How This Production Company Shines a Light in Hollywood’s Darkness
Movieguide® Contributor
Hollywood’s old hands Monty Hobbs and Valerie Smaldone just started a production company, Just Do GOOD Entertainment — a pursuit of light and pure wholesome entertainment in an industry that so often offers the opposite.
“Their show, DIVINE RENOVATION, hosted by Erik Estrada, just launched its second season available now on major streamers,” Faithwire reported Oct. 23. “It’s a faith-based reality TV show about home improvement that brings in powerful spiritual themes.”
“We really loved the concept of creating content that not only entertains but inspires and actually makes a difference for individuals and/or facilities,” Smaldone said…
READ MORE: THIS PRODUCTION COMPANY WANTS TO INSPIRE GOOD — HERE’S HOW
FINDING KINDNESS is another of the company’s reality projects. The show highlights small businesses that are generous to their communities.
The inspiration for the production company came about when Hobbs and Smaldone worked on a movie together a few years earlier.
“It was a real feel-good, inspirational movie about doing good,” Smaldone said. “Another person had written the story, and we were just bringing it to life, but we were filming during the outbreak of the Ukraine war in March of that year, and I remember waking up every morning, thinking about how lucky we were to be going to set to film this lovely story and people were suffering miles away.”
The duo strives to feature projects with themes of “positivity, inspiration, [and] helping your fellow person in the world,” she said.
Their desire to do good was further emboldened with their launch of DIVINE RENOVATION.
“At the beginning of this year, we decided to really finalize and formalize our partnership and to build on Just Do GOOD,” she said. “And, everything we do, all the content we create, is about a positive message and really about what can you do — our viewer, our reader, whatever we’re doing — what can you do to make the world a better place.”
“That seems odd in 2024, nowadays, with the messaging of values, the messaging of respecting our vets, the messaging of that there is a higher power,” Hobbs said. “Our goal is to shine a light that was embedded in us.”
Hobbs highlighted how divided the world is and believes most people don’t want it to be like that.
“There’s no doubt a major opportunity exists to serve faith and family-friendly audiences, as evidenced by the continued success of popular TV shows and films like THE CHOSEN and JESUS REVOLUTION, among others,” Faithwire said. “For too long, Hollywood has ignored the faith and family-friendly audience, though, which is where Just Do GOOD Entertainment comes in.”
“I think sensationalism sells,” Smaldone said. “Even if you don’t like it, you will watch it or you’ll click on it because you’re curious. … But the truth is we, at the end of the day, we all want to be better people. We want to do good things for our neighbors.”
Sensationalism may initially attract, but box office results prove the movies that sell the most tickets have wholesome values and positive themes.
“The goal is to keep inspiring,” Hobbs said. “What we loved about DIVINE RENOVATION is, when we go into the community, we weren’t just a production company. We brought houses of worship. We brought nonprofits. We brought police departments and people that would unlikely be together. And we saw that after we’re there for a very small amount of time, they become friends, they become neighbors.”
Hobbs and Smaldone are working on a project called ROCK TO REDEMPTION but haven’t revealed any other details about it. It’s not clear whether it’s a series, documentary, or feature film.
The company also has a children’s book underway. It’s called “Officer Erik and The Very Special Dad” and features a father with multiple sclerosis who loves helping others. Some of the book’s proceeds will be donated to MS charities.
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