Behind the Scenes: Synergy of a Script [Journal No 3]

There are times during the process of scriptwriting when an unparalleled melting pot of creativity happens. A special synergy of creativity within a huge writing team for the family, Christmas comedy movie, “The Farmer and The Belle,” produced just such times and a truly inspired script.

The Farmer and The BelleBehind the Scenes: Synergy of a Script [Journal Entry No. 3]

Ginger Beggs, EditorThere were more than a dozen voices that spoke life into the final script of this movie. There were two scripts already written, one by Leo Partible and one by Billy Falcon. The challenge came in not only combining the scripts and filling in or adding what was needed, but for the head writer to take in the many voices and merge it into one.Reuben Evans is the head writer for The Farmer and The Belle, and he took a very creative approach to the script. Reuben took not only the two existing scripts to merge into one, but invited over a dozen other people to give their ideas.Reuben is the ideal head writer for this film’s writing team. He is the Executive Producer of Faithlife TV and Faithlife Films. He's an experienced commercial director and documentary filmmaker. His resume includes projects like “Reunion,” “Archaeology + Jesus,” “Aliens & Demons,” and “Fragments of Truth.” Reuben continues to work in film including the role of Script Development Supervisor for this movie. He resides in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife SaraAnn and three children.One of the magical elements of being able to efficiently and freely share ideas within the creative team is Reuben’s software platform, “Faithlife.” Writers can access the software on their computer, phone or other device, and see what other writers were submitting as well as share comments and ideas of their own. This made for a real-time information stream for all the writers, and most crucially, for Reuben. Check out www.Faithlife.com for a social media platform that is Holy Spirit-breathed to connect, collaborate, pray and live life together.From producers Jim E. Chandler and Jenn Gotzon Chandler to co-writer James M. DeVince, to multiple backgrounds of writers, came the concepts and ideas that Reuben would bring together for the screenplay. The FaithLife platform contributed to the unexplainable spirit of excitement and camaraderie between everyone.As the script was reviewed and ideas shared, everyone communicated with the kind of togetherness normally only known from an in-person story table. It was the biblical “iron sharpening iron” that was so beautiful to experience.The organization of so many ideas from so many people into one cohesive script was not an easy task for Reuben, but by using his platform it was easier to see an idea along with a thread of comments and additions to that particular idea.

READ: The Making of a Family, Christmas Comedy Movie [Journal Entry No. 1]

The making of this film is special for many reasons. The amazing merging of ideas and talent truly helped build the foundation for the film’s message. Each character was given more depth, each scene was expanded in description and every word of dialogue was enriched to help bring the characters to life in a special way. Most of all, the Spirit led all those involved in becoming one for the purpose of setting the scene literally for this hilarious but meaningful family Christmas comedy movie.

READ: Behind the Scenes - Sculpting the Script For ‘The Farmer and The Belle’ [Journal Entry No. 2]

In the next journal we will further explore how the script was decorated to come to life on the big screen, but as a special treat, here’s a message from co-writer and architect behind The Farmer and The Belle script, Reuben Evans:

Christmas Comedy Movie Producers Share Film’s Progress in Exclusive Journal

In the coming weeks, we’ll share with you the in-depth filming and production of Jim and Jenn's real wedding as part of the film and much more. From equipment crew to how to cast the colorful characters that help bring the joy to this holiday film!The producers wish to give you an early Christmas gift!Go to www.tinyurl.com/ChristmasComedyMovie, and they will send you a promo code when the movie releases!Follow the family Christmas comedy movie “The Farmer and The Belle” on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFarmerandTheBelle.ChristmasComedyMovie and get updates on the website at www.ChristmasComedyMovie.com.Be sure to share the ongoing journal posts and hashtag: #TheFarmerandTheBelle #ChristmasComedyMovie #RealLove.Content and editing by Ginger Beggs.

Behind the Scenes: Sculpting the Script For 'The Farmer and The Belle'

In our previous journal we shared the love story that inspired the family Christmas comedy movie, “The Farmer and The Belle.” Now we take you behind the scenes of the executive producer and head writer to give you insight into how the film started to form.

The Farmer and The BelleBehind the Scenes: Sculpting the Script [Journal Entry No. 2]

