Screenwriter Shares How Faith Guides His Storytelling
By Movieguide® Contributor
Biblical principles guide screenwriter Brian Godawa as he writes movies with clear Christian messages.
“As a writer, faith is not merely worked out in relationships with people but in how I actually pursue my craft,” Brian Godawa, a screenwriter, told Fox News Digital. “My storytelling reflects my Christian worldview and values through the drama of human choices and consequences.”
“I do not exploit evil for entertainment value, but as a necessary component of redemptive storytelling,” Godawa continued.
For example, Godawa co-wrote TO END ALL WARS.
According to the Movieguide® review:
TO END ALL WARS contrasts the warrior culture of the Japanese, which demands honor, valor and submission to the Emperor at any cost, with Western culture, which focuses on the individual, and with true Christian sacrifice and forgiveness. The movie has clear Christological elements, the photography is noteworthy, and the direction is to be commended. The movie is too episodic, which slightly distances the movie from the audience, but this is a big movie made on a smaller budget. Overall, the movie teaches valuable lessons, has brilliant acting, and deserves the awards it’s winning. In spite of the violence and foul language, mature people of faith and values need to support this profound movie.
Godawa also wrote THE VISITION:
There are some turgid and corny emotions and dialogue on display in parts of THE VISITATION, but the movie has a dramatic, exiting ending that should thrill moviegoers who enjoy supernatural thrillers like this. The movie’s best part, however, is that the Word of God is literally victorious over the demonic forces in the story, and Travis regains his faith. THE VISITATION contains some strong scary scenes, including some violence, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for pre-teens and sensitive moviegoers.
His faith drives his motivation behind writing because he lives for a higher purpose.
“In all my writing, I seek to obey God’s commands,” Godawa explained. “Have no gods before Him: I do not seek success or fame, but to honor God with my craft of excellence regardless of results and sometimes despite being rejected for its message.”
Godawa’s storytelling principles reflect what Movieguide® Founder and Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr has studied and determined for decades: Audiences prefer content that extolls biblical values and ignores excessive, worldly elements.
Dr. Baehr said, “Our results showed first that the most family-friendly movies with no explicit, obscene content earned more than twice as much money as the least family-friendly movies with the most explicit, obscene content, $27.85 million versus only $12.36 million,” said of the 2021 box office.
“Also,” he noted, “movies with no sex and no explicit nudity made far more money at the North American box office than movies with some explicit sex and nudity or extremely explicit sex and nudity.”
According to Movieguide®’s 2022 Report to the Entertainment Industry:
Movies with strong Christian, redemptive content with biblical values earned significantly more money than movies with non-Christian, anti-Christian, unbiblical, immoral content.
“In fact,” Dr. Baehr said, “movies with very strong Christian, redemptive content (CCC) did even better in 2021 against movies with very strong humanist/atheist content (HHH) or very strong anti-Christian/anti-biblical content (BBB).”
The 2022 Report found that movies with strong conservative content averaged about $41.23 million in North America compared to only $12.69 million for movies with strong liberal content.
Finally, a study of the top movies at the overseas box office found that 100% of the Top Five Movies Overseas had at least some strong or very strong Christian, redemptive, biblical, morally uplifting, and/or conservative content.
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