What do we hope to gain?
Our main priority is to bring new people to the word of Jesus without being high-handed and condescending. In order to do that you have to produce a saga that has all the elements of things they look for in Sci-Fi. Gritty stories, relatable characters, and outcomes that don't always end up happy. This is the world we know in any genre.
We do things that cheese off a lot of Christians. I'm okay with that because at least you're getting a gut check to the core of your beliefs. I don't pretend to play it safe to provide an example. We put you in the moment and show you what our person did. From there it's on you to decide what you would do.
Something I used to enjoy on lunch breaks was discussing films with my table buddies. Inevitably someone would always draw a contrast between what the character did and what they would have done. How many Christian films can you do that with?
With Certain exceptions like "The Passion of the Christ" and "Sound of Freedom" what ground has Christian Cinema broken? Why don't we make decent Sci-Fi? Crossing Corpses offers 3 (And probably more) concepts never before used in a Zombie story. Actual groundbreaking stuff. These weren't thought up by a high-paid Hollywood studio. They were conceived between the Pine Barrens and a coffee shop in New Jersey! By PegLeg Craig and his merry band of coffee drinkers.
I know there are better than me just waiting to be emboldened to bring what they have to the table... GO FOR IT WE NEED YOU!
I take a beating for using some characters who are Gay and others who are Junkies. I don't automatically make those people any worse than anyone else. Why would I do that?
Well, it's like this in the real world There are Gay people and Drug Addicts who go through life not hurting anybody. Axe Truth my dear friend who lifted me up when the world forgot me was Gay. I don't condone what happens in anyone's bedroom if it goes against God's law. That also includes adulterers among other sins of the flesh. All of them have sinned and fallen short of God's law with equal detrament. That doesn't mean we shun them. Unless you're also willing to shun the adulterer or fornicator.
Let's take another example Scott Pressler "The Persistence" he's done more Christian-like things for more people than most Christians do Christian things for others. So is he an automatic bad guy? How do you think God would see him vs a fornicator or philanderer, or whoremonger?
What about the Junkies? Outpost Bob and Paranoid Jeff are people I knew by other names. Bob ended up finding Jesus before he died and Jeff lives in a tent on a street in Portland. The lesson there is no matter who you think they are now what can they be with God's love?
I'm tired of robot Christian drama! God made us how we are to bring his word to the world with our own unique gifts given by him. For better or for worse I'm giving it my best!
What do I hope to gain personally? I have 3 things I want...
1. To inspire if not challenge other Christians to do projects like this. Entertainment has gone to Hell, but while we're here on earth let's entertain who remains.
2. Is to make enough to buy a simple Trailer in an Adult Park. I spent more than that to produce this so if it doesn't happen I'm good. If God sees fit I'll have it.
3. I am watching some IPs that are for sale originally done with SJW leads. I'd like to buy one or two swap out a few of their leads and replace them with Christians. Then watch them get a taste of what they've done to us. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I can do without 2 and/or 3 is just short of a fantasy anyway, but I pray for 1.
Be Fearless
When we left the safety of our former employers for the great unknown people said we were crazy. "You could have run that show for years."
Well, maybe, but it wasn't a story I'd care to nurture that long in that form. I began work on Crossing Corpses at the lowest point of my life. The original version was an attempt to use the Zombie Outbreak to explain economics in its most rudimentary form. How trade begins between different survivor towns. Barter vs. Currency, Capitalism vs. Austrian Economics, vs. Communism, vs. Tribal Theocracies, vs. Neo-Monarchies. There were only a few characters and most action was exposition.
Unfortunately due to political disputes at my job, I left and the project became defunct. Which was actually a good thing.
We got a shortwave gig for a few years, but it was smothered into a standard so watered down PureFlix would have laughed at us for being repressive.
The Late Axe Truth told me you've got some great ideas, but now you need to go bigger. God led you to this place for a reason you have to live up to his gift of your talents. We used to laugh about PureFlix being like dry toast. It might cure hunger but never satisfies. The characterization of people is plastic and sterile. They don't address the various types of situations Christians have to deal with daily.
Their Gangsters are bad cliche derivatives from circa 1970's. Good people are corny and stubborn, and somehow it all comes together under God in the end. Factually speaking in the end it all comes under God good outcomes and bad. The problem is can you build a guide for living based on unrelatable characters?
Christians live under threat every day. We hide our private opinions in public to our great detriment. Now sickos are starting to dictate "The New Morality" based on wicked whims. How many children have already suffered because we didn't speak up? Why don't we speak up?
Because as Christians we are trying to sanitize our image. That's not a bad thing on its face, but we took it too far. When we worry more about appeasing man than pleasing God we've lost sight of our mission!
Mark 7:13 King James Bible"Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." Basically, The traditions of man make void the word of the Lord in our hearts.
PureFlix is an appeasement... I like some of their movies and I find them uplifting and relaxing vs. Hollywood Garbage. To me, however, that's about the same effect Hallmark Movies have. A Brady Bunch Escape.
Tell me whatever you want about how we should derive our heroes and examples for living from the Bible, not the Media. I say yep right you are (Here it comes) but pop culture is at the base of our human existence. From trends to the current turn of phrase. If you make movies and productions that only exist in a vacuum outside the mainstream you're not going to reach too many new people.
Contrived character development and predictable outcomes are not how anyone lives be they Christian or otherwise. Only those who seek out this type of story will get anything from its telling. How do you reach out there and find the lost? PureFlix is a garrison flying a Swiss flag while the war for hearts and minds erupts around them. They preach to the choir. It is a necessary thing indeed, and I'm not being facetious. Thanks to Angel Studios' "Sound of Freedom" we have a new standard! Christians doing Christian things in places where God needs them most! It's gritty compelling and real as a blood clot! We accept the challenge to follow in this tradition BE FEARLESS!
My thoughts are "What if Christians existed in a Zombie Outbreak?" "What do Christians do in a 'Breaking Bad' type world?" "Pacifism vs. proactively protecting against while discerning the evil around you." These are real scenarios Christians could face under certain conditions. Any SHTF beginner can tell you that. Right now given the circumstances on the world stage, it might be sooner than we want to think.
We provide you with the tools to judge for yourself. Is what the Christian Character did ok with you or do you see a different way? In this story over and over is a constant theme "Unintended Consequences" even those the most well-meaning by-the-book Christians bring about.
We don't ask you to idolize our heroes and villains we want you to scrutinize them. Run them against your own personal gut check. Talk to God about it. We make them entertaining down to a sense of humor because it's good storytelling. We want you to laugh a lot, cry a little, and hang in there for the rest.
Axe buddy, thanks to you... We're running with that now!
