Mission: Become a platform that cultivates and promotes values-centered creative talent and provides family-friendly, values-centered art, literature and other media to the public.
Value to the market:
For the creatives/artists: Become better at your craft; Share your craft; earn money from your craft (and thus be able to continue doing it)
For everyone: Be lifted, enlightened and inspired by family-friendly, values-centered media.
Will you fund this great endeavor? To express interest in funding the gallery or to learn more, contact investment@internationaltalentgallery.com.

Note: It is desired that revenue from the International Talent Gallery will eventually help fund the making of Christ-centered films.

Below are some ideas, but I invite you to post your suggestions. Together we can synergestically help people utilize their talents for good.

Suggestion 1: Create a page specifically for your company or dream project. Link that to a page profiling yourself. Have a discussion forum tied to your project/or company page. Link back to your own website if you have one. List what talents and resources you need. This gives you additional exposure on a site that will aggregate projects. As your project progresses, post updates, sharing with us the story behind the scenes.

 Suggestion 2: The site could periodically issue themes around which projects could be based. Once the featured project is issued, talent will be able to post their desire to fill needed parts (producer, director, composer, etc). Screen-writers could post their related screen-plays and have readers comment on them. Seeing which screenplay has the most positive reader feedback can help in choosing the screenplay that will go with the project. Like in Suggestion 1, the progress and development of the project can be posted on the site to encourage participation, involvement, and anticipation of the final product.

Suggestion 3: This one comes from you!  Please send in your suggestions using the link above that has the word “comments” in it. Also share your thoughts about Suggestions 1 and 2. Together we can bring people to Christ.

Then descending from the stallion,
Gathering roses in my hand,
I beseeched the maiden’s presence
For a walk upon the sand
And then waited for her answer
While songbirds softly trilled.

Brandan Curtis Hadlock

I think it’s the team.

The internet is amazing at bringing people together.  Thanks to the Internet, I have now talked with a guy in Indiana who is interested in the idea of producing good, clean media.  There is another person in Utah who would like to be involved in contributing to a company that creates media that teaches gospel principles.  A lady, I don’t know from where, has expressed her interest.  I’m hoping to talk to a man from Ohio, and another from California.

Someone in New Zealand told me that he might have a script I’d be interested in.  That opportunity has been revoked, but it still amazes me that it happened.  Another person in Egypty loved my ideas.  He happens to be looking for financing for his own projects right now, but perhaps sometime we can collaborate.

I talked with somebody else who had tried to create clean and safe media but was unable to come up with a good business model.

Is there a way to effectively create a successful company where management is located in different parts of the world, meeting only by phone and email?

I know we need a good business model.  I don’t want to follow the traditional route of finding a million (or $10 million) in financing.  I want to grow the business with cash flow start off profitable the first year. 

I know that sounds impossible, but it’s not.  It’s been done before with at least one business I know of.  A key is to have customers right from the start.  Have the customers pay you to develop the first products, and build from there.

So I’ve got to work on the revenue model.  But I think it’s also important to be building the team.  And perhaps if I bring the right people on board at first, then together we’ll come up with an even better business model than if I worked on how to earn the money first.

I share with you an inspirational poem you may be able to use to encourage someone you love who doesn’t recognize right now his or her true worth. 

Please let me know what you think.  I’d love to hear your comments.

To Save Just One

Through the reflection in the mirror
She believes her worth is told.
Imperfections or perfections
Equal dross or equal gold.

Then she judges of her value
By the beauty of her face.
Yes, she thinks it’s all determined
By her figure or her grace.

But God sees more than skin alone,
That’s why He sent His son–
Not to save the perfect person,
But to rescue everyone.

Christ knelt to suffer all our pains.
In agony He bled.
Then He rose to meet betrayal
With saddened heart and humbled head.

Soldiers stripped Him, whipped and beat Him;
Friends denied Him, strangers mocked.
He submitted to the torture
Knowing to His death He walked.

He died with hopes of saving many,
Yet He’d die to save just one.
He thought a single soul more precious
Than all the wealth by nobles won. 

My friend, that single soul is yours.
Christ bought your life with love.
He saw worth in you greater than
A mirror could e’er dream of.

–Brandan Hadlock

Some people have expressed interest to me in the idea of creating Christ-centered media (or even just good old-fashioned media) and a few in actually helping out.  The key now is to create a team that can organize and build a sustainable company that is profitable from the start.  Being profitable not only helps us recruit the best talent, it gives us freedom to make movies and distribute other media according to our standards without being at the mercy of investors.  It also helps put wives at ease becuase they know a paycheck is coming.

There are so many good people out there who want to make Christian movies.  It would be wonderful to be able to organize all that talent and desire to do more good than any of us could do by ourselves.  Perhaps part of this organization’s — Beacon Enterprizes — purpose could be to really organize in a synergistic way all the Christian filmmakers out there, whether they be script writers, gaffers, directors, actors, or Moms and Dads who just want their kids to watch good, clean movies and tv shows and listen to music that teaches values and true principles. 

This would require some programmers.  So in addition to “artists” and businessmen, we need programmers.  Any volunteers?

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that will bless the lands of the world.  Many people live in poverty and ignorance.  They have a long way to go, and the gospel provides a bridge over which they walk, as it were, from their present situation to a brighter future.”
                                     –Gordon B. Hinckley                   

In fact, Christ taught in parables so that those who were ready to understand or learn, could, while others would be blind to the true message and would only hear a story.  Plus, stories are easy to remember.

So perhaps that’s a good way to think of the movies I’ll make: parables.

It looks like there a lot of people out there who want to use and develop their talents to bring people to Christ through film.  Is there a unifying or coordinating organization to help direct efforts?  I know God is THE DIRECTOR, but He often works through us.  And if we take Paul’s analogy of the body and it’s members, it sounds like there a lot of toes, arms, and ears out there doing their best to serve, but that much more could be done if people’s efforts and talents were synergestically coordinated into complete body.

Has anyone tried to do something like this?  What would be the pro’s and con’s? 

Would you be interested in participating in something like this?

Sincerely,

Brandan