The Kairos Prize

At first glance, Hollywood might seem to be a secular community (Scientology and Kabbalah fads aside). But the Templeton Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration of moral and spiritual values, is determined to bring religious moviemakers out of the woodwork. To this end, they have developed the Kairos Prize, which awards up to $50,000 worth of prizes to screenwriters who pen “spiritually uplifting” screenplays.

In choosing the name “Kairos,” which is a Greek word meaning “the right time” or “the critical moment,” the Templeton Foundation underscores what they see as the imperative need for a larger religious presence in popular moviemaking. “The decision-makers in Hollywood now recognize 70 to 80 percent of such movies are profitable, compared with 10 percent of R- or X-rated movies that end up making a profit,” claims Dr. John Templeton, Jr., president of the Foundation. “At the recent Screenwriting Expo, two of the most popular sessions were entitled ‘Christians in Hollywood’ and ‘Writing for the Family Film Market,’ showing once again the interest in these areas.”

The prize was founded by a winner of the Foundation’s Epiphany Prize (the Christian equivalent of the Oscars), who donated his prize money to create a way to reward and promote spiritual scripts. “[The prize] assures that out of the 300,000 new scripts [written] each year, the winners’ scripts will be read by one or more major studios,” says Templeton.

The deadline for the 2007 Kairos Prize is December 15. For more information, visit www.kairosprize.com.