Dallas Jenkins | The Director of the #1 Crowdfunded Media Project in History Shares About Funding The Chosen Series

Audio Transcription

Speaker 1:
Yeah.

Speaker 2:
On today’s show, we are joined by Dallas Jenkins, the director of the number one crowd-funded media project in history. And on today’s show he shares with us about how he was able to create the first original TV series about the life and times of Jesus Christ. He explains how he was able to crowdfund the largest media project in the world’s history and on today’s show he shares with us about how crowdfunding works, how long it actually takes to produce a TV series, the process of making films and much, much more.

Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, yes. And yes. Dallas Jenkins. Welcome onto the thrive time show. How are you sir? That uh, intro is great and all those people cheering for me is fantastic. Oh yeah, that’s, that’s just the people in the studio. If you can hurt the people outside of the studio, my friend. So guys for getting flooded with, with the loving and overwhelming people, I’m sure it’s been a problem for you. Now, I do not want to exaggerate and fill the airwaves with any, a hyperbole, but correct me if I’m

Clay Clark:
wrong. I believe that, uh, you are the man responsible for the number one crowd funded media project in history. Is that correct?

Dallas Jenkins:
Uh, yes. The facts are correct. Um, I don’t know that I would necessarily put myself responsible for it, but, uh, I am indeed the creator of the show that accomplish that goal. So yes, we, we, uh, ended up raising over $10 million from around 19,000 people around the world, uh, in a few months. It was quite a, quite a, quite a journey.

Clay Clark:
Now this is the, it’s the first multi-season show ever I believe about Jesus. Um, how did you, I understand I’m doing my research that this show was born, um, actually at a failure. Can you share with us the, the story of, of the failure that led to you developing the idea to make the series?

Dallas Jenkins:
Yes. I’ll try not to take too much of your time, but yes, it was birthed out of failure. Um, a couple of years ago I had achieved my dream of getting to do a feature film that was financed by some of the biggest producers in Hollywood. I’d been in the movie business for over 15 years and all of the projects that I had done had been self-generated. Um, I had my father, uh, behind our company and some other investors and we had done it all ourselves and it had some success, but I hadn’t really achieved to the point where Hollywood was producing it on their dime and that I was getting a chance to really be what I considered legitimate. And finally, uh, in, you know, 2015, 2016, uh, these producers out of Hollywood saw my short film that I had done and loved it and wanted to be in business with me.

Dallas Jenkins:
They were interested in dipping their toes into the faith-based waters. So this was Blumhouse entertainment, which is one of the top, well is the top production company in Hollywood for horror films. They’ve actually done dozens of lower budget horror films that ended up grossing over, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars. And then there’s, uh, the WWE, the wrestling company, uh, they have a film division and they finance the film and Blumhouse produced it. And then my church out of Elgin, Illinois, which is where I was living at the time. Uh, that’s where I was working. That’s where I had done the short film. And so these three organizations, a horror film company, a wrestling company, and a church and Elgin all combined to do a film that I had written and directed. It was called the resurrection of Gavin stone. And if you haven’t heard of it, uh, that is kind of skips to the end of the story, which is that it didn’t, it ended up not doing well at the box office.

Dallas Jenkins:
And in a matter of about two or three hours, I went from a director with a very bright future because these companies all planned on doing multiple movies with me over the next 10 years to a director with no future because they all pulled out of the idea after the movie bombed at the box. And so with nowhere to turn and not knowing exactly what was next, I got to this place in my life where I realized I’m, I’m okay with not making another movie if that’s what God wants. Uh, I’m a strong believer and that, uh, God kind had my, my life in his hands. And so I was really open to doing whatever and I poured myself into a short film for my church again and I did a short film about the birth of Christ from the perspective of the shepherds. And it was 20 minutes and it was just intended for our churches, Christmas Eve service.

