The Funding Behind The Chosen
by Timothy Plan
‘THE CHOSEN’ HITS GOAL OF FULLY FUNDING SECOND SEASON; BEGINS FILMING
Production has begun on the second season of ‘The Chosen,’ which began filming on October 9 in Goshen, Utah.
Costing more than $1,120,000 per episode, “The Chosen” is a high-quality telling of the life of Jesus and the people around Him. The award-winning, multi-season series has been viewed more than 60 million times worldwide. VidAngel, which distributes “The Chosen,” raised more than $10 million to produce Season One, and, by the end of September, has generated about $9 million to go toward Season Two according to CEO Neal Harmon.
Launched in 2013, VidAngel began by offering families the ability to skip and mute movies and TV shows available for streaming. The company started making its own content after several major studios – Disney, LucasFilm, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Turner Entertainment, New Line Productions and MVL Film Finance – sued VidAngel in 2016.
A federal court in Los Angeles awarded the studios $62.4 million, but VidAngel, which declared bankruptcy, settled with Disney, Warner Brothers and the others in September, agreeing not to “decrypt, copy, stream or distribute content of Disney, Warner Brothers, and their affiliates without permission from the Studios,” drop their appeal and pay $9.9 million over 14 years.
It was the best thing to happen to the upstart company, according to Mr. Harmon. “We’ve had to build a system outside the system,” he told me during a telephone interview. “It’s a beachhead for transforming entertainment for the rest of us.”
Consumers are tired of funneling money to Hollywood studios that have contempt for what they believe, he said, noting that VidAngel is geared toward “the most underserved and marginalized audiences – like people of faith.”
“We’re finished trying to make money for Hollywood studios who abhor that we’re skipping objectionable parts of their shows and sue us for it,” he continued. “If they’re not willing to cooperate, we have no choice but to replace them.”
Article originally posted here by Timothy Plan