Industrious Family Fun Films Blog

Sep 06, 2024

Brave Hearts: Polish Couriers and Their Heroic Service in "Home Army". Stream Now On Industrious Family Theater

Can a courier for the Polish Home Army complete her mission without being discovered by the Nazis?

For all of you World War II enthusiasts, this short and almost silent film from Verso L'alto Productions is a powerful tribute to the many Polish patriots who gave everything to free their people from the oppression of the Nazis during WWII.

Stream now on Industrious Family Theater!

Sep 06, 2024

Master Acting While Building Lasting Bonds: Inside Our Classes for Catholic Filmmakers

Everyone is honing in their acting skills at our online Catholic Film Acting class. Often films in the micro to low budget category lack in actor delivery. Nothing takes the viewer out of the narrative of the story as quickly as bad acting.

Daniel Rabourdin is training Catholic actors allowing us all to up our game and make good with film acting performances.

The class is fun and instructive.

Industrious Family is making use of all that we are learning all the time. We are employing it in our dubbing of The Adventures of Jean & Henri, in station liners and commercials on KJBM, in interviews on podcasts and radio, and on a special teaser video we are currently working on.

In this picture from the class you will see some familiar faces. We have Alejandro of Neri Films, Chris a voice actor, Amit an actor from India, Pricille from France, the family behind The Adventures of Jean & Henri, the Soodts, our St. Agnes Kate, and two different shots of the Bowens one with one of our beautiful blonde Americana hens.

Since we are all in a pretty small house, we get an audio loop if we are on two devices too close to each other. Accordingly, we often have one group in the house and another group out in the henhouse, which can be amusing for the other actors because our ducks and hens make a bit of a racket trying to get us to leave.

Sep 05, 2024

Binge-Watch Short Films Like 'Heaven's Match' For Just $0.99/Month On Industrious Family Theater!

Industrious Family Theater features 20 independent films for you to enjoy all from the convenience of one place. Stream these authentically Catholic full-length movies, short films, and more for only $0.99 a month. This affordable monthly subscription allows fans to watch wholesome films from studios that we know and trust. You can enjoy all these films without the slightest fear that something unexpected will show up on the big screen in the heart of your home. Watch your favorites over and over again or, as there are more than one studio submitting films, you can look forward to frequent new releases. Subscribe to Industrious Family Theater.

Sep 05, 2024

Celebrate With Us: Major Milestones in Funding, Newsletters, and Social Media

Today I have a few exciting things to celebrate with you! This is Faustina this morning, by the way.

My first exciting announcement is that we have successfully reached our Fabiola Pilot goal! Thanks to 59 generous contributors, we were able to reach our $13,000 goal. So to everyone who contributed to the Fabiola Pilot, thank you so much. You know who you are.

As a special thank you to everyone who contributed to this project, we are adding your names to the Fabiola scene credit role. This scene will be released October 7th on the Fabiola page, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get a reminder in your inbox when we are live!

Speaking of The Journal, we are also celebrating 400 subscribers as of last newsletter. We have gotten a few more since then, so now we have over 400 subscribers! Thanks for being here and staying up to date on what we are all up to at Industrious Family!

Are you a company or have something to promote? Our newsletter has a sponsorship now available! Consider sponsoring the newsletter and be seen by our 400 subscribers. Express interest in sponsoring The Journal here...

One last recent win that we have had is with our LinkedIn page. We have now passed the 200 followers milestone. Mom has been working this page just in the last 2 years, with an average of 100 new followers every year, I think I can confidently say that she's not doing too bad.

This is the most followers we have on any of our social media accounts (besides YouTube). So, if you are on LinkedIn, be sure to find the Industrious Family page and join 200 other followers who are gobbling up our content.

Sep 04, 2024

Saint Philomena Comes To Life In This Beautiful Retelling Of This Powerful Story

From the same studio that brought you Our Mother Elizabeth, comes the inspiring true story about a little known saint.