Dallas Jenkins:
That was all it was going to be. And while I was doing that, I had this idea, I thought, man, there’s never been a multi-season show about the life of Christ. There’s been movies, there’s been many series, but there’s never actually been a multi-season show that it really allows you to dig into the stories and do it in an authentic human way as opposed to what I’ve considered to be kind of a more formal, stiff, Reverend kind of emotionally distant way that most Jesus’ projects are done. And you can’t dig into kind of the characters more detail when you do it in only 90 minutes. So that I, that was my idea and I explored that in this 20 minute short film about the birth of Christ. Very long story short got in the hands of another streaming platform, a small streaming platform. They were blown away by the short.

Dallas Jenkins:
They loved my idea. They said, we’re interested in doing this as a show. I said, that’s great. They said, we think we should raise the money through crowd funding. And I got depressed because I thought crowd funding rarely works. The all time crowd funding record is five point $7 million from projects that already had big fan bases. We had none. I was coming off of a career failure and we ended up with that short film which went viral on social media. That was the catalyst to raise over $10 million from 19,000 people who invested in a this new, it’s called a, it’s called a reggae I’m offering, which is which you are allowed to raise investment through non credited investors or credit if they want to be, but people, the average common person can, can invest in a project like this and that’s what we did. And that’s what happened.

Dallas Jenkins:
And now we’re done with the first season that that was about a year ago, year and a half ago. And uh, since then we’ve gotten the first season done and it’s been quite an incredible ride. Now what do you call the type of investment where a non accredited investor could invest? What did you call that? Yeah, it’s a, it was a reg, a offering, a regulated regulation, a offering. It was something that came during the Obama administration and it was this new law that allowed non credited investors to invest in public projects like this. Typically crowd funding is done through donations. You just go on Kickstarter or go fund me and you raise the money through donations. And what they get in return is a tee shirt or their name in the credits or whatever. We offered actual investment. And so the minimum, this is the other interesting thing about it was the minimum was $100.

Dallas Jenkins:
Um, there was a, uh, for, for our common person, uh, there was a relatively high cost of entry, um, for a project like this, especially considering it was based a short film that I did on my friend’s farm in Illinois. Um, there w we had only that short film to gauge, you know, to gauge their interest in and get their trust. And yet they were excited about it and loved the short and loved the vision that we portrayed. I did a, you know, kind of a five minute pitch video after the short film was done telling, selling them on the vision and it worked. And so the minimum investment was $100. We had an investor who did 300,000. We had others who did 100,000 others who did 50. Wow. But a good chunk of it, you know, it was just from thousands of people who gave $100 or $200, uh, because they really wanted to be involved.

Clay Clark:
So let’s say that, uh, I’m listening out there right now and I’m not really familiar with the inner workings or, or the mechanics of crowdfunding. Could you explain it to us in layman’s terms? Uh, and maybe, maybe even below layman’s terms, terms that even I could understand?

Dallas Jenkins:
Well, the reason I’m going to be able to do that very well is because I only understand it in below layman’s terms. So that’s the good news. Um, I am not a financial whiz. You know, my, my strength is the creative side. I, I, I built the content. My partners are the ones that came up with the idea, but the long and short of it is, um, we typically you’d go on social media and you would say, Hey, here’s our link to Kickstarter or go fund me. And you go to Kickstarter, go fund me. And you see the page of the, of the company that’s trying to raise money and you click on it and it says here for $5 you can get this and for $15, any amount you can donate to our project. And people do it. It’s quite easy. Um, our means was a little bit different because again, we were doing investment.

Dallas Jenkins:
So the sec was involved and lawyers were involved and there was a whole offering, a circular, that’s what they call it, where it’s 25 pages of fine print that people, we encourage them to read. They weren’t required to read it, but it was, we were required to offer it to them. And then when they went to our website, so we’d go on social media, we would say, if you’re interested in investing in this project, please go to the chosen.tv. And they would click on invest or you know, partner or whatever it was and they would get, um, there were about four or five layers to it. They would have to fill out their name and email address and how much they were interested in investing in. Then there was a form that they would have to read an initial just to indicate that they, they had gotten all the warnings about investment.

