Monday, November 28, 2022

Binge Jesus 1

Would a big Hollywood studio put millions of dollars behind a multi-year show about the life of Jesus Christ and his students? Not likely! If a relatively unknown director wanted to create such a thing, how would he get the money to produce it? 

Director Dallas Jenkins accomplished that very thing with crowdfunding. His show, "The Chosen," was initially funded by 19,000 contributors. It was enough to get started in 2019, and it's come a long way. 

A passionate fan base of Christians gradually discovered it. Roughly 5% of viewers got behind it with additional financial support through "pay it forward" voluntary contributions so that the show can be free to view for anyone, anywhere in the world. 

Enough fans showed up the weekend of Nov. 18-20 to place the show's first theater offering (Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2) box office at second behind only "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" in about 2000 theaters. Netflix, Amazon and Peacock started to stream it.

from NYT

(cont'd tomorrow)

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