Film consulting, development, marketing

Some of Hollywood's top film studios have relied on MJM to provide film consulting. Our services have included identifying book properties that can be adapted to film, script consultation, developing and executing marketing and publicity plans and working with musical artists to create film soundtracks.

MJM played a key role in the development of The Chronicles of Narnia-The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. Our relationship with Walden Media began as discussions with the C.S. Lewis estate were just beginning. Believing that Disney was the best choice as a partner for the film, MJM's Mark Joseph brought Narnia to his friend, Disney Senior VP Rick Dempsey who began to build support for the idea within his company. Before long, the two respective presidents of Walden and Disney were in talks over the property and soon consummated their agreement. MJM continued to work on Narnia related issues until 2005, including contacting numerous artists who were interested in being on the film's soundtrack, reading the first draft of the script and providing coverage, working on early strategic marketing and branding proposals to position the property properly and providing marketing and public relations work.

MJM was brought in to handle the film Joshua after the film opened poorly at the box office and executed an unusual theatrical re-release of the film six months after its initial release. Focusing on 20 key markets where we believed the film would do well, we conceived and executed a publicity and marketing campaign that targeted those markets and produced stunning box office results. Our highest numbers were in the city of Honolulu, where box office achieved a stunning $12,000 per screen average. After the film's theatrical run, our team's attention focused on home video sales. Our extensive marketing and publicity campaign produced spectacular sales of nearly a half a million units.

For I Am David, the MJM team executed a campaign that focused on the faith and family and talk radio markets. We arranged for screenings around the country that helped to draw attention to the film, and arranged for media to pre-screen the film and focus on the film's themes of grace and redemption.

For the heartwarming children's film, Because of Winn Dixie which featured the lovable dog Winn Dixie and Opal, the daughter of a preacher, MJM provided marketing, publicity and call center services for, launching a grass-roots awareness campaign.

MJM handled public relations and marketing for the DVD release of the 20th Century Fox film Saving Sarah Cain. MJM's work included, supervising outreach to all faith-based media outlets.

For Expelled, a documentary film starring comedian and actor Ben Stein, MJM arranged for civic, political, education, religious and other leaders to screen the film in advance of the film's release. MJM also supervised press releases which went out on behalf of the film.

MJM engineered one of the most spectacular box office surprises in Hollywood history for the film Facing The Giants. Produced by a church media director in Albany Georgia for a paltry $100,000 the film went on to earn $10 million dollars at the box office. MJM conceived and executed an unusual publicity and marketing campaign centered around the film's PG rating for excessive religious content and elevating one religion over another. The results brought the film to the attention of dozens of major media outlets three months before the film's release.

For the 20th Century Fox film The Ultimate Gift, MJM was called on to handle a special publicity and marketing campaign for the DVD release of the film. MJM created and executed several marketing and publicity stories which brought the film to the attenion of national media and led to strong sales in excess of 500,000 units

MJM provided coverage and script consultation for the movie Holes during the film's early development. Prior to the release of the film, MJM, on behalf of Walden Media, launched a multi-pronged campaign for Holes which targeted the faith, family and educational communities with leaders screenings around the country and handled marketing and PR for the film. The film's distributor predicted an opening weekend take of $10 million and instead, when the opening weekend box office dust had cleared, the film had earned $16.3 million.

MJM's work on Ray, originally titled Unchain My Heart, began with script consultation and later expanded into assisting with key decisions on which audiences to target for the film and which audiences would not respond positively. In publicity and marketing, our services included arranging for set visits by journalists and opinion leaders. Later marketing work included outreach to jazz clubs.

Our contribution to the forthcoming film based on the life of British member of parliament and abolitionist William Wilberforce included reviewing the first draft of the script and recommending a title change from Wilberforce to Amazing Grace. The film is scheduled for a summer '07 release

MJM's Mark Joseph was alerted by a friend in Washington D.C. about a documentary called The Conscientious Objector, the story of a devout member of the Seventh Day Adventist church who, despite his Pacifist beliefs, nonetheless served heroically in the U.S. military. A feature film based on the documentary is currently in development at Walden Media.

MJM worked with the producers of the motion picture Madison, starring Jim Caviezel with marketing, publicity and promotional assistance. Working closely with the powerboat racing community, we arranged for preview screenings around the country and helped to coordinate promotional and publicity efforts.

For Children On Their Birthdays, MJM was brought on to handle outreach to the faith and family audience. Our team organized screenings, handled public relations and marketing issues and worked on music-related issues.

MJM provided media-related publicity and marketing services for The Passion Of The Christ and helped make it one of the top ten largest grossing films in U.S. theatrical history. Inviting dozens of artists and media figures in to see the film several months before its release, MJM's Mark Joseph produced the Inspired by soundtrack for the film and engaged popular music artists to promote the film at their concerts and on their websites.

MJM brought to Walden Media a screenplay for C.S. Lewis' classic book The Screwtape Letters, which had been optioned by a screenwriter in Southern California. The flm is currently in development but not signed to any production company.