Beyond the Mask & Veggie Tales

Director Chad Burns and his wife, Angela, met with Phil Vischer (Creator of Veggie Tales) last week in Chicago for lunch.

Phil has many years of experience creating Christian media content for families and it was a real privilege to sit down and hear from him. Phil had a lot of advice and a few connections to offer us.

Phil’s faith journey is similar to the journey traced by the hero in Beyond the Mask. Phil spent years thinking that his good works and fine efforts for the Lord would please God and earn favor. After a lot of hard lessons, Phil came to see that the Lord is more concerned with the orientation of our heart toward Him than the work of our hands. You can read a more about Phil’s journey and the Savior he loves in his auto-biography, Me, Myself, and Bob.

Phil’s timeless advice was simple: If you are worried or losing sleep about what you are doing for God… then maybe you aren’t doing it for God. Maybe you are doing it for you. The answer is not, “don’t worry so much.” It goes deeper. The answer is to lay aside our quest for personal fulfillment in our work and look to Christ for what only He can offer; the true satisfaction of our souls.

Please pray that we at Burns Family Studios will work hard as unto the Lord, and not for ourselves or other men.

Fellowship of Christian Filmmakers

Last Saturday, Beyond the Mask’s Producer and Director (Aaron and Chad Burns) had the privilege to speak at a “Fellowship of Christian Filmmakers” meeting in Alexandria, VA. During the Q&A portion, led by producer Ron Newcomb, Chad and Aaron presented their vision for Christian action-adventures films, and answered questions about what it takes to develop, produce, and distribute this kind of project. The excitement and enthusiasm of this group was encouraging and infectious. We know their prayers will be with our team as we press on with fundraising and development for Beyond the Mask.

Review & Preview

HollywoodJesus.com reviews Burns Family Studios first feature film, Pendragon: Sword of his Father, and gives a hint about what’s coming next. Check it out here: The Arthur Legend Meets Evangelicalism

Welcome to the Beyond the Mask pre-production blog!

It is amazing to be stepping out once again to begin a new movie project! As pre-production starts for Beyond the Mask, we are excited to be the ones keeping you informed about the latest events and stories. On this blog, you will be able to watch the film’s progress as we find awesome locations, build period sets, create stunning costumes, and cast actors whose names you will recognize. It will be a fun mixture of news updates, interviews with pre-production artists, reflections from spiritual leaders on the film’s theme, and answers to fun questions that our fans send in.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Burns family, Sara is Chad’s sister and Shannon is Aaron’s sister. We are cousins to each other and best friends. On our family’s last film project, Pendragon, we were the set photographers, bloggers, and the authors of the book Pendragon: Journey Behind the Scenes. Pendragon has been translated into three languages, and through it our families and the many others who were involved have been able to touch tens of thousands of people all over the world. We are excited about the impact that God has already allowed this new project to have and we want to invite you to join with us in changing lives as we make Beyond the Mask a reality.