Candid 2016 with Ted Baehr
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Son of legendary actor Robert "Tex" Allen (1935-1944), Dr. Baehr is a highly influential personality in Hollywood. Dr. Baehr’s organization monitors, rates, approves and awards moral Christian values content in movies. Dr. Ted, as I call him, also teaches script writing. He is often hired by Hollywood to teach its writers and directors how to produce movies that contain these values.
A keynote at this year’s conference, one of the things revealed by Dr. Baehr is that statistics prove movies that contain Christian values are those that hit the top of the charts, as compared to films laden with “R” rated content.
Dr. Baehr noted—People want to see John live at the end. Why? Dr. Baehr, a respected media critic, says people deal with tragedy and despair in everyday life. When they venture to the theater or watch a flick on TV, they want to see hope. It's hope--not rampage, perversion, or popcorn--that people want to identify with.
With that, being said, over dinner in Cairn University's cafeteria, in Langhorne PA, we talked. --------------
Vof1: Donald Trump says he can make America great again. Do you believe America still has a great day yet to be had?
Dr. Baehr: Well I’m not sure if Donald Trump can make America great, but I am sure God can make America great again. God can...God can do anything.
In 1812, a Supreme Court Justice said America was so pagan it will never become a Christian again. The very day that he said that revival broke out on Wall Street. Lincoln, in the middle of the Civil War, said, “The reason all this has happened is because people have forgotten God.” Revival broke out at that time in the Northern and Southern troops, and over a million people came to Christ. It made a whole Christian era at the end of the 1800's.
So I’m convinced.
When the great depression came, we had great preachers like Billy Sunday and others, and revival broke out, just when everybody thought we were lost in the depression. One-third of the population was out of work. So, if God can do that, He can do anything.
A keynote at this year’s conference, one of the things revealed by Dr. Baehr is that statistics prove movies that contain Christian values are those that hit the top of the charts, as compared to films laden with “R” rated content.
Dr. Baehr noted—People want to see John live at the end. Why? Dr. Baehr, a respected media critic, says people deal with tragedy and despair in everyday life. When they venture to the theater or watch a flick on TV, they want to see hope. It's hope--not rampage, perversion, or popcorn--that people want to identify with.
With that, being said, over dinner in Cairn University's cafeteria, in Langhorne PA, we talked. --------------
Vof1: Donald Trump says he can make America great again. Do you believe America still has a great day yet to be had?
Dr. Baehr: Well I’m not sure if Donald Trump can make America great, but I am sure God can make America great again. God can...God can do anything.
In 1812, a Supreme Court Justice said America was so pagan it will never become a Christian again. The very day that he said that revival broke out on Wall Street. Lincoln, in the middle of the Civil War, said, “The reason all this has happened is because people have forgotten God.” Revival broke out at that time in the Northern and Southern troops, and over a million people came to Christ. It made a whole Christian era at the end of the 1800's.
So I’m convinced.
When the great depression came, we had great preachers like Billy Sunday and others, and revival broke out, just when everybody thought we were lost in the depression. One-third of the population was out of work. So, if God can do that, He can do anything.
Vof1: Sometimes movies seem to have a prophetic or predictive element. What do you think the message in movies is right now?
Dr. Baehr: There is a flood. I didn’t expect--
I wanted a movie a week. We have six months left in 2016. We have twenty-six movies that are strong Christian movies. And, they are movies that deal with every area of life. This tells me that the stones are crying out. God is using the stones—hard-hearted people to communicate truth to people who need to hear it.
Many years ago I was sitting in a conference like this with a singer. We saw Chariots of Fire. This was in 1982. He said to me, “Chariots of Fire, there was a line that said, 'God takes pleasure in my running'.”
He continued, “I came to Christ through Campus Crusade. I gave up my opera singing. I went on the road as an evangelist and I was never happy. When I saw that movie, my life changed. God takes pleasure in my singing. He created me to sing like he created Eric (in the movie) to run.
So I went to the Dallas Opera. They accepted me. Within months, I had a bible study. People were coming to Christ. I was more fulfilled as an evangelist gone back to singing, than when I was trying to go town to town to evangelize. Suddenly, I found my passion.” He said, “Who was the Christian behind Chariots of Fire?”
I said, "I know most of the people."
Dodi Fayed was a Muslim. He died with Princess Di years later. The producer was Jewish. The writer was an atheist. The star was a homosexual, who died in the 90's of aids. You know what this proves to me that God can raise up stones. God is in the raising up of stones business. He could raise them up just to get that one person to go back to doing what God has designed him to do, because that’s going to be his most powerful work, to bringing people to Christ.
