You have a wide array of people that are watching something, and you cannot please everyone at the same time. Half the people will love it; half the people will hate it. Half the people won't see it.
We created Pure Flix to make uplifting and inspiring content on a consistent, ongoing basis, so audiences would truly have an alternative to what Hollywood puts out. Pure Flix produces faith and family films, so the audience is the entire family.
'Evening Shade' was such an eye-opening experience. I was 19 when I went on that show. I had barely had an acting class. So as Burt Reynolds continued to bring me back for the next three years, I learned so much from him and all the other legends that were on the show.
I think there is always an ebb and flow in Hollywood about what is current.
Pure Flix makes evangelistic films, but we also make family films. I think the viewer wants to see quality entertainment that the whole family can watch, and many nonbelievers watch our films because they can watch with their family and young kids.
I saw one movie in theatres in the first 18 years of my life.
Coming to Hollywood at 19 and living in a single apartment with one other guy on Venice Beach was a massive contrast to my upbringing.
I wear this label of a Christian filmmaker proudly.
I want to live my life the way Jesus does - I want to love people.
Probably from, like, my freshman year of high school, I had this desire to perform and also be involved in the show business industry.
My parents... has always wanted all their kids to go to at least one year of Bible college after high school. I always knew that I was on my way to Moody Bible Institute when I graduated high school.
Growing up in a Mennonite background, there's not much media.
Mennonites are very conservative. They don't drink, dance, smoke, go to movies. I grew up in a very conservative faith-based community.
When you buy a ticket, you're basically voting for whatever you see.
It's important for us to certainly cast some Christian actors who can speak to our audience when we market the films, but obviously we don't discriminate. So our crew and our cast, the beliefs don't really matter.
The nice thing about building up your own studio is if Hollywood decides to hate faith-based films, it doesn't matter to us. We have an audience and continue to serve that audience.
As an actor, you've worked very hard, and you've been doing this for 20-some years, and William Morris was never interested - or any studio, either - in your company or as an actor, and then 'God's Not Dead' happens, and now everyone calls you.
I don't think it's any mystery that any Christians can be some of the most judgmental people on the planet.
You make a product, and you put it out, and you do it with as much excellence and also wisdom as possible, and then it's the Lord that drives it and determines where it will go.
The majority of the time, we try to hire the best people that we can get just to make the best films, and I think that's something that Pure Flix has been known for the movies we produce on the budgets that we do... our production values have elevated this genre.
I became a Christian at age 4. I turned from my wicked ways and decided to walk the straight and narrow - but seriously, I actually remember coming to the Lord then and starting my long walk with Him.
If you can make a living doing what you love, that is a blessing.
The Lord, over the years, grew a seed in my heart to make faith-based films.
We have anticipated releasing the trailer for 'Do You Believe?' to audiences, as so many have been looking forward to this project as the follow up release to 'God's Not Dead.'
'Old Fashioned' can expect strong interest because it taps into a universal human longing.
We partner with movies that stand for more than the latest bestseller.
160 million-plus people call themselves Christians. They go to church once a month at least. That's a lot of people.
We have a lot of relationships to the gatekeepers who can rally their people to go to the movie theater. It's a trusting relationship.
God is faithful. Trust Him and you'll be amazed to see what He will do.Collection: Faithful
Every hardship you endure and every failure you withstand could very well be the stepping stone to success and the realization of your God-given dream.Collection: Dream
Believe and trust because God is faithful! I'll leave you with this: a dream deferred is not a dream denied. For God can bless you with a dream bigger than the one you ever had for yourself. He did it for me, and He can do it for you!Collection: Dream
For whatever reason, that dream I had of going to Hollywood never went away. But when I got to LA at just 19 years of age, my faith was the foundation that gave me the confidence that I needed to believe that it would all work out and was a reason for the open and closed doors. Today, my faith is the center of my career.Collection: Dream
It seems that once you achieve something large, the target on your back grows. But I always want to look at life as the glass is half full versus half empty. My father taught me this at an early age - that God is faithful (Romans 8:28), and that in the midst of hardship or attack, God has your back.Collection: Father