It’s time to do something more than wish there were more great movies that supported, not assaulted our values.

Scot and Maurine Proctor, Editor and Publisher of Meridian Magazine

As the founders of Meridian Magazine we have had the chance to see and to participate in many great and worthwhile projects. In fact, we like to champion good things. But once in a while something comes along that is so unique and so important that we wanted to personally bring it to your attention.

Kieth Merrill, our film editor since Meridian’s beginning 8 years ago, has written articles hinting that something important was coming that could change the way movies are made. In this article, today, he’s going to tell us more about it.

We have all wished for better movies that can be enjoyed by the whole family without being ambushed by all the unnecessary “if only” scenes and words. Our values are being assaulted on every front, nowhere more clearly than in the media. Our love affair with movies has become a risky affair.

Now, Kieth has teamed with other influential people to form a motion picture studio alliance that we believe will be part of the solution for all of us — Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios (AAMPS).

This new studio was announced last November and thousands of people have already joined. The Founders Circle of Audience Alliance closes very soon, on January 31, but by special arrangement Meridian Magazine readers have been given until February 12, when we celebrate our 8th birthday to still be part of the Founders Circle. The countdown starts now. If you want to join and be part of the Founders Circle, this is the time.

The formation of AAMPS is an outstanding and momentous development. We’ve all wished that someone would do something about values in movies. This goes beyond wishing and it goes well beyond the ‘Mormon’ genre. Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios is an international film company founded on the belief that the most important part of the movie industry is the audience. While Hollywood has largely betrayed its core audience, Audience Alliance has developed a way for you to participate directly in the selection and production of "feel good again" movies with great stories, plenty of heart, and all of them consistent with the same values and virtues that we share.

We urge you to look into Audience Alliance and find out how you can turn the power of your one ticket into a force for good that will create a significant new source of outstanding motion pictures for you and your family.

Check out this message http://www.audiencealliance.com?partnerid=2
from prominent filmmaker Kieth Merrill and give serious thought to becoming a member of Audience Alliance, just as we have done.

A Message from Filmmaker Kieth Merrill

Academy Award winner, Kieth Merrill, has spent a lifetime as a movie-maker committed to values and virtues in film. His movies have been seen by hundreds of millions of people in many countries, producing revenue approaching one billion dollars. He was the writer, producer and director of both Legacy and Testaments – films well known by the LDS community. He has made more than twenty feature films, IMAX movies and feature length documentaries. As one of the most successful independent filmmakers in recent decades, repeatedly recognized by Hollywood, he has never sold out to the values of Hollywood or ‘modern’ society. This message from Kieth Merrill is for all those who thought they might have to give up on the possibility of more wonderful, feel good again movies.

If You Owned a Major Movie Studio What Movies Would You Make?

This is a question I have asked myself many times over the years. Now I’m inviting you to ask yourself that same question. If you had the power to own or control or exert direct influence over a modern, vibrant movie studio, what movies would you make? Whatever your answer, I know that you would not choose the filth, degradation and moral bankruptcy that so frequently comes from the movie fraternity.

I agree, not everything that comes from Hollywood and the wider film community is degrading. Some of it is extremely good, and when Hollywood does it well…nobody does it better. But the fact is that since the modern MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) movie rating system was implemented in 1968 almost 60 percent of movies have been rated R. Between R rated movies, and the no longer trustworthy PG-13 rating, more than 80 percent of the product that comes from Hollywood is offensive to the senses of most LDS audiences.

Of the rest, much is banal and unworthy of the investment of ‘two hours in the dark’. Some of it is great kids entertainment, likewise enjoyed by adults, but of the almost 600 movies made last year (and about the same number again this year), how many really great feel-good movies did you see? Not many, right?

Despite the fact that there are many good people who participate in what we generalize as Hollywood, the mainstream movie industry continues to push an agenda that denies God, demeans womanhood, offends decency, caters to the gay and lesbian lobby and generally violates our divine nature.

Some people who love movies have become so frustrated they’ve given up. Others keep on going, hoping that this time they won’t be ambushed by profanity, nudity, sex, violence and unworthy themes.

After a lifetime in the movie business and having experienced the same frustrations as you, I've decided to answer the question I asked at the beginning, and invite you to join me in a bold new adventure to change at least a portion of the motion picture world. With the support of friends and trusted associates from inside Hollywood and from around the world, I have formed a unique motion picture company – the first of its kind in all the world – where we make the movies and you tell us which movies you want us to make.

It’s called Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios, the leading edge of the coming audience-driven movie revolution. We’ve even formed our own motion picture academy — the Audience Alliance Academy — to provide you access to behind the scenes of the movie making process. This is where you have your say, where you watch and get involved in key decisions, and where we empower young movie making talent to make movies that feature powerful stories, plenty of heart, and a high quotient of virtues and values.

Readers please note: Audience Alliance was created to produce movies for general audiences around the world, not for particular niche markets, or of one particular faith. With your help, and the help of many others, we will deliver powerful movies consistent with our common values to millions of people in the USA and in many other countries.

Of all the things I have learned in my decades of experience in the film industry, this is the most striking: the real power behind the motion picture industry is not the Hollywood moguls, it is the audience—it is the power of your one ticket. You are really the ones that decide if a movie will succeed or fail by going, or by not going to theaters, by buying or not buying DVDs.

Even so, many movies should not have been made in the first place! Now, with the power of your one ticket—acting together with other like-minded people—we can create the movies you want to see. As a member of the Audience Alliance Academy, for about the cost of a movie ticket a month ($120 per year), you can be involved in the process of movie-making, from first idea to the culmination of the filmmaker’s journey. Academy membership includes free and discounted movies, discounted theater tickets, film classics brought back to life for our members, and many other benefits. But above all it includes the power and the privilege of exercising your economic and creative power to determine which movies will be made and which ones make it only to the dustbin.

In a nutshell, by subscribing to membership in the Audience Alliance Academy you get to help reshape the motion picture environment and participate at many levels in the making of movies.

I’ve said just about enough here. How about you go to our website, http://www.audiencealliance.com?partnerid=2 find out more and become a member, or at least register online so we can keep you informed about what’s happening at Audience Alliance.

Of all the movies I’ve ever made, of all the projects I’ve ever been involved in, this is the most important thing I’ve ever done because its scope is so far reaching. If you’ve ever thought, ‘I wish it could be different’, here is your chance to make it happen. Please join me in this great motion picture epic. Kieth Merrill Chief Creative Officer Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios