In an in-depth conversation with THR, the Columbia senior vp of production (and ordained preacher) speaks candidly about living with faith in Hollywood.
Columbia Tristar senior vp of production DeVon Franklin has a personal connection to his latest film, Heaven is for Real. Like the characters in his movie, he is an outspoken Christian, one who travels around the country preaching about three weekends a month. In the weeks before Heaven’s Easter release, he welcomed The Hollywood Reporter to his office on the Sony lot for a candid, in-depth conversation about his mission as a studio executive, his extracurricular ministry activities, and how he’s able to balance it all (hint: it involves going off-the-industry-grid to observe Sabbath every week).
A lot of faith-based films are independently made, specifically for church audiences. But this is a studio movie. Does the intended audience then change?
The goal with any piece of material, and this is no exception, is to design it in such a way that there are universal themes and experiences at play. Regardless of race, ethnicity, religious belief or gender, the whole goal, especially in the films that I try to put together and push through the system, are films that can tackle that universal experience of life and at the same time find an element that can be inspirational. So with Heaven is for Real, we approached it from [the perspective of] making a movie for everybody. Because if you went into it with a very myopic point of view, you potentially limit the impact on the audience.
What’s the importance of bringing studio resources to a faith-based film?
Being a Christian in this business, it’s important to elevate films that skew faith-based because there is an audience out there that does want higher-quality films that are treated like real films. We don’t want to pander. Why not raise the bar?
Here’s the crazy thing: Go back to Michelangelo‘s time and think about the art that the church used to commission, and the quality of that art. It’s so important. Because when the quality is there, then you’re able to appeal to more people. And at the end of the day, if you touch people, you’re gonna get box office. Because when people have an experience they relate to and find something that can actually help them in their real life, you have done something that touches an audience member on such a deep level that they can’t help but tell others to go see and experience it because of what it did for them.
How important is it for the people making these films to be of faith themselves?
It’s important, when you’re making any movie that has a core demographic, to understand their needs and sensitivities, whether it be making African-American films, faith-based films, horror. When you make a superhero movie, it’s very important to know what people who went out and bought the comic are responding to. What in the story is the audience responding to, and how can we organically and authentically portray that? If there isn’t that understanding, you can end up making a film that doesn’t resonate with the mainstream or the core audience because those involved didn’t take enough time to really say, “OK, what is it about this particular story?”
John Singleton recently called out black studio executives for not pushing for black input in black films. Is his point valid, and can the same be said for religious executives in developing faith-based films? What are the risks of going out on a limb?
Every movie is a risk. Every studio executive in town has to manage that risk. There is no such thing as making an un-risky movie because there’s so much money involved in the development, the production, the distribution, the marketing. So every time we’re putting a movie together, we’re always assessing the management of risk. So as a studio executive, I have to get comfortable with risk, not run from it. And that has been how I run my business: We’re gonna take risks, so we might as well swing for the fences.
Is it harder to be a Christian in Hollywood or black in Hollywood?
That’s a really hard question. With me, I don’t think you can untangle it, because I am who I am and I just own that. Certainly both come with their challenges, but at the end of the day you can’t use anything like that as an excuse not to do the work, and not to try to be great.
How did you get your start in ministry?
I started preaching at the church I grew up in [Wings of Love Maranatha Ministries], in East Oakland. My uncle, Bishop D.J. Williams, had me speak at Youth Day when I was 15, and it went really well. And they were like, “OK, you gotta preach, go into ministry.” I said, “I’m not doing that! I’m going to Hollywood!” A lot of people were like, “You can’t do that! That’s Sodom and Gomorrah!” And I’m like, “Wait a minute. You’re teaching me in the Bible that faith works, but then all of a sudden you’re teaching me to live in fear.” So I just said, “You know what? I’m going to go to Hollywood. I believe God is calling me to make movies, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”
It wasn’t until I was an assistant working for James Lassiter when my uncle called me. I’d just graduated college [USC] and was well on my way in my career path, and he called me and said, “Hey, DeVon. I’m getting a little older, I need some help. Can you come up once a month to help me preach in Oakland?” In my mind I was like, “I don’t want to do that.” I know it was my natural gift and one of my passions, but I was like, “I don’t see how preaching’s gonna fit with making movies.” But because he had done so much in my life for me, it was a very hard thing to say no to, so I started going up once a month.
It just organically became a thing, and I realized the more I embraced all of who I was, the more success I had in business, because I was having confidence in what made me distinctive. There’s always the fear, will it close doors? But ultimately the more I started embracing my gift and the ministry side, it didn’t take away from my career in Hollywood, it actually added to it. Because knowing what challenges people are facing, the depression and anxiety and frustration, and then being able to come and develop projects that can address those real-life issues, really gave me a path in this business that has been incredible. But it came from embracing faith and embracing my gift. And the more that has happened, the more doors have been opened.
Doesn’t mean there’s not risk associated with everything, but to be at a company that has fully allowed me as an African-American and a Christian to embrace that, and to then use that to add value to what the company is doing, it’s been incredible. From Michael Lynton to Amy Pascal, Doug Belgrad, Hannah Minghella—they allowed this to happen. And when you look at Heaven is for Real,because I’ve been out there as a speaker, I’ve been able to go out on the road and help promote the film and talk to church leaders and host screenings and do press, so it’s a phenomenal thing that as the message has grown, it really helps the movies as well.
There’s still an idea out there for a lot of Christians that, when you look at Hollywood, is that industry for us? And I think that sharing my story has helped show that the business is sometimes different than the rap that it gets. I know so many people in this business that are about making the world better, about families, about positivity, and I think that’s a part of Hollywood that doesn’t get portrayed in the media. It’s not just run by people who are egomaniacal. It’s really run by people who want to do right and who have integrity and are committed to changing the world, essentially. That’s the Hollywood that my story tries to promote, and I’m thankful for the opportunities when I get out there and talk, because just by being who I am, people say, “Wait a minute, you’re in that environment, how are you able to do that?” And I always point to, “The environment is a little different than you think. The people that run it are a little different than you think.”
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SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
Rebecca Sun
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