Ginger Beggs, EditorIt’s a crucial process when choosing your executive producer and head writer for your film, and for "The Farmer and The Belle" it's no different. We were blessed with a phenomenal executive producer and head writer.Producers Jim E. Chandler and Jenn Gotzon Chandler needed to be truly careful in choosing their executive producer. They chose award-winning producer, Joel Bunkowske. Joel is a Grammy and Dove award winner who works in Christian film as well as the music industry. He has an extensive resume of working with Academy Award nominated actors and Grammy and Dove winning recording artists. As an attorney, he practices law in film and music business affairs as well as film production, global distribution, contracts and even University teaching.Joel has been featured on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Fox & Friends, Time.com, New York Times.com, USA Today.com, ABC News.com, Huffington Post.com, Cosmopolitan.com, Glamour.com and many more. Joel has worked extensively in film, music and television with a focus in finance, distribution, consulting, producing, executive producing, directing and the contracts for hundreds of projects worldwide, including with Warner, Universal, Disney, ABC, NBC, FOX, Capitol Records, EMI, and Word Records.Extensive experience as a CEO has honed Joel’s strong leadership skills. His background in business along with his substantive legal and business knowledge makes Joel an expert in law, business and leadership. On many occasions, since Isaac Hernandez introduced us to making the family Christmas comedy movie “The Farmer and The Belle”, it’s as if the Lord uses Joel as a love note to those he is in fellowship with.

READ: The Making of a Family, Christmas Comedy Movie [Journal Entry No. 1]

Joel came to the filming of Jim and Jenn’s wedding at New Dawn Farms in Chickamauga, Georgia, on March 17, 2017. He was especially supportive to them during their season of marriage engagement and as newly married couple. He fully appreciated Jim and Jenn’s personalities, strengths and weakness, showing them that they were paired beautifully by God to do His Kingdom work.Jim is logistical “big picture”-oriented and Jenn is more emotion/high-concept driven. Joel has given the couple the needed strategy to unify their gifts properly. Joel is not simply a business partner to “The Farmer and The Belle” team, but a mentor, friend and Godly brother in Christ.Next, came the challenge of finding just the right head writer for the script. There was many challenges, including integrating over a dozen writers’ input into one cohesive script. Producer Joel Bunkowske crafted the approach of bringing multiple harmonious writing voices into one. This action of "mining the gold" from a crew of writers became a theme.

Interested in partnering with The Farmer and The Belle: A Christmas Story?

Please email, christmascomedymovie@gmail.com

[gallery type="slideshow" link="none" size="full" ids="3539,3540" orderby="rand"]Reuben Evans was selected to become the head writer for the script. Reuben is a gift from God who came on in the late hour of putting the script together. The Chandlers met Reuben at the International Film festival a few months prior to the project. Reuben took the job and knocked it out of the park. God worked the paths of everyone, including Reuben, together beautifully and brilliantly.Reuben began writing mode and implemented the project’s walls and structure of the screenplay. It was then that the team invited various contributing writers to collaborate together, similar to the “writers room” found in the television business. The idea was to capture the innermost creativity from each person then weave the ideas into the script with great care. Then, it was onto the next round where writer James M. DeVince shined with comedic, Christmas coloring to the page. Reuben was the architect, James was the decorator to craft the screenplay already in motion by writer Billy Falcon and Leo Partible.To describe this process more in depth, there were two existing scripts already in place so we unified those scripts and worked-in a great amount of new material. The two scripts showed different takes on the story, but the producers wanted to deliver an unforgettable family Christmas comedy movie, so they unified the scripts and invited the collaborating writers to add character depth, scene changes, and even rewrite dialogue, to put an incredible amount of creativity into one film script.The entire team coordinated the script ideas and changes through Reuben Evans’ founded “Faithlife” program. This made it possible to gather the ideas from truly gifted and dedicated writers from across the globe. They read the new draft and brought their own inspired insights to it. Then it was all brought together and co-writer James M. DeVince decorated “The Farmer and The Belle” with even more humor and an eye for detail.More to come in future journals, but this is how the beautiful tapestry of a true love story was woven into a script bursting at the seams with the creativity of many writers.

Christmas Comedy Movie Producers Share Film’s Progress in Exclusive Journal

In the coming weeks, we’ll share with you the in-depth filming and production of Jim and Jenn's real wedding as part of the film and much more. From equipment crew to how to cast the colorful characters that help bring the joy to this holiday film!The producers wish to give you an early Christmas gift!Go to www.tinyurl.com/ChristmasComedyMovie, and they will send you a promo code when the movie releases!Follow the family Christmas comedy movie “The Farmer and The Belle” on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFarmerandTheBelle.ChristmasComedyMovie and get updates on the website at www.ChristmasComedyMovie.com.Be sure to share the ongoing journal posts and hashtag: #TheFarmerandTheBelle #ChristmasComedyMovie #RealLove.Content and editing by Ginger Beggs.

The Making of a Family, Christmas Comedy Movie [Journal No 1]

Oscar Wilde once said that, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” There are the rare instances, however, that art does it’s fair share of imitating life. Before the concept and script for the family, Christmas comedy movie The Farmer and The Belle came into fruition, the stories of two people on separate journeys were unfolding. This journey has the makings of a true fairytale story, but eventually also a moving piece of art with a beautiful message for the big screen.

