I practiced this from a Christian perspective through making testimony videos for our church. The idea was three parts: “I was … but God … and now.” I learned that structure by making videos in a way I hadn’t done before. At the time I didn’t appreciate it—there I was at this church in Chicago to make movies. It was taking a long time to get going, and here I was “stuck” doing testimonial videos for the church, which was very humbling. I’ve been building my career for years, and now I’m making testimonial videos for a church in Chicago? But I approached every video from that perspective: I was … but God … and now. “I was a drunk, but God introduced someone to me, or brought me to my low point, or spoke to me, or whatever it was, and now I am sober.” “I was in a bad marriage, but God intervened, and now we are in a good marriage.” “I was lost, but God saved me, and now I am found.” I did dozens of these videos.
When I finally got a chance to make a short film and a movie, I was like, Man, I am actually five times the filmmaker that I was. I actually understood storytelling not only from a general perspective but from how this actually applies to the God story that I’m trying to tell. So, I’ve actually taught that to churches multiple times. Whether you are [filming] testimonial videos or you are preaching a sermon, consider the story from that perspective, that three-act structure. It applies to small stories, and it applies to feature-length films. But that’s ultimately the story that most resonates.
Something I’ve tried to avoid doing in The Chosen is retelling a story simply because it seems cool. Instead, I’m looking for stories that actually make for good television: that have a three-act structure. Not every single story in the Bible does, and not every story in the Bible makes for good TV or a good movie.
Now, I have a different responsibility than a pastor does. A pastor is navigating congregants through the Bible and finding the important truths within that, and it doesn’t matter whether or not it works for the characters of your TV story. I have a different responsibility. To your question, my advice would be more for filmmakers than it would be for pastors, because I’m not a pastor, and I’m not going to ever try to compare my needs and what I need to do for my audience.
What I have seen is that a lot of Christian media professionals sometimes just go, Oh, it’s a Bible story. Therefore, it belongs as a movie or TV show. And that’s not always the case. I think [the reason] why we sometimes misfire in our movies or TV shows is maybe we pick a story that seemed good on the surface, but it doesn’t have a very good “I was …”—that initial need, initial question. That initial problem isn’t actually all that significant, isn’t dramatic and isn’t the kind of thing you would normally care to watch. And that’s OK. Not every story belongs as a TV show or a movie.
Sometimes we think that because God did something cool, we should make a movie or TV show about it. I think it’s sometimes healthy to recognize the difference between something you preach from the pulpit, something you teach from a Sunday school class, and what actually belongs on film.
I imagine that spending so much time in the stories of the Gospels has touched you personally. What has it felt like to inhabit the story of Jesus so closely?
The No. 1 thing is seeing, more than ever, that Jesus is a personal God. When you look in the Gospels and study his ministry and miracles—like when he calls a disciple to follow him or even when he rebuked someone—it was rare that he was saying general proclamations to a mass audience. Now, of course, there are times where that happened, [for example] the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, he gave lots of principles that apply to everybody. But when it came to relationships, he called [the disciples] each in unique ways to their personalities, to their experiences. When he would do healings, it was often not only specific to their physical malady, but to their spiritual malady. There is a very intimate God we see in Jesus of Nazareth.
When I film scenes for The Chosen—I think you’d notice this if you watch the miracle scenes or the scenes where Jesus is calling someone—when it comes to the actual style of filmmaking, we make it very personal. We shrink the scene. We move in for close-ups, the audio becomes more focused on the person Jesus is talking to. It really speaks to their individual experience. And that’s impacted me significantly, just in my own life, just how specific God is to us and our personal journey. He wants a personal relationship.
That’s what I hear from viewers constantly: “I saw myself in that show. Mary Magdalene’s experience is mine.” “Simon’s experience is mine.” “I felt like Jesus was speaking to me in that moment.” “It’s never felt so personal.” “I’ve never felt the Gospels come alive for me personally so much.” “Since I’ve watched The Chosen I’ve realized that their stories are also my stories. Now when I read the Bible, I feel like it’s gone from black and white to color.” Meaning not that The Chosen is replacing the Bible, meaning that The Chosen has for them illuminated their experience to the point of saying, “Ah, when I read this story, I used to just see it as words on a page, just a general story. Now I’m realizing it’s specifically for me. It’s specifically for my experience. I can have this same relationship with Jesus that they did.” And I think part of that could come because that’s been my experience, as well.
You’re only about halfway through the project, but do you have any idea what will come next creatively for you? Is there any connection to that original calling that you are able to share at this point?
Right now, I’m focused, obviously, on The Chosen. We’re also realizing the need for and the requests for more of this. For biblical storytelling. For the opportunity to apply to other Bible stories the same approach that The Chosen currently has: humanizing it, bringing Bible heroes from the stained-glass windows into something that you can truly interact with and have it be made personal and realize that they were human beings. So, we’re in discussions with fellow collaborators on how we can do more of this. There are unlimited Bible stories to tell, and the audience seems to be appreciating our approach to it. That’s not as formal, not as emotionally distant. And so if I’m called to tell Bible stories the rest of my life I could do a lot worse.