I was on "Undercover Boss" on CBS this week!

Yes, that's me ordering the "Turkey Sandwich, provolone cheese and hold the onions and jalapenos." Funny, just last week I was telling my wife, Kim, that this show won't last much longer because everyone in America will no something is up when they're filming at a place of business. 33,000 Subways... what are the odds?

Hurray for "Holywood'

Hurray for 'Holywood': Central Florida gives birth to Christian film industry

Churches with 'Fireproof' dreams and state incentive money may make Florida the home of faith-based films

A film crew lays tracks in Mount Dora for a shot in "Ryann Watters and the King's Sword," an indie, faith-based fantasy film. (TYG STUDIOS / August 27, 2010)

The movies already have a Hollywood and a Bollywood, but some local filmmakers see Central Florida staking its claim as "Holywood."

A single faith-based movie filmed here last year has led to a handful of like-minded movies being shot from Ocoee to Mount Dora.

•"The Whisper House," based on the biblical parable of the prodigal son, was filmed in Ocoee last winter. It has its Florida premiere next Saturday at the Ocoee-based Central Florida Film Festival.

•An adaptation of a Christian children's fantasy novel, "Ryann Watters and the King's Sword," just wrapped location filming in Mount Dora.

•"Heading Home," a faith-based drama about redemption and baseball, was written by local filmmaker De Miller and is slated to go before cameras in Lake County in October.

•And the local producers of "Letters to God," the first big faith-based movie shot here, plan to film two more faith-based projects here before the end of the year.

David Nixon, who co-directed "Letters to God," is a firm believer that Central Florida "should be the capital of Christian films. We have world-class facilities, just as good or better than L.A."

Adds Miller, "We'd like Central Florida to be 'Holywood' because we want to get the 'L' out of Hollywood."

Unlike Hollywood's blockbusters, these faith-based films are made on micro budgets. "Letters to God," which started this Central Florida boomlet, cost $3.5 million to produce. But the films following in its footsteps have even smaller budgets — ranging from $785,000 for "Ryann Watters and the King's Sword" to $70,000 for "The Whisper Home."

Most are made with lots of donated labor, locations and gear. "Ryann Watters" was shot on cameras donated by a church member, said Kerry L. Fink, CEO of TYG Studios, the film's producers." We tell folks this is a God-sized project, so we're believing God [will] step in where our resources and abilities stop," Fink said.

Why Central Florida?Several factors are attracting faith-based filmmakers to Central Florida as their location of choice."We have A-list crew who don't get the chance to showcase their work very often," said Jaime Velez-Soto, director of "The Whisper Home." "They want the chance to make movies here, and not in L.A. or wherever, so they help you out." As in California, you can film in Florida all year. And "there's all this acting talent, thanks to the theme parks," Nixon said.

This being Florida, sometimes "retired" talent is available. The producers of "Heading Home" hope to use Gary Burghoff of TV's "M*A*S*H," a snowbird who winters in Florida, just as they did in their earlier venture, "Daniel's Lot."Another plus: the local churches.

To a one, filmmakers involved in Florida's faith-based films take their inspiration from the Albany, Ga., Sherwood Baptist Church, where the Kendrick brothers — ministers and aspiring moviemakers — made "Flywheel," "Facing the Giants" and then the $40 million hit " Fireproof."Ministers and congregants became the volunteer crew, donors and actors in those films. Nixon, who has two upcoming Central Florida projects, was a producer and second-unit director on "Fireproof."" It doesn't hurt that we have a lot of churches in Central Florida," Nixon said. His "Letters to God" used a Winter Garden church for a location and volunteers.

"Churches that are totally into this are a real asset."More recently, Margaret Marquis of Ocoee Christian Church offered her church as home base for "Whisper Home," said Velez-Soto. "We used it for locations, and members of the church cooked for us and pitched in."Church as producerUsing film as a means of evangelical outreach has prompted at least one local church to set up its own production company."We've always wanted to minister outside the four walls of the church, to the whole world," says Pastor Matthew J. Shaw of the Faith and Power Worship Center in Apopka, the church behind Faith and Power Pictures. "Movies seem like a better way of spreading our message."Faith and Power Pictures produced "Daniel's Lot," based on writer-director De Miller's idea of erecting a cross in his front yard. That effort went direct to video, but Miller hopes their next project, "Heading Home," will reach theaters.With a budget of $260,000 — nearly a third of that from state-film-commission incentives — the baseball movie will star TV actor Dean Denton ("Days of Our Lives," "Dark Skies"). Ex-major leaguers John Denny and Davey Johnson are on board as consultants, plus there are offers of help from hundreds of volunteers. An October start date has been set, and they're raising funds through a website: helpholywood.com.But as Miller learned with his previous film, "Daniel's Lot," partnering with a church or ministry doesn't guarantee a movie will be financed, finished or successful."Funding is still the hardest thing for any indie film, whether it's faith-based or not," said Paul Sirmons, a local producer and director, and former film commissioner for the state of Florida. As for state incentive money, "There is a 5 percent bonus for family-friendly films, but religion is not a qualifying factor."Just as faith-based filmmakers are upsetting the traditional filmmaking model, the day may come when such films bypass Hollywood altogether. Texas-based Heartstone

Productions already is taking faith-based films directly to churches, "so churches may be our next movie theaters," said Jerry Eisinger, screenwriter and star of "Whisper Home."Like other Central Florida filmmakers, Eisinger sees faith-based movies helping fill a gap in Hollywood's offerings."Family, faith-based films, movies with positive messages, I think there's a place for them," Eisinger said. "That's where we hope to make our movies."