A beautiful Greek princess of long ago; her devoted parents who love her to a fault; a fierce persecutor of the early Christians… When Calistos, the ruler of a city-state subservient to the Roman Empire, pleads with Diocletian to prevent bloodshed in his realm, he receives an unexpected proposition. Diocletian wants to marry his daughter. But Philomena refuses to have anything to do with the pagan tyrant. The choice will cost her—and her parents—much. The ultimate sacrifice, however, is not a loss, but a true honor and the highest glory.

Watch Day of Glory today on Industrious Family Theater.

Sep 04, 2024

New Movies On The Way And Subscribers Every Day

Good news! After our launch we had 2 more studios reach out and express interest in having their films play "At the Theater". That means that we will have 3 additional movies on the Industrious Family Theater later this Fall! Opening this opportunity to other moviemakers has allowed us to release movies frequently on our family streaming service. This of course, also brings you a wide variety of films to enjoy all in one place!

Another thing that is working can be seen in the fact that we already have a surprising amount of subscribers so our price must be set well. Getting a new member everyday feels really good after the static app results.

You can become one of our new subscribers by signing up here.

Sep 03, 2024

Experience The Heartbreaking Mexican Tragedy Of Max & Carlota On Industrious Family Theater

Max & Carlota is based on the true story about the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire in 1864.

Maximilian (Michael Bowen) von Hapsburg's idealistic world sees its dawn when he is asked by France to establish a monarchy in Mexico.

His wife, Carlota (Faustina Bowen) encourages him to take the throne and free Mexico from both debt and tyranny.

After support from France is withdrawn and the liberal president is on the rise, Max and Carlota must fight separate battles to save their adopted land.

After pouring out the last of their strengths, the 19th century forgotten hero and heroine fall to their complete destruction only to be brought back to life all these years later by Anne Carroll and Industrious Family Films.

This short film and many other films of historic interest are now available to stream on Industrious Family Theater. Subscribe now at $0.99 a month to enjoy 20 independent Catholic films!

Sep 03, 2024

Enjoy Our New Family Streaming Service For Less Than A Dollar A Month

How are you enjoying our new membership site?

Something that I, Mary, learned while working on this site was not to mess with the preprogrammed design. You may have remembered that the day after our launch I tried to edit the log in experience for our fans and accidentally messed up the brains of the site. Faustina and I were really proud of ourselves staying up late one night and not giving in to the desire to hire professional help. We figured out the problem all by ourselves with the help of a few friends to test!

If you have not subscribed to the Industrious Family Theater, you really should check it out! There are 20 independent films and a few more to be released later this Fall. Subscribe today!

Sep 02, 2024

Watch Independent Films From Several Studios On The Theater. Today's Highlighted Fantasy Film: The Tavern

Something that we have been working on here at Industrious Family for some time is Industrious Family Theater, a family streaming service.

We have been pleased to receive films from other studios to make available for you on this streaming service. Several of these films are from director Aidan Jones of Verso L'alto Productions. If his name is familiar to you, it might be because you have seen him on the Fabiola poster!

In one of his short films titled The Tavern, a nobleman’s daughter meets a mysterious stranger while fleeing from her treacherous uncle. This film and Aidan's other films are now available to stream on Industrious Family Theater!

Aug 30, 2024

Guest Appearance on Talk of the Kenai with Host Bob Bird

Listen Here: https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/index.cfm?stationcallsign=KSRM&autoStartApp=on-demand&autoStartPodcast=2546647

Bob Bird invited me on as a guest to his program Talk of the Kenai. I had such a great time talking with him and really was honored to be invited onto his show. He was interesting and it was a lot of fun. He was so personable that I forgot to feel nervous.

We chatted about heroes like Pelayo, El Cid, and St. Genesius.

I got a chance to talk about our upcoming film Fabiola and the timeliness of the story.

We also discussed Industrious Family Theater, our new family steaming service and all the future of small production companies like ours.

Aug 30, 2024

Catholic Families In France Are Courageously Fighting For God And Christ The King And We Are Edified By Their Contributions To Cinema

I've enjoyed meeting some of the French actors in our acting class. I'm so impressed that they can act even while struggling to speak English. One of these young actresses' father is webmaster for the Archdiocese of Marseille in France. He is doing the technical work of dubbing the scene from Fabiola into French.

