Christian Drama by Warren

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-24T22:43:00.001-06:00

Greetings drama lovers! As I write this, Christmas is almost here. Many of you have already finished your big Christmas program at your church and now it's time to take a break! Well, if your program consisted of a drama that you purchased from our web site... we would love to hear from you and hear all about how things went. Perhaps you even have an extra DVD lying around of the performance.... that you wouldn't mind sending to me. Comments about your Christmas programs are always welcome on our blog as well. You can connect to the blog through the web site at the bottom of the web page. Connect to the web site here: http://www.scriptsbywarren.com

I know this is probably late for Christmas, but I do want to give my customers a gift this year. This is my way of inviting you back to the site, so you can see the changes and give your feedback as to what you think. We've had a big overhaul in November, changing our shopping cart and adding a chat. Now, if you visit the site and have a question, you can just click on the chat and send your question. If I am online, I might answer right away, and even chat with you for awhile. Along with the changes, I am also offering some discounts. These discounts will be good through the month of January. Perhaps you have not looked ahead to Easter yet. Or if you are really on the ball, you might want to check out the Christmas plays and get ready for next year!

I also want to know who is reading my blog. As we did last year, we have a Christmas present for you. Just select a script for $5 or $10 and send us an email asking for it. Just say you are collecting your Christmas present and I'll know you read the blog! It's that simple!

And remember, anytime, if you can't find what you are looking for, don't forget that we can write a custom script to fit your needs. It might cost you a bit more, but our rates are very reasonable. This way you can have input and perhaps get exactly what you are looking for. Meanwhile.... we hope and pray that you have had a wonderful Christmas and that God will bless you dramatically in the new year!

Grace to you... Warren

The Sager New Saga 2011

2011-12-24T22:39:00.002-06:00

What’s new? Our address for one thing!
We moved on June 10th to a smaller house across town.

It is 500 sq ft smaller than our other house,

which finally sold after a year on the market. (Thanks, George!)
We are now only 10 mins away from the Kilgours.
All our bedrooms are downstairs
& my office & the TV room is upstairs.
(which we nicknamed the man cave because I practically live there)

What else is new? My web site.
Check it out: www.scriptsbywarren.com
We got a new look this year and then we got a new
shopping cart and then we got a new host and server.
It was not without difficulty and a very trying two weeks
with the site broken in early Nov. when sales are usually high.
I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes, but I kept thinking
it would be fixed today... as the days added on.
I even put Sharyn to work as we uploaded
all of our products to the new site.
Now that it is finished, our new web guy
(from Romania) has added a chat.
That means that if I am online, customers can
chat with me live to ask questions. It is really cool.
I have to admit I love looking at it,
as it tells how many are on the site,
what country they are from, what key words they used,
what pages they are looking at, etc.
I was amazed to see how many different countries appear.
People all over the world are logging on to my site.
I have seen 70 different countries in the past few weeks.
Now if only they were all buying scripts!
(Sales have been lower in recent years.)

Let’s see... more new stuff:
A Christian run community theater company.
We did not do any drama at Belle Aire this year.
It’s just too costly. That is hard for me, as I love to do it.
I’m writing new plays all the time and it is
so much fun to get to see some of them produced.
But something else interesting happened this year,
as I learned about a new theater company in town
that was started by Christians: Consider This Productions.
They focus on family entertainment and
actually do some editing of scripts to make them that way.
We saw a show last year and were impressed,
so I contacted them and found myself playing
Mr. Kirby in “You Can’t Take It With You”.
It was so much fun and I really enjoyed making new friends.
That was followed immediately with
“Flowers for Algernon” with an even larger role.
I was in this play in high school,
so it was fun to visit this story again.
Then I was asked to be the assistant director for
“Steel Magnolias”, and since the director (Barry)
was very ill, I ended up covering for him for most of the run.
It was another great show and we got
wonderful reviews and comments...
some saying it was the best thing that
they had seen at the Swan thus far.
We are a struggling theater company and have difficulty
paying rent and keeping our heads above water.
Here’s hoping for a good 2012 season.
Coming soon to
the Swan Performing Arts Center in Murfreesboro:
“The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis.
Who knew that the director traditionally plays Aslan?
Guess who’s co-directing? I’ll have to work on my roar.