Roger Moore can be reached on his blog, OrlandoSentinel.com/movies.

Ryann Watters movie actors "In the News"

BG teen scores role in Christian action movie
By ALYSSA HARVEY, The Daily News
Taylor Boswell, 16, an actress from Bowling Green, will be in an upcoming Christian film.

Taylor Boswell’s first audition for a model and talent agency was not glamorous. While the other girls were dressed like traditional model hopefuls and exuding as much cool professionalism as they could muster, Taylor was sweating. It wasn’t because she was nervous, though.
“We had just left from a basketball game,” Jana Boswell, Taylor’s mother, said with a laugh. “She was wearing her basketball uniform.”
On that day a couple of years ago, the Bowling Green girl literally jumped on the runway and started walking the path that has led her to where she is now। Taylor, 16, is getting set to film the Christian youth action-adventure, “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword,” which is scheduled to be released in summer 2011. She will play Liddy Thomas, Ryann’s best friend.

“It’s a good, family-friendly movie,” Taylor said। “It has great morals.”

Set in Mount Dora, Fla।, and based on the book by Eric Reinhold, “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword” tells the story of a boy who is visited by an angel and is given three gifts. Ryann must use the gifts to save a world called Aeliana. At the same time, a dark angel chooses a bully, Drake Dunfellow, to stop him.

“It’s like Narnia meets Harry Potter,” Jana Boswell said। “It has a Christian spin.”

Taylor is no stranger to the camera। She appeared in the movie “Windjammers.” She has filmed a variety of other things, including promotions for Nickelodeon, an SNL Digital Short, “Celebrity Apprentice” and a pharmaceutical industrial film used to train nurses. She is also the clear face model for Epiduo skin care.

“I love modeling, but I love acting so much more,” she said.
A former national and international speech champion, Taylor travels with her family - which includes her father, Mike Boswell, and her brother, John Mikel, 12. They live in New York for much of the year. Taylor, who attended Bowling Green Christian Academy, and her brother are homeschooled.
“The key is that my family is supportive of me,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she had never thought about acting before, but fell in love with the craft. Someone had seen her in speech competitions and suggested that she get an agent. She is represented by Shirley Grant Management.

Jana Boswell said that after Taylor won the 2009 Actors, Models and Talent for Christ Overall Best Actress award, more offers began pouring in for her. Taylor hasn’t changed, though.

“She is always out on auditions,” she said. “She’s the same girl she was before she left here. She always looks forward to coming home after filming. She still likes to hang out on the farm.”
She and the family feel blessed to be able to be with Taylor while she pursues this career.
“It’s a God thing. There’s no way we could put this together,” Boswell said. “We don’t have an entertainment background. We were homebodies involved in the community.”
Taylor said although she doesn’t have to be in strictly Christian films, she doesn’t want to compromise her faith.
“I can always make (my faith) a part of a project by keeping my morals and standards to what they are,” she said.
She also has advice for others who may want to pursue their dreams.
“If you feel it in your heart and know it’s what you’re supposed to do, then go for it,” she said. “Don’t let the dream-haters stop you.”

Taylor hopes eventually to study to be a prosecuting attorney at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and to continue to be open to doing movies and television.
“There’s nothing more exciting to a kid than not knowing what’s going to happen next,” she said. “You never know what’s around the corner. God’s got all that planned.”

Fantastic Conclusion to the Lake County Reading Festival

This year's festival, "Adventures in Paradise," took me from the Author's Roundtable at the Cooper Memorial Library in Clermont, to a Writing for Young Audiences discussion at the Tavares Public Library, and finally ending this evening with the Author Reception at the Leesburg Pubic Library. In all, over 20 authors particpated the events.





I liked my intro for the "Writing for Young Audiences" discussion:

Eric Reinhold's desire as a writer is to combine his background at a service academy and as a Christian to provide safe books of high moral character and Christian principles to youth. He plans to have five books in The Annals of Aeliana series, with Ryann Watters.




The highlights during the festival to me, were both with home school families. On Wednesday I was visited by Rebekah, Sarah, and Joshua at both the Clermont and Tavares locations. It was great to see such bright young people with insightful questions and desire to read! Their mom should be very proud of them.
On Friday, I drove over to Leesburg for the Author Reception. The Lake County librarians and staff did an excellent job of having the event catered for the public with lots of tasty morsels. The turn out was great, as people made their way around the library to visit with 20 different authors, participate in the silent auction, and see the results of the children's bookmark contest.

