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Entries in Big Idea (3)

1:40PM

JellyFish

When creating a solution or product you have to find a need that you can fill.

Phil Vischer the "Veggie Tales guy" has been hard at work on his next 'big idea.' He has identified 2 very key problems in our culture today:

PROBLEM 1.
The distinctions between Christians and world are growing less and less.
-FACT: Children have an average of 5hrs of media input a day (TV, games, internet)
PROBLEM 2. The Christian platform for launching Christian media is dying.
-FACT: Christians filmmakers are needing projects to work on.

This is the basis for what he feels God has called him to work on next and I've got to tell you, I am very excited! I highly encourage you to take the time to read his blog about the problems in our culture (he is dead on), how we as Christian need to step up and how he is working to help us "Christian media creators" to get our work out to the public.

If you have a video camera...Phil has an invitation for you....read on to find out more.....

"Letting go of your ambition, “dying” to your own “big ideas,” doesn’t necessarily mean that God won’t ask you to do something big. It just means, perhaps, that you’re finally humble enough to hold it loosely – to let whatever God has for you next be God’s thing, not yours. Perhaps the willingness to be small, in fact, is a prerequisite to being used by God to do something, well, un-small."

"So one of my founding goals for Jellyfish Labs is that “We will not hype.” We will not “spin.” We will not exaggerate for the purpose of generating headlines. And most (if not all) of our projects will start very small. We will plant seeds, and God will grow them. They will become exactly as “big and impressive” as God wants them to be – in his timing."

"We've talked about the problems - a) that we're failing to teach our kids the Christian faith and what it really means to live the Gospel in front of a watching world, and b) that kids are consuming more media than ever before while the production of Christians kids media is actually in decline. We've talked about the need for some sort of platform for Christian kids media - a "place" that can build teaching relationships with kids on a daily basis while helping the entire Christian creative community develop and launch new content; something with a two-fold ministry - first, to families everywhere as a trusted teacher, second, to the Christian creative community as an enabler, commissioner, buyer, ally.....There really hasn't been a time like this since the first roll-out of cable television in the late seventies - a period that saw the launch of now epic brands like ESPN, CNN and Nickelodeon. We think the world could use a new home for Christian kids media - a new brand. The time to launch it is right about now."

"The point is – it’s time to pull back the curtain. It’s time to open up the lab and invite everyone inside, to poke around, ask questions, and leave Post-it notes all over the place. It’s a new day. It’s a new blog. It’s time for you all to join the movement."

Are you ready?
Read Phil's blog here. Start with reading - Pulling back the curtain Part 1

1:23PM

Veggies in hot water!

I just finished reading the story of how Big Idea/Veggie Tales came to an end...."What!!?, its gone!?!?" well not entirely but yes. ;)

More accurately, this is the journey of Phil Vischer the founder of Veggie Tales and his struggle to keep the company floating. How did Phil go from attracting artists from Dreamweavers and bringing in millions of $, to one day sitting in bankruptcy court waiting for the jury to either save or sink his company? You'll have to read the story.

This is a must read for filmmakers, business people, and just anyone who has ever struggled with wondering why God allows difficulties to happen..

I think we all face times in our life when everything is going wrong, and we wonder "God, I thought this was what I was supposed to do."

I have learned a lot from reading this. It will be well worth your time.

Read it here.

11:42AM

Phil Vischer

Some of you may say.."who is HE?" Well he started Big Idea and Veggie Tales (not that I am a big fan of that series) BUT Phil does have several VERY good articles about filmmaking in general on his blog. This one is about Christian themes in movies and this one is about whether the story is all that matters in a movie.

I highly recommend reading both of those articles.