How Dallas Jenkins’ ‘Failure’ Led to His $140 Million Hit Series, ‘The Chosen’
Jenkins shares his thoughts on how and why ‘The Chosen’ became such a success
It seems almost impossible to know that The Chosen was once a failed project started by its creator, Dallas Jenkins, especially given what an incredible success it has since become. But according to Jenkins, that’s exactly what it was.
The creator recently shared his journey to having a smash hit on Prime Video and in theaters, with 200 million viewers enjoying the show. Jenkins shared all in a column for AARP, explaining how he took his failure and made it a massive success.
“It was born from failure…” Jenkins wrote. “The movie [The Resurrection of Gavin Stone] turned out well, it tested very high and everyone was excited — until it completely bombed. On a Friday afternoon, when the box office numbers came in, I went from being a director with a very bright future to a director with no future.”
Jenkins had a spiritual calling that changed everything
The very same day his film practically crashed and burned in theaters, something his wife said to him that night changed everything.
“The answer became clear that night, when God once again put something very clearly on my wife’s heart and mine,” Jenkins wrote. “‘It’s not your job to feed the 5,000, only to provide the loaves and fish.’ (In the Bible’s Matthew 14, the disciples present Jesus with five loaves and two fishes, and he feeds a crowd of 5,000.) And in that moment, my life changed. I no longer cared about affirmation or legitimacy or results or success (or lack thereof). I just wanted Him to be happy with my 5 and 2. And if that meant never making another movie or TV show, I was genuinely OK with that.”
Soon after, Jenkins began creating a film about the birth of Jesus for his Church, something he didn’t see as a professional success. But the film went viral and a crowdfunding campaign began raising money—$10 million to be exact—for Jenkins to create a first season of a show on the same topic.
Now, years later, The Chosen is in production for its sixth season, and has already been renewed for a seventh and final season, following the entirety of Jesus’ life.
While this was not the path Jenkins envisioned for himself, he is certain it was the one he was meant to be on. The creator shared his thoughts as to why taking a step back and letting his spiritual calling take over was the right choice.
“I believe I had a new choice, too. To do this my way, pursuing once again success and results. Or God’s way, which was just to focus on my loaves and fish and not care about the result.”
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