From The New York Times:
On the surface, Hollywood is a land of loose morals, where materialism rules, sex and drugs are celebrated on screen (and off), and power players can have a distant relationship with the truth. But movie studios and their partners have quietly — very quietly, sometimes to the degree of a black ops endeavor — been building deep connections to Christian filmgoers who dwell elsewhere on the spectrum of politics and social values. In doing so, they have tapped churches, military groups, right-leaning bloggers and, particularly, a fraternity of marketing specialists who cut their teeth on overtly religious movies but now put their influence behind mainstream works like “Frozen,” “The Conjuring,” “Sully” and “Hidden Figures.”
The marketers are writing bullet points for sermons, providing footage for television screens mounted in sanctuaries and proposing Sunday school lesson plans. In some cases, studios are even flying actors, costume designers and producers to megachurch discussion groups.
I remember about four years ago when the company I was working for started to test the waters of marketing faith-based films. We created Bible studies, sermon outlines, and sermon movie clips all designed to market a movie.
Looking back, it never felt right. Specifically the part about writing sermon outlines with the sole focus of selling a movie.
To be clear, the issue is that sermon is something that should be carefully crafted with the guidance of scripture and the Spirit. To allow a company to give you a sermon outline with the purpose to promote a movie is a dangerous idea.
I’m not opposed to faith-based films, however I have yet to see one that I think it worth my time. I’m opposed to anything that tries to co-opt the sacredness of a worship gathering.
via Secular Hollywood Quietly Courts the Faithful – The New York Times