After experiencing some failure in the film industry, Dallas Jenkins started formulating what is now the popular TV series, The Chosen. This project seemed to form gradually, like a “slow hunch”. It was born out of a short Christmas film Jenkins directed about the birth of Jesus, which led to the idea of a multi-season Biblical TV series. The short film was noticed by VidAngel, a faith-based streaming company, who advised Jenkins to share it on social media to gauge the amount of potential interest in his TV series idea. After receiving an unbelievable amount of interest in this short film, he decided to pursue this idea.
The Chosen is undoubtedly exploring uncharted territory when it comes to faith-based and Biblical film. Not only is it the first-ever TV series about the life of Jesus, but it is more powerful and engaging than any other Biblical film I have ever seen. It contains the perfect amount of artistic imagination that helps fill in for characters and backstories not mentioned in the Bible, while remaining extremely accurate according to scripture and historical context. This allows the audience to piece together the stories included in the Gospels to see how they all fit together in Jesus’ life and ministry, and even how they connect to the Old Testament. The Chosen allows believers to experience Jesus’ character in a unique way by watching his life play out. It also allows non-believers, who may not likely open up a Bible, a way to experience Jesus though film.
Dallas Jenkins showed many entrepreneurial traits throughout the creation of The Chosen. The fact that this project was born out of past failure proves that he was unafraid to continue taking risks in new endeavors. Jenkins also utilized a crowd funding approach to financing the production of season one, and now season two. This is certainly not the most popular way to fund film production, as it slows down the production process and requires much more risk. However, it has obviously not hindered the show’s success! In fact, I would say that it has been very beneficial. The process of crowd funding required getting the word out and spreading information quickly and to large audiences, which helped The Chosen gain publicity. In addition, the fact that each season is filmed only after it is fully funded requires placing all faith in God and relying on Him to provide for and guide the production of the series. I continue to see God working through this project, and I believe it is because of Jenkin’s willingness to step out in faith and allow God to work through him, despite his failure.
If you haven’t seen The Chosen yet, go check it out! Here’s the promo:
This honestly is a really interesting way to come up with a TV series. I had heard of The Chosen, but never heard about how it came to be. The creator’s unique story behind this project is probably what was the most interesting for me. And I’m sure that their failures and learning from those failures are what gives them the motivation to keep moving forward. The slow production process provides an accuracy that most people are really very interested in when it comes to the Bible, just look at any TV rendition of Bible stories or characters.
This was a very interesting read. I had never heard of this series but it was cool to find out how it came to be.
When I first heard of The Chosen, I thought it was a largely funded tv show that wasn’t very accurate. I’m glad to hear that this tv show has the faith-oriented center and has the goal of historical and Biblical accuracy that it has. Thanks for sharing!