Movie - Beware of ChristiansYou may recall that Beware of Christians was a recent Kickstarter success. The project funded the Riot Studio team to visit college campuses and show their movie. It is a great way to engage directly with the intended audience and open the conversation on faith.

Recently, we caught up again with Michael Allen, Co-Producer of Beware of Christians.  The interview follows:

What has been the most surprising comment or reaction after someone has seen Beware of Christians?

I don’t know if there’s been a single surprising reaction that’s jumped out, but more so the overwhelmingly huge majority of those who have seen the film and given us positive feedback. With some topics in the film being controversial or confrontational in nature, we expected to meet more conflict or criticism. But, really nearly every response we’ve heard has been appreciate and supportive in at least some way.

Has the movie opened the conversation about faith more? Are young adults eager to discuss their thoughts on being a Christian?

Definitely and definitely. Opening the conversation about faith is the main “point” of the movie.  With faith being such a personal or even private part of many people’s lives today, it’s pretty awkward to get that conversation started.

The movie (hopefully) takes away some of that awkwardness and gets those conversations started. We’ve seen that once people have a good excuse and platform to discuss these things, they are eager to talk about it. I think it’s refreshing for people to be brought into a deeper discussion than the every day shallow things we talk about.

I also think the movie does a good job asking the questions and providing ideas without forcing answers into people’s hands. That’s an important part of faith because a person really has to know how he or she got there to really believe something.

What are you asking people to do next? What is their biggest take away?

Well, we definitely want people to get DVDs (riotstudios.us/store) and share the movie with their friends so that they can keep this dialogue going. We do name-your-own-price on our DVDs so that everyone who wants a copy can have one. More specifically, there will be different things for each person, but we hope people will start seeing and destroying more and more of the idols that are keeping them from the fullness of the good things God has for them.

From this movie and tour, what has been most rewarding for you and your team?

Getting to hear people talk about how challenging and meaningful the film was to them has been amazing. We’ve been working our butts off for a long time now, and it’s good to know it wasn’t all a waste of time. God’s really using the project to do cool things, in spite of our clumsiness most of the time.

What’s next for Riot Studios?

We’re not exactly sure, but there are a myriad of possibilities. Will and I have been writing a comedy/drama screenplay for about a year now. We should have it completed by the end of the summer. If things fall into place, we’d love for that to be our next project and our first full feature film.  But, like I said, there’s so much going on now, it’s hard to even think about that.

My Take. I really like what Riot Studios is doing. As I said in a Tweet after seeing the movie, Riot Studios is a firm to watch. They are bringing energy and perspective to our discussions on faith, especially with young adults (essential, if not critical).

If you haven’t seen Beware of Christians, purchase a copy at the name-your-own price. Or, check out their tour dates and see it with some college students. You won’t regret it and probably will be strengthened by it.

Thanks to Michael and the Riot Studio team for your time and commitment!