The Authorized documentary has been out for a few months now, and lots more people than I ever expected have seen it.
But I’m hearing that a number of friends, even close ones, haven’t seen it yet.
Hey, it’s okay. I normally don’t watch documentaries with redheaded presenters either.
But apparently hair-color discrimination is not the reason otherwise interested parties are staying away. I’m hearing that they just don’t want to go to the trouble of signing up for the 14-day free trial. They bail when they see a credit card form.
Let me tell you why you should unbail. It really is pretty simple. Just two reasons:
- If you read this blog on purpose, you will like the Authorized documentary. I’m not saying the film is any good; I’m saying that if you like By Faith We Understand, you can’t not like the same thing documentarized. If you like stuff like this; that’s on you. But remember: there are jokes in it. It’s equal parts info- and -tainment. I keep getting notes from people who have gone to the trouble of signing up who say (this is a direct quote): “I expected to see interviews and hear supporting arguments discussed in an intellectual, logical manner. What I didn’t expect was all the humor and creative pieces that were used that made the video very interesting, entertaining, and engaging.”
- There really is a lot of great stuff on Faithlife TV. My family loves Torchlighters, the kids’ cartoon series from Voice of the Martyrs. It’s really special. We’ve also enjoyed a series of Christian nature shows, the excellent and informative Fragments of Truth documentary, Josh Harris’ recent “I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye” documentary (which I 98% recommend—just one interviewee weirded me out), Bible Agent 7, and all those old releases from Unusual Films I forgot I hadn’t seen in so many years. My kids also beg me to show the Bible Project videos for family devotions, and those are on FaithlifeTV, too. It’s not Netflix, okay? But there really are some gems, particularly if you, like me, are always in search of something that will entertain and edify at the same time.
I have some reason to believe that my film is doing good for the body of Christ, and I’d love to hear what you thought about it—and not just praise. I want to do more of this kind of thing, and I’m more than open to critique, especially from friends and readers.
I don’t think it’s so much the credit card, as it is a larger issue developing in the content industry. I’ve seen a lot of media chatter recently about the concerns the proliferation of streaming services and the rising overhead to the consumer. With all the media giants (CBS, Disney, Apple, etc.) getting into the fray, consumers are getting frustrated at having to manage multiple subscriptions. Ironically, we may see bundling similar to the cable industry, which is what the “streaming revolution” was supposed to rescue us from.
Personally, other than Prime, I only subscribe to Boomerang so I can share my childhood memories of cartoons with the kids on Saturday mornings. However, given that I have enough other subscriptions, particularly in the software world, having to subscribe to one more even temporarily is just extra work. I’m pretty sure I’ll take you up on the trial at some point, but in the meantime adding the two extra steps of subscribing and canceling is just creating a mental barrier that pulling up the video on YouTube would not.
I guess my point is that you shouldn’t take in personally. You’re just the victim of larger industry forces. 🙂
Very helpful.