Solutions General Editor Kelinda Crawford
sits with Robert and Steve, makers of the
new animation “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Kelinda: Steve, Robert, I want to let you
know I watched the screener for “The
Pilgrim’s Progress” with my children,
and we loved it! Well done! I can
imagine how difficult it was bringing
an old story to life in a new way.
What would you say was your biggest
challenge in creating this animation?
Robert: I’d have to be honest and
say that our biggest challenge was
financial because we had to create
the film without the budgets that
most widely released animated films
enjoy. But our greatest challenge
became the impetus for our greater
desperation which led us to work
with greater passion, ingenuity and
creativity. My personal challenge was
to bring the characters and the story
to life in a concise way by creating a
strong screenplay that would be the
foundation for the rest of the team.
Kelinda: Robert, this was a film of
firsts: first time the story has been
theatrically released, first time told
with CGI Animation. What was it like
directing this process? About how
many hours did you and your team
work to bring these characters to life?
Robert: I usually work on several
projects at the same time. When we
started on the film my priority was the
script which took me several months
in between other things, to bring to the
point where I was satisfied and felt it
was a solid story. While I was scripting,
I was also working with character
designers and background artists
creating concepts. The entire process
with various teams took about 5 years.
This doesn’t mean that it took us that
long to animate, but pre-production,
in which all elements are created
and casting is done and storyboards
drawn, etc., took about a year and a
half. Once the film was completed,
we had to do tweaks, corrections,
oversee musical compositions and
so on. So in total about 5 years.
Kelinda: This is also the first film since
the Jesus Movie created specifically
to aid missions worldwide. Steve,
what moved the makers of this
animation to donate the film to the
mission field? And I heard a rumor it
will be translated into 100 languages?
Steve: The more I studied the film
industry, and the lack of films for
missions, the more I felt convicted
that someone needed to make a film
specifically for the global missions
community. I realized The Pilgrim’s
Progress was the perfect film to help
meet this need and felt convicted
(and honored) to allow our movie to
promote more films for the mission
field. Many have suggested I charge a
license fees and NOT give it away for
free, however we have received a lot
of donations to help create the film
and feel it is only right to not accept a
license fee for mission purposes. We
selected 100 languages because we
felt that is an obtainable goal and will
reach 90+% of the world’s population
in first and second languages.
Kelinda: Easter weekend, this powerful
program aired on the second largest
network in Iran, sharing the gospel
message with an estimated audience
Solutions • 11