Read OpenTheWord’s interview with an established Hollywood Producer who has a godly calling to produce family-based films, including those with scriptural sound stories.
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Recently, on behalf of our OpenTheWord team, I had the opportunity to conduct a lengthy interview with Cindy Bond, a Hollywood Film Producer and Chief Operating Officer of Promenade Pictures (www.promenadepictures.com ). Their animated version of "The Ten Commandments" had it’s theatrical release in October 2007. The DVD is now being distributed world-wide.
Cindy spoke candidly of the need for family based films with Judeo-Christian themes. She is determined to use the media as the most powerful tool in the world to affect positive change. Her vision is contagious and truly an inspiration to those with a calling of God to work in film and media.
Questions & Answers:
CONCEPT
Q: There are two other Epic type movies on Moses, Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments, while four hours long, is broadcast on TV every Easter. Then there is Speilburg’s Prince of Egypt, which was a break-through film in animation. Why did you feel another film on Moses was necessary?
BOND: The first one was made in the 1950's and it was a live action. There is now a different style of animation from the Prince of Egypt. I believed there was a definite need in the market place to tell the story of Moses from birth to just before the Promised land, since he was never able to enter the promised land.
We conceptualized animated Epic Bible Stories from the very beginning, so our “Ten Commandments” was never contemplated to be a one-off. We felt the need to tell Moses’ story more scriptural based and in more entirety. Neither of those previous movies were that grounded in scripture. They took a lot of creative licence, and while it is true that we took some creative licence we wanted to stay true to the Biblical account that Moses was the most humble man on earth. He was human, not a man of steel but an ordinary man who God used to put on an incredible journey and do something extraordinary with.
Moses as an ordinary man with an extraordinary calling is the theme of the movie.
VISUALS Q: There has been much controversy regarding the animation of Promenade’s "The Ten Commandments", some critics felt the work was inferior. How do you plan to correct the animation issue in the next movie on Noah, and subsequently the entire Bible Epic series?
BOND: There was some criticism from the critics but we are not Pixar making $100 million dollar films. For the money we had, we made an incredible movie and got huge compliments. With our next project, “The Flood’ based on the life of Noah, we have raised the bar incredibly and the animation isn’t an issue at all.
Story trumps visuals. If the story doesn’t have any heart than the visuals don’t make a good film. The purpose of Promenade’s Epic Stories is to tell the super-hero stories of the Bible, get out the message which will be embraced by people of all faith.
These are truly family films although teenagers may expect more edgy stuff. Our movies are definitely good for Children, who are our target market.
MARKETING
Q: “The Ten Commandments” was originally slated as a DVD release, then it had limited release on the big screen. You only had three months to prepare for the theatrical release. Your next movie on Noah, was planned for theatrical release from inception with a larger budget. Marketing is such a large part of a movie budget to make a movie a commercial success. How does Promenade expect to get the word out and build an audience?
BOND: We would have liked more money to market our “Ten Commandments”. The awareness was not out there anywhere close to where we wanted it. In hindsight I would have loved to had double the budget to market the movie and we will have more than double to market “The Flood”. Our main marketing was in Promenade and we had the best team in the world, but no time.
The next movie we will have 10 million dollars for marketing. We plan on opening “The Flood” on more screens and have a lot longer marketing campaign time beforehand. We will start marketing “The Flood” way in advance, from seven months even up to a year. Time is a big factor to get the word out.
The bulk of our advertising funds will go to buy mass media through T.V., the web and newspapers. We also have a budget for our grass-roots campaign which targets influencers of families. We will get the word out to various organizations, i.e., Focus on the Family, Home School networks, Mothers of Pre-schoolers, and through church bulletins. Hopefully this will encourage people to buy advance tickets and give “The Flood” a good opening weekend.
CASTING Q: How do you go about casting the voice parts? Do you have any sort of casting call or are these selected by previous relationships - or have some actors requested to be part of a project?
BOND: We had a casting director and casting calls. As producers and directors we sit round a table and put down our own cast list, for the lead characters. We come up with five actors, prioritize their names and then go from there.
I have a lot of actor relationships because I use to be one. So I know a lot of actors who could play some of the roles. Ben Kingsley, has signed again to be the Narrator for “The Flood”. There are many actors who have come forward since we did the Ten Commandments and have offered their services.
DISTRIBUTION
Q: Is Promenade distributing world-wide or in certain select countries?
BOND: We distribute the movie in conjunction with another company in the US, we also work with foreign sales agent - with American Cinema. The entire world-wide distribution rights have been sold.
TRANSLATIONS Q: In how many foreign languages do you plan to release "The Ten Commandments” film?
BOND: As many as possible. It is in Spanish, Portugese, going into German and French. I would love to see it translated into as many languages as possible.
It’s being translated both by sub-titles and dubbing, but since the audience is geared to children, most are dubbed translations.
Q: How about Arabic?
BOND: I’m glad you asked that. We are going world-wide except for the Arab countries where the movie has been banned. It wasn’t the story that was the problem but because a prophet (Moses) was depicted, which violated the movie.
PRODUCTION Q: Will Promenade Pictures focus on animation or can we expect any other movies, modern or Biblical stories to be live action?
BOND: We are a live action company and this was my first animation movie. Originally we were planning to release an animated film per year of the Epic Bible Series up to 2018. But we are now looking at ways to reschedule so we can have more than one movie released.
We have a lot of live-action pictures on our slate. We are partners with the Salvation Army on a movie about the life of William Booth.
CALLING Q: As a Christian, do you carry a vision for producing good family and faith-based films and why do you feel this is a calling?
BOND: I know it is my calling. It has been my calling for many, many, years to use media, the most powerful tool in the world to influence people. I am using the media to provide an alternative of Judeo-Christian themes. We will never do a movie that doesn’t have a Judeo- Christian world view.
DESTINY Q: How would you consider that our LORD has prepared you for such a time as this?
BOND: It goes back to when I was a young 7-year old child, I went forward at a Billy Graham Crusade and gave my life to Jesus. There was the time that I met an actor, and then I became an actor. I was comfortable working with numbers from work experience at a Wells Fargo bank. That prepared me for work as a producer with the responsibility of financing.
Later I was able to fund myself and didn’t have to get a job. With this ability to fund my own efforts I was able to positively affect change for the world and the kingdom.
To do this, is for such a time as this. I am a seed planter. I need to get good people involved so that our work will really touch someone’s heart and will make change.
Promenade Pictures is more like Walt Disney envisioned in the past, not as Disney has become. We want to make entertaining family films which may not necessarily be considered Christian, but are ones that are a celebration of the human spirit.
I am not boxing myself in. I love comedy and may someday produce a comedy film to make people laugh. Or there could be a documentary with a historical figure. I’m interested in movies which portray love of God and love of country.
“...Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Myrna Petersen, is a writer-musician who is based in Regina, Canada. As Christian Arts Co-ordinator for OpenTheWord (www.opentheword.org), her calling includes encouraging international artists, musicians and craftsmen to creatively use their God-given talents to release the glory of God.
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Read OpenTheWord’s interview with an established Hollywood Producer who has a godly calling to produce family-based films, including those with scriptural sound stories.
“The Ten Commandments” DVD artwork.© 2008 Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films.