Dallas Jenkins:
Cause I assume you know enough to know that, that when you’re offering investment opportunities, you have to tell people that this can’t, this may not ever make any money. This is risky. Uh, the entertainment industry especially as risky. So we gave them all those warnings. We really, you really have to, there’s a lot of hoops you have to make people go through. In our case, we made it as simple as possible and then ultimately they, you know, click the confirm button. Um, if they really, you know, if they want to be involved. And, uh, we just, you know, people were really passionate about it and so they would click invest and then they would choose their amount and then they would either, you know, uh, wire money or use a credit card or, um, I mean, I think credit cards and ACH transfers were pretty much the primary means that people did it. Obviously for the big amounts, like 50,000 and whatnot. People were using their credit card. But, uh, that was, that was adjusted. I mean, it was, that, was that simple enough I think. No, this is great. Dr Z, we’re interviewing today, uh, Dallas Jenkins, who is the man who has, uh, uh, directed and created the number one crowd funded media project in history. Dallas Jenkins. I think he owes me money.

Dallas Jenkins:
I send. Sure. I need to look at my notes. Okay. Nice to meet you, Dallas. Nice to meet you. And that money did not go to me. Believe me. If it did, if I said anything to SAC, he’d be knocking on my door. Now I want to see if we can do this. Let’s, let’s, if everybody’s out there and you have just a moment, I want you to go right now to the chosen dot. T V Ford slash app, the chosen.tv, Ford slash app and Z. There we can watch the, the, the film. We can watch the series for free. That is the series about Jesus. And I just want to, let’s all watch what’s all commit today to watch one minute of at least one minute of the series. And I want to get to have you break this down for us. How do you to shoot one minute of this series?

Dallas Jenkins:
How many hours does it take to produce a minute? Oh, what a great question. I’ve actually never been asked that question before. Um, well I’ll break it down in this way. So the first four episodes we did the first four episodes, uh, those came out around Easter, and then the most recent four episodes came out around Thanksgiving. So the entire season one, all eight episodes is out now. So when we shot those first four episodes, uh, that took 30 days at around 12 hours a day. And then of course there were several months of post-production, which is editing and music and audio and color and, uh, effects and all that kind of stuff. So that was several months and that ended up being breaking down. Each episode is somewhere between 35 and 55 minutes. So the average is about 45 minutes per episode. So, you know, if you think about, let’s say three hours is four episodes, maybe a little bit more than that. Yeah. You know, that took a good amount of, that took, you know, probably four months to do. Uh, at least when you combine everything into it and you say there’s 30 days of 12 hours per day shooting at 360 hours of filming. And then is it just as many hours on the editing?

Dallas Jenkins:
Yes, I would say it’s probably more on man. Um, but again, now that’s not pure shooting. I mean, you know, it takes, you know, two hours in the morning to set up and get all the actors ready and all that kind of stuff. And each take that you do is a couple minutes. And so the shooting part doesn’t take the actual cameras are rolling. That part of it is just a fraction of the day. But yeah, the, the, the, the process of editing, um, is probably a good, you know, just, just editing alone is probably two months. Um, and then that doesn’t include the, which is another thing.

Clay Clark:
Oh goodness. You’re talking about maybe 180 hours per hour of, of, of the, of the per episode. Maybe 180 hours.

Dallas Jenkins:
Oh wow. I’ve never broken it down like that. And if I did it, it probably would have caused me to quit.

Clay Clark:
Your Brighton would explode. I am so sorry for depressing our audience. Oh, that’s not nice. They get a mega point taken away from the top. Okay. But now let’s talk about cameras here. You raised, uh, how much money did the, the crowd funding raise again? What was the total that you raised? $10 million. So $10 million. What kind of cameras? D it D D you need to shoot something like this. Let’s, we have a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs out there. What kind of cameras do you, do you need to go out there and uh, even shoot the, the trailer that you made for your church, what kind of cameras would you recommend?

