David Outten's Lounge Discussions

I'd love to meet some people who want to make movies that promote more heaven on earth by letting mankind know how much God loves them. I'm a former Disney artist, newspaper publisher and political cartoonist. I worked with The Christian Film & Television Commission for 30 years and designed data system for studying box office results and creating an annual Report to the Industry. My goal is to make movies that glorify God and compete with movies like Avatar for the top spot on the annual box office charts. I have a number of scripts available. One of my scripts was purchased and made into a movie called I Believe. You can see pitches for some of my movies at davidoutten.com. I live in the Atlanta area and would love to meet some like minded filmmakers.

In this time of COVID-19 I have wound up going down a lot of rabbit holes that are already impacting some of the stories I'm writing. The old journalist in me came out and I wrote some stories on Children's Lives Matter. You might find the one on JonBenet Ramsey surprising. If you like any please share. visit davidoutten.com to learn what really happened to JonBenet.

Hi friends, I am in Los Angeles with 17 completed features in a variety of genres. My passion is writing stories that everyone would love to see regardless of their faith or lack there of.

Hi everyone I am a screenwriter based in L.A. and I write inspirational movies with an underlying message of hope and faith. Family friendly stories that have positive values and entertain without being too preachy

I have written a faith-based TV series of 80 episodes called Come Fly With Me. How well do faith-based programs do in Eastern Europe?

I posted this same question on another section and received no response... thought I'd try here: How many Christian, faith-based screenwriters on here? I would love to network with you!!

Here's a question to those of you with an interest in faith-based films.

I've partnered with a couple guys to build a network of churches to which newly released Christian films will be available. Our goal is to establish a base of at least 10,000 churches across the US and Canada over the next five years who will be looking for powerful films they can use for ministry in their communities. This platform can be a reliable channel for releasing well-made ministry-focused films.

So far, we have been getting very favorable responses from the churches we've contacted, but to really reach the goal, we need a solid team. Who of the faith-based film writers, filmmakers and actors on Stage32 would be open to connecting with me and possibly helping the cause?

This is an actual distribution model with the intent of helping filmmakers recover all or most of their production costs before the DVD/streaming release and without the need for risky theatrical distribution.

I write faith-based movies and television shows and would like to become friends with others who share my passion. My website is http://davidoutten.com.

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is when Jesus, who was killed on a cross and buried in a grave, came out of the grave, alive.

While Hollywood is not in a grave, it is no longer in its golden age. Most of the big movies made are made elsewhere. Netflix, the rising star of the entertainment industry, is not even headquartered in Hollywood.

Would it be possible to bring Hollywood back to vibrant life?

This Easter Sunday let’s look at an opportunity. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just about him coming back to life after being crucified. It’s about victory over evil.

In 2000 the best picture Oscar to Gladiator, a story of competition to the death in Roman coliseums. Such contests were eventually ended by Christian influence. Slavery and segregation were ended by the impact of Christian influence.

What is this influence?

Baptism symbolizes death to the soul (driven by worldly desires) and the beginning of a new life led by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit brings the fruits of heaven: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These qualities transform lives. Murderers on death row have been transformed into kind gentlemen. John Newton was transformed for a slave ship captain to an important leader in the anti-slavery movement. He wrote the song Amazing Grace.

If Hollywood experienced a resurrection we would hear less vulgarity, see less violence, see women treated with more respect and see racism diminished.

In the 1960s Hollywood took a dive into what it called realism and began producing ugly stories of miserable people. Box office shrunk. America became uglier and uglier. Poverty, welfare and prison populations soared. Divorce increased as well. The American sense of morality sank toward what Hollywood presented as normal.

A resurrection in Hollywood would put that dark period behind us. Hollywood would hunger to offer light, truth and love. It would hunger to bring more of heaven to earth.

There are those in Hollywood right now who hunger for something better. Not just for themselves, but for the industry, for America, and for the world. They long to be free to make movies that make earth more like heaven.

A resurrection is coming.

What's the worst you ever got? What terrible things have people, or even friends, who aren't in the industry tell you? A few months back a guy I'd been friends with for decades suddenly told me that no one would ever be interested in my writing. He said since I was way to old, 56, they were never going to invest in my work. I felt terrible about it. Luckily some people pointed out to me how foolish my friend was and gave me a lot of encouragement. RB even talked about in a Webinar how none of the agents or producers he 's talked to ever asked how old the author was. What about you?

Scriptwriting is all about creating emotional symphonies. Thrillers work to keep people on the edge of their seats. Horror shows play with the emotion of fear. Walt Disney once said for every laugh there needs to be a tear. If you’re not building up some emotion you're boring your audience.

