:There's someone down and out who gets saved and so on.
Geoff:And there's, A lot more movies, I believe, being made that are a little more outside of the box, still have valuable content and a, you know, a message, but, are told perhaps in more, true to storytelling ways, uh, and, and just a very simple example, we'll come back to Vindication, though it's a series, it's out of the ordinary and perhaps not what might have been intended.
Geoff:Carried on, say, other Christian platforms, or, think you can probably identify what I'm saying.
Geoff:Do you think that might make a difference as well with regards to the potential of, non Christians finding something interesting,
Bill:Yeah.
Bill:Well, that's exactly what attracted us the vindication and, and, uh, why we're interested in investing in it and, you know, seeing it move forward.
Bill:And the goal was to create a higher production value, a little bit different than normal Christian programming that's not predictable.
Bill:you know, it's certainly in season one and two, struggles with, Todd Terry, the lead officer.
Bill:You know, he doesn't really have much connection with Christianity until the last episode in season one.
Geoff:right?
Bill:and that's part of the whole series dynamic is him working through the faith.
Bill:How do you handle these very, very difficult situations when things go wrong?
Geoff:And the struggle, after faith is something that was more neglected in years past.
Geoff:The struggle was always before faith you know, coming to Christ kind of solved that.
Geoff:And it was the end of the story.
Geoff:And there's a lot more that can be told, I believe, if we look at the struggles of people, Who already have faith, or, you know, in this case are struggling with their faith.
Geoff:It's
Geoff:yeah, I would agree to, uh, you know, at least as a viewer and as a writer myself, I do think that to be able to share what it looks like to walk with the Lord.
Geoff:that there's a lot of value in that and that that could actually draw both Christians and non-Christians to find interesting.
Geoff:Because Christians can, be encouraged that, yes, this is part of what it's like, but even non-Christians, it's like they can actually have a sense of understanding what they would be getting into, you know?
Geoff:And there could be an interest in that as well, just even to understand what it looks like to walk with the Lord, you know, not everything's going to be perfect, but you're not in it alone.
Geoff:And there are promises that you can lean on.
Geoff:That's where I like to write a lot of my stories.
Geoff:The struggle of walking out our faith and learning how to walk with the Lord.
Geoff:And of course he wants to bring you from glory to glory.
Geoff:So, you know, the journey is never finished.
Bill:No, it's an ongoing journey.
Bill:And, uh, you know, it's amazing when you look around the world how many people, their relationship, they're willing to die for their faith.
Bill:I have a friend who's a pastor from Pakistan that had to flee the country because the Taliban was at his door, was a miracle that they didn't drag him and his family out in the streets and kill him.
Bill:He got an emergency visa to come to the United States, to save his life.
Bill:He will not apply for a refugee visa because he can't go back to Pakistan.
Bill:And he.
Bill:goes back to minister and to serve, even though we may know it cost him his life, but he feels that strongly.
Bill:Wow.
Bill:Yeah, that would be an amazing story.
Bill:well, we actually tried to film part of that,
Bill:four or
Bill:five years ago and, they couldn't get the, uh, the visas to get into Pakistan to film it.
Bill:So what ended up being filmed never got
Bill:used.
Geoff:used.
Geoff:Wow.
Geoff:Okay.
Geoff:So to bring this full circle, my understanding is.
Geoff:It was your father's project first.
Geoff:But I guess maybe it was your first introduction into Christian filmmaking with the cross and the switchblade.
Bill:Yes.
Bill:Right.
Bill:So that one has been a huge project.
Bill:I think a lot of people know about that one and I love that it's based on a true story, a true person.
Bill:And so to bring you all the way from then to today, recognizing that true stories are still carrying that influence and that message and inspiration.
Bill:Uh, it's amazing.
Bill:I think that that has been time-tested.
Bill:You know that we, we know testimonies and true stories or something that really touch people's hearts.
Bill:And I think it really gives us hope because when we do need to have that connection to God and we need that hope, the true stories are the ones that hit us the hardest.
Bill:I mean, it's really nice to see people's imagination and it's a beautiful idea and all of that, but when it really happened and you can't deny it.
Bill:Then that's where you have to say, okay.
Bill:That's my God.
Bill:People love Hallmark.
Bill:But unfortunately, uh, most of life is not Hallmark.
Bill:Right.
Geoff:About what you do, about vision video, a lot more than I knew for sure.
Geoff:The history with Gateway Films and Redeem TV.
Geoff:I really appreciate what you're doing and I know a lot of our listeners are probably in the same boat.
Geoff:they've learned today.
Geoff:They probably are already familiar with, Redeem TV, at least, even if they didn't know a lot of the background.
Geoff:And if they didn't, they do.
Bill:Thanks, Geoff.
Bill:And we certainly appreciate what you and Jaclyn do as well.
Bill:So thanks for your part of building and sharing the kingdom and the good news of Jesus.
Bill:Amen.
Geoff:God bless.
Bill:God bless.
