We've been talking about it since the Grisly Grisell premiere when we shared with you our dream of submitting our next project to Angel Studios for funding.
It's time now. We are ready to get started on our next project...
Our 5th film will be FABIOLA, the book discussed here on this page. This is a story especially timely now as we are surrounded by corruption in our world similar to what the characters of this book faced in pagan Rome.
Today, we are Christians living among pagans and we must follow the example of the Roman Christians and lead the pagans around us to conversion by good example.
In this way we can save our souls and encourage those around us to pursue the straight and narrow path.
If we can submit a convincing, persuasive pilot to Angel Studios and get accepted, it will be presented to an audience which then can fund the entire production.
With this option, we would budget for the production and could ask for up to $5 million for the entire production! The investors purchase shares of the project and in post-production get a certain percentage of the film's profits.
We have scripted our pilot and are itching to get the production rolling but how do we make something impressive enough to satisfy Angel Studios before we get the big funding for the entire project?
That's where you come in! Please Support Industrious Family Films' “Fabiola Pilot".
Your gift will put the Fabiola pilot on screen. If you and enough other people help us reach our goal, we will be able to start filming as early as late summer 2023.
As a big "thank you" for your support, donors who give a gift at the $1000 level will receive one of our large crochet baskets, and those who give a gift at the $500 level will receive a medium crochet basket. Additionally, those who give at the $250 level will receive a small crochet basket.
Donate at one of these three levels to be eligible to win a basket today! As a special thanks to all who support us, every donor to this fund will be named in the pilot's credit role.
Remember, we are completely crowd funded. We will never go to corrupt Hollywood producers for funding for our films. You are the reason that we can continue to do we do best. We want to bring your children the entertainment that Christians deserve. With your help, Industrious Family Films can continue to reclaim the art of filmmaking one wholesome movie at a time.
Our pilot can be as short as 8 minutes or as long as half an hour. We have prepared a script for a 8 minute scene and are ready to pour all we have into it. Sets, costumes, high-quality acting - everything we can do to make it as professional as possible has been planned out.
We came up with a budget for this 1 scene that costs as much as the whole Grisly Grisell production! This kind of budget will give us the room to pull off the quality that we want to demand in the final project.
In this novel, soon to be brought to the screen, martyrs shed their blood for the prosperity of the Church and for the conversion of sinners. Their examples are outstanding and though they do not know it, the conversion of the proud Fabiola will someday be the fruit of their sufferings.
Fabiola, Fulvius, and Agnes each travel very different paths to heaven. Fabiola is a rich Roman heiress living on her deceased father’s wealth. She is a developing character who experiences an intellectual conversion through the holy example of Agnes, her cousin, and Syra, her Christian slave.
Fulvius develops as well. He becomes a Christian by the help of the desert monks. Fulvius is a desperate, fortune-seeking man who is willing to do anything for money. He wants to marry Agnes for her fortune. When she rejects him, he denounces her for being a Christian, thinking that he will receive her wealth as a bounty to pay off his debts.
This crime and other crimes weigh heavily on his conscience and eventually lead to his conversion. Agnes is a virgin and martyr who is steadfast in her love for Christ. When Agnes is killed, her fortune is passed on to Fabiola and not Fulvius.
This, in short, is what Fabiola is about: the conversion of the haughty, pagan Fabiola, by the example of the early Church martyrs including St. Agnes and St. Sebastian.
In Fabiola, we are told St. Agnes’ story as never before. This early Church martyr is the cousin of the main character, Fabiola. Although several years younger, Agnes is Fabiola’s role model as she deeply admires her saintly cousin.
Agnes is turned over the the Tribune after refusing the pagan Fulvius' suit as she has taken a vow of virginity. The day before her martyrdom, Agnes begs Fabiola to apply herself to the doctrines of Christianity. A door is thus opened to Fabiola, who admires Agnes' virtues but never assumed that they were credited to her Christian Faith.
The above scene is the one which we will present in our pilot. Agnes has waited for the final hours before her death to tell Fabiola what a wonderful Christian she would make. After Fabiola promises to apply herself to the Faith, Agnes happily goes to meet her Bridegroom, satisfied that she has brought Fabiola to the True Fold.
