ARTICLES
April 2002 ARTICLES
Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
There Are Definitely Pitfalls
Hollywood as Mission Field
By Norris Archer Harrington
Most people do not associate Christianity with Hollywood. Cable channels are expanding pro-homosexual programming, and studios produce films such as Stigmata and Dogma that attack the Church. A pornographic "actress" was recently interviewed as a celebrity on the Fox News Channel. Consequently, Christians interested in a film or television career look to a church-based media ministry first. But there are Christian film and television professionals in Hollywood who seek to change that.
Act One: Writing for Hollywood is a Christian screenwriting workshop dedicated to helping Christian screenwriters establish careers in film and television. Act One sees Hollywood as a mission field.
Founded in 1999 and directed by Barbara Nicolosi, Act One is an ecumenical project on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood and is sponsored by Inter-Mission, a national network of Christians in the entertainment industry.
As director of project development for Paulist Productions from 1996 to 1998, Nicolosi, a Catholic, spent two years looking for scripts to develop. She found "a lot of scripts from very good people, a lot of Catholic people, who wanted to make good movies and change Hollywood. But [the scripts] were all bad and had no sense of artistry or professionalism about them." When she voiced her frustration over the lack of professional Christian screenwriters to Deal Hudson of Crisis magazine, he invited her to write an article on the subject. Her article detailed the need of education, professionalism, and artistry for Christian screenwriters. David Schall, director of Inter-Mission, had been thinking along similar lines and had begun efforts to fund a screenwriting program. Schall asked Nicolosi to direct the program.
In the three years since Act One's founding, Nicolosi has brought together a faculty of about 80 working writers, producers, and directors from within the secular entertainment industry. Faculty credits represent mainstream film and television: Touched By An Angel, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Judging Amy, Christy, Batman Forever, X-Men, Hoosiers, Duckman, Happy Days, Planet of the Apes, and others. In addition to the month-long workshops held during August in Los Angeles, a workshop was held in New York City last year. This year the extra program will be in Chicago. "We also offer a professional script critique service, a production company consultation service, and weekend seminars," says Nicolosi.
So what do the filmmakers of secular Hollywood think about Act One? "Most of them aren't even aware of us. We're not even a blip on their radar," says Nicolosi. But the secular news media have taken notice. "We've been profiled positively on CNN, CBS, in the LA Times and Entertainment Weekly." She says the need for good screenwriters is so great that the secular market is happy to welcome anyone who can produce quality work.
Applications for each workshop number in the hundreds, and classes are limited to 30 students.
Chris Foley attended Act One in 2001 already having earned a Masters of Fine Arts in film. Additionally, his screenplay, Red Card, was a semi-finalist in the Motion Picture Academy's Nicholl Fellowship. Despite his previous successes he saw value in the program. "The nice thing about Act One, everyone was working and had real world experience," says Foley. Sister Marie-Paul Curley with the Daughters of St. Paul has worked in video production for 15 years and traveled from Boston to Los Angeles to participate. "I loved it!" she says.
Even though many applicants have some experience in the business, individuals with little to no experience are selected as well. The selection committee uses an applicant's writing samples and personal statement in making its decisions. "We are looking for people who can write, that actually will be able to have a career in this town, someone who has a great love for Hollywood, someone who has a great story, and someone who is committed to Christ," says Marianne Savell, director of promotions for Act One.
Act One's ecumenism follows from necessity. "No one religious group has enough resources in Hollywood to sustain a program as ambitious as this one," says Nicolosi. But it is no coincidence that problems have not arisen due to doctrinal differences among the faculty and students.
"Early on in the program we tell the students that we are not going to tolerate denominational squabbling," says Nicolosi. Proselytizing is verboten.
"I was pleasantly surprised," says Foley, a Catholic devoted to the Latin Mass. "The majority of the students are Protestant but that did not cause any problems for Catholics to be there," he says. Furthermore, he said he never felt any stress regarding religious issues "because Act One is not a theological venture, it's trying to take people who already have Christian beliefs and mold them into good writers."
"I don't remember having a doctrinal discussion, or any problems. We were all encouraged to remember that we believe in the same Lord," say Sister Marie-Paul.
"It's just as dangerous when you get too ecumenical that you water down somebody's faith, or everybody's faith. That's a big problem," says Act One teacher Karen Covell, a non-Catholic. Covell is an independent television producer, and her husband Jim is a composer for film and television whose credits include The Learning Channel's U.S. Marshals and the film Left Behind. Together with a third partner they have written the books The Day I Met God and How To Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out. They also co-instruct the Act One class, "Hollywood as a Mission Field."
How does Act One deal with the claim that Hollywood is the new Sodom?
"Many of us in Act One and the industry as a whole want to change people's belief that Hollywood is Sodom," says Covell, "and start having them think of it as Nineveh, because Nineveh was just as bad as Sodom, but God restored it." Here Covell refers to Matthew 12:41: "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here."
She goes on to say that they want two mindsets. "We want the mindset that this is Nineveh and that we are here to pass on a grand message, and we want the mindset that Christians should be here because the more missionaries we have, the more impact we have in passing on the Gospel."
In Act One, the strength of one's faith is no excuse for bad art. During the course, "Hollywood as Mission Field," the Covells stress to the students that their presence as a leaven is far more important than worldly fame, but they stress that professionalism is important. "It's so crucial to raise up excellent Christians in the craft. We really believe it's important to be good at what you do here. It's a terrible witness for the Lord to not be good at what you do."
Embracing the spirit of Hollywood as mission field, Sister Marie-Paul sees a possible move to Hollywood from Boston in keeping with the apostolate of her order. "The Daughters of St. Paul like to ask, 'If St. Paul were alive today, where would he be?'"
What about the temptations these young screenwriters will face in their vocation?
"There are definitely pitfalls here," says Nicolosi. "For those who succeed, there are many pitfalls: too much money, too much power, and too much of everything good the world has to offer." She goes on to say that many professions can endanger one's soul. "I would rather be working in Hollywood than be a doctor where they're doing abortions two floors below me," said Nicolosi.
The Act One alumni have a support system in addition to that found in individual prayer and partaking of the sacraments: each other.
"What's exciting for me has been the incredible time to unify the professionals who've come in to be teachers and mentors because they are all coming together for a common good, which really brings them closer together as well," says Covell.
"We don't want to be a Christian sub-culture in Hollywood," says Nicolosi, "we, want to create a cenacle, or upper-room experience for our students so they can come together. But the point is to then go back out into the industry, work and live along side the other people in the industry who God loves and who the Church seems to have abandoned. The talented people, the artists that are the engine of Hollywood are our mission field."