The Dove Foundation will produce a national television pilot focusing on movie and video game reviews. Storytelling Pictures, a Michigan-based production company, was selected by Dove to film the pilot in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan, the world’s leading Christian communications company, will sponsor the pilot episode.
Filming of the pilot will begin in August and will be broadcast on several national faith-based television networks and streamed on key websites, reaching approximately 46 million households, in early October.
Pilots are single shows used to sell a series idea to a television network. If a network likes the pilot, it could lead to further episodes. This is the first television show produced by The Dove Foundation.
The pilot, currently unnamed, will be co-hosted by Grand Rapids natives. Rachael Ruiz is a news anchor and reporter with WOOD-TV, the local NBC affiliate. Brian Burch is a senior associate with Lambert, Edwards & Associates, a Michigan PR firm. The two will discuss current, mainstream theatrical and DVD releases using The Dove Foundation guidelines as review criteria. Derek Emerson, a full-time student at Grand Rapids Community College and part-time actor and model is the show’s third host. He will review current video games across all gaming platforms and will also report on new media technologies.
Founded in 1991, The Dove Foundation publicly acknowledges motion picture storytelling that exemplifies positive and uplifting values with its familiar blue and white Dove FAMILY APPROVED Seal. The Foundation review board awarded its Seal to 36 feature films representing a wide variety of genres during 2008.
The Dove Foundation is a national nonprofit dedicated to encouraging the entertainment industry to create, produce and distribute a greater proportion of movies that are appropriate for family viewing, and to seeing the public better equipped to identify family-friendly movies and more deeply committed to support them.