'The Farmer and The Belle'Behind the Scenes Journal No. 1From Fairytale to Film

Ginger Beggs, EditorMost of us have dreamed of a Hollywood film ending or a fairytale romance. For Jim E. Chandler and Jenn Gotzon Chandler, they definitely got the best of both worlds. Like book and movie fairytale stories, Jim and Jenn would also face obstacles and pain on their journey. The redeeming message of restoration, hope, love and laughter is what makes this so much more than fables. This is a “fairytale to film” story, but it truly began in film.

READ: Behind the Scenes - Sculpting the Script For ‘The Farmer and The Belle’ [Journal No 2]

In June of 2014, Jim E. Chandler and Jenn Gotzon Chandler met on the set of “Sinking Sand”, as fellow actors. They became friends, not knowing what God had in store for them. They both have very uplifting and comical personalities, which eventually would spark a love for a lifetime. Often, Hollywood couples come together during the making of a film. For Jim and Jenn, it wasn’t until after their film that a plan by God was revealed.Jim and Jenn filmed together as love interests in Sinking Sand (coming soon by Sony), The Colors of Emily (releases Nov 28), Saving Faith (coming soon by Lionsgate) and The Farmer and The Belle (Thanksgiving 2018). They’ve been involved in two television pilots and four more movies coming soon. One is the novel-based movie, “The Crickets Dance”. These experiences not only helped shaped them as actors, but it deepened the friendship and love that was blooming. Like the story of “The Farmer and The Belle”, they began to bring their diverse backgrounds together to broaden their worlds and open their eyes even more to the wonder of the mate God chose for them.Your typical fairytale requires a damsel in distress and a prince to rescue her. In this “fairytale-like” love story though, two people ran towards God and collided in the most exquisite manner. Jim and Jenn were living for God, and despite pain in the past, were open to what God would have in His plan. They sought out to have the eternal flame of love through God, that would last beyond the last page of the book or the last frame of film.Jim and Jenn, like so many of us, came from broken pasts. They pursued the healing that only Jesus could provide. They deepened their relationship with Christ, and renewed their minds daily with scripture. After they met, Jim’s pastor (who also married them), advised Jim to court Jenn like they did “in the good ‘ole days.” Jim focused on friendship and pointing Jenn’s heart to Jesus. Jim would write handwritten letters with encouraging words and scriptures. He would tell Jenn daily, “Jenn, you’re beautiful.” That helped Jenn obtain the much needed healing in her heart concerning her true identity. Jim told Jenn she was beautiful because she was made in God’s image. Jim continued pursuing Jenn’s heart in friendship and they became the best of friends, getting to know everything they could about each other. They began to talk about forever and lifelong commitment.

READ: Behind the Scenes - Synergy of a Script [Journal No 3]

So how did this love story become the backdrop of the family Christmas comedy movie, “The Farmer and The Belle”? It began approximately a year ago during a 40-day fast, after Jim proposed to Jenn. Mid-way through this fast, God dropped the vision of this story and the rest is “to-be” film history.Jim and Jenn worked on the story together in New York City at Jenn’s apartment and at a local coffee shop in the Upper West Side. In a backstory worthy of film, it would also be this location where the actual ending of the movie, “The Farmer and The Belle”, would be filmed. Whenever Jenn would visit Jim’s home in Georgia, his dad took her to feed the pigs. She soon realized she knew nothing about farm life and felt like a fish out of water. She would often think on and compare the situation, to the nursery rhyme “Farmer in the Dell.” From there, Josh Carpenter (farmer) and Belle Winters were formed as the main characters. Now you have the “farmer” and the “Belle” for this holiday romance and comedy.This is just the first of many journal articles for this exciting family comedy Christmas movie, “The Farmer and The Belle.” We will be letting the audience in on the behind-the-scenes action as the film goes from script to screen. We will not only reveal funny outtakes and special commentary from writers, but you’ll join our journey of other challenges like the locations that span from Georgia to New York! It’s so much more than a movie and we want you to step by step be there right along with us as a Together LA reader.

Christmas Comedy Movie Producers Share Film’s Progress in Exclusive Journal

In the coming weeks, we’ll share with you how writers were chosen, the in-depth filming and production of their real wedding as part of the film and much more. The teams from equipment crew to how to cast the colorful characters that help bring the joy to this holiday film!

The producers wish to give you an early Christmas gift!Go to www.tinyurl.com/ChristmasComedyMovie, and they will send you a promo code when the movie releases!

Follow the family Christmas comedy movie “The Farmer and The Belle” on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFarmerandTheBelle.ChristmasComedyMovie and get updates on the website at www.ChristmasComedyMovie.com.

Be sure to share the ongoing journal posts and hashtag: #TheFarmerandTheBelle #ChristmasComedyMovie #RealLove.

Content and editing by Ginger Beggs.

Journal Entry #2 - Behind the Scenes: Sculpting the Script For ‘The Farmer and The Belle’