Also new:
We changed our business name to Sager Studios
so we could include Lessons by Sharyn.
She is now teaching piano again. So far, four students...
3 of whom are Kilgour kids. (Ruthie, Julie and Billy)
She is also teaching Ruthie (17) cooking and Abbie (15) sewing.
On Thursday nights, the Kilgours join us for the meal
that was cooked by Sharyn and Ruthie.
Always fun hanging out with them. Recently, we had all five kids
for 3 days while Stu and Lisa went on an anniversary trip.
Last summer, I was invited along on an overnight
road trip to St. Louis with Stu and Ruthie, Abbie and Julie.
We had a great time. All five of us crammed into
a tiny car and rode to the top of the arch.

More new stuff: I have made new friends this year
through a bible study group I have joined.
Always great to have brothers and sisters
who will provide fellowship and prayers and support.
But not new... is the ongoing friendship with Stu...
we’ve known each other for 25 years now.
His help has been invaluable after we moved...
so many things to fix, build or just plain work on.
And then hopefully, some bro time in the man cave.

Not new: Is the fact that Sharyn is still playing piano
for the BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) meetings.
She loves doing that and she loves playing in the orchestra
at our church, Belle Aire Baptist. I enjoy singing in the choir.
Music is one of the most wonderful things in life.

Also not new... would be the fact that the Ormans came to visit.
They come every year and it is always a nice time.
This year, there was a family reunion on Carol’s side
and that meant that Steve and Carol
needed to stay with us in our new home.
That’s new. They don’t usually stay here.
Mitch, Kevin and Justin were here, too...
and we just scattered them all around.

Another new thing?
The fact that this saga is less creative than in the past.
Perhaps that’s debatable. But it’s not new to wish you all
a very, merry Christmas and a wonderful NEW Year!
Ha! Another new thing! I’m on a roll!

We pray that your love for Jesus would be
fresh and new this year as you celebrate His birth!

WITH LOVE... WARREN & SHARYN SAGER

Courageous

2011-10-06T12:15:00.002-06:00

Kudos to Sherwood Pictures for getting better with each new production! We saw Courageous on opening day at the $5 matinee and even though I heard it was good, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good. I have enjoyed all of their films to an extent, but there have always been something in the film that seemed poorly done. (Whether it was the acting, the writing, or just the obvious low budget, that kind of stood out.) This time, I didn't think about that stuff. They have obviously made some money on the last couple of films and were able to put more into this one. I was caught up in the story, the action and they even did a good job with humor. In fact, there were a couple of times that I was laughing, only to be crying just a few moments later. There were no big name stars in this film, and that didn't matter... because the story was what mattered and it was told very well. The scene where the gospel was shared was not overly preachy and didn't go on too long. At the end, I was starting to wonder where they were going, when the men of the church began to react. I have heard that this has happened even in theaters. That would have been exciting to see, as it certainly didn't happen in ours. I don't think our theater was even 50% filled. I'm not a father, so there was not a conviction upon me to be a better one... but it did make me want to be a better husband and a better Christian. Our church has been pushing this film for weeks and even holding bible studies, and now I see why. Good job guys. I recommend this movie.

Scripts By Warren got a face lift!

2011-08-30T15:24:00.004-06:00

Christmas is just around the corner! Do you have your dramatic production all picked out for this year? Or perhaps you are looking for something to do in the Spring... Easter... or just some kind of fun drama that isn’t seasonal. Don’t forget to check out Scripts By Warren to see if we can supply you with the play or skit that you are looking for. We have over 250 scripts covering lots of topics, holidays, themes, and even size: from very short skits to full length dramas and comedies.

We have a whole new look! New site... new pages... new shopping cart. Come and see the new site and see what new scripts have been added since the last time you were there. You can still pay by credit card, but now the transaction will be processed by PayPal. If you have a PayPal account, you may choose to use your account to send payment, or log in as a guest and just use your credit card. Once you have placed your order, an email is sent to you with a download link to retrieve your script/scripts.

