By Michaela Gordoni
Dallas Jenkins is clearing up what THE CHOSEN is all about.
“Three things that I want to stop seeing,” Jenkins started in a Nov. 14 YouTube video. “Number one, this is about the haves and the have-nots. I’ve heard that phrase way too many times, and I want to put a stop to it.”
“Then, we oftentimes hear that, well, things have changed since the early years. ‘Things used to be so much more simple,’” he continued. “‘I miss it when things were simpler, and now it feels complicated, and now it feels so big and expansive and Hollywood and all that kind of stuff.’”
The other thing he addressed is comments saying THE CHOSEN team is only doing the show for wealth and fame.
“There are some people who can’t buy a t-shirt from the gift store,” he explained. “Should we decide to just give t-shirts away because we don’t want to have haves and have-nots? Are we favoring the ones who can get a t-shirt?”
“And I hear that often…’Oh, they’re getting special favor for people who can — people who have money, the people who can afford it, they’re the ones who get the special favors from THE CHOSEN,” the director explained. “People who are able to buy tickets to and go to the theater to see the seasons early.”
THE CHOSEN doesn’t have the finances to offer free theater visits, ChosenCon tickets or merch. Jenkins sympathized with those who can’t afford to participate and said if he could make everything free and still have his crew get paid, he would.
Related: Dallas Jenkins Calls Out These ‘Simply False’ Claims About THE CHOSEN
THE CHOSEN is a completely free show. The creators and crew missed out on millions of dollars to make it free worldwide.
“Do you know how long it’s going to be free? Forever. Decades. At least until Jesus comes,” he said.
“And do you know how long it’s not available for free? Like a few months. You know, when…a new season comes out and it starts in theaters and then it goes to Prime or it goes to a streaming platform that you might have to get…a subscription for, that’s usually a few months, sometimes half of a year [at most].”
“The actors on our show, believe it or not, compared to other shows and especially compared to shows that are six seasons in, are actually quite underpaid…” compared to shows of the same size and reach, the director explained.
THE CHOSEN was originally completely crowdfunded and had a small budget.
He continued, “The amount of work that went into trying to build this…was very challenging…People who say things used to be simpler, I kind of go well would you prefer we stay on a little app that the majority of the world isn’t going to get? I mean, shouldn’t we be excited that more people have access to this show and are able to watch it on multiple platforms?”
“5 and 2 Studios has sacrificed tens of millions of dollars and, in the long term, hundreds of millions of dollars…We can’t sustain ourselves by not allowing some of these opportunities to allow the show to be licensed by other broadcasters and by other streaming platforms.”
Jenkins has responded to critics who say the show adds “unbiblical” scenes several times. Last year, he responded to those who criticized a scene where Jesus prays for Judas.
“While I’m somewhat surprised that the concept of Jesus saying the words ‘I’ll pray for you’ are controversial, I’m not actually that surprised that something like this comes up because it’s a sensitive topic,” said Jenkins. “… if Jesus could pray for unbelievers while they were crucifying Him, it seems that Jesus could pray for Judas even while Judas was planning to betray Him.”
In March, he responded to critics by sharing that THE CHOSEN points people back to the Bible.
The YouVersion Bible App previously shared that Season 2 Episode 2 caused a large surge of searches for Nathanael.
“I immediately started weeping,” Jenkins recalled, “because that is a perfect picture of exactly what we are hoping for.”
So everyone, just sit back and enjoy the show.
Read Next: Dallas Jenkins Always Asks Himself This One Question …
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