I had the opportunity to meet with one of my newest, biggest fans... Bradley. He is in the 8th grade and was able to quote lines from several scenes in my books. I believe he said his favorite was the exchange between the angle, Gabriel, and Lord Ekron as they did battle at the end of book 2:

"We meet again, Gabriel," Ekron declared with contempt. He glared at the approaching angel. "Only this time things will end differently."

Gabriel smiled while raising the King's sword out in front of him. "I was thinking I would add a matching scar to the other side of your face, Ekron."

Bradley, his parents and I, were able to spend quite a bit of time discussing my series and I was pleased to hear from Bradley's mom about what an impact the books had made on him and how much he had enjoyed them. That's the reason I write and that type of interaction spurs me on to continue the series.

Thanks again to all of those who came out to the festival. I hope to see you and your friends next year. Be blessed, EJR

FREE Copy of CURSE OF THE SPIDER KING

Fellow authors and friends, Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are hard at work on book 2 in The Berinfell Prophecies. Published by Thomas Nelson (see my previous post on my night with CEO Michael Hyatt), Curse of the Spider King is the first book in the series.

I first met Wayne and Christopher in 2008 on the Fantasy Fiction Tour. Invited by Bryan Davis, to participate in what ended up being a 10 day tour from Canada to San Diego, I immediately took a liking to the crazy minds of these two characters. While we travelled from city to city in a 15 passenger van, Wayne and Christopher were busy typing away on their laptopos, periodically yelling out, "Does anyone have a synonym for _____!" I would describe both of them as A.D.D. on Red Bull.
(You have to love this picture of Christopher giving the thumbs up on the Fantasy Tour, with Wayne in the background - God created a few perfect heads... the rest he covered in hair).

How to win your FREE Copy!

I have two copies of Curse of the Spider King and would like to give away that copy in a drawing from anyone who (1) joins my blog and (2) posts a comment in my post below on "Letters to God." The drawing will be this Friday! To get more details on the book you can go to:


Thomas Nelson's Website
http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=1400315050
Wayne's Blog
http://enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com/
Christopher's Website
http://www.christopherhopper.com/novels/


Good Luck and Good Reading!
Eric

Learning the Social Media Thing from Michael Hyatt

In addition to the sneak preview of "Letters to God" (see my comments from the last blog entry), I was exposed to superb speakers and content at the Lifework Leadership National Alumni Conference in Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida (you won't find it unless you're going there intentionally!).

I had the priveledge of sitting next to Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing (the largest Christian publisher in the U.S.) the first night. Michael shared very openly about his past and leadership lessons over the years. He's an authentic guy and it's great to know that someone in his position is heading up such an important media company.

Today he led a session on "Building Community Through Social Media." I think of myself as beyond beginner in this area, but for the business owner, he had some great insights. If you are on Twitter, you can find him at twitter.com/michaelhyatt.com. He also has a Facebook page and blog under his name.

I won't give you all the details here, but if you would like to view his slides from our session with him, you can go to www.michaelhyatt.com/speaking/lifework. Michael spends 30 minutes a day in social media with approximately 12-13 tweets a day. He is pro-active and takes the approach that people are putting out data on your company all the time, so you can choose to engage and be part of the discussion and potentially fixing a problem, or you can sit back and let them carry the dialogue.

Social media isn't a fad, so those of us who haven't grown up with it can choose to ignore it or get on board. I haven't been active on twitter, but I am going to take his challenge to try it for 30 days. The KEY is to provide value to those following you and make 20 deposits for every withdrawal you'd like to make on directing your followers to your product.

My biggest recognition of how things have changed was when my daughter saw a movie from the 80's and was talking about the "giant black CDs." I had to explain that they were vinyl records. I don't consider myself that old, but I did take my Smith Corona typewriter to the Naval Academy, where I learned BASIC and fed cards into the giant computer. My Senior year, I finally did my first paper on a MAC. When my teenage girls complain about not being able to get in touch with someone when we've taken their cell phones away, I remind them about the world without texting, e-mail, or PCs... and about going to the phone bank to make a call and hope that the person you were calling was home. Amazing!

Sneak Preview of "Letters to God" with the Director!

I just got back from a retreat with Lifework Leadership, a Christian business leaders group which is seeking to impact cities around the country. Great speakers, interaction with other alumni from the program, and David Nixon, the director for "Facing the Giants," "Fireproof," and the yet to be released, "Letters to God," was on hand for a preview of the movie. If you want to know more about Lifework Leadership go to www.lifeworkleadership.org.

We viewed the movie in its entirety and I think I cried six times... which is saying a lot. It takes a lot to make me cry. The movie is a heartfelt tale of inspiration, hope and redemption, showing what happens when one boy's walk of faith crosses paths with one man's search for meaning.

Ted Baehr, of Movieguide, says, "Letters to God is the type of movie you want everyone to see, one of the most encouraging and inspiring movies in a long time." He's right.

Here's the preview and I would encourage you to check out their website at www.letterstogodthemovie.com and encourage your pastor and others to see the movie during the first week. The movie opens in 800 theatres nationwide on April 9th and will expand to more with demand.

David and his team have the funding to create three Christian movies (this is the first)and his desire is to make Orlando, Florida the Christian movie capital of the world. Let's support him in this worthy endeavor to make Christian films.