Dallas Jenkins:
Well, we use what’s called Alexa. Um, and you know, your rent, you rent those. So we’re not buying those cameras. You rent all of your equipment. Um, and I think that when you are, you know, you bring up a good point, even though the short film that I did for my church was done for an extraordinarily low budget by Hollywood standards. Yeah. Um, you’re, you’re still, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re renting. Um, you don’t have the money to buy, but you, you want it to look as professional as possible within the budget that you have. Now at the time that I was doing the short film, I wasn’t planning on it being seen by the whole world and it trying to being used to raise millions of dollars for a show. But I think the key point is, uh, and this is a business philosophy that applies to more than just films.

Dallas Jenkins:
Don’t drink wine on a beer salary when you, you, you make the best of what you have. And, and anytime that you try to do something big for a small budget, it ends up exposing that you have a small budget and you end up looking like a poor man’s version of something better. So what’s interesting about the short film that I did, and I think what people are responding to so much about the show, cause the first season is out now and the response has been truly overwhelming is we are focused on the characters. We’re focused on the emotion of it. We’re not trying to be game of Thrones and do a big Epic sword and sandals spectacular with big special effects and visual effects. We just don’t have the money for that. So we’re shrinking our scope and focusing on the people. And I think that a lot of people who’ve seen faith-based projects are Bible-based projects.

Dallas Jenkins:
Sometimes they feel like they’re very cheesy and they look low budget. Um, when in fact our budgets weren’t all that lower than ours. If anything, they might’ve been higher. But they expose themselves by doing, trying to do something bigger that they didn’t have the money for. And so I think that even with my short film that I did on my friend’s farm in Illinois, uh, people, you know, and if we would’ve moved the camera over 10 feet, they would’ve seen, you know, my, my friend’s house, uh, we, by, by reducing the scope and focusing on the people, the audience doesn’t know what they’re missing. They’re just experiencing the emotion of it. And that’s what’s drawing them to the story.

Clay Clark:
And I’m not asking you how much money making on this thing.

Dallas Jenkins:
I just want to know that the mechanics of getting busy, this is a business show, you know, how do you get paid? I mean, is it per stream? Is it per view? How does that work? Yeah. So yeah, that’s a great question. So, um, first off, the $10 million that we raised, that goes towards the production plus the legal fees and some marketing fees and overhead and all that kind of stuff. Um, but within the production, I took a writer’s fee and a director’s fee. We made it smaller than, uh, industry standard because they wanted to protect our investors and protect the show. Um, and uh, then of course we have to pay the crew and the cast and all the equipment, all that kind of stuff. So there’s no income, uh, for that. We’re, we’re sh all that money that comes in from the crowd funding goes quickly out towards income, I mean, towards, uh, costs.

Dallas Jenkins:
And now that we have made the show available, um, this is a whole nother long story that may, may require another podcast. Oh yeah. Open your heart to baby. Come on. Yeah. Oh yeah. Worry of how of, of, of this year and how the release of the show has gone is quite fascinating as well because it’s, we’ve literally been doing things that have never been done before. So, you know, we, we, you know this, there’s a line in episode seven of the show where Jesus says to Simon Peter, get used to different. Um, and that has been a bit of a model for us for this project. So when we first released it in around Easter, uh, we offered episode one for free and then we hope that people would see episode one would love it and then we’ll be willing to pay 30 bucks for the four episodes to watch them online or to buy DVDs.

Dallas Jenkins:
And we found that people weren’t willing to pay $30 for four episodes of a show. Um, for whatever reason, uh, it was just too high of a cost of entry. It’s not what they’re used to paying. And we found that whenever I would do like a screening of these four episodes at a church or whatever, people would buy DVDs by the pant load after they were done watching it. It was like once they saw it, they were all in, they were excited to own it. They wanted to give it away. So we found that we’ve actually made more money by giving the show away because then when we were, uh, uh, charging people for it. So what we’ve done now is during the course of the year, we found that, um, we really needed to shift gears and you know, this is a business social you showed us, I think it’s relevant to your audience is, um, we were, we were struggling, we, our expectations weren’t being met.