As usual, I am adding a special deal for those who receive and actually take the time to read my blog. If you spend at least $25, then you may double your order! Whatever amount that you spend that is $25 or higher, you may ask for free scripts totaling that same amount. Just send an email after your purchase and ask for your free scripts that equals the amount that you spent. I will know from your request that you have read this blog.

I’d also like any feedback that you may have about the new site. How does it look? How easy was it to shop and find what you were looking for? How was the checkout process? Any kind of feedback would be very helpful and appreciated. Thank you for your business and being a customer or fan of our web site and scripts. Click here to visit http://www.scriptsbywarren.com

May God bless your ministry dramatically!

Warren Sager

Does a Facebook page really help?

2011-08-11T12:22:00.002-06:00

I'm probably not going to be able to answer that question, at least until I see some results. But the process of learning about how a social network site can help my business is very interesting. A friend was suggesting that I contact my Facebook friends who have purchased and/or produced some of my scripts and have them write comments on my Scripts By Warren Facebook page. He started out by posting something and this is what he wrote:

Peter Costello
If you need quality Christian themed scripts for plays or skits, "Scripts by Warren" is where you want to begin your search. Warren Sager has written over 250 works that you can choose from, or if you have an idea that needs the skills of a professional scriptwriter to bring it to life, contact Warren. You won't be disappointed.

That was cool, and then people began to respond and I decided I would post them here for anyone who wants to read them. It's a good read, but then, I'm biased. It really makes me look and sound good and it ain't bad for my ego, either. So, if you want to check them out, here are some more of the posts:

Bill Rodebaugh
Warren is a fantastic script writer with a real knack for everyday conversations in his writings and script stories which he develops with such an easy going flow in his plays. Warren can write comedies, dramas, religious themes, fantasies, short stories, historical biographies, and anything that a customer requests. It has been a joy for our church to have the privilege to perform Warren's plays and an equally wonderful joy for me to act together with Warren, who is equally talented as an actor and director as he is as a playwright. Sincerely and with real admiration for Warren Sager.......I salute him: By Bill Rodebaugh

Susan Willow Moonbeam Cook
‎Warren Sager was so great and helpful about getting a script to us overseas for our home school group, he really saved the day for me! His site is always the first I go to whenever I need something!

Michael D Bender
We have our Christmas Drama scripts "taylor made" by Warren. We tell him how many actors, what size each part is to be, general idea of the plot, set, etc. He is very flexible in getting us what we desire. Another thing is that Warren's scripts are written with real life circumsatnce in view so are very relevant!

Michael D Bender
‎"One Shining Moment" is a powerful drama, a tear jerker with a message for all families. While it is not written in the script we had a casket rolled to the front of the auditorium while a PP was done on the person that just passed away. Well written!

Michael D Bender
‎"Life, Death and 2 Strips of Bacon" is another powerful drama that tugs at your heart and mixed with some humor. Evangelistic and challenges the believer to stand for Christ!

Michael D Bender
‎"Fixing Christmas" demands an awesome set! We had the front of a 57 chevy on stage and a man's garage! This was one of our more effective Christmas dramas, granted because our people worked hard to get people out but also becuase it had a powerful evangelistic message and one for believers who are dealing the loss of loved ones. It is greatly balanced with some humor as well.

Mark Bowman
Warren Sager is not only a talented actor, but a gifted writer. He uses his faith in God to lead him through his writing bringing Jesus to those who may not know Him yet. His love to share the gospel and messages from his heart in a non-forceful enjoyable way comes through such talented writing.

Mark Bowman
I have had the honor of performing in a couple of plays Warren has written (Crossing The River; Life, Death & Two Strips of Bacon), both to standing room only crowds. So all you who want to do a great production with a small budget and big hearts you need to check out http://www.scriptsbywarren.com/

Aaron Allen
Warren Sager is a very talented writer whose script ESTHER'S SECRET will be produced by us as a movie soon, he is currently polishing a screenplay version. The play can be found at his site www.scriptsbywarren.com with so many other scripts as well he has written, maybe more we would one day produce into a movie.. Check out Warren's site anytime!

