“The Art of Serenity, A Journey of Faith” In November 2009 Oasis Productions hit the road and |
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"The Art of Serenity. A Journey of Faith" takes us through the grief and into the blessings of a new life as Aaron discovers again the blissful life of a newly wed while taking Sara on a 5,000 mile journey around the US to tell her the story of his past. We discover the foundation leading up to the ultimate journey towards Heaven as Kelly’s body was invaded by one the rarest and deadliest cancers known to man. Through a series of progressive interviews Kelly will shares, in her own words, her experience as a young hospice patient coping with the daily realities of losing everything to gain eternity. |
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Recent Oasis ProductionsFargo Mororhead Chamber
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Working Title: Walking With Saints
(Oasis Productions Shot and edited the Project Proposal Trailer)
Synopsis: In this one-hour weekly program, we look past centuries of pious stereotyping to reveal the rugged masculinity of some of our favorite saints. What does it take to live the solitary life of the desert fathers, climb the mountains to the caves at Subiaco like St. Benedict, or travel endless European footpaths with no provisions like the mendicant friars? And what do the rough and difficult lives these men chose teach us about masculine spirituality today? By exploring the physical and spiritual landscape of the daily lives of the saints, WWS challenges today’s men to become like them, and become leaders in a modern Church that, too often, is considered feminine.
Working Title: Catholic America
Synopsis: In this weekly one-hour travel show, we explore each diocese in the United States, focusing on the programs, people, and devotions that make each unique. Unapologetically upbeat, Catholic America seeks to show the world the joy of true Catholicism by highlighting the vitality, depth, and diversity of the Church in the United States, on a diocesan, parish, and individual level. Catholic America will also highlight religious orders, lay apostolate, and other ministries that, although perhaps not directly controlled by the diocese, are associated mainly with that diocese and showcase a unique way of living out the faith. Neither lay, priest, nor religious oriented, this program seeks to highlight the true, passionate faith of all types of Catholics.
*A list of potential programming in consideration at Oasis Productions
Programming List Synopses
Working Title: Rachael’s Army (Sit-Com)
Synopsis: Meet the Pierce family. With eleven children, three under the age of five, two sets of twins and one income, there’s always plenty going on in this household! This half-hour scripted sit-com is a personality-driven look at the antics and adventures of this home-schooling, home-business family. With a strong Catholic faith, a lot of love for each other, and an endless supply of childhood mishaps, the Pierce family provides a lighthearted, entertaining look at everyday American Catholicism.
Working Name: Anthony in Onunderin
Synopsis: In this animated series, little Stephen gets lost while shopping with his mother and finds himself in Onunderin (o nun drin), the land of (life-size, talking) lost objects. There, he meets Anthony (St. Anthony) and his friends/pets, the Order Puffs, who help lost items to find their owners. Anthony leads Stephen on a journey through Onunderin to find his mom, and, on the way, explains the basic truths of the Gospel story. As a saint, Anthony loves helping lost items find their homes, but he’s even more passionate about helping lost people find Jesus. When the series ends, not only has Stephen found his mom and reconnected with a few lost pencils and toys, he’s also learned how much Christ loves him, and found his true place in the family of God.
Working Title: Conversions--To and From
Synopsis: In this weekly interview-style show, we explore why people join the Catholic Church, and why they leave it. Each episode features someone who left the Catholic Church for a different faith, and someone who came into the Church from that same faith. Following that, a panel of experts will take apart the interviews, and show how, by exploring what drew individuals to that other faith, and what a former member found most attractive about the Church, we learn how to better interact with members of that faith.
Working Title: Evening News
Synopsis: This daily program will cover national and, eventually, local news from a truly Catholic perspective. As well as providing coverage and commentary on important political and social current events, the Evening News will keep viewers up to date on what’s coming out of the Vatican and the USCCB. Unapologetically Catholic, the Evening News will cut across political lines and cover stories from a perspective loyal to every aspect of the Magesterium’s teaching. The show will include at least two positive and hopeful stories per night, emphasizing the reality of Christ’s presence in the world.
Working Title: Homeschool Helps
Synopsis: This is to be a block of half-hour and hour-long shows that airs during the late morning/early afternoon hours. The programming will change from day to day and will consist of educational, yet entertaining explanations of school subjects for Kindergarten through High School students. English, Math, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Music Theory, Art and Art History, Political/Social History, Religious History, Religion, and Foreign Languages will be covered in an interactive, Catholicism-centered way as a help to home schooling parents. A complete list of upcoming shows will be available on the show’s website, as well as printouts, materials lists, “further reading” lists, enrichment activities, etc.
Working Title: Inner City Ministry
Synopsis: This weekly reality/special report show profiles inner city ministers and the youth they work with. Each episode follows the story of three or four inner-city youth at various stages of spiritual development through their every-day struggles and triumphs at home, school, and with peers, as well as their time with the youth ministers helping them. The saving and transforming love of God, working through the ministers, is emphasized through a compassionate portrayal of their struggles. (Note: this show may be broadened to include other categories of inner-city residents, such as the homeless, single parents, “project” residents, drug and alcohol addicts, prostitutes, etc., and those who work with those groups.)
Working Title: Martha's Kitchen (as in Martha and Mary)
Synopsis: This daily show, aimed at stay-at-home wives, provides easy recipes, organization and household tips, and reflections on feminine spirituality in the context of home and family. Unlike most other programming, the show will be one aspect of a greater program aimed at helping women grow as people in the often-neglected home environment. Through an online community and local chapters, a sense of friendship will be fostered, with the television program and a monthly newsletter/magazine providing points of commonality. Eventually, complete meal plans, organization systems, book club suggestions, craft projects, daily devotionals, and other helps will be offered through the website.