Dallas Jenkins:
And so we also saw that the industry was headed towards multiple streaming services. So you got Netflix and Disney plus an Apple and Amazon and they’re all, all these streaming services. And we thought, man, you know, if we’re trying to do another one and trying to build this small streaming service that called did angel that was partnering with us, we may be getting lost in the shuffle. So we need to do something new. So we created an app and it’s called the chosen. It was very aptly named and we created an app that is brand new technology. It allows you to download, you download the app to your phone and you click watch on TV. And any of your streaming devices, Apple TV, Firestick, Chromecast, Roku, you can directly connect to the streaming device, choirs, no subscription. It doesn’t cost you anything. It’s free and easy and you can directly connect through your phone without needing, needing a subscription.

Dallas Jenkins:
And people can watch the episodes for free. And we say at the end, uh, you know, halfway through and then at the end, at the end, I say, listen, you’re watching this for free. I hope you’re enjoying it. We want to get this around the world. We want to do eight seasons of this show. Uh, to do that, that’s going to cost us at least a hundred million dollars. And, uh, so if you want to, you know, help us get there, you’re gonna need to buy DVDs or you’re going to need to pay it forward and paying it forward allows us to get the show around the world. Cause internationally costs money to stream. Uh, you guys are podcasters, so you know how that works. Yup. Streaming costs money. People don’t often realize that. Um, so every time someone streams an episode of a show on Netflix, it costs Netflix.

Dallas Jenkins:
Money costs us money when they stream on, on the app. So we told people, you want people around the world to see this, we know you’re passionate about it. Um, pay it forward. So for 20 bucks, 20 people around the world to be able to get to see this show for free. And we found that after people watch the show, they’ve been so passionate, their lives have been so impacted. It’s so fresh and unique and original and they become evangelists. And so, um, the money has been coming in through pay it forwards and through DVD sales. And, uh, we’re, we’re still a long ways from the money we need to do season two and eventually in a few months we’ll probably do another investment round to allow people to get involved again to do season two. But over time, I mean, in, in quarter four of 2019, we brought in literally twice as much as the previous quarter. And now a quarter one is 20, 20 is looking like it’s going to increase on quarter four. So, um, you know, this takes time, but, uh, it seems to be working and I think people are embracing the new

Speaker 8:
Dallas. I have a question for you. If you had been approached or if you would be approached and maybe you have been buying an Amazon or Netflix or an HBO to buy it and then to finish it, how would you feel about that? Or what, what do you think that would do? Would you say absolutely no. Wouldn’t even think about it. Get away from me or would you talk to them? I’m hearing that the sound effect, there’s no extra charge for that. That’s a freebie. That’s a freebie. You just pay it forward.

Dallas Jenkins:
Yeah. I would say that last year when we were struggling, uh, we were more open to that possibility and in fact kind of started to dip our toes into the waters just to kind of see if there’d be any interest. Um, the interesting thing is shows like, or you know, stir platforms like Amazon and Netflix. Um, they’re not in the Jesus show business. Um, it’s just not on brand for them. So we didn’t, we didn’t work hard to gauge their interest. We were just kind of seeing, you know, um, there, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of interest. We didn’t pursue it. I’m guessing that that may change or that probably would have changed even in the last month as to show his strongly increased in popularity. But, uh, we, we really were never all that passionately interested, uh, for two reasons. One, it’s very important for us to keep creative control and that’s also very important to our investors and to our fan base.

Dallas Jenkins:
Um, they’re, they tend to be a little bit skeptical of Hollywood. Hollywood has done a Bible projects before and has been disappointing. And one of the things that people were excited about with the show was that we were, you know, they would put an unstained by Hollywood and I think this kind of grassroots direct to the people, uh, Dallas isn’t influenced by creative forces that disagree with him theologically or don’t believe. Um, I think that was part of the appeal and part of what people have embraced about the show. So it would be a little bit off brand for us to do that. Now that brings me to reason number two, which is let’s say I could convince myself and others that it was on brand, which it’s possible to do that. And if we could keep creative control, that would be good. But we truly, genuinely believe that my partners genuinely believe this. Uh, that, you know, in just a couple months to show has, is now in over 180 countries. Um, just in the last month alone, it’s been viewed over 3 million times. Um, you know, on these, these episodes on the app. And that’s without even trying. Really, we have, we’ve spent very little money on marketing. We’re just doing this grassroots and slowly and building on our shelf. And they really believe this could potentially be a half billion to a billion dollar project.

