Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 01/22/21

Chosen ones. When already-successful producers Chad Gundersen (Like Dandelion Dust, The Trial, Unlimited and Hoovey) and Chris Juen (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 and 2, Surf’s Up and Arthur Christmas) hit it off and decided to form the Texas-based independent film/TV production company Out of Order Studios in 2015, it was with an eye toward developing high-quality, cost-efficient and family-friendly fare distributed through traditional platforms. Little could they have known that they would be “chosen” to become involved in what would become a worldwide crowdfunded TV hit delivered via an innovative streaming app. The Chosen, creator/director Dallas Jenkins‘ episodic account of the life of Jesus, racked up 64-million views in its first season. Think of the series as the New Testament meets Lost or, if you will, Lost meets Found).

I spoke with the duo separately as they were at work on production of season two and merged our conversations for flow and clarity.

JWK: How did you guys get involved with The Chosen?

Chad Gundersen: Dallas Jenkins and I worked together probably 15 years ago. Dallas’ first feature that he directed was the first feature that I produced. (It was) called Midnight Clear…We kept in touch over the years and never really found another project to connect on. He was directing other things and I was producing other things. When (he created) The Chosen, we continued to talk and he called me up and was like “Hey, we’re actually looking at possibly coming to Texas to shoot and I need somebody to produce. Would you be interested?”…At that point, The Chosen wasn’t what The Chosen is now. It was an idea and a thought (though) Dallas had a short film that he had done that this was going to be based on. Just the opportunity to work with Dallas again was great and I said “Sure, let’s try to make it happen.”

So, we ended up shooting all of season one and then, obviously, we’re in for the long haul.

JWK: What makes The Chosen different than other films and TV shows about Jesus?

CG: There’s been tons of, quote-unquote, “Jesus movies”/”Jesus projects” done over the years…but a lot of them are more of the same. It is miracle to miracle, red letter to red letter-type thing just because Jesus’ story is such a long story. Dallas’ vision is for doing it as a multi-season (series). Now it allows these characters to breathe. It allows them to actually do what normal people would do outside of what you read in the Bible. The Bible is, for lack of a better term, kind of the highlight reel of all the things the disciples were doing. You gotta believe that there were more miracles. You gotta believe that were more things happening in these people’s lives than just what’s written down in the Bible. So, Dallas and his writing team, their vision is to allow those characters to breathe. I think that’s what’s making it so relatable. You know, our characters are real people with real problems and Jesus is dealing with them in a real way.

(Then) you add in add in the kind of perfect storm that we’ve created – the talent that we found. They’re all so great. The actors are unbelievable. The way the project looks. The way that it’s photographed. The way that it’s designed – the wardrobe, the locations. I just think all of the elements have really come together in a perfect way. You see a lot of projects that you say “Oh, it looked really great but the writing was horrible” or “The writing was pretty good but the acting wasn’t very good.” Or whatever. If there’s a piece missing you lose an audience based on certain factors. In this one, I think all the pieces came together. It’s that perfect storm. I’m just honored to be able to stand alongside Dallas and provide him with the tools that he needs.

Chris Juen:  I think the exciting is how big a success it has been. When you’re doing something that’s so different – and, especially, being released differently- just to have it being so well received has been just an incredible motivation to all of us and an affirmation, for sure.

JWK: Has the show gotten much attention from the mainstream entertainment media, such as Hollywood Reporter and others?

CJ: It’s starting to bubble a little bit. One of the first things, I think Dallas was on Fox Business or something like that at one point. Hollywood Reporter and the normal main(stream) entertainment media, no…They, obviously, are taking notice but, at some point, they’re gonna need to acknowledge it.

JWK: How did the two of you come together to form Out of Order Studios?

CG: Chris and I met about six or seven years ago now…I had produced a film called The Redemption of Henry Myers. Chris was living in LA at the time, working at Sony Pictures Animation. He had (been doing) almost like a little side gig – a hobby thing that he was doing – where he was bringing faith-based Christian films to his area in LA – renting and booking theaters and allowing these movies to (be seen). Well, he had been tracking The Redemption of Henry Myers (which) was originally supposed to go theatrical. Kind of at the last minute we got a Hallmark deal…so the project did not go theatrical. Well, he had been tracking it and when, all of a sudden, he found out that it was coming on TV and it was coming out on DVD he was like “Wait a minute. I thought this was going into theaters. What’s happening?” He reached out to the Facebook page. Well, the distributor never responded to him…so I just kind of responded to him and (said) “Hey, how can I help you?”…Kind of a long and short of that, I was in LA long after that for work. He and I connected and just very, very quickly realized that we had very, very similar visions to the industry but our backgrounds were very different. He was 20 years in the studio system. I was 20 years as an independent filmmaker. Oddly enough, God just started kind working some things and the next thing you knew we were talking about starting a business together. Projects started coming in and all that.

