Preparing the Next Generation of Christian Filmmakers for Hollywood’s Uncertain Future

Dean Tom Halleen of Biola University’s Snyder School of Cinema and Media Arts is thrilled about the future of Christian filmmaking, the inbound trainees, and all that the school needs to provide them in preparing them for the future of Christian filmmaking. The school is ranked within the leading 25 Universities for Media Arts, and it’s the only Christian university on that list. The 75 million dollar training center is the most technically advanced of its kind in academic community. He happily accepted an interview with Crosswalk.

Trainees Learn the Aspect of Filmmaking to Which God Has Called Them

When trainees initially enter Snyder School of Cinema and Media Arts, they start checking out.

“We keep it broad in the start,” stated Halleen, describing that in some cases trainees do not understand what their particular enthusiasm is relating to filmmaking or other elements of media arts. They might not even recognize all the possibilities offered to them.

“So we get the delight of seeing trainees can be found in wide-eyed, believing that the world is almost directing function movies. We get to reveal within them how God made them, and open them approximately all the chances within media where they can reveal their imagination in such a way that lines up with how they were produced.”

Filmmaking is a kind of storytelling, and Halleen kept in mind that Jesus was a writer.

“He informed stories to obtain understanding and feeling so that the audience, or listener, can comprehend fact, which, at its core, we were taught by the Creator. And this is simply an expression from His example. He didn’t have media, however he had stories.”

Halleen mentioned that today, “We have the capability to reach the world through all these various screens, and what should we finish with that? Inform stories!”

Church and Hollywood Must Learn to Understand One Another

Halleen struck on the value of the church and Hollywood finding out to comprehend one another. The church desires stories that appreciate the faith of followers and God’s Word, not stories that tease it or denigrate it. At the exact same time, Hollywood desires individuals who are trained with quality in their craft.

Not just is Snyder School of Cinema and Media Arts able to offer training to its trainees that makes them exceptional in their craft, “however we likewise train the more crucial, which is being outstanding in your character,” he stated, including that “even the market employers desire individuals of terrific character. When asked what that is, they begin explaining what we understand as the fruit of the Spirit: compassion, goodness, loyalty, gentleness, self-discipline.”

Halleen stated the school is developed to “boost the faith of Christian trainees, not deconstruct it. Your faith is your trump card! It’s your benefit! It’s your strength, not your weak point! Do not let anybody inform you can’t make it in Hollywood if you are a Christian. They do not understand what they’re discussing. It does not suggest it’s simple; life is hard.”

He included that there will be difficulties to an individual’s faith no matter what market they might pick for their occupation, however when Christians live out their faith, “it debunks Christianity to those around us.”

“Excellence in craft and quality in character. This is what the market thinks about to be professionalism. It’s not one without the other; it’s both,” he stated.

Establishing the Next Generation of Christian Filmmakers in their Craft, Character

Among the factors that Halleen stated he chose to leave the market and concentrate on being the school’s starting dean was due to the fact that he acknowledged the significance of assisting the next generation of filmmakers to have quality in craft and character.”

At the very same time, he likewise wishes to motivate them with the awareness that “there are countless Christians in the market living out their faith,” and some are even “in significant positions throughout the market.”

Halleen described being associated with Christian filmmaking and other media arts as a calling, and kept in mind the value of the church concerning being helpful of those who have actually been called into it.

“The church as the household of God requires to be helpful, and yet that has actually been a battle, even now, due to the fact that there are lots of that do not support Christians in this service. That’s hard due to the fact that when you’re contacted us to do something and somebody states ‘you should not exist,’ however you recognize, ‘Yes, I’m contacted us to do this,’ it can be aggravating. What I actually desire the church and Christians to comprehend is that, rather of pointing the finger, they require to extend a hand to each other and state, ‘We are in this together, and we’re going to be hoping for you, we’re going to be supporting you due to the fact that we understand the media impacts culture.’ It’s the most effective kind of interaction in the world. Do not we wish to support Christians who are called into this?”

What the School Offers Students

The school assists trainees to recognize why they’re called, the qualities God has actually positioned within them, and how to focus their enthusiasms for the market through a Biblical perspective.

Over 1000 graduates from the program are embedded in the market. It’s the fastest-growing undergraduate program in all of Biola University. The Cinema and Media Arts majors are the 2nd biggest undergraduate majors in the entire school, 2nd just to company administration.

The 45,000 square foot studio center homes all elements of the production cycle from ideation to preproduction, production, post-production, all the method through to an Adobe Ethos licensed theater.

There’s a 10,000 square foot production center, and the 4000 square foot devices space has simply over 4 million dollars worth of field devices that trainees can take a look at for their usage.

In addition, there are likewise 3 sound phases, 16 edit suites, numerous audio suites, a Foley and scoring phase, color correction laboratories, and more.

“The focus is to make the trainees the most capable in the space when they make an application for work, and supply them with experience on industry-standard devices. We have a 100 percent intern work rate.”

When asked where a few of them were positioned, he stated, “The Jim Henson Company, The Television Academy, Film Academy, PBS, numerous skill companies, Disney, Sony, DreamWorks, and 20th Century Fox,” to call simply a couple of.

There are 500 trainee tasks that come out of the school each year, a few of which get sent to movie celebrations and have actually won college awards.

Back in 2025, a number of Biola alumni, in combination with a present trainee, were revealed as the winners of the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Advertisement Contest

The school likewise generates numerous market pros to provide visitor lectures, such as colorist Kostas Theodosiou, who dealt with Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey film.

The school assists trainees get in touch with a neighborhood of similar followers who can verify each other in their arts callings. Trainees get the chance to come along with each other and assist one another as they browse life and specifically the market. While the majority of trainees are fresh out of high school, the school can likewise deal with nontraditional trainees dealing with transitioning from one market to a brand-new market into which they feel God is calling them.

Image credit: © BiolaUniversity

Elizabeth Delaney has actually been an independent material author for over 20 years and has actually taken pleasure in having her prose released in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has actually composed numerous kinds of material, consisting of Christian short articles, healthy way of life, post, service subjects, news short articles, item descriptions, and some fiction. She is likewise a singer-songwriter-musicianWhen she is not hectic with composing or music, she delights in spending quality time with pals or household and doing enjoyable social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, performances, and other activities.

Initially released November 02, 2026.