Three Groups Hope ‘Good Values’ Can Also Make Good Box Office

Listed inconspicuously in the Valley Interfaith Council’s recent annual report--among such typical projects as a new phone system, a vet clinic at a dog park and renovation of a senior center--was something calling for floodlights and trumpets:

“Creation of motion picture division to produce quality films.”

And the council is not the only Valley-related group hoping to become a film producer.

Despite the difficult task, even for major independent studios, of creating, financing and distributing films, at least two religious groups, in addition to the council, are at various stages in the process.

* The council’s movie subject would be Berlin pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and executed during World War II for resistance to the Nazis. Barry Smedberg, a Lutheran, and Ralph Ferrin, a Presbyterian who was an assistant director on “The Waltons,” “Ozzie and Harriet” and other TV shows, have interested a screenwriter in preparing a presentation.

“We have a twofold purpose,” Smedberg said, “To make quality films and to make some money out of this” for more films and for the council.

* An unnamed group that includes two pastors with acting credits is asking fellow Lutherans in the entertainment business to meet today at Salem Lutheran Church in Glendale to discuss how “to engage the world through the entertainment media.”

The group’s minimal goal is to form a supportive fellowship of Lutherans in a profession sometimes hostile to faith. For encouragement or advice, the group will hear panelists such as Don Hahn, producer of Disney’s “The Lion King.” The group’s more ambitious goal is to explore making films or television shows, or, at least, videos and video software, said Don Schroeder, an ex-producer for Lutheran Television.

* A third hopeful--one with more current Hollywood credentials--is film producer Ralph Winter, who is also an elder at Glendale Presbyterian Church. Winter formed a company called Common Creed Entertainment with partner Jeff Weber that would, if it can raise $50 million or so, make a series of what Winters described as “good values” movies, on budgets of $5 million to $8 million each.

Winter is currently a producer on the Disney film “Mighty Joe Young,” a $90-million remake of the 1949 movie of the same name. It’s scheduled to be released next year. He was executive producer for the ABC series “High Incident,” movies “Hocus Pocus” with Bette Midler and “Captain Ron” with Martin Short, and the fourth and sixth Star Trek movies.

Common Creed Entertainment has options on C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” and is also pitching an original holiday script about Santa’s evil twin, Winter said.

“We are looking for good stories, not necessarily with a religious agenda,” said Winter, “and not movies that provide all the answers but that ask questions.”

Not all religious subjects, as inspirational as they might be, are good candidates for commercial films, Winter said.

As for the interfaith council’s hopes to make a movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Winter said, “I might go, but there would be only about four of us in the movie theater.”

The Rev. Jeff Utter, a Chatsworth pastor who is president of the council, said his organization is not jumping into the project without careful consideration. “A small group within the council is very excited about the idea,” Utter said.

“I think the rest of us have a wait-and-see attitude, but we’ll support it if they can pull it together.”

Evangelist Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures, located for decades in Burbank until it moved to Minneapolis in the early 1990s, turned out movies with evangelical messages, but few had a significant showing in theaters.

More inspirational for current efforts may have been the wide release last year of “The Spitfire Grill,” a tale of how a young woman just out of prison sparks a small-town’s spiritual rejuvenation. The $6-million film was funded by the Sacred Heart League, a Catholic charitable group in Mississippi. After favorable reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, Castle Rock Entertainment bought distribution rights.

But Catholic priest-producer Ellwood “Bud” Kieser’s movie about the late Dorothy Day, an American social-worker heroine, did not find a distributor last year. The film, “Entertaining Angels,” had only a limited release.

Starring Moira Kelly and Martin Sheen, the movie cost $4 million to make; costumes and other gifts were donated to the producer, Paulist Pictures. The home video version, being distributed by Warner Bros., was released in September.

Even before the distribution stage, Winter said, making movies calls for “very strong contacts and deep pockets.”

Winter’s extensive experience in the movie business has mostly involved the day-to-day management of costs and problem-solving during production. Pitching stories is a different ballgame.

“I’m now a line producer--operations, everything to get it done and keep costs down--but not a creative producer,” Winter said.

“It’s difficult to break in; it’s a very relational business.”

But someone has to be able to cobble together a captivating story idea if a film project is going to attract investors. With that in mind, Bel Air Presbyterian Church will host a daylong workshop Nov. 8 on screenwriting. Lew Hunter, who chairs UCLA’s Department of Film and Television and whose writing and producing credits include ABC, CBS, NBC, Columbia TV and Paramount, will critique screenplay ideas submitted by workshop participants.

Another script-writing seminar, Nov. 15 at Los Angeles First Congregational Church, will feature producer Ken Wales and film reviewers Frederic and Mary Ann Brussart, among others.