Andy Sherlin
Warren Sager has taken an iconic story from history and without a doubt has created a masterpiece of modern art. "The Hiding Place" tells the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her walk with God during the Jewish Holocaust. I was honored to play a role in this presentation that was brought to life by Warren. I challenge anyone to find a more compelling script than this great piece of work.

Loida Somolinos
I have had the opportunity to read and translate some of the scriptsbywarren and I have really enjoyed their message. I was touched by “Children of Bethlehem” not only because is very sweet but because I thought at Jesus birth from another perspective. We think we know certain passages of the Bible but suddenly we are offered another view and this is why he impacted me with this script. I love Christian dramas, I think they are a powerful tool for evangelism, and since I was a child I have been very interested in this area. I have read, translated, corrected and written hundreds of them and what I have seen different at warren’s page is variety: he approaches to certain themes from a Christian point of view that is different from other playwrights: Historical scripts, biographies, ecc. I hope you enjoy performing his dramas and sharing God’s kingdom with your work. God bless you.

Dennis Loewer
We have performed Johnny Unforgettable, Life, Death, and Two Strips of Bacon and Survival in our Community Theatre over the past couple years and have been extremely pleased with Warren's talents! His scripts are life applicable and God Glorifying!! Warren has provided much insight into his writings as well. As an actor, director, and producer, it's a Blessing to know Warren's scripts translate easily to stage productions!

Kimberly Hagist Rolling
Imagine a detective from the noir era falling on his knees to accept Christ! "Johnny Unforgettable" has it all: villains, thugs, mystery, suspense, and the plan of Salvation all wrapped into one! This was a joy to perform!

Kimberly Hagist Rolling
Sometimes life can be painful. In "Life, Death and Two Stripes of Bacon" find out how a small town pulls together to deal with a sudden tragedy that touches everyone. The Gospel is clearly laid out. This is an emotional, but beautifully, written play. We enjoyed the diverse cast and how they were united together.

Kimberly Hagist Rolling
Are you ready? Find out how a group of people, thrown together by the rapture, learn to survive. “Survival” takes a look at the different reactions to the disappearances. There are some who seek the truth and some who turn their backs on it. The plan of Salvation is clearly delivered. This play was a blessing to perform and sparked some deep discussions among the cast.

My next posting will probably be about the new face lift that my site is getting! We'll not only have new pages to look at, but the whole shopping cart and payment area is getting completely overhauled. Hopefully... this will be happening soon!

~Warren

10th Anniversary of Scripts By Warren

2011-04-12T14:18:00.004-06:00

Scriptsbywarren.com is ten years old this month! If you browse the web site, you will notice that many scripts have been discounted. This is our way of celebrating our ten years online by adding savings to our customers.

The ten year story: In April of 2001, I paid a young man in my church (Jeremiah Jacks) $50 to build me a web site. We started with just 8 scripts that I had written over the years. Nothing happened for awhile and we wondered just how this would work or if it would work. After a month or so, I was contacted by a young man in Australia who needed a script for a project he was doing with a group of kids. I was compelled to write a script for him for free. I felt that this would be a good way to start my business, to give my first fruits back to God. So, after writing "Rhythm and Grace" for him, I posted it on my site as a free script and it has been free ever since. We did eventually sell a few scripts by the end of 2001 and I think we took in about $70. By the end of 2002, that total rose to $3000. The main reason for this, I believe was the addition of custom script writing.

This came to me in the shower one morning. The scripts that I had written and put on my web site were all written with people in mind at my church. The casting and size and everything about it, matched the situation I had and the need I had in our particular small congregation. I realized that people were looking for something that would fit their own particular needs. How would they make my scripts work for them? So, I got on the site and wrote that I could custom write to fit the needs of my customers. If they told me how many actors they had, what genders and ages and even an idea about the story... I could write it to fit their situation. In January of 2002, I wrote "Poor Richard", a 'who-done-it' mystery based on The Good Samaritan. It was what the customer wanted and then it ended up being my most popular script for the next few years.

