Dallas Jenkins formed Jenkins Entertainment with his father Jerry (author of best-selling Left Behind novels) in 2001, and they immediately produced the $2 million independent “Hometown Legend” before selling it to Warner Brothers. Dallas then directed two short films, including the award-winning "Midnight Clear" (starring Stephen Baldwin), and co-executive produced the Hallmark Channel original "Though None Go With Me," based on Jerry's novel. His feature directing debut, also called “Midnight Clear,” was based on the short film and won several festival awards before being distributed by Lionsgate. His latest feature "What If..." (Kevin Sorbo, John Ratzenberger, Debby Ryan) is scheduled to be released in 2010. Additionally, Dallas's writing on pop culture and faith has been featured in over a dozen national magazines and regional periodicals, as well as several major online sites. You can follow his movie writings at twitter and his political writings at his personal blog.
Dallas Jenkins
‘The Blind Side’: Predictable Critics, Predictable Criticism
by Dallas JenkinsI haven’t seen “The Blind Side” yet, so I won’t say anything about the quality of the film. But based on the trailer and the true story, my wife and I are as excited about this as any film in a long time. It tells the true story of the adoption of Michael Oher by the Tuohy family in Tennessee and how they helped him go from homeless teenager to professional football star. The book was incredible, the story miraculous. We’re especially excited because we’re big adoption advocates, currently in the middle of our first of many planned adoptions. Also, the Tuohys happen to be conservative Christians like we are, and we don’t normally get to see families like that on screen, at least in movies that are watchable.
Apparently, this makes me a racist.
You see, Michael Oher happens to be black, and the Tuohys happen to be white. I actually think that’s pretty cool, especially because they live in Tennessee, and what gets us farther from the evil days of segregation than an increased number of mixed-race families? One would assume that liberals especially would be excited about that, right?
Not so fast. The other day, after we saw the trailer again (we get choked up every single time), I casually mentioned that it wouldn’t shock me if some critics complained that the movie was a “typical white person saves a black person” story. Call it a hunch. I emailed a smart writer friend and mentioned that I’d like to write an article predicting the coming backlash, and he said I might want to reconsider because I could look “strident” if I was wrong. My immediate reaction was one of indignance as I thought angrily to myself, “What does ’strident’ mean?” (more…)
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Kanye West Doesn’t Care About White People
by Dallas JenkinsOn television, how often do you see the Heartland, the South, or innocence portrayed as positive, or as the innocent victim of thuggery or artistic elitism gone awry? If I told you that it happened over the weekend, would you have guessed that MTV was the network that aired it?
As it turns out, Joe Wilson isn’t the only inappropriate interrupter of the last week. If you haven’t seen Kanye West’s shocking-only-to-people-who-have-never-seen-or-heard-Kanye-West-perform-or-say-words outburst at the normally classy and restrained MTV Video Music Awards, take 90 seconds and watch the train wreck. I don’t want to say it was awkward, but I haven’t seen a performer arouse that many embarrassed faces since…well, since Kanye West did the exact same thing at the European VMAs in 2007, which at the time was the most awkward TV moment since Kanye West hijacked a Katrina charity TV show to rant that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” (more…)
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Obama’s Health Care Speech: A Common Sense Rebuttal
by Dallas JenkinsMy posts on this site have been and usually will be about film-making as a Christian and conservative in Hollywood, but because President Obama’s speech the other night was more about theatre and performance than actual policy (speeches have zero to do with the crafting of legislation, which is done in war rooms by politicians who care nothing about rhetoric), I figured I would chime in.
Here are a few of the President’s statements with a response:
“If companies don’t do right by their workers and offer them insurance…”
This comment drives me insane. Why is offering health benefits “doing right,” but not offering them “doing wrong?” Isn’t the fact that the company even hired them in the first place “doing them right?” Employees know what they’re getting when they get a job, and if they demand health coverage as part of their employment, they can go work for someone else if their boss doesn’t offer it to them. Purchasing health coverage for your employees is extraordinarily expensive; sometimes simply hiring the person is all an employer can afford. (more…)
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Why are Christian Movies So Bad?
by Dallas JenkinsAs I mentioned in my last article, Hollywood is more interested in Christian, or “faith-based,” films than ever. The mind-blowing success of “The Passion” got it started, but then it waned as studios couldn’t quite figure out how to match that success. It heated up again recently with the success of the micro-budget, church-produced “Fireproof,” which was the highest grossing indie of 2008.
These trends beg a few questions. What took Hollywood so long to discover the Christian market? Why can’t they replicate even half the success of “The Passion?” And when Christians make up over half the population, why are faith-based films still relegated to the low-budget, straight to DVD world? The seemingly obvious answer would be that there are few Christians in Hollywood, both at the studio and creative level, but even that would raise the question of why.
I think I know the reason(s), although it’s a bit embarrassing because I happen to be a Christian evangelical. But we must face the truth, and as Dr. Phil so eloquently and charmingly puts it, “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.” The fact is, Christian movies have been pretty bad for a few decades. Yes, Hollywood had largely ignored the Christian market, but it’s not like there have been good examples for Hollywood to learn from. And now that Hollywood is actively seeking faith-based material, there’s still a lack of quality scripts and filmmakers available, with a few exceptions, and among the films that are being made in this genre, there are still more crappy ones than good ones. (more…)
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Does Hollywood Love Christians Now?
by Dallas JenkinsAfter my first feature film Hometown Legend had been sold to Warner Brothers, I had some meetings with the WB marketing team in 2001. Near the end of their presentation, I said, “Now you know that this film has some faith elements in it, and my Dad (the executive producer) wrote the Left Behind books, so we could take advantage of his fan base and also promote the film to churches and youth groups.” After an awkward pause where I assume they were expecting me to explain myself, they had two questions: “What are the Left Behind books, and what are youth groups?” After another awkward pause where I expected them to say they were kidding, I replied, “The Left Behind books have sold over 30 million copies, and youth groups are where the young people in a church gather every weekend and/or Wednesday night for an hour or so.”
They adjusted their marketing plan.
This was before the Left Behind movies sold a few million DVD’s and The Passion of the Christ opened to over $100 million despite being set 2000 years ago in a dead language. Now every studio in Hollywood is looking for “faith-based” projects, especially because this year’s highest-grossing independent film was Fireproof, produced by a church for about $700,000 and which grossed over $30 million. Several studios even have faith-based divisions.
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