While I was on the Talk of the Kenai, Bob Bird asked if there is a remnant in France? He obviously knows that there is but after the disgraceful opening ceremony at the Olympics, the poor remnant in France needs some positive press.

We are happy to know quite a few good Catholics in France that are keeping the faith and making authentically Catholic movies. Besides the Flandin family who is helping us dub our scene into French, the Soodts family is really doing great things with books and films that tell true French history.

And if you haven't heard, we've done a little dubbing ourselves. Check it out:

Aug 30, 2024

Industrious Family Presents A Tea Time With Teen Day Virtual Tea Party at Yurtopia Tea Rendezvous in Tea Party Town

Isn't that a beautiful image? I want to go hang out there. The mountains, the cozy yurt, the lovely tea service laid out on an outdoor table. I just want to sit in those comfy chairs and dream the afternoon away in peace and tranquility under those western skies. Would you like to come too? Great, you too can enjoy your own tea party tomorrow while listening to Tea Time with Teen Day, hosted by yours truly. We'll be coming to you from Yurtopia Tea Rendezvous in Tea Party Town, Pacific Time 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This virtual tea party is an ongoing collaboration between Dan Pettegrew at KJBM, Los Angeles and Industriousfamily.com. We both want to encourage slow childhoods and traditional American values. KJBM provides beautiful music, a perfect genre of music for tea parties, and industriousfamily.com provides the how to guides on throwing the perfect tea parties for boys and girls. Enjoy a tea party with your children this weekend in your own home while listening to our special broadcast.

Click the listen now on our tea party page!

Aug 29, 2024

Overcoming Funding Hurdles: Preparing for Our Next Big Round

Hello, it's Faustina this afternoon.

I have been working for some time on setting up a fundraising campaign through a prominent Catholic website for the crowdfunding part of the main FABIOLA movie. Unfortunately, we have been flagged by the payment processor (not affiliated with the Catholic fundraising site). I had a planned trip and had to drop the ball while I was away for a long weekend.

And so now, Mary has been working through clarifying what our site does and trying to get approved for payment. Apparently, our account has been flagged because the payment processor has a problem with crowdfunding. We have been encouraged by the fundraising site, however, to persevere and get this to work.

We know that there is a way around the problem as several other films are raising funds on the same site, but for some reason, we are not being allowed to go through. What do we do? That is still a question we are working through. If worst comes to worst, we can continue to crowdsource here on our own site as we did with the scene soon to be released from FABIOLA.

We were able to successfully raise $13,000 just by promoting it ourselves and directing you fantastic people to our FABIOLA page. With this other fundraising site, we were hoping to be able to reach a wider audience, but we know from past experience that it is possible to raise funds ourselves.

So thank you. Thank you for giving us this confidence that we can work through this and reach our funding goals. We are going to continue to try to get our account to work on the fundraising site, but always have our fall-back plan. Please pray that this account does work because if it does, we will be able to reach more people which means that we will be able to raise the funds faster to get to production faster and release FABIOLA sooner!

Aug 29, 2024

Celebrate Remarkable Hidden Heroes with Us On The Theater

"I was SO VERY impressed with your latest production: Pelayo. I have been watching your progress and am quite stunned with the astounding improvement covered in each area--screenplay, story line, acting, audio etc.... Keep up the amazing work!"-Bethy V.

In the year 722 A.D. Spain is suffering a Muslim conquest. These Moors come from Africa to set up a paradise on earth and the favorable climate of Spain is where they choose to build it.

But Pelayo and his small band of 300 men will do everything possible to win an impossible victory and save their Christian culture.

Watch Pelayo now on Industrious Family Theater!

Aug 29, 2024

Experience The Generous Heart Of Hungary’s Favorite Princess In The Film, Our Mother Elizabeth

There’s more to enjoy on Industrious Family Theater than just Industrious Family originals! Let the Petrezzi family capture your heart with their impressive set locations and moving storytelling ability in their film about St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Enjoy their films and others on Industrious Family Theater.

