The Chosen:
Restoration for my Production Soul.
I could probably write a chapter from an overflowing heart of what The Chosen series has done for my soul.
For one, it’s restored my faith there are production companies out there that have ethics, integrity and are building something wonderful for their cast, crews, production administration and viewers. It’s well funded and obviously spends what it takes to make a quality production. It has always been my prayerful wish to work someday for something with that at heart and in their mission statement.
I’m most impressed with Creator and Executive Producer Dallas Jenkins. I feel about him the same way in 1992 I did about author Frank Peretti and over the past decade for Jullian Fellowes. Dallas is this country’s Jullian Fellowes as far as I’m concerned. Brilliant. Creative. Very humble and gracious. Smart. Wise. Innovative. And kind. I’ve learned much from his Vlogs especially in the era of using social media.
I identify with what Dallas went through to get where he is. At the same time feel like I’ve been given a lifeline to learn from his perseverance and example. To just provide the loaves and fishes and let God do the miracles. I’m taking that now into my thinking and writing. It takes the pressure off to be perfect in all things.
I have also given gladly to his vision. It may be as close as I ever get into the credits of a professionally made film. I have worked on one feature film in 2001 for Paramount Pictures/Viacom & Payaso productions. What I learned was how not to make a film. But I am glad I worked the project and provided exceptional video for behind the scenes promotion and proof of performance to their investors.
I always hoped and prayed God would lead my career to be involved with like minded professionals in some way. Using one of my skills or many.
I trusted his care to work in the industries where I have made a difference and contributed to the greater good.
I trusted God top leave my radio and television career behind in the 1980s to return for college the 1990s of my 30s. I earned a BA in Broadcast Journalism as my major and Minor in Theater Arts. I loved my theater years of the 1990s and 1980s as well.
What I learned most from my Masters was the value of research and how ‘we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.’
What I cannot explain is the past 21 years. The failures that perhaps turned me into a kinder and gentler man now into my 60s. When I came to DFW I thought God would put me into a production company, into a television station, radio group or corporate video role. The one goal I pursued and never found was a church home in video production. But I knew how much changed after 911 2001 and how technology in HDTV replaced seasoned professionals with both smart phone cameras and You Tube video as destination sites.
I closed my production company and had my last client in 2010. I felt like I was a pair of sandals in the Juarez Market and people wanted my services for the lowest haggled rate. Similarly in churches where 2, 3, or 4 positions were rolled into one and the burnout of media professionals for both a stressed and unlivable wage was just abuse. But Churches changed in the 2000s. Politics entered and the simplicity of following Christ exited. That’s reflected in THE CHOSEN. The legalism and religious politics of the Temples never recognized the arrival of the Messiah. Instead of welcoming him they fought his every step. All the way to the cross. “Better to kill an innocent man than to give away any power that threatens it.”
I was always a Jesus person. From the start he was my first love. Because he first loved me. I could never keep all the rules and be a perfect person. I love that The Chosen emphasizes that in the role of Mary Magdalene. Jesus never expected us to be perfect but he did hope we would love him, his teaching and better way to live. Boy do I get that after the past five years of global turmoil.
Through John Eldridge I turned off most of my social media to where I control it instead of it controlling me. Like ancient monks seeking a peaceful life I turned to Benevolent Detachment and pause more in my day, night, before bed and rising to prayer like Jesus does. Have to thank The Chosen for that as well.
The greetings of Peace. “Shalom.” Answered “Shalom.” Love that.
Not always having to be extremely organized. Organized yet. Control and manipulation, never. I love how Dallas in the behind the scenes clips show or ask different things from his actors. Trying things in different ways of speaking and acting. Subtle things. Where actors don’t need excessive dialogue and can act in emotions and offers signs of humanity. Just as Jullian Fellowes did for his cast in Downton Abbey.
Dallas and Fellowes treat their audience as smart and educated. No need to spoon feed everything or repeat the same things over and over.
I like how Jesus has as quirky fun sense of humor. I love how he treats women. I wonder if the script is coming sometimes from the gospel of Luke?
I like how Dallas treats writers. “Writing is often the hardest part of the production.” It is. And yet I like writing. But I love it when I can hear my dialogue spoken by actors I wrote them for. Trust they get the point. Interpret it well. And sometimes give the perception I hoped might come from the words with glances or actions that express emotion. Dallas Jenkins does that with an exceptional cast and obviously crew.
I miss most working as a team and being a part of a well assembled team.
