Meet the Mormons - Charity or Profit?

[lagarthaaz]

And again...the ONLY proceeds that were to be donated were those from the box office tickets.   Also I don't think there was any agreement that ALL profit would be donated.  Only the profit that the Church made.

 

And of course theaters are going to make some kind of profit off of showing it.  That's what they are in business for.  Unless you are suggesting that the church should have paid the theaters to show the movies.  Which would cover all of their overhead.  Then what kind of proceeds to charity would there be left.  Not much.

 

And I already said it's great that the box office proceeds were donated to the Red Cross. 

 

What do you know about any 'agreement' the church made with regard to what happens to ALL profit? I haven't found it online, perhaps you can enlighten me.

 

Theaters would have expected to make a profit from showing the film - they surely wouldn't bother showing a religious film unless there was something in it for them.

 

I had no intention of going to see the documentary until my local leadership 'encouraged' us all to do so. I was ok with paying to see a church produced film in a commercial theater because everything I read pointed to the fact that any profits would go to the Red Cross.

 

Now this official, church financed documentary is being sold (to church members for the most part, I'm sure) by independent distributors/businesses for a profit, and not to help any charity, but to help themselves.

 

Would it be ok for businesses to sell the church made The Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos? Or copies of General Conference dvds?  I think selling 'Meet the Mormons' is the same thing because it too is a church made and financed film.

[lagarthaaz]

Thank you for your replies everyone, I do appreciate reading them. While I don't really think I feel any differently about this issue, it's been good to look at it through a different lens. 

 

Maybe I'm just tired of seeing church members (especially overpriced bookstores) use the gospel to make money in so many different ways and that has colored my perspective.

 

 

 

 

[pam]

 

Maybe I'm just tired of seeing church members (especially overpriced bookstores) use the gospel to make money in so many different ways and that has colored my perspective.

 

Then I guess Deseret Book ought to just go out of business if we use that logic.

[Backroads]

Every other religion seems to have businesses making money off the faith. Why not our members?

[Maureen]

Every other religion seems to have businesses making money off the faith. Why not our members?

 

If every other religion jumped off a bridge would you want LDS members to jump off that bridge too?  :)

 

I'm just teasing, I couldn't help myself. :)

 

M.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Maureen

[Leah]

I am not understanding the argument against a church produced movie being available for sale. I don't see why it would be wrong to recoup the expenses of making the movie or even making a profit. Seems logical to me.  maybe making a profit will help finance more movies.  More movies, more chances to reach people.

 

I was going to buy it via Amazon instant video, but I think I will buy a DVD.  A DVD can be loaned out to other people.

[Crypto]

I'm not against 'profit' per-se. 

 

Is it a form of priestcraft for private businesses to take a church produced film and sell if for a profit? I don't really understand the concept of 'priestcraft' enough to answer that....

 

And as for the Holy Spirit moving people to find out about the gospel, that's gonna happen regardless of whether Amazon.com or independent church bookstores sell 'Meet the Mormons' or not.

 

I don't think it would happen regardless :/

 

 

7 ¶Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

It takes asking, seeking, knocking. This seems like an opportunity to be given, for people to find.

There are also some in this world that don't even know to ask, or seek. It provides and opportunity for the holy ghost to testify to them. Also there are a great many documentaries about various people and cultures, that are watched by other various people and culture, it's not just members who are seeing the film. I have an acquaintance that got back from their mission, and people without contact with church members sought out the church because of the film. The same thing has happened because of the BOM musical... I'm sure the same thing will happen with people getting DVD's.

Also I don't think the documentary counts as Gospel, and as such isn't liable to the same problems as those who preach for profit and gain. That's my opinion at least.

[Jane_Doe]

If the goal is to have the movie reach the broadest audience possible, it makes sense to use Amazon, Walmart, and other mainstream venues.  Besides reaching non-members, it's also nice for us members whom live many hours away from Desert Book or other LDS stores.   But in order to sell things at Amazon or other secular venues, you have to let those stores recoup their cost-of-doing-buincess.