Aug 28, 2024

From the Bottom of Our Hearts: Thank You for Your Unwavering Support

Hello, it's Mary. If you subscribed to the Theater you may have noticed that there is a small issue on the log-in side. I apologize, I was flagged for acting like a computer on Monday night and for your protection the web host has temporarily put the log-in function on pause. I have reached out to them to inform them that it was me and I have asked them to release the pages. As always, we appreciate all the support that we have gotten in this new undertaking as with everything that we undertake! It seems like all of our fans are so encouraging and enthusiastic for our new ideas, and ventures. This membership streaming site is a project that we have been working on for a while and we are excited to make it into a reality! We would not be able to do what we love doing if it was not for the occasional pat on the back that we get from our fans.

Thank you!~Mary, Director

Aug 28, 2024

Don't Miss Out: Bob Bird Interviews Kathleen About FABIOLA Today!

We had to take a little summer break from writing for LifeSite but we are back at it with two articles published this week already! After we published one about forest fires, Kathleen was invited to talk about our newest movie project, Fabiola, on Bob Bird’s podcast. The podcast airs at 4:30 pm PT if you would like to tune in while they are live. If you can’t make it, you can also listen to the replay.

Kathleen's second article that was published was about how homeschooling your children is one of the most rewarding tasks your family can undertake. You can read the full article here.

Aug 27, 2024

Learning To Not Sweat The Small Stuff

This is Kathleen.

Well today I was in a rush…and I made a mistake on the website. Mary who also was in a hurry fixed it for me. In an effort to fix my mistake she made an even bigger mistake.

We’ve spent most of the morning and early afternoon quite upset. But we are learning not to cry over spilled milk and I’m posting this as what I am learning.

Further up and further in!

Aug 26, 2024

Stream Catholic Entertainment On Industrious Family Theater Now!

It's here!!! Stream Catholic entertainment on Industrious Family Theater now!

We have been working on compiling independent films from several Catholic studios. And now it's ready for release! At $0.99 a month, stream twenty films spanning across the genres with saint short films, Catholic feature films, and comedy shorts.

Industrious Family Theater brings Catholic films to families who want to view independent films that do not contradict Catholic teaching and morals. There are several independent Catholic filmmaking studios and Industrious Family Theater provides all of these films in one place for families to enjoy!

Discover these films when you subscribe to Industrious Family Theater now!

Aug 26, 2024

It's Here! We Have Officially Launched The Industrious Family Theater

Happy Monday! It's Mary. We had a loaded week last week with several projects that included dubbing a scene, brainstorming virtual tea party ideas, and ironing out the kinks in the streaming site.

We had a lot of fun dubbing a scene from a movie that our French friends, the Soodts, made. It was good for us to implement what we have been learning in our acting classes. We had to pay a lot of attention to how the original actor used inflections in his speech so we could make it as natural as possible. We released this scene today so make sure that you are subscribed to our YouTube channel.

We have also been brainstorming a way to bring virtual tea parties to life. We are still working out the details but I think that we will produce animated episodes featuring us as cartoon characters where we host a different themed tea part each time. Exciting times ahead in this area!

Finally, I figured out the log-in aspect of the membership site. Since I got it running around 3:00 pm on Saturday, we decided to officially launch today! Now you can stream authentically Catholic full-length movies, short films, and more all in one place! Our family streaming service currently features over 15 films with a safe streaming experience only for $.99 a month!

Check out our new family streaming site here!

Aug 23, 2024

Fabiola Proudly Sponsors Catholic Women's Conference!

We are very excited to be sponsoring the Restore Tradition Women's Conference this weekend in Littleton, Colorado. At this conference, several Catholic speakers, including Traditional Catholic ladies and Catholic priests, will be talking about the importance of authentic femininity especially through this present troubling time. FABIOLA Film will be represented through this sponsorship and we are happy to be supporting the event!

Aug 22, 2024

Ready To Stream On Industrious Family Theater: Beyond Skin Deep: Grisly Grisell's Inspiring Cinderella Story

"My young family and myself all very much enjoyed Grisly Grisell. The plot themes of steadfast love, true beauty of the heart, and the motivations of sinister characters brought out a deep inquisitiveness in my children. So pleased to enjoy a wholesome story!" -Kathleen M. after Grisly Grisell's premiere.

