Author Description

An irreverent, often scandalous and occasionally blasphemous behind-the-scenes look at the early days of the Christian movie business. January 1952 -- a time of "red-baiting," "blacklists," the "police action" in Korea and atomic bomb tests in the Nevada desert. And it is at this moment that 23-year-old Randy Dillard leaves the North Carolina mountains to take a job working as a staff writer at the studios of a religious film company in Hollywood, California. From the moment he steps off the bus he discovers that nothing is as he expects: a washed-up cowboy actor plays Jesus; a flamboyant homosexual is the chief film editor; the key grip makes stag films on the side; the religious filmstrip narrator is prone to spout filthy limericks; the screenwriter of the biblical series is a blacklisted atheist; the denominational representatives are addicted to Las Vegas gambling; and the executive producer of "The Living Savior" is Jewish. Should be an interesting year.