Last week, we kicked off Year 2 of Plumb News with a look at what comes next for independent filmmakers. Now, I want to talk about something that could help us get there: each other.

Across the industry, production companies are making films for different audiences and with different ambitions. Some tell family stories. Others make thrillers, documentaries, or films designed for churches. They may not share a genre or a business model, but many face the same challenge: how to turn the work they've already created into something sustainable.

That's where we see an opportunity for Plumb News. We want to help bring Kingdom-minded filmmakers and production companies together, each with their own stories to tell and audiences to reach. No one needs to change what they're making or give up what they've built. The goal is to help each other grow and make the work more sustainable.

And there's a timely example of what that can look like.

The Kendrick Brothers, whom I've known since childhood, are revisiting their very first feature, Flywheel. Only this time, they're helping a team of Brazilian filmmakers bring the story to life for a new generation.

It's a remarkable collaboration, and one that feels especially fitting as we consider what we might build together.

— Ian Max Eyre, Editor-in-Chief

Jay Austin is a used-car salesman who will say almost anything to close a deal, even as his dishonesty damages his marriage and faith. Made by a Georgia church with roughly $20,000 and a largely volunteer crew, Flywheel became the Kendrick Brothers' first feature. The production was anything but smooth, with the film's first complete rendering finished just hours before its premiere. It's a fascinating look at where one of faith-based cinema's most recognizable filmmaking teams got its start.

WHERE TO WATCH →

More than two decades later, Flywheel is getting a Brazilian makeover. Set in Rio de Janeiro, the remake follows Noah Silva, a charming but dishonest car salesman whose choices threaten his business and family. Directed by Alessandro Barros under the Kendrick Brothers' guidance, the film was shot in Portuguese with a Brazilian cast and dubbed into English for U.S. audiences. It arrives in American theaters October 16, offering a fresh cultural perspective on a familiar story.

WHERE TO WATCH →

I went to Vacation Bible School in Georgia with Alex and Stephen Kendrick. Their church was just a quarter-mile from my mom’s house. I remember the day my mom brought home a DVD of Flywheel. I was living in Hollywood then, and had lost touch with the Kendricks, but they were inspirational. Years later, they’d become two of the most recognizable names in faith-based filmmaking, with hits like Facing the Giants, War Room, and The Forge.

Their latest project, however, took them somewhere unexpected.

After The Forge became a hit in Brazil, the brothers were invited to help train 65 aspiring Christian filmmakers there. That experience eventually opened the door to a Portuguese-language remake of their very first movie, Flywheel.

There was just one problem. They had no idea how they’d pull it off. They didn’t speak Portuguese or know the local filmmaking landscape.

“I was thinking this was just a good idea, not necessarily a God idea,” Stephen told Baptist Press.

After a prayer retreat, the brothers decided to move forward. And according to Stephen, help began arriving in ways they couldn’t have arranged themselves.

Sony agreed to finance the film, while a local car dealer offered his lot as a filming location. Brazilian churches also pitched in, helping recruit talent and organize production support.

And the Kendricks hope it won’t end there. In a recent interview, Alex discussed how the experience could help shape the future of faith-based filmmaking, with Brazilian talent playing a much bigger role in bringing these stories to the screen.

It’s a fitting development for brothers who got their start making movies through their own church. Now they’re helping another community discover what it can accomplish with the people and resources already in its corner.

The results are in! 50% of you voted for “Better timing” in last week’s poll: What usually gives something a second life?

When the Kendrick Brothers released Flywheel in 2003, they had one theater in Albany, Georgia, and a movie made for about $20,000. What began as a single-weekend engagement stretched into six weeks. Then came the DVDs, with the first 1,000 copies selling out in a day.

The film’s unlikely success offers a useful lesson through the P.R.O.V.E. Method™:

The takeaway is that you don't need to have every opportunity lined up before putting your film into the world. The Kendricks started with one theater and a community willing to support them. They made the most of what was available, and that gave them a chance to pursue opportunities they hadn't originally planned for.

_{*Plumb News is not affiliated with the Kendrick Brothers and does not receive compensation for featuring their work. We’re just highlighting them because we believe projects like theirs deserve support.}

“So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” – Nehemiah 4:6 (ESV)

When Nehemiah led the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, the work was divided among families, priests, merchants, and neighbors. Each took responsibility for a different section, bringing their own abilities and resources to the task.

What stands out in this verse is that the wall wasn’t finished, but it was already connected. The people had accomplished something together that none could have completed alone.

There’s a lesson here for those of us working in faith and entertainment. God gives us different gifts, responsibilities, and opportunities to serve. We may spend most of our time tending to the work right in front of us, without seeing everything happening beyond it.

But our responsibility isn’t to build the entire wall. It’s to be faithful with the section entrusted to us, while recognizing that others have been called to build alongside us.

Until next time,

THE PLUMB NEWS TEAM