St. Sebastian also has an important part to play in the yarn of the conversion of pagan Rome. He is "a perfect specimen of a noble-hearted youth, full of honor and generous thoughts; strong and brave, without a particle of pride or display in him.”
He is also a fine example of true patriotism. When he defends that his Faith does not intervene with his loyalty to his emperor he tells the horrible Maximian, "If you want a body-guard around you of men who will spill their last drop of life's blood for you, go to the prison and take the Christians from the stocks...You have taken half their blood from them and they will give you willingly the other half."
The death of St. Sebastian and many other martyrs win the conversion of many of the pagans whose lives are also weaved throughout the story.
Interested in acting in an Industrious Family Film production? If so, we are looking for actors of all ages. Please fill out the form below to receive more information!
Note: By submitting the form you are not committing to anything just expressing interest.
When will auditions be held and how? Auditions for our current project, FABIOLA Pilot, will be held via Zoom call. Date and time of call is still yet to be decided.
What are the chances that I will get a role in the Pilot? There are only 3 speaking roles in this short film so not all those who submit a form will be casted and Roles will be casted according to age, ethnicity, flexibility and talent. If you do not get a role the first time, please don't be disappointed as we will continue to re-audition you for future projects if you are still interested.
Where will you be filming? Although filming usually takes place at our studio, the shoot locations are not limited to this location. Budget willing, airlines and lodging will be covered for the actor only.
When would I be needed? If you get casted in the FABIOLA Pilot, you will be needed for 1-3 consecutive shoot days during the summer months. If you are not casted for the Pilot but are interested in continuing to pursue this project, you can re-audition for a new role for the FABIOLA mini series. If you are casted for the mini series, you will need to be available for 4 months in 2024 though you will only need to be on set for a few days at a time.
How long would I be needed for? This, of course depends on the role. Although movies take almost a year to make, only the crew needs to be there every single day. That being said, let's say that you get a small role with the character only appearing 3 times in the movie. You will only need to be on set for a few shoot days though the time between is rather spaced.
Fabiola, or The Church of the Catacombs is well-written, making the reader feel like he is there. It is true-to-life and has very vivid descriptions, like the description of the month of October found in chapter XVI, page 148: “The sun has contracted his heat, but not his splendor; he is less scorching, but not less bright. As he rises in the morning, he dashes sparks of radiance over waking nature, as an Indian prince, upon entering his presence-chamber, flings handfuls of gems and gold into the crowd.”
With such vivid descriptions, it will be really fun to create our sets and use the art of showing things to drive the story forward instead of depending solely on dialogue. Filming descriptions like the one above give the audience a break to digest what happened in the scene before.
This story also carries invaluable lessons of life that are as true today as they were when they were taught by the early Church martyrs making it a timely story for those living in pagan times as we are now. Followers of Christ must be like St. Agnes, showing and guiding men to the right road to heaven by her sweet example and tactful conversations. Christians living among pagans during current times must lead present-day pagans to conversion by good example. Even though we are living in a pagan world we must stay on the right path to heaven and bring back the strays along the way.
"The example of Our Lord made the martyrs; and the example of the martyrs leads us upward to Him. Their blood softens our hearts; His alone cleanses our souls. Theirs pleads for mercy; His bestows it. May the Church, in her days of peace and of victories, never forget what she owes to the age of her martyrs...we are indebted to it for our spiritual lives."
-Fabiola
Cardinal Wiseman was born in Spain in 1802 to Irish emigrants. After his ordination to the priesthood, he would become the president of the English College in Rome. Cardinal Wiseman also became the first Archbishop of Westminster after the Protestant Revolt.
In 1835, he went to England to deliver a course of lectures in London on the teachings of the Catholic Church. His lectures were attended by Protestants and Catholics alike. Dr. Wiseman made such a deep impression on his non-Catholic hearers that a number of well educated persons whose social position was high were converted to the Faith.
In 1853, Wiseman began to write his most popular book, the historical drama, Fabiola, a tale of the Church of the Catacombs. The book was published the following year and its success was immediate and phenomenal. Wiseman wrote Fabiola in part as an answer to the vigorously anti-Catholic book which praised the early pagan era. Fabiola was also intended as a historical and religious aid to Catholics in England.
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