America’s Next Top Pastor

Come my children, and nuzzle in the warmth of another new Rock TV.

Initially I was a bit uncomfortable with the concept of this video because I didn’t want it to become a satire on pastors themselves. What made it click for me is when the writing team turned it around and started to develop it as a satire on people’s expectations of pastors. Suddenly I felt we were on fertile comedic ground and it moved forward quickly.

The problem with satirizing reality television is that you end up replicating the worst parts of those shows. We worried that the middle portion of this video (with the judges comments) became a bit too “talky”, but there wasn’t much we could do. We shortened it quite a bit while trying to leave in as much funny stuff as we could. Christine’s “don’t shop at TJ Maxx anymore” line remains a personal favorite.

Toward the end of the video, we cut to a commercial. This was a late suggestion from our technical team to try to copy the reality format. While we were worried about the video’s length, it became a fun excuse to put together a goofy, unrelated bit. It ended up being my favorite part of this video, thanks in large part to Leroy’s performance as a fire-starting skeptic. (You can view the commercial as a stand-alone here.)

Other favorite bits:
-Todd reprising the role of Vance Chickerson (from Revelation 9:11)
-The Beaker prop that Arlene Pickett made from scratch.
-The fact that Jasper Stax, in demonstrating how hip and relevant he is, has different clothing and facial hair every time we see him (this was a great suggestion from Matt Terry, the actor who played him).

Enjoy!