In the spirit of the well-known "crowd-funding" business model of The Chosen, this presentation will depend on you, the conference visitor, to supply the most interesting information you can come up with regarding how the series is being funded and produced. So I invite your research, observations, and comments below.
To prime the pump here are a few easily gleamed items (from Wikipedia, TV Guide and other sources):
- Three seasons of the show are finished. Seven seasons are planned.
- Most filming is done near Goshen, Utah, and near Dallas.
- As of 2021, viewers had contributed $40 million. Since 2022 contributions have been tax deductible.
- The popularity of The Chosen is being used to draw attention and funding to other Angel Studios productions, such as the controversial Sound of Freedom, which explored child trafficing, and the new After Death which seems to present near-death experiences as proof that Heaven exists. Fans of The Chosen may be drawn to these other Angel productions which may be of questionable value.
- Angel Studios insists that nobody should have to pay to watch The Chosen. Among the places it is available to view are these:
- The Angel Studios website
- on a new The Chosen app
- on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Peacock (but you have to pay to subscribe to these).
- on cable channel "CW" — but there the story is interrupted every 2-3 minutes by annoying commercials for deodorant and bathroom tissue. Still, the CW premiere broadcast was watched by 520,000 viewers.
- Some episodes, such as the last two in season 3, have been released for theatrical viewing.
- The Come and See Foundation is managing the crowd-funding and will be paying for translation of the series into as many as 600 languages.
- While Angel Studios has roots in the LDS church (Mormonism), script consultants include experts from Protestantism, Catholicism, and judaism.
- Producers estimate that the first 16 episodes had been viewed 312 million times as of November 2021 (Wikipedia). Perhaps half of those were by Pastor Abrahamson who writes elsewhere in this conference. 😄
- Devoted fanbase: for the feeding of the 5,000 scene in the season three finale, about 10,000 volunteer "extras" showed up from 36 countries at their own expense, many with their own costumes, for the three-day shoot in 100-degree Texas heat. (TV Guide)
That's a start. What else do you know, or want to know about the business plan of The Chosen?
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