Book Description
A screenplay of the life of Christ by Dean Burkey, the author of “The Christian Comedy Combo Platter!”, "John 3:16 Beautiful Savior" blends the four beloved Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to create a coherent recounting of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Respectful and reverent, yet still exciting and dramatic, with moments of humor as well, all the while presenting Jesus as fully God and fully human, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and fulfilling His role as The Savior of the world.
If you already know and love the story, I think you'll enjoy this rendition thereof. If you're not familiar with the biblical account of Christ, now's the perfect time for you to read for yourself in a format that enlightens as well as entertains.
Why a screenplay?
And not a novel or novella?
Because a screenplay presents sight and sound,
that is what we see and hear,
the actions and dialogue of the characters,
whereas a novel/novella does that too,
but also adds lots of descriptions as well.
I wrote the screenplay years ago.
My goal was to convert it
into a novella before Palm Sunday,
which was this past Sunday.
But when it came to describing the people
and places from a couple millennia ago,
I knew I’d have to make up a lot of “information”.
I didn’t want to describe anyone
or any place or anything incorrectly.
So I decided it’d better to publish the screenplay.
Unfortunately, my CD-drive doesn’t work,
so I can’t use my Hollywood Screenwriter
software any more.
I thought there was no way
I’d be able to access my screenplay.
But then I realized
that I was using a version of my screenplay
to convert into a novella,
so I must have had access to it somehow.
So I found the original of the version
I had been converting and changed that to Kindle.
Seeing how Kindle conversion altered the formatting,
I had to go back and change the way
I presented the screenplay to make it easier to read.
Which makes the script look
more like a stage play when it comes
to how the dialogue is presented.
My goals for writing the screenplay
were at least twofold,
make that threefold:
1) Show Jesus with a sense of humor and add
some reverent/respectful humor that fit the story.
Overcome the image of Jesus in movies
long ago where He came across as boring and dull.
Although I feel like the movie
“The Gospel According to Matthew”
did a good job of this.
2) Present a graphic crucifixion.
Jesus poured out His lifeblood on the cross,
but in most movies, you just saw a drop here and there.
Of course, I wrote this before Mel Gibson
went overboard in his more than graphic
presentation of the sufferings of Jesus
with “The Passion of The Christ”.
3) Point out many of the ways
Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.
Which includes making it clear
why Jesus had to suffer and die.
And include a clear, better-detailed resurrection.
And in addition to all that,
I wanted to blend together the four gospel accounts.
For the cover,
I took the promo image of me
from Vox Visuals’ banner ad for their film:
“Holy Baptism: Water of Life”
in which I portrayed Jesus.
(See my previous post: My Friend Reverend Rick)
I tried to include links,
but what happened was that everything after the link
would turn blue and be underlined.
But I still wanted to include links,
one to my other Christian faith-based book
“The Christian Comedy Combo Platter!”
(which is really a combination of
my two other Christian faith-based books
“Holy Laughter! Humor in the Bible”
and “Faith like a Ketchup Seed”
with lots of added Bonus Material!)
and a second to my blog.
So I put the two links last.
Which explains why the links don’t appear earlier.
And not a novel or novella?
Because a screenplay presents sight and sound,
that is what we see and hear,
the actions and dialogue of the characters,
whereas a novel/novella does that too,
but also adds lots of descriptions as well.
I wrote the screenplay years ago.
My goal was to convert it
into a novella before Palm Sunday,
which was this past Sunday.
But when it came to describing the people
and places from a couple millennia ago,
I knew I’d have to make up a lot of “information”.
I didn’t want to describe anyone
or any place or anything incorrectly.
So I decided it’d better to publish the screenplay.
Unfortunately, my CD-drive doesn’t work,
so I can’t use my Hollywood Screenwriter
software any more.
I thought there was no way
I’d be able to access my screenplay.
But then I realized
that I was using a version of my screenplay
to convert into a novella,
so I must have had access to it somehow.
So I found the original of the version
I had been converting and changed that to Kindle.
Seeing how Kindle conversion altered the formatting,
I had to go back and change the way
I presented the screenplay to make it easier to read.
Which makes the script look
more like a stage play when it comes
to how the dialogue is presented.
My goals for writing the screenplay
were at least twofold,
make that threefold:
1) Show Jesus with a sense of humor and add
some reverent/respectful humor that fit the story.
Overcome the image of Jesus in movies
long ago where He came across as boring and dull.
Although I feel like the movie
“The Gospel According to Matthew”
did a good job of this.
2) Present a graphic crucifixion.
Jesus poured out His lifeblood on the cross,
but in most movies, you just saw a drop here and there.
Of course, I wrote this before Mel Gibson
went overboard in his more than graphic
presentation of the sufferings of Jesus
with “The Passion of The Christ”.
3) Point out many of the ways
Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.
Which includes making it clear
why Jesus had to suffer and die.
And include a clear, better-detailed resurrection.
And in addition to all that,
I wanted to blend together the four gospel accounts.
For the cover,
I took the promo image of me
from Vox Visuals’ banner ad for their film:
“Holy Baptism: Water of Life”
in which I portrayed Jesus.
(See my previous post: My Friend Reverend Rick)
I tried to include links,
but what happened was that everything after the link
would turn blue and be underlined.
But I still wanted to include links,
one to my other Christian faith-based book
“The Christian Comedy Combo Platter!”
(which is really a combination of
my two other Christian faith-based books
“Holy Laughter! Humor in the Bible”
and “Faith like a Ketchup Seed”
with lots of added Bonus Material!)
and a second to my blog.
So I put the two links last.
Which explains why the links don’t appear earlier.
From
“Holy Laughter! Humor in the Bible”:
When you consider how much agony
Jesus suffered for our sins,
you can’t accuse God of nepotism.
From
“Holy Laughter! Humor in the Bible”:
While praying,
we suddenly felt the need to face a crisis.
From
“Faith like a Ketchup Seed”:
Faith like a Ketchup Seed:
It’s not the faith of a mustard seed,
but it still guides me through life
and tastes great on hot dogs.
From
“Faith like a Ketchup Seed”:
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus,
but he kept coming up short.
From
“The Christian Comedy Combo Platter!”:
I have a Messiah complex,
so don’t crucify me.
You’ll only be proving my point.
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