 

And while I would say that the film is mostly going to be viewed by members, that doesn't mean no non-members would see it.  I took three non-member friends to see it in theaters, and can think of a dozen more friends to give copies to.  I would LOVE it if I could convince my mother-in-law to see it (not likely, but would be nice).  An non-Mormons do see it: just the other day my non-LDS husband was watch stuff online, and a commercial for the movie came on.  He excitedly came to get me, saying "we saw that movie!  It was very good, I'd like to see it again."

 

My aim in sharing this movie is not directly to preach, but to share a nice feel-good-movie that I really enjoy.  And then there's the added bonus of maybe convincing people that Mormons don't have horns :).  

Edited April 12, 2015 by Jane_Doe

[pam]

I think the misconception here is the idea that ALL proceeds would be donated to charity.  The Church did do what they said they would do.  All proceeds that the Church earned from the box office sales were donated to charity.  That doesn't mean that all theaters etc would donate all of their proceeds to this same charity as well.  

[Palerider]

If every other religion jumped off a bridge would you want LDS members to jump off that bridge too?  :)

 

I'm just teasing, I couldn't help myself. :)

 

M.

If it looks like fun .. I might consider it ..... Lol

[lagarthaaz]

Every other religion seems to have businesses making money off the faith. Why not our members?

 

Since when do we do anything because 'every other religion' is doing it?

[lagarthaaz]

Then I guess Deseret Book ought to just go out of business if we use that logic.

 

The logic that people shouldn't make money off the backs of church members? 

Edited April 13, 2015 by lagarthaaz

[lagarthaaz]

If the goal is to have the movie reach the broadest audience possible, it makes sense to use Amazon, Walmart, and other mainstream venues.  Besides reaching non-members, it's also nice for us members whom live many hours away from Desert Book or other LDS stores.   But in order to sell things at Amazon or other secular venues, you have to let those stores recoup their cost-of-doing-buincess.

 

And while I would say that the film is mostly going to be viewed by members, that doesn't mean no non-members would see it.  I took three non-member friends to see it in theaters, and can think of a dozen more friends to give copies to.  I would LOVE it if I could convince my mother-in-law to see it (not likely, but would be nice).  An non-Mormons do see it: just the other day my non-LDS husband was watch stuff online, and a commercial for the movie came on.  He excitedly came to get me, saying "we saw that movie!  It was very good, I'd like to see it again."

 

My aim in sharing this movie is not directly to preach, but to share a nice feel-good-movie that I really enjoy.  And then there's the added bonus of maybe convincing people that Mormons don't have horns :).  

 

What do you mean we don't have horns? 

 

 

I do think the idea of making the film available to a broader audience through various outlets is a practical one in many ways. And of course these businesses would have to cover their distribution costs. It's the making money off the 'non-profit' church production that bothers me. 

 

I contacted our local bookstore and they said that once the product has been passed on to them, they can then charge what they like and benefit from any resulting profits. They are good people and are trying to keep their costs down while running a business, but to make any kind of profit their mark-ups are really quite high. 

 

My concern here is what happens to the church's status as a 'non-profit' organization if an official church product becomes a profit-making venture? Maybe once the church passes the product on at cost to non-church distributors, then it can say it no longer has control over who makes a profit from this product?  I'm sure they had expert legal and financial advice on this when they agreed to finance the film, but it all seems a bit of a grey area to me.

 

I took my non-member husband to see 'Meet the Mormons' too, and he enjoyed it (or as much as he could... ), but I probably won't buy any further copies.

[pam]

 

My concern here is what happens to the church's status as a 'non-profit' organization if an official church product becomes a profit-making venture? Maybe once the church passes the product on at cost to non-church distributors, then it can say it no longer has control over who makes a profit from this product?  I'm sure they had expert legal and financial advice on this when they agreed to finance the film, but it all seems a bit of a grey area to me.

 

 

 

Not everything to do with the Church falls under non-profit.

[Pa Pa]

I'm having a bit of a discussion with a local LDS bookstore that is now selling 'Meet the Mormons' for around $20AU a copy - the profits of which go to their business. I checked and people can also download a copy from Amazon for under $5.

 

This confuses me a bit - as I was under the impression that the documentary was produced officially by the church, and was meant to be a missionary tool with any surplus 'profit' or 'proceeds' being donated to the Red Cross.  I got this impression from the official 'Meet the Mormons' website which states:

In the latest example in a long history of working together, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has donated all net proceeds* from the theatrical release of Meet the Mormons, totalling $1.8 million, to the American Red Cross.

