By Tom Snyder, Editor Hollywood, Calif. – Movieguide® Founder and Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr spoke Thursday about family and faith-based movies at the first major Hollywood conference for such movies. More than 300 studio executives, producers, writers, and filmmakers attended the conference, which was organized by Variety, the major trade publication in the entertainment industry, at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles. “This conference is a blessing from God come true,” Baehr said afterwards. “It’s a major milestone in the modern history of the movie industry,” he added. “It shows without a doubt that the family and Christian market is indeed a major market. If a publication like Variety is interested in this huge market, then surely the top producers and decision-makers in the entertainment industry should be.” Dr. Baehr told the audience about Movieguide®’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, a comprehensive analysis (now in its 21st year) of all the major movies Hollywood releases every year. Year in and year out, the Annual Report shows that family-friendly movies with Christian content and values and with no foul language, no sex, no nudity, and no extreme violence make the most money at the box office and in DVD sales. Christian filmmakers shouldn’t be ashamed of making money at the box office, he added. “Making money [at the box office] is not a problem,” he explained, “because it means that people are in theaters getting entertained while they get the message. Our whole purpose is to help you prosper.” Dr. Baehr urged filmmakers making Christian and family-friendly movies to avoid attacking the kinds of Christian, family-friendly movies their fellow filmmakers produce. Constructive criticism is one thing, he noted, but it’s difficult enough to get a family or faith-based movie off the ground and into the marketplace. “We’ve got to stop demeaning each other,” he said.
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