Speaker 8:
Well, if you ever did, if you ever did, you know, need to sell it or want to sell it, you can always pitch it as, Hey, this is a really cool story about a Jewish dude who was pretty famous. Now, you may be, you might hit that, it could be Spielberg, but it’s not your critic. We could rely on their lack of research and I’m, here you go. There you go. Oh, a real famous Jewish guy that’ll sell. That’ll sell. Now I know that changed the entire universe. Yes. You’re there thinking it must be Steven’s mailbox. It’s gotta be him. No.

Speaker 5:
Now, uh, Dallas, I’ve got a, I’ve got a complaint here with them. I’m going to use the subtlety of a megaphone to voice my complaints about the movie. Um, or the, the, the, the, the series. I don’t see Jim to beasel, Kirk Cameron or Kanye West in there so you can get in the next step. We’ve, Kanye West, Kirk Cameron or Jim Caviezel.

Speaker 8:
Is that too much to ask to get all that too much in a sense. Is that too much?

Dallas Jenkins:
Yeah. I apologize. Uh, but there you are not going to see Jim Caviezel, Kirk Cameron or Kanye. Uh, all of them are wonderful human beings. I have nothing against them. But, uh, I know you’re, you’re saying that I’ll ingest, but on a serious note, uh, we have not wanted to partner with or cast famous people, uh, like, like, you know, Tom cruise is as, as Jesus or as someone famous in some of these roles I think would be distracting. But also I think the same can be said of popular Christian celebrities. Um, it’s just not that kind of show. The, the, the show is meant to be a little bit more different. It’s meant to be, um, focused on, it’s meant to put you 2000 years ago. Uh, and I think what people have responded to so well about the project have been, it’s authenticity feels like you’re there 2000 years where you can smell the dust and the dirt and the oppression. And I think that’s part of the appeal of the show. So, um, yeah, I, uh, I, if they wanted to promote the show or if they saw it and loved it, that would be great. And we wouldn’t be averse to them encouraging their fans to watch it. But, uh, we’re, we’re, we’re tending to kind of do our own thing on this one.

Speaker 8:
Dallas, the good news is just to let you know, clay and I, neither one of us were famous and I don’t think we’d be a distraction in their rate and a robe and sandals and ropes and sandals. I mean, I can really rock sandals like nobody can rock sandals

Dallas Jenkins:
if you want to visit the set and uh, and, and get a really, really dark tan. Um, we, we would put you in the background without any problem. And, and, and hopefully they wouldn’t, uh, you wouldn’t be exposed to this.

Speaker 8:
No. Z farther. My father back, father get behind the camera, behind the camera, behind the camel. He spins. The other thing too is I think it’d be, might be fun. And I don’t know if he even thought about this. If, if a guy does enough in the, in the funding, you might say, Hey listen, you can be an extra on set if you, if you donate X number of dollars, I don’t stop to think about

Dallas Jenkins:
w we, we actually have done that. Oh, cool. So that was one of the perks, um, is at a certain investment level. Uh, in fact, even now, people can, if they purchase a bulk group, uh, you know what we call our backer package. If you buy a bunch of DVDs in bulk, but you can give to ministries or get or give to people, um, or if you, uh, pay it forward in a bulk level. We’ve had multiple people pay it forward to the tune of $10,000. Multiple people have bought $10,000 worth of DVDs to give away. And, uh, we let them visit the set and if they want, we’ll get them into wardrobe and go. And so we’ve had multiple investors, uh, we’ve probably had, you know, over a hundred investors visit the set or be, uh, background actors in some of our scenes. It’s cool. We do want to maintain the authenticity. And so, um, someone from North Carolina, uh, some white guy from North Carolina is not going to be featured prominently.

Speaker 8:
Great.