One emotion that is exceedingly rare, but which can provide box office magic, is joy. Never has joy been more wonderfully presented in a movie than in the third highest box office success of all time (adjusted for inflation). People from around the world still travel to Salzburg Austria to visit the Locations where The Sound of Music was filmed. It’s been bringing joy to people for more than 50 years.

It does not bring joy to everyone. Before signing on to play Maria Julie Andrews was concerned that it was too sweet. Director, Robert Wise tried to give it some sharpness. Reviewer Pauline Kael despised it and actually lost her job for being so nasty in her review, including the line, “We have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs.” Critics aside, it was a huge success. Audiences who enjoyed the goody-goody loved it. Shockingly, it even won a best picture Oscar.

After the world fell in love with the movie Julia Andrews and Robert Wise were asked why they thought it did so well. Robert Wise said, ““People just feel good when they see it; there’s a sense of warmth, of well-being, of happiness and joy.” Julie Andrews answered, ““It’s very joyous. It’s refreshing and not too complicated. A love story, with children and music. And I think, from the enormous amount of mail I get, that word ‘joyous’ has an awful lot to do with it.”

Few filmmakers could pull this off because most feel more like Pauline Kael than Rogers and Hammerstein. Oscar Hammerstein once said, “I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn't write anything without hope in it.”

There are audiences for what’s ugly, but there are huge audiences for what’s beautiful and joyful. Look at how The Sound of Music pulled it off.

First there was just wind and clouds, then wind and mountains, then birds chirping before the beginning of gentle orchestral music. The case was being made that all of God’s creation is alive with joyful music if you have a heart to hear it.

The camera then sweeps down on Maria with arms outstretched and palms up swinging around with very real joy in her heart. She sings of her heart being blessed as she appreciates all God has made. This reverent joy is very rare in movies.

The movie then contrasts this spontaneous reverent joy with the more formal praises sung in the abbey. While the nuns’ songs are beautiful, they seem dutiful and practiced rather than spontaneously inspired from within.

Then comes the amazing song, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.” The nuns argue about Maria’s good and bad qualities. She seems too wild for the discipline of the abbey, but very sweet and sincere. They conclude the song asking, “How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”

This deep joy as a character trait is very attractive and becomes all the more so when combined with the spunk necessary to stand up to Capitan von Trapp and bring joy to children being treated as soldiers. The “My Favorite Things” song teaches the children to think of joyful things even in difficult situations. The musical instruction in “Do, Re, Me” is accompanied by one of the most joyous and beautiful romps ever put on film. Maria even manages to bring joy to the movie’s official grump, Captain von Trapp. By bringing music back into the house, the captain is melted.

Shortly after The Sound of Music came out the Motion Picture Code was abandoned and MPAA ratings were instituted. Pauline Kael’s wishes came true. Hollywood dove head long into dark stories and more R-rated movies were made than all other rating combined. Today the thought of making something as joyful as The Sound of Music does not strike a note with studio executives. I hope one day it will. I believe the world would still like some joy.

Is there anyone out there interested in making movies that glorify God, play in thousands theaters and compete for the top ten box office successes of the year. These are NOT typical Christian movies. These are to be adventures that appeal to general audiences, but which show that God actually loves mankind and desires more of heaven on earth. I'd love to meet people who share this passion.

Can you even imagine how much fun it would have been to be Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone. He KNEW he had a product that would revolutionize the industry.

Would you like to revolutionize the movie business?

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone the smart phone market was dominated by phones with tiny keyboards and limited internet capability. The general public mobile phone was a flip phone with tremendous incapability. The iPhone brought the whole world into the smart phone market.

Currently the top movies every year internationally are the big-violence, sci-fi and superhero movies, but the MPAA admits only 12 percent of moviegoers go frequently. The industry spends heavily attracting the Comic Con audience and makes a lot of money doing so, but what about the 88 percent who are not Comic Con ticket buyers?

The fastest growing demographic on the planet is grandparents. Grandparents love to have things to do with grandchildren. What do grandparents want most? They want to leave a better world for their grandchildren. Imagine movies with great adventure and low violence that promote values grandparents most wish to pass to their grandchildren.

When grandparents take grandchildren to a movie the theater sells tickets to two generations and, in all probability, popcorn, candy and soft drinks.

Imagine movies with heroic grandparents, fun children, good moral values and great adventure.

It is NOT just grandparents who want good moral values. Everyone wants to live in a good neighborhood and have their children in good schools. How do you define “good” in neighborhoods and school? No violence, no vulgarity, no drugs, and lots of kindness.

The person who can make a movie that excites all generations and fosters a better world will draw audiences into theaters beyond the Comic Con group, but could attract Comic Con fans as well.

Look up “grandpa” on IMDB and you may find Bad Grandpa, Nasty Grandpa, War with Grandpa and Let’s Kill Grandpa. The person who wishes to be like Steve Jobs will smile wide and go make a movie that grandpas and grandchildren will love for generations to come.