During the Wars of the Roses, the Red Rose's Copeland family enters a marriage contract between their brash son, Leonard, and the White Rose's Dacre girl, Grisell, beginning a microcosm of the English Civil War.

After a horrific accident in which Grisell is wounded at the hand of Leonard, she is left so disfigured that she is no longer marriageable thereby ending the betrothal.

Grisly Grisell teaches us that beauty indeed is more than skin deep as Grisell's virtues shine through and transform her disfigured countenance which in the end wins the heart of the most unexpected hero who undergoes a transformation of his own.

This film will be ready to stream on Industrious Family Theater on its release this Saturday, August 24th! Stay tuned and subscribe as soon as it's released in two days to see this film and several other independent Catholic films!

Aug 22, 2024

We Are Jumping Through The Last Hoops On The Membership Site

Hello, this is Mary. On Thursday we discuss business things that are not working and we make a plan of attack. Currently we have two things that are failing and need work.

The most pressing is getting a plugin installed on our membership site before Saturday! This is an issue that we have taken to both the web host and to the plugin programmer. We are chatting with friends in-between and the plot thickens. We need to install a code plugin that will allow our fans to support the site by paying a small monthly subscription which allows them to log-on to the whole site. I think that I may be getting somewhere but we have been telling ourselves that for almost 2 weeks. I hope to get it working by today or tomorrow. If I can't figure it out in time, I may implement a "honky-tonk" version just in case so we can proceed with the launch on Saturday as intended.

Another thing that is failing for us is setting up our next round of funding. We decided to widen our reach and expand our fan base, we would set up a campaign with a highly trusted Catholic fundraising platform. While the campaign is easy to set up, our funds receiving account said that we were an unsupported business so after being flagged then cancelled we are looking for other ways to crowdsource. The fundraising campaign staff encouraged us to try again but our second attempt also met with failure. We hope that all the kinks are ironed out before the Fabiola Scene Release which will be on October 7th. We may just move on without using the Catholic platform and continue to use the system we have used in the past.

We are only $74 away from meeting our Pilot funding goal. If you would like to help us reach the finish line, you can contribute here...

This final push covers the extras pay and music. So even a stretch goal would be really wonderful as we are a couple hundred dollars short.

Aug 21, 2024

Discover Catholic Values Through Entertainment: Industrious Family Theater’s Vision

Industrious Family Theater will bring Catholic films to families who want to view independent films that do not contradict Catholic teaching and morals. These kinds of films can be hard to find, which is why we are reaching out to all of our Catholic filmmaking friends to make it easy for you to find independent Catholic entertainment all in one place: Industrious Family Theater!

Ready to release as soon as the site is launched are films from the Petrizzi family who seem to excel in telling short saint stories through film.

Verso L'alto creates films that explore the obscure with films spanning from futuristic ice ages to the spirit of Christmas, as well as a few historic and fantasy shorts!

And of course, you will be able to enjoy all Industrious Family Films shorts and feature length films on this site as well!

Aug 21, 2024

Fabiola: An Inspiring And Entertaining Tale

Kathleen here to tell you a little insider information on the Fabiola script development.

The script for Fabiola was a labor of love. Many people in the family read the novel by Cardinal Wisemen. We agreed that is would make a good movie. Maybe even a great movie. The plot twists and Cardinal Wisemen's ability to expose human nature in such a thrilling and intimate way made for an amazing story.

The problem was the length of the novel as well as the very descriptive passages of the locality. We originally wrote the script as a miniseries. Then we studied a bit more on how to write a script. We thought it best to scrap the working script and write a new one without picking up the novel.

We wrote this script from memory after doing some work on character wheels and other creative tools that we'd discovered from places like Studio Binder, Screen Craft and Final Draft. And that script was good. We really got to know our characters well too and hone in on the most important parts of the story.

Then came the read through. We read through it individually making edits, then we read it aloud as a family twice. We agreed that would not take any outside feedback except from Fr. Moylan, Fabiola's chaplain.