Working Title: Modesty Makeover
Synopsis: Beautiful does not have to mean scandalous. We've seen the make-over shows that offer contestants everything from a simple makeup and hair session to chemical peels and tooth veneers; they’re a very popular mainstay of the daytime television set. Yet too often, these shows confuse attractive with “sexy,” and advocate low-cut and slightly scandalous apparel in the name of self-esteem and self-expression. Modesty Makeover combats with a fun, style-oriented program that teaches contestants how to present themselves in their best light while retaining feminine dignity. Not heavy-handed nor overly concerned with “rules,” Modesty Makeover entertains while showcasing the allure of modesty--and gives style-conscious viewers an alternative to all that cleavage.
Working Title: Oritorio
Synopsis: This half-hour program, aimed at teens and young adults, features music videos (primarily produced by Oasis) of Catholic/Christian artists’ songs of various styles, with the artists explaining the inspiration behind and the message of the songs. Each episode “headlines” with at least one well-known artist and includes one or two artists in the same genre. The show will, as often as possible, exhibit the work of promising young artists, as well.
Working Title: Glimpses of the Savior
Synopsis: Using a History Channel-like approach, this weekly, one-hour show retells an Old Testament story each episode. Using both interviews with experts and scene dramatization, the shows recreates the cultural and historical underpinnings of Sacred Scripture, and reveals the New Covenant hidden in the Old. (Note: this show may also use visits to Holy Land sites and archeological finds to better illuminate the subject matter.)
Working Title: Living Large
Synopsis: Once upon a time, having ten kids wasn’t all that unusual. No one practiced birth control, and children were considered valuable workers. Now, times have changed. Factors like increased birth control, decreased infant mortality, shifting women’s roles, and the change from viewing children as a household asset to an expense have caused large families to become the exception rather than the rule. But they’re still out there, and many of them are Catholic. How do these families handle transportation, everyday chores, and just feeding all those kids? Is Mom really “barefoot and pregnant” all the time? Are the kids happy? Are the parents run ragged? And what about those large families that home-school? Living Large takes a peek into the lives of Catholic families with eight or more children, answering the question of how they do it, and finding out whether they’d do it again.
Working Title: Preschool Program
Synopsis: This daily half-hour show uses music and interaction to provide a complete early-learning experience. Using a combination of live and puppet characters, each episode teaches a tenant of the Catholic faith (eg: God loves me, Mary is my mother, Jesus wants to talk with me, The Saints are our friends, etc.), while at the same time reinforcing such important early-learning skills as colors, numbers, shapes, and patterns.
Working Title: Catechetical Quiz Show
Synopsis: This weekly hour-long show will pit four middle-schoolers against each other in a series of catechetical quiz games. The games will vary slightly from week to week and will be interactive and action-oriented. The contestant with the most points will be given the opportunity to complete a final challenge in order to win a travel prize, with his or her family, to a popular pilgrimage destination. The writers will make every effort to make each game and episode build around a theme, providing a more comprehensive catechesis than a pure “trivia” game.
Working Title: Undercover Catholic
Synopsis: This weekly scripted program follows a group of neighborhood kids who use everyday objects and electronic gadgets in unique ways in order to accomplish their objectives. Each week, the kids face a task (often a work of charity) that must be accomplished with ingenuity and that introduces them to a new patron saint.
Working Title: Comedy News Program
Synopsis: Comedy news programs, such as the Colbert Report and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, are an increasingly popular way for young adults to stay informed of national and world happenings. Unfortunately, those shows already on the air offer commentary from a decidedly secular standpoint and often actively make of fun of Christian beliefs. Oasis’ comedy news, a daily half-hour program, will provide an alternative for Christian, and especially Catholic, young adults. Each episode will cover top national and international news stories, as well as important happenings at the Vatican, from a Catholic perspective, and will feature a Catholic writer, speaker, musician, or activist as a guest. The show will strive to be genuinely humorous without resorting to sarcasm or biting humor.
Working Title: Missionaries
Synopsis: Missionaries are an important feature of Protestant culture, but they often seem missing in Catholicism. They’re out there, but most average parishioners in the US hear about them once a year, maybe. Missionaries follows the story of four overseas missionaries: a sister, a religious priest, and a lay couple, as they take on the everyday struggles of the people they minister to, and help spread the gospel. Over the course of the season, viewers will get to know each of them, and the people they serve, in this hour-long weekly reality show.
Working Title: Pilgrimage Sites
Synopsis: Around the world, holy sites beckon. Millions of Catholics make pilgrimages to some of the more famous places: Gethsemane, Bethlehem, Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima; but there are millions more who will never make the journey, and there are thousands of holy sites, great and small, around the world. Pilgrimage Sites explores the history and particular piety surrounding places of Christian pilgrimage throughout the world, as well as giving a “front row” tour of the holy places. In this hour-long weekly program, we explore places of pilgrimage for local as well as worldwide Catholics, and delve deeply into the miracles surrounding the sites we visit.
Working Title: Where We Were
Synopsis: This hour-long weekly Discovery or History style program explores hidden Catholic sites, including catacombs, archeological digs of ancient churches and religious communities, house churches in areas subject to persecution, and more. By exploring the significance of the places Catholics have left their mark, we learn more about how our brothers and sisters in other times and places have lived, believed, and worshipped, and we experience and celebrate the continuity of our faith.