So, that’s how we met. We joke and say “We met online.” We were business partners less than a year later and now five or six years in The Chosen has obviously been a major highlight of our (relatively) short career as Out of Order Studios. We have very different backgrounds. I think, because of that, it makes us – as a company – very well rounded. He was making hundred-million dollar animated features and high visual effects-type projects and things like that and I was doing these independent low budget-type projects. So, now we can kind of bring those two mentalities together and do really great stuff like The Chosen at a very high-level (of production value) but (without) spending astronomical (amounts).  That’s, obviously, a huge goal of what we want to do at the company in all respects – live action, animation, visual effects.

CJ: The interesting thing about that is in 2014 my family and I decided that we were going to leave the studio system (and) leave California. So, we were selling our house (and) leaving our house. We didn’t know where we were gonna move. I quit my job before I knew what I was gonna do. We were pulling our kids out of public school and were gonna homeschool for the first time. Everything was changing.

JWK: What prompted the move?

CJ: I had been in LA for 20 years.  I originally grew up in Texas and I was just feeling like things were changing…Life in the studio system was changing and it felt like it was a good time to make a family move.

JWK: Do you think it’s difficult for people who may hold some more traditional values to exist in Hollywood these days?

CJ: You know the interesting about this is that as I was really coming into my faith…people recognized that the productions I was on ran differently. The teams that we assembled were different and how people got treated was different. I don’t think they ever really understood why but when companies that I worked for were going through hard times and layoffs were coming, I found that my office turned into a place of comfort. It’s interesting how many Christians I think there are (in Hollywood). I don’t want to say (they’re) underground but it’s just not talked about very much.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve made the leap and now I’m on the more independent side but I’ve had more and more people reaching out to me – lots of people asking “How did you make the jump?”

JWK: How did the name Out of Order Studios come about?

CJ: Everything in my life was changing and, when everything changes, it’s not easy. But my wife and I were probably the most prayerful we’ve been, especially together. Everything was out of our order…I had a house that fell out of escrow and all these challenges but there was such a peace about it. To have so many life-changing things going on and to have all this peace (was amazing). Literally, we were driving from LA to Texas and halfway through my wife is like “Everything is out of order but yet we’re sitting here in such peace.” And then she kind of stopped and she said “That’s it. That needs to be your company name.” So that’s how that came about.

JWK: The good thing is the two of you seem to be on the same page regarding the projects you take on.

CJ: Chad and I couldn’t be more different in so many aspects. You know, I’m very structured. He’s kind of a little bit more free-going.  Our core values couldn’t be more the same though – how we treat people, how we maneuver as leaders.  Our partnership has been really easy because of that…You know, there are so many people that’ll advise you about getting into business with people and partnerships and stuff like that. We’re six years in – going on seven years now – and God’s been involved in this partnership from the beginning. We’re really good at looking out for each other. We always feel like we have each other’s back and so, therefore, I never worry. The four of us – Chad and I and our wives – make the big decisions all together and it’s all centered around prayer. They’re not necessarily all faith-driven projects but all decisions are faith driven.

JWK: What else are you working on beyond The Chosen?

CG: We have an animated feature that we’ve been developing for a while and have a lot of high hopes for that. That’s going quite well. We have a couple of smaller animated series. We have one series called Owlegories that’s already out…We’re in the process of developing two other animated series, an animated feature (and) a live-action feature that we probably will shoot in the summer. It’s an action movie, pretty standard – not a faith-based thing. There’s nothing bad about it or anything but it’s just kind of a standard, run-of-the-mill action film. We’re excited to get to go on that one.

But (for) right now, The Chosen takes up a huge amount of bandwidth.

JWK: Anything else you’d like to say?

CJ: I think The Chosen kind of aligns with a philosophy that I think is important – which is Christians need to not retreat from culture. We need to engage culture. The Chosen is a format that I think is resonating. I think believers feel like they can share it with people who are seeking. I think we need to, as filmmakers, get to where we are reengaging with culture and being part of the discussion rather than just being on the sidelines.

JWK: Are you at all concerned about the current state of discussion in our country and the tolerance for different points of view?

CJ: Fearful, no. Aware, yes. I just remember Who’s in charge. Who knows? Maybe this is just an opportunity for more people to be exposed to our Savior.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11