As someone who distributes films for a faith or religious audience, it was so validating to read Richard Rushfield’s recent Ankler newsletter series on The American Viewer. If you’re not familiar with The Ankler, it’s a newsletter and podcast, with contributions from the leading experts in the entertainment industry. Here are some of the highlights he’s mined from Pew Research:
63% Americans self-identify as “Christian”
45% of Americans pray daily
32% of American attend church monthly
31% of Americans do not believe in evolution
25% of Americans attend church weekly
20% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal word of God
To quote Rushfield, “In other words, tens of millions of Americans are really, really religious. I mean, if you consider folks who pray every day, with 250 million adults in America, that’s over 100 million people. They pray every day, go to church every week, and believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. And 31 percent don’t believe in evolution. Let that sink in. That’s almost 1 in 3 Americans.”
Where are the quality series that would remotely cater to 30% of the adult American audience? As a distributor, I’ve done my very best to find and bring to market those quality films for this audience, but at times it feels like it’s a veritable trickle compared to the ocean of entertainment that gets presented each year. Especially when you consider the focus for every major streamer is to produce and present more and more scripted series to their audiences.
Last year (2021) the number of scripted series available in the United States hit an all-time high, according to FX’s annual count of shows across streaming, cable and broadcast outlets. The year featured 559 English-language scripted shows. That doesn’t include unscripted or reality TV series, that’s only scripted shows! Yet, by my own count I can only think of 10 to 12 that are targeted to this underserved 100 million viewers. THE CHOSEN would be the most well-known with a series budget that remotely comes close to low industry standards. VINDICATION on PureFlix is a good detective series, particularly if you know that each episode costs well under $100K to produce when the average half hours on broadcast and cable run from $1.5 million to more than $3 million. WHEN CALLS THE HEART is in its 10th season on The Hallmark Channel and that is a favorite for many Christian families, and I know that PureFlix has a handful of new series coming out. There are a few series on broadcast networks that you could stretch to say might appeal to this faith audience. However, when combined, I can’t think of more than 10 or maybe 12 series that remotely approach the lowest tier production budgets of the 559 from last year. That’s about 2% of the lowest budgeted entertainment being presented for 100 million Americans!
Trying to find anything suitable to watch with your children is even more challenging. It’s hard to get your 11-year-old boy to watch, WHEN CALLS THE HEART when it’s targeted to older women. It also seems that almost every time we think we may have found a new series to watch together, it ultimately devolves into something that finds it necessary to preach values that repeatedly undermine our own beliefs. Thank God for classic movies and older series like LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRARIE, THE ODD COUPLE and even MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. Sure, it’s presenting technology from the 60’s, but at least it’s something we can all watch together. Yet, with 559 scripted series available, it’s a wasteland when you’re trying to find something fresh that is remotely suitable to watch as a Christian family.
Regrettably, the majority of these 100 million “underserved” American are watching films and series that on a continual basis, assault their own convictions or beliefs. They either try to use the remote control to catch the parade of swear words or objectionable ads that assault the screens, or they pre-screen shows like my wife to know where to fast forward the overly violent scenes for our 11-year-old who loves THE MADALORIAN. Or, if they aren’t trying to protect their younger kids, they’ve simply given up and roll their eyes when they see another snarky comment or scene that undermines their beliefs or presents Christians as backward and out of touch. Far from being intolerant, this is the most tolerant group that I know of that consumes entertainment — because they simply don’t have anything else to watch.
Rushfield’s understated closing takeaway, which I believe was directed to the major studios and streamers, “Is there an opportunity here? I don’t know. But it sure seems like one is possible.” As someone who works to find and bring quality entertainment to this underserved audience, there is no doubt in my mind, there is a massive opportunity here. It’s only a matter of time and I believe, one of these majors will intentionally produce a series or two and find out just how much this underserved audience will embrace it.