Vof1: Are you positive about the current and upcoming generation of movie makers?
Dr. Baehr: I’m positive that they can be transformed. Many of them are coming to Christ. Many who are coming to our gala are coming to Christ. There are many Christians who are becoming better movie makers--- learning their craft. Actually realizing that they have to work at it—-not just make a rinky-dink movie. I’m convinced that everything is getting better, but you know wheat always grows up with the chaff.
So this weekend (referring to August 5), we have The Little Prince which is a Christian allegory opening(in the US). Then we got Suicide Squad which is a minus-three dirty movie. Where one of the girls beats people’s heads in with a baseball bat. So the question is, are the kids going to go see Suicide Squad or The Little Prince. If they go see The Little Prince, they go and get values that will build them up. If they go see Suicide Squad, they’ll get values that will destroy them. So, the wheat grows up with the chaff.
Dr. Baehr: There is a flood. I didn’t expect--
I wanted a movie a week. We have six months left in 2016. We have twenty-six movies that are strong Christian movies. And, they are movies that deal with every area of life. This tells me that the stones are crying out. God is using the stones—hard-hearted people to communicate truth to people who need to hear it.
Many years ago I was sitting in a conference like this with a singer. We saw Chariots of Fire. This was in 1982. He said to me, “Chariots of Fire, there was a line that said, 'God takes pleasure in my running'.”
He continued, “I came to Christ through Campus Crusade. I gave up my opera singing. I went on the road as an evangelist and I was never happy. When I saw that movie, my life changed. God takes pleasure in my singing. He created me to sing like he created Eric (in the movie) to run.
So I went to the Dallas Opera. They accepted me. Within months, I had a bible study. People were coming to Christ. I was more fulfilled as an evangelist gone back to singing, than when I was trying to go town to town to evangelize. Suddenly, I found my passion.” He said, “Who was the Christian behind Chariots of Fire?”
I said, "I know most of the people."
Dodi Fayed was a Muslim. He died with Princess Di years later. The producer was Jewish. The writer was an atheist. The star was a homosexual, who died in the 90's of aids. You know what this proves to me that God can raise up stones. God is in the raising up of stones business. He could raise them up just to get that one person to go back to doing what God has designed him to do, because that’s going to be his most powerful work, to bringing people to Christ.
Vof1: Are you positive about the current and upcoming generation of movie makers?
Dr. Baehr: I’m positive that they can be transformed. Many of them are coming to Christ. Many who are coming to our gala are coming to Christ. There are many Christians who are becoming better movie makers--- learning their craft. Actually realizing that they have to work at it—-not just make a rinky-dink movie. I’m convinced that everything is getting better, but you know wheat always grows up with the chaff.
So this weekend (referring to August 5), we have The Little Prince which is a Christian allegory opening(in the US). Then we got Suicide Squad which is a minus-three dirty movie. Where one of the girls beats people’s heads in with a baseball bat. So the question is, are the kids going to go see Suicide Squad or The Little Prince. If they go see The Little Prince, they go and get values that will build them up. If they go see Suicide Squad, they’ll get values that will destroy them. So, the wheat grows up with the chaff.
Vof1: What about low-budget or web-based film circuit, is that a viable or strong voice for cultural transformation?
Dr. Baehr: It’s very, very hard. There are 200 to 250 films released every year. 40% of them are made by the big studios, but they get 98% of the box office. If you take your movie to a theater, you get 10 dollars a ticket. That means, if you get a million people, you got 10 million dollars.
The waterfall of rights goes from the movie theater to Netflix. If you take it your movie to Netflix, which people talk about, you get 16 cents per 1000. So that means, a million people divided by 1000 and you only made 16 dollars, out of your million people. So you can’t afford to survive on Netflix.
I’ll use a bad term--you put yourself in a box or ghetto, and you have lost your edge. So, is it possible? Yes. Right now the viable option is to go into the theater. Just like being a singer. My father was on Broadway for years. And, he also did Summer stock. You get paid for being on Broadway; that’s where you get the money, and you get the audience.
Vof1: Sounds like a storyline—"You get paid for being on Broadway." In life, you've done a lot for Christ and you have had a lot of challenges. What do you do to encourage yourself?
Dr. Baehr: Well I have very specific things. I grew up in New York. I understand Donald Trump—I grew up on the streets of Broadway. When my father was on Broadway, I go into Nathan’s, and they say, “You can’t come in here kid.” Drink a glass of water. You going to buy anything. We’re not going to do business with you here.”
I’d say, the place is empty. What are you talking about? So I got a little of that aggressive attitude.
So every morning I get up and pray for about 45 minutes. I’ll read the Bible for about 45 minutes, and then I write a letter to God—thanking God.
