I'm Directing a Documentary!

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Landlord

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So, exciting news. A project that I pitched almost two years ago, and have been working on and off on for that amount of time, has finally been officially greenlit and is becoming a thing. I'm going to be directing a feature length documentary about the history and inner workings of the Christian music industry. The tagline is, "Exploring the intersection of art, faith and profit in the Christian music industry."

The response has been great so far, but the only way this really becomes reality is through support from people who care about it. AKA, we've launched a Kickstarter and are crowdfunding the whole project. if you'd like to support the project and be a part of it, no pressure, but this is just a dream project that could totally jumpstart the rest of my career :lol:

Here's the kickstarter link - would love any feedback anyone has. Thanks guys!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1711839087/what-would-jesus-sell-a-badchristian-documentary


 
It really looks awesome.  It's a topic I know very little about, so I'm sure to learn something.  I'll watch this for sure.

 
Congrats man. Very interesting idea for a documentary.

I'm crunching numbers right now trying to slap together a budget, but when I get it hammered out I'll kick a few bucks your way. I humbly request only that you list me as a stunt double in the credits.

 
Thanks guys! @The Dude, it's weird because it's such an isolated subculture that a lot of people have no exposure to, but is also still pretty huge and there's massive amounts of money at play inside it. It's also weird because there's such a massive disconnect between the reality of the industry and what the market and consumers perceive it as. That makes me believe it's an interesting enough concept even to people who have zero understanding of it for it to drum up a lot of support and interest.

 
Looks legit. It has always been a hot topic when "Christians" start to profit from whatever they're doing. Pastors, musicians, book sales, clothing sales, etc. I hope this also brushes that it is okay to make money off of these things if you truly care about the message, but I also get that people take advantage of it. Would love to see if you could interview POD, Lecrae, and Skillet.

 
I can't help but respond to this thread.  I was in this industry in the mid 90's until early 2000's.  I was close to a lot of the bands and record labels.  More the alternative stuff that was underground and not on mainstream Christian radio.  I looked at your trailer.  Give this a fair shake.  It seems the trailer is setting up to be a hard knock on this industry...maybe not but that's the way the trailer played to me.  Yes, there are no doubt issues in this industry but what I found was that the majority of the bands were filled with people just wanting to play and enjoy music because they loved music and they were Christians so this was going to come across in their music (some a lot, some at times, and some really not at all).  Most were more "Christians in a band" rather than "a Christian band" and the industry can set unfair expectations on some that didn't want the majority of their music to be labeled Christian because that might ultimately limit their audience and distribution.  Yes, there were some that identified as solely playing Christian music and their lyrics were all about this.  Yet there were others who wrote songs from a Christian perspective including struggles and vulnerability, which resonated with many young audiences.  And then there were some just out to play rock n roll, have fun, and the lyrics were fairly shallow but they were in the scene.  As a Christian I always enjoyed this scene...you mostly got real people, real issues, a strong brotherhood, and yes of course imperfection.  But that's what points us back for our need for Christ anyway.      

 
Thanks for the post chamrock. I'd say two quick things in response. Number one, the trailer is obviously sensationalized in order to draw in support and interest. Second, the documentary is more focused on the industry as the system/institution and what it does to people, moreso than individual bands or anything like that. 

There's no intention of slinging mud or just being cynical critics. It's more just having honest public conversations about what everyone inside the industry knows, but nobody ever talks about.

 
91% funded with 20 days to go. Super exciting and blown away by the support thus far but still hoping to keep raising more and more money and blow past that goal. $20k for a feature length doc budget is hardly anything, especially after kickstarter fees and reward fulfillment. 

But we've also had some big names in the industry reach out asking to be a part of it. One of the most interesting being Kevin Max of DC Talk fame.

 
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