How to be a Christian Actor

There are actors who claim to be Christians and vice versa. It’s easy to put the words together, but the lifestyles are so different it’s like an accountant moonlighting as a super-villain. Unless you want to develop two well-separated personalities (also known as schizophrenia), you have to find a way to combine these ingredients into something wholesome that is your life. The actor’s lifestyle Pick up any random gossip magazine. Actors have no secrets. We know they frequently fall in love with their co-stars, marry and divorce, follow crazy diet...

The Magic of Serial TV

Like many others, I only watch TV from DVD or online. Probably because of this, it’s even easier to get hooked on a TV series. As long as you have time and interest, you can just keep watching… and watching… and watching. A movie can touch, shock or entertain, but a TV series has the potential to really suck you in. When you spend 70 or 100 hours with the same characters, you start to feel like you really know them. They grow and change, even age, in front of your eyes. I asked a guy at our local video store to find me the pilot episode of the Wire. I...

On Female Filmmakers

If someone asks you: Who is your favourite female film director?, how many can you name? Do you pick your favourite out of 20, 10 or 5 names that come to mind? Is she a genius, someone whose films you absolutely love? Do you mumble the dialogue in your sleep? Do you cry if the DVD gets scratched? In case you somehow came up with detailed, inspired yes-answers all of the above – okay, you’re special. But let me ask you: who is your favourite female screenwriter? Someone whose ideas, plot twists and dialogue you absolutely adore? Remove the word ‘female’...

Why Do Christian Films Suck?

Being both Christian and a filmmaker, I trust I can ask this question – much like a black guy can say “nigga”. Here’s the deal: Apart from few exceptions, Christian films I’ve seen have all been terribly generic, preachy and predictable to the point you feel like you’ve seen it before. I’ve read many books on screenwriting lately, some of them with titles as encouraging as “How not to write a screenplay” and “Your screenplay sucks!”. Reading the advice of the Hollywood’s wisest men and by attempting to...