Dallas Jenkins:
Try to kind of does suspend this belief here. But, uh, but, um, you know, some of them, again, when they put on the wardrobe and, and get some dirt on them and whatnot, look pretty cool and, and, and they loved the project. They loved the process. Sure. Spend, you know, a good eight to 10 hours just waiting and then getting on, getting to dams with the group of people at the wedding scene or whatever it is. They really enjoy the process and it’s been a great, it’s just, it’s also just great customer service that allows us to really connect with our investors. And, uh, and then when, anytime that they’ve seen behind the curtain, they’ve come away saying, and this is, I mean, this, this is not an exaggeration. At least 90% of our investors have outright told me in person or via email. I couldn’t care less if I make a dime from this project, uh, after, now that I’ve seen it, uh, I just want this to get different as many people as possible.

Clay Clark:
Sure. Powerful. I have a, we have time for one more question here. Um, and so if you’re listening out there today, I want everybody to go to the chosen dot. TV forward slash app, the chosen.tv forward slash app check out the project. It is well worth the time. But Dallas, I’d like to ask you this. You have the Hollywood background, the film background, you’re working on this series. Is there any one ask that you would have from all of our listeners or any action step that you would, you know, if you said, Hey, if all of us nerds out there, if you could do me a quick favor, it would be to do this. What’s, what’s maybe one thing you want all of our listeners to do?

Dallas Jenkins:
Well, you just, you just did it. I mean, I honestly, uh, watching the show, um, we have just from the beginning have been quite upfront and I’ve made it part of my messaging and my vision and it’s an, it’s an authentic one, which is I don’t want you to feel compelled to support or partner with a project that you’re not passionate about. Uh, you’re getting asked for things all the time. Um, every day people are asked to consume something. And then of course in the faith based space, it’s to come to give to something or to donate something. And, uh, my, my thought is, listen, if people love the show and it, it appeals to them in the way that we believe it can and it really impacts their life and we say, listen, do you love it? Then share it. And, um, we, we think the show speaks for itself.

Dallas Jenkins:
And so I think if people look up the chosen wherever they get apps, um, or if they go to that website you gave ’em were easy to find and just watch an episode. Um, and if by the end of episode one, the end of episode one is very powerful, there’s a really cool moment at the end of it that kind of sends you into the future episodes. If you don’t love it, then don’t watch and certainly don’t buy a DVD or a pay it forward or whatever. But if you love it, keep watching. And, uh, I’ll be surprised if you don’t end up becoming a very passionate partner or at least someone who’s telling other people about it. So I know that may sound cheesy or, uh, I hope it doesn’t sound insincere, but it really is a sincere that I just want people to watch it.

Dallas Jenkins:
I really, I, and I think you’ll find, in fact, we put out a video today on YouTube of reactions from teens. Um, we watched the show, we did not intend to show and I didn’t think the show was going to be appealing to younger people. Uh, just because it’s a, it’s not your typical project where you’re just going from Bible verse to Bible verse and Jesus is dressed in white and it’s just a nice clean family show. Um, it’s, it’s a realistic show and it’s family friendly, but I didn’t think it was going to be, I didn’t think kids would love it. And we’ve been blown away by the response of all ages. And I think that if you just check it out, you’ll be surprised at how much you’re intrigued by it and how different it is. And if you think normally I hate a Christian projects because they’re usually cheesy and low quality, you’ll be speaking for a good chunk of our audience who feel the same way. And after they saw the show, um, changed their minds about this show. So that’s as simple as as an answer as I can give is a watch the show and you’d be doing, uh, that’s, that’s my, my, my main ask. Dallas,

Speaker 5:
thank you so much for your time. I hopefully a, you don’t get interviewed by other podcast hosts here in the near future that use a megaphone to ask questions. Hope that doesn’t happen to you. Again, I want to mention the professionalism goes up from here

Dallas Jenkins:
real quick. I told you our, our motto is get used to different and cause me to get used to different and I loved it and it’s going to make all podcasts feel boring. So thank you for [inaudible].

Speaker 5:
Oh, all right. Thank you brother to divert. I love it. Hope you have a great rest of your day.

Dallas Jenkins:
Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 2:
And now without any further ed, do what?