I miss the humor and the fellowship the most. Money pays the bills but there are things the heart treasures when an ensemble cast and crew makes brilliance or shares laugher when its gaffed.
But finding meaningful work, benevolent employers and competitive pay work in the Christian world is like trying to get through the wardrobe to Narnia without a key. Thank God The Chosen provides the keysl.
So I invite all who read my blog and follow my pages to download the app for your smart phones, put the app on your Roku, FireStick or device and wade into the water for at least 7 seasons times eight episodes a year and funded the full life of Jesus in this series.
I hope there are more to come beyond that. I want to know what happens to the disciples. Where they go. What they do. How they do it. And bring more of the Old Testament to life as well. I hope there is more to come with Jesus as well. How? I leave that to the creators and writers. But this is exceptional film/television. It is exceptional film quality television. Fund them. Be a part of something great.
CS Lewis wrote: “Pain is a brutal teacher; but oh how we can learn from it.” In a short sentence, ‘Failure is a brutal teacher.’ Listening to the biography sof Dallas’s life and of his film career in Hollywood and the failure of his first feature, I found a fellow traveler as someone I identify with in those ways. I appreciate his tenacity and determination to do it right. The Chosen is done right. For all the right reasons.
I’ve felt like a failure at several key places of my lifetime. I feel like I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded though colleagues might suggest otherwise. My 20s to 30s had highlights. Not so much my 40s and 50s of the past 20 years. I’m still active as a writer, still have my HD cameras, editing studio and colleagues in or out of the industry. And We all wish we could work for the best. Reality TV is not it. Drama and Theatrical based Film is.
Thank God for THE CHOSEN. Its the best of all things.
PS: I love seeing a Jewish Jesus too. And so much of our faith that is inaccessible to believers in him. I worked for a Jewish man I admired as a Radio Station owner in Odessa. But he never held any faith based conversations with us. There was a wall or veil and never did the two meet.
He was a rabbi sometimes in his small congregation and I wanted to hear and experience a service. But he never invited us. We were never welcome. Hard to understand how our roots were so intertwined but never shared.
But I understood some of his reasons as well. Just wished we could have bridged those when he was alive.
I love the roundtables with the scholars & consultants. Like Grandaute Semianrs.
I Love how the camera is breaking the 4th wall as allowing the viewer to feeling access in those seminars. Like we are at the table.
I appreciate the promotion, the inclusion of viewers with hosts, actors, cast, crew and support services. It feels like family. Bravo for that as well.
Even though I’m not in my field right now, working for Costco in security, writing novels and nonfiction books in my off and down time, I have this incredible peace just knowing Loaves and Fishes is 20 miles away in Midlothian.
Sometimes when I’m driving southeast on 287 and look to the horizon past Cendar Hill to see Midlothian on the horizon south – just to know THE CHOSEN is actually filming there? It’s a gift. I was in my 20s and 30s in such a production atmosphere and I miss it. Its a comfort as someone who loves shoots, sets, casts, & crews, to just know it’s there and I’m invested in it feels productive. Special. Anointed may be the wrong word but in my early 60s as I was in my 20s and 30s I feel so useful.
How I wish I was there.
Maybe at some point as a guest.
Maybe just inspiration to finish editing my novels on the 1920s in THE STARS AT NIGHT SERIES. Based on a young girl from Texas who graduates high school to work for Irving Thalberg, Anita Loos, and Francis Marion at the newly created MGM Studios in Culver City. The Chosen behind the scenes clips has breathed new life into those scenes for me in my book.
I could get used to different. I still believe dreams can come true.
The Chosen has restored my faith in production companies. How blessed are those who work for Dallas but most importantly WITH him. And the ensemble cast and crew. How lucky they are. Its so rare. Its very rare.
Admittedly, I still wonder why in 2001 God called me to this area twenty plus years ago for a vision that did not materialize. BA, MA, 25 years in various forms of broadcasting, film and writing.
Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life.”
How I wish like Zacchaeus I could climb a tree to see a full day of shooting even from a distance. I can in some of Dallas’s outtakes and phone v-log sessions. And I love those. They are good medicine to my spirit.
I’m rambling a little. Need to finish this. I am happy for all those who are working for Loaves and Fishes in Midlothian. Just to know some personally who have worked there as PAs and others who are there and working in it — and that Dallas Jenkins is overseeing it all — Bravo!
It is enough to reassure me something good can come out of this area. I hope for me as well.
Something wonderful.
“Come and see!”
Watch the series and pay it forward. I will continue on both paths.