Produced by Faith: Enjoy Real Success Without Losing Your True Self

Provides a business model for building a thriving career without compromising one's faith and offers examples from Franklin's career as a vice president of production for Columbia Pictures.

Auteur

DeVon Franklin is an award­-winning film & TV producer, bestselling author, renowned preacher, and spiritual success coach. DeVon is the ultimate multi-hyphenate. With a commitment to uplifting the masses through entertainment, Franklin has quickly become a force in the media as well as a leading authority on faith, spiritual wellness, and personal development. Beliefnet has called him one of the "Most Influential Christians Under 40," Variety named him one of the "Top 10 Producers to Watch," Ebony has distinguished him as one of the "Top 100 Influential African Americans in America," and even Oprah has called him "a bonafide dynamo...a different kind of spiritual teacher for our times." Franklin serves as President/CEO of Franklin Entertainment, a dynamic multimedia entertainment company with a first-look film deal at 20th Century Fox. As a filmmaker, Franklin is producing the inspirational true story Breakthrough starring Chrissy Metz in theaters Easter of 2020. Additionally, he produced the hit animated film The Star and the hit film Miracles from Heaven. Along with his work as a producer, Franklin is the author of The Truth About Men, as well as The Hollywood Commandments, New York Times bestseller The Wait (cowritten with his wife, award-winning actress Meagan Good), and Produced by Faith. Live Free is his most recent book.

Texte du rabat

"Straight from Hollywood comes a dynamic business model for building a thriving career without compromising your faith. DeVon Franklin, vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, shares how being bold about his Christian faith while being driven and ambitious has actually worked in his favor to help him excel in a high-profile, fast-paced, competitive industry"--P. [4] of cover.

Résumé
Hollywood executive DeVon Franklin shows readers how to live and work their faith from nine to five, not just after quitting time.

Straight from Hollywood comes a dynamic business model for building a thriving career without compromising your faith. DeVon Franklin, vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, shares how being bold about his Christian faith while being driven and ambitious has actually worked in his favor to help him excel in a high-profile, fast-paced, competitive industry.

You are the movie. Produced by Faith parallels each step of the Hollywood film making process with the faith-making process God uses to turn your career into a success. You will discover that it is possible to be both wildly successful and completely committed to God—and that you will be even more successful when you place your faith at the center of your career. You can unleash the power of your faith as your greatest professional advantage and use the compass of God’s Word to guide you to your true passion and purpose in life. In this informative, inspiring book, DeVon reveals the secrets to maintaining your faith while advancing in your career. Here he shows you:

• How to discover The Big Idea for your life

• How to take your career to the next level

• How to recognize the signs God sends you that indicate when it’s time to movein a new direction

• How to stand firm on your Christian principles without compromise

• How to work with people who don’t understand your beliefs

• How to choose a profession, industry, or company that is in tune with your purpose

  DeVon says, “I know from my own experiences that if you will put your career in God’s hands and trust Him, you can’t account for all the ways He will bless you. When you step out in faith, He will open doors and bring you opportunities that will surpass even your wildest expectations....If I have learned anything, it’s this: To get where you want to go, you’ve first got to become the person God wants you to be.”

Échantillon de lecture

PREFACE

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
—Proverbs 3:5–6 NKJV

I was deep in the heart of Beijing, People’s Republic of China, in the summer of 2009. For the first time in my career, I was the lead studio executive on a feature film—the remake of The Karate Kid, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, son of actor Will Smith.

It’s important to understand that Beijing—the ancient capital of China—is huge. The urban area alone contains about 13 million residents; that’s four cities of Los Angeles. Beijing is also complex on a Byzantine scale, and with the producers, entire crew, and cast there, we had ventured far into some of the oldest parts of the city, into ancient neighborhoods called hutongs where the living style was more communal and we could find the character and feel we were looking for.

Getting cast, crew, and equipment there was a major undertaking, the shots were taking a long, long time to set up and complete, and as I stood there, we were running out of daylight.

Sunset is usually panic time for a film crew. Unless you’re shooting night scenes, you try to work in every last shot you can, using reflectors to capture every last bit of natural light. The crew was working as quickly as they could to maximize what was a very expensive day of production. But I had other concerns. I glanced at my watch, shot a look at the disappearing sun, and knew that even though I was the sole representative for Columbia Pictures on set, I had to leave.

I had no choice. That is, I didn’t give myself a choice.

Fortunately, the producers knew that I would be making my way back to the hotel. It wasn’t a surprise to anybody. I pulled one of the production assistants aside, told him I would be catching a taxi, left the production in the capable hands of the producers and director, and disappeared into the streets of Beijing. It was an act that might have been ridiculed if I hadn’t set a precedent years before and remained committed to it. Leaving set on the first movie you’re running—shooting halfway around the world—isn’t advisable if you want a long prosperous career in Hollywood.

But I didn’t lose my job.

In fact, my departure didn’t make a ripple in the day’s shoot. I was able to attend to something infinitely more important: keeping a promise to God that I made many years before.

I was born thirty-two years ago and raised as a Seventh-day Adventist. Among other things, that means I celebrate the Sabbath. So from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, I unplug from my hectic life as a Columbia film executive. No work. I don’t check e-mail or roll calls. I break the fourth commandment of the movie business—Thou shalt never turn off thy BlackBerry—and turn off my BlackBerry.

The Sabbath is my time with the Lord, my time to unwind from the pressures of work, heal, and reflect on the many blessings in my life and the career path that has led me here. On Friday nights I study my Bible, pray, spend quiet hours in communion with God, and make plans with family for church and fellowship on Saturday.

Unless I happen to be in Beijing. In that case, I’ll read Scripture, watch the incredible metropolis slowly come to life, and pray that the dailies look good. Normally I would go to church, but in China most of the Christian churches are underground and I had no idea how to go about finding them. So I settled for reading the Bible and spending time in private communion with God—my own personal church in the midst of one of …