Vof1: Everyday?
Dr. Baehr: Every day—because the joy of the Lord is our strength. The Greek word for thanksgiving is Eucharist. The heart of the Greek word Eucharist is charis (karis), which means gift. When we give thanks, we get a gift. The heart of the word charis is chara, which means joy. We get the gift of joy when giving thanks. So every morning, I got to say thank you God—for Terrence (I’ll do that tomorrow), thank you God for—my class, thank you God for—individual people.
Vof1: Give a word to aspiring filmmakers?
Dr. Baehr: Show yourself approved. Run the race. Train. Do everything Paul said to do. You have to reach for excellence. Excellence is doing everything God asked you to do, in an incredibly powerful way. You know we treat God as a butler. The butler is—I’m leaving home. Can you take care of my wife? Can you fix my car? By the way, can you feed the dog tomorrow morning?
God doesn’t do what we can do. What he has told us to do—to train, to practice. Vocal and chord lessons and everything else (referring to music). What he said, “I’m here to do the impossible. You are there to do the possible. So get with it, do the possible. I’ll be there when you need me to do the impossible.”
Vof1: Take a deep breath. If I was Jesus, who was doing the interviewing, what would you say to him right now?
Dr. Baehr: Very good question –what I would say to Jesus.
I was rotten, low down, pinko rat that you saved from drugs, sex and all those things that people say will make you happy—and never made me happy. Thank you for making me happy.
For more information on Dr Ted Baehr, the Movieguide magazine, The Movieguide Award visit https://www.movieguide.org/ or https://movieguideawards.com/
Dr. Baehr: It’s very, very hard. There are 200 to 250 films released every year. 40% of them are made by the big studios, but they get 98% of the box office. If you take your movie to a theater, you get 10 dollars a ticket. That means, if you get a million people, you got 10 million dollars.
The waterfall of rights goes from the movie theater to Netflix. If you take it your movie to Netflix, which people talk about, you get 16 cents per 1000. So that means, a million people divided by 1000 and you only made 16 dollars, out of your million people. So you can’t afford to survive on Netflix.
I’ll use a bad term--you put yourself in a box or ghetto, and you have lost your edge. So, is it possible? Yes. Right now the viable option is to go into the theater. Just like being a singer. My father was on Broadway for years. And, he also did Summer stock. You get paid for being on Broadway; that’s where you get the money, and you get the audience.
Vof1: Sounds like a storyline—"You get paid for being on Broadway." In life, you've done a lot for Christ and you have had a lot of challenges. What do you do to encourage yourself?
Dr. Baehr: Well I have very specific things. I grew up in New York. I understand Donald Trump—I grew up on the streets of Broadway. When my father was on Broadway, I go into Nathan’s, and they say, “You can’t come in here kid.” Drink a glass of water. You going to buy anything. We’re not going to do business with you here.”
I’d say, the place is empty. What are you talking about? So I got a little of that aggressive attitude.
So every morning I get up and pray for about 45 minutes. I’ll read the Bible for about 45 minutes, and then I write a letter to God—thanking God.
Vof1: Everyday?
Dr. Baehr: Every day—because the joy of the Lord is our strength. The Greek word for thanksgiving is Eucharist. The heart of the Greek word Eucharist is charis (karis), which means gift. When we give thanks, we get a gift. The heart of the word charis is chara, which means joy. We get the gift of joy when giving thanks. So every morning, I got to say thank you God—for Terrence (I’ll do that tomorrow), thank you God for—my class, thank you God for—individual people.
Vof1: Give a word to aspiring filmmakers?
Dr. Baehr: Show yourself approved. Run the race. Train. Do everything Paul said to do. You have to reach for excellence. Excellence is doing everything God asked you to do, in an incredibly powerful way. You know we treat God as a butler. The butler is—I’m leaving home. Can you take care of my wife? Can you fix my car? By the way, can you feed the dog tomorrow morning?
God doesn’t do what we can do. What he has told us to do—to train, to practice. Vocal and chord lessons and everything else (referring to music). What he said, “I’m here to do the impossible. You are there to do the possible. So get with it, do the possible. I’ll be there when you need me to do the impossible.”
Vof1: Take a deep breath. If I was Jesus, who was doing the interviewing, what would you say to him right now?
Dr. Baehr: Very good question –what I would say to Jesus.
I was rotten, low down, pinko rat that you saved from drugs, sex and all those things that people say will make you happy—and never made me happy. Thank you for making me happy.
For more information on Dr Ted Baehr, the Movieguide magazine, The Movieguide Award visit https://www.movieguide.org/ or https://movieguideawards.com/