16,000 Christians rally together to fund record-breaking TV show about Jesus
DALLAS — “The Chosen,” a new multi-season series based on the life of Jesus, is now available to stream but the powerful series would not have been possible without the 16,000 Christians who supported the series by investing in it.
At the top of the year, “The Chosen” became the No. 1 crowdfunded media project in “history,” raising over $10 million from more than 16,000 investors who want to see the series made. The idea to crowdfund the project was presented to filmmaker Dallas Jenkins after he produced a short film for his church called “The Shepherd” which is about the birth of Christ from the perspective of the shepherds.
“When the idea was offered to use ["The Shepherd"] to raise crowdfunding for this series, I laughed. And I thought, ‘That's ridiculous. That'll never work.’ But I was in that place in my life where I was thinking, it's not my job to feed the 5,000,” Jenkins told The Christian Post during a set visit in Dallas while Episode 1– 4 were in production.
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He continued the idea by creating a TV show about the life of Christ from the perspective of those around Him.
While on set, this reporter met investors of different backgrounds from all across the United States who were excited to see a multi-series based on Jesus' life being made. One investor in particular, author of The Sun Still Shines, Jody Brown, said she found out about the project on Facebook because of “The Shepherd.”
"The moment I saw the video for the first time, when I saw the pilot, 'The Shepherd," it just spoke to my heart. I could immediately relate to the main character, the shepherd, and his brokenness and his desire for the Messiah to come. And it just really hit a very tender spot in me, and I thought: 'This is the kind of media they want to see. This is what I wish there was more of,'” Brown told CP.
“There's so much garbage in the world. I don't even like to have my kids turn on the television at all 'cause you just don't know what they're going to be exposed to. This is what I would love to see more of."
“The Shepherd” has been viewed over 20 million times around the world and translated into several languages. That made way for "The Chosen" to earn the title of the No. 1 crowdfunded media project in “history.” Most of the marketing was done by fans who saw and shared the pilot episode on social media.
Brown added: "I did see it come up a couple of times my feed and I finally stopped to watch it not realizing it was a full-length episode, but I knew it was different. As soon as it started, I could feel that there was something different about it. From that point on, I probably watched it at least a half dozen times and shared it with other people. And as soon as they said there was an opportunity to be involved, I knew I wanted to.”
The credits for “The Chosen” is eight minutes long because of the list of investors who wanted to see the story of Christ told through this project.
Episode 1 of “The Chosen” is available now to stream at TheChosen.tv. The Chosen Productions and distributor VidAngel are providing Episodes 1– 4 to own now. For more information, visit the website.
See a list of some of the investors below:
