�?Amazing Grace’ and �?Bella’ among winners at Faith & Values Gala

Tinsel Town finally has some good news after Hollywood screenwriters returned to work Wednesday following their vote to end their three-month strike, bringing to a close the US entertainment industry's most damaging dispute in 20 years, reports Dan Wooding, founder of ASSIST Ministries.

Writers Guild of America (WGA) West leader Patric Verrone said members had voted overwhelmingly to end the strike, with 92.5 percent in favor following balloting conducted Tuesday in Los Angeles and New York.

The writers strike has been one of the longest and most damaging in the entertainment industry's history, with losses estimated at two billion dollars, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).

According to LAEDC figures, the strike cost an estimated 733 million dollars in lost film and television production spending.

But the LAEDC said an estimated 1.3 billion was lost by companies such as caterers, hoteliers and limousine rental firms that rely heavily on the entertainment industry for business.

And there was further good news for the battered entertainment community when on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, Movieguide®, with the generous support of The John Templeton Foundation, honored outstanding films and television programs at the 16th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

It was like old times again, as the red carpet rolled out and was crowded again with an array of Hollywood stars and personalities which included Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., actor Stephen Baldwin, ex-football star Rosey Grier, Lance Wilder from The Simpsons, former Miss America (1955), Lee Meriwether, who appeared as Catwoman on episodes of ABC's campy “Batman”, Beverly Todd from the Bucket List in which played the wife of Morgan Freeman, and screen legend, Jane Russell, among many others, strutted their stuff and were interviewed by print, radio and TV journalists and posed for the ever-present Paparazzi who seemed overjoyed to have someone else but Britney Spears to photograph.

One big surprise was to see missions’ pioneer, George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization, wearing a tuxedo instead of his usual trademark world atlas bomber jacket.

“Ted Baehr asked me to wear this as he wants to me close in prayer,” Verwer explained. “I haven’t worn one of these tuxedos since my Prom, and that was many years ago.”

He met on the red carpet with Ken Wales, the executive producer of Amazing Grace, and told Wales that he believed this was one of the “greatest” films he had ever seen. Wales told Verwer that he is now working on two great Christian projects – the life stories of John Newton and also the follow up story of Eric Liddell, whose story was featured in Chariots of Fire.

Also known as the “Christian Oscars,” the glittering crowd, which also

included many top studio heads, then gathered for the gala to await the winners for the names of the winners and to hear Dr. Ted Baehr’s much-awaited report to the entertainment media in which he pointed out that family friends movies make much more money than R-rated films.

Once he had completed his report, the envelopes were opened and the winners were announced. They were:

$50,000 Epiphany Prize for Film: Amazing Grace

$50,000 Epiphany Prize for Television: The Valley of Light

Faith & Freedom Award for Movies: Bella

Grace Award for Film: Eduardo Verastegui from Bella

Grace Award for Television: Bailee Madison & Abigail Mason from Saving Sarah Cain (tie)

Top Family Film of the Year: Ratatouille

Top Film for Mature Audiences: Amazing Grace

Also, the $50,000 Kairos Prizes for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays by First time Screenwriters:

1. “If By Chance” by Guy W. Forest of San Pedro, Calif., $25,000

2. “Stairways” by James G. Rogers of St. Davids, Penn., $15,000

3. “Angels on Earth” by Caroline Friday of Marietta, Ga., $10,000

After the gala was over, Ted Baehr told me his reaction to the evening:

“I was just overwhelmed and humbled in a really positive way by the fact that every movie that had been nominated had a studio representative there,” he said. “During the evening, producers, writers and directors came forward and many of them had wonderful personal testimonies to give.

“One of the writers of Pride who came from South Africa not gave a beautiful testimony about growing up in a poor home of nine children during the apartheid era, but said that he always had a dream of coming to Hollywood, and here he was with us and now he’s made one of the best movies of all time. This tells me that anybody can make a great movie. You can grow up in the ghetto of Soweto and make a great movie.”

“Another highlight for me was when one of the biggest producers in Hollywood, who made Spider Man, came to me and said, �?I’m so glad you saw the faith in it’ and added, �?Stan Lee will be so happy that you saw what we were trying to do.’”

Baehr also said that Louis Gossett Jr., contacted him the day after the gala and was so enthused with his report to the entertainment media that he wanted his statistics so he could tell the other partners in his movie company to make “family films.”

He added, “Every year we seem to take a quantum leap forward and I’m getting scared that next year we wont’ be able to top what we did this year. I spend more time in fasting and prayer about my report. I worked on that presentation until an hour before the show. I was ready to just give up on it and somehow it all, by God’s grace, came together. So these are all miracles.”

The attendees all were given a surprise packet at the end of the gala, which included a Bible donated by the Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide® and chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission™, is available to discuss the Faith & Values Awards Ceremony or the upcoming Academy Awards Ceremony.

Movieguide® is dedicated to redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and informing the public about the influence of the entertainment media.

New iPad POLL! VOTE NOW! Will you buy new iPad?

[02/16/2008]

Print Version