 

Ok, great - our ticket money went towards the Red Cross donation. So now what happens with all of the dvd and download releases? How does a venture that was supposed to be for a non-profit church organization, become a venture where the church supplies private businesses with copies of the dvd to sell for profit?  I feel quite miffed that private businesses are trying to make a buck from what was meant to be a missionary/charity tool - if feels very wrong to me.

 

I'm just trying to understand what's happening...perhaps someone who is more savvy about such things can enlighten me?

A bookstore has overhead....but if they are buying a $5.00' then that will be donation....if hey sell it for more then not profit. The church cannot stop that, but the five dollar will be all donation.

[Guest]

Yes, in fact I do have a problem with the movie theaters making money off this film. Unless they were on board with the church's original premise that all profits would be donated to charity. 

 

I have not suggested that this was about making money for any 'church leaders' at all - I know that is absolutely not the case.

 

I'm strictly referring to private enterprise/businesses now pocketing profits from a church financed production. If the original premise of the film was to promote the church and donate any proceeds to charity - then surely that needs to apply no matter who sells it.

Unfortunately, the real world doesn't work this way. A private business is not going to forgo profit to show a non-profit film unless they themselves want to donate their services. A non-profit film, especially a Mormon one, will have a difficult time finding places that will donate their theaters to the showing of a non-profit film. I've been watching movies all my life and I have not - not once - heard of a movie theater who donated their location to show a religious film at cost. Even the free kids summer theater has profit - the film is free (they show old kids films that has negligible license cost to show) shown at 10AM which is a slow time for theaters but the popcorn and drink and candy is not free and the target for profits.

So, if you want a missionary tool to reach many people - you let private businesses do their thing so that many theaters will get on board.

Think about it - the Church videos before Meet the Mormons only show in very limited places (I had to drive 2 hours to watch the last one) because they don't draw crowds big enough to make profit. How much more if you tell them, sorry, you can't show it if you make profit.... you'll have to go drive to Utah to watch the thing.

Real World. Only the LDS Church committed to donating the proceeds - and only of the theater release - to charity. You can't expect people not part of the LDS Church, including private businesses owned by Mormons - to commit to donating their part of the proceeds as well.

[pam]

Exactly anatess. That's what I've been saying all through this.  :)

[Guest]

By the way, this same principle also applies to non-profit paid workers.

If you want your non-profit fund-raising organization to successfully raise a lot of money, you may want to hire somebody who is really good at making money - and pay him to do it. If you rely on volunteers, you might not get the one you really need to design the best money-making endeavor around your organization's vision - because he can't afford free time away from feeding his family... or he's too busy building his McMansion with a big enough garage to house his Lamborghini collection.

Edited April 13, 2015 by anatess

[Litzy]

I don't think the Church runs into any legal problem with letting private markets sell the movie for a profit. I think you're sticking to ideals. Which is good, but I don't think they're at odds with the release of this movie.

 

I think the fact that Pedro and Betsy can buy this movie and meet those Mormons does far more good than locking this in some charity-only vault.

[estradling75]

The movie was not designed nor intended to raise money for charity...

The move was designed and intended to be a missionary tool... To continue to raise the awareness of the Church in the world.

 

The donation to the Red Cross while worthy in and of itself was secondary to the main missionary message.

 

Having it available through many sources supports the missionary goal.  Having those sources gain a bit of profit from it is a necessary step to having them available through those sources.

[pam]

Originally they hadn't even planned to show it in theaters.  It was made to show in the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  However, after testing with a few audiences, the Church decided to release it to theaters in the U.S. 

 

Also according to Jeffrey R. Holland it wasn't meant to be a proselyting effort but an informative one.

[lagarthaaz]

Thanks again for your responses everyone - there's obviously several ways to approach the subject and appreciate the alternative perspectives (although I'm still in disagreement with some views expressed here) :)

[Backroads]

Since when do we do anything because 'every other religion' is doing it?

Of course, "everyone else is doing it", is not a reason in and of itself. But nor is it a reason not to do something.

If all things spiritual were to be for charity only, we would need to close religious shops and inspirational artists and writers would be forbidden from work.