We got Fr. Moylan's comments back and we may adjust one scene. He found no theological errors but did offer his opinion as a filmmaker and storyteller.

This was good for us. In the past we've relied too heavily on a novel then on other peoples' opinions. I believe the adage, "Too many cooks spoil the broth" applies to scriptwriting. Fabiola has a strong script and is going to be a movie that you are going to love immersing yourself in. I can't wait to show it to you! It will be entertaining and inspiring.

Aug 20, 2024

Tuesday August 20th: The Real Value of True Worship Explored in Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Industrious Family Films first film was Outlaws of Ravenhurst released in 2018.

In colonial America, George Abell is happily living the simple life of a farmer’s son. His estranged uncle, Sir Roger, whisks him off to Scotland and attempts to force him to be the much longed for Protestant Earl of Ravenhurst. Matters get desperate when Sir Roger and his sly comrade, Godfrey, cannot change the Gordon’s Faith.

Filled with heroes, sword fights, castles and secret passages, this story tells of the heroic stand of a ten-year- boy and his outlawed clan of Ravenhurst.

Based on the beloved novel by Sr. M. Imelda Wallace, Outlaws of Ravenhurst takes place in 1641 in the wake of the bloody Protestant Revolt when Catholics in Scotland were denied the right to true worship of God.

It reminds us of our past and encourages us to hope in the future, come what may.

This film will be ready to stream on Industrious Family Theater on its release this Saturday, August 24th! Stay tuned and subscribe as soon as it's released to see this film and several other independent Catholic films!

Aug 20, 2024

Exciting Times Ahead: Adding Animation To Our Moviemaking Toolbox

Hello, Tuesday. It's Faustina.

Not too long ago, my younger sister Adelaide expressed interest in learning 3D animation. As we are always trying to find new and exciting ways to expand, we were happy to help her get the ball rolling on learning this new skill. Through the suggestion of a new friend, we downloaded Blender which is an animation software.

Adelaide, along with Becket and Declan, have enjoyed playing around with all the tools, having already colored a pre-drawn monkey and drawn her own donut. It's still a little rough with many things to learn, including how to make not just a picture but a video, but the three students are plugging along and maybe you can look forward to a short animated video in the not too distant future!

Further up and further in!

Aug 19, 2024

Coming Soon To Stream Online…

We’ve been talking for some time about our new Catholic digital streaming service, Industrious Family Theater. But now I have a special announcement to make: Industrious Family Theater is set to launch this Saturday, August 24th!

At $0.99 a month, you can enjoy 16 Catholic films as soon as Industrious Family Theater launches made by independent filmmakers. And…we have 8 more films coming soon!

Aug 19, 2024

New Friends In France! The Soodts Family Teams Up With The Bowen Family By Praying For God's Blessing On One Another's Movie Projects.

We have recently been introduced to the Soodts family who makes movies in France. Despite them being in a foreign language, we really enjoyed watching their films! The father makes the funniest faces and the comedic element comes through the whole film. We laughed heartily every time a character said, "Oh lala!"

Right now, our two families are supporting each other through prayer as we pray for the success of the other's filmmaking efforts.

And we have a surprise in store for you so stay tuned! A Soodts family film will be released in English on The Industrious Family Theater! We are only $150 away from launching this independent Catholic movie streaming platform. You can help us cross the finish line, by donating $150 here.

Aug 16, 2024

Getting Coaching From A Director

Are you still on the fence about joining us for our acting classes? A unique approach to this acting class is that unlike typical acting classes this training is provided by a director and not an actor. That means that it is taught more from the point of view of what a director and a production team need from the actor.

And many things are put into consideration for an actor who is in close contact with a director as many tips are given to lessen distractions with the production’s camera, light and sound operators.

And in many cases, at casting interviews, all other actors' skills being equal, sometimes it may come down to which actor is most able to work in harmony with the director and crew. So this is your chance to get trained by a film director who will enable you with the skills needed to stand above other stars!

Join us now by filling out our contact us form and we will put you in contact with Mr. Daniel Rabourdin.