Not long after that, I was contacted by a church in NC, and eventually began emailing with the pastor about a script that he wanted. We also emailed personal things and ended up becoming very good friends and not only did I write several script for him, we even visited them on vacation and they came to see us and I traveled there a few years ago to star in a production with him at his church, "How to Make the Mrs. Happy". It was great fun. So, friendships have been formed and relationships, business and personal. It has been a great ten years! Many customers have contacted me repeatedly to write for them over and over again. Whether it is a new Christmas play each year, or re-writing an annual Easter production year after year, it has been great to have these opportunities. I have also enjoyed a co-writer many times, Stu Kilgour, my best friend, who has helped me with character development, story ideas, humor and just plain old support for years in my work.

Scripts have been sold in many countries.... translated into many languages and I just sit back and marvel at God's goodness and blessings to make all of this happen. My cousin, who is a missionary in Kigali Rwanda, emailed me and said that his kids came home from school with scripts to learn for a play they were doing. They said... "look, Dad, the author has the same last name as us." I knew that someone there had recently bought a script, but I had no idea that his family were even living there.

We continued to climb year after year, changing the site as it needed. Jonathan McIntire helped me with a new site in 2003 and then Miki Lekic built the latest one in 2005. You can find him at http://www.studio11.com/. Now on it's fourth face lift, we are seeing a decline in sales. Probably the economy is effecting us, and we just keep hanging in there and plugging on. I lowered some of my rates a bit to help people out and hopefully bring more business to us. When we started, I was still working full time at the USPS, but in 2004, I was offered an early out retirement that I quickly grabbed. We sold our home in Southern California and moved to Tennessee and now we have our small retirement and the web site. God is always good and we praise Him for all that He has done and is continuing to do.

In Him,

Warren Sager

My First Ezine article

2011-01-21T01:21:00.002-06:00

I recently wrote an article and submitted it to www.ezinearticles.com. I called it:

"Find the Christian Play that's Right for Your Church or School"

Here it is:

As you begin your search for the best Christian play, think about a few things to help you in your journey.

1. Don't purchase the first thing you see. You can spend a lot of money on church dramas and then not be happy with the results. Take a little time and look over a lot of scripts and read the information about them. Sometimes, an excerpt is available to read that will give you an idea of the play's content. Contact the seller/author and find out if there is a "read only" copy of the script that you can get.

2. Think about who your actors are going to be. Especially if you attend a small church, you may be limited in your cast. Look at the casting needs of a script before you purchase it. The cast may be too large, and you would not be able to find enough people to cover all the parts. Do you know that you will have someone to play your leads? You might want to call an interest meeting and find out who really wants to be a part of this. Once you have your group, then you can look for a script that matches your situation.

3. Make sure the script is the proper length. How long do you want your program to last? An hour? An hour and a half? Are you going to use music? Remember that each song will add an additional 3-5 minutes. If the information about the script does not give a clear indication as to the length, you may want to contact the seller/author and ask questions. Find out if you can add or subtract from the script.

4. How much editing do you want to do? Quite often, authors of Christian scripts will allow you to make changes to the script. Perhaps you need to change the gender of a character, or add another character because someone's little sister suddenly wants a part. Find out if you can get permission from the author to make changes. This can help you determine if that script is going to work for you or not.

5. What kind of message to you want to convey? Is this an evangelical outreach? Do you want the gospel clearly shared in your play? You may have to ask questions about these things before making your decision. Sometimes, you just want to entertain your audience and not preach at them. Perhaps your pastor is going to speak at the end, and you don't need a strong message during the play. Find out what the message in the play is. If you're looking for a holiday script, you may want to make sure that you get a Christian Christmas play, that actually shares the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps this is going to be a dinner theater, and you want something fun and lighthearted for your audience.

6. What are all the costs involved? Do you have to pay for every single script? Are you allowed to make copies? Is there a fee for each performance? Are there royalty fees, like a percentage of the box office? Sometimes your limited budget can help you determine if this is the right script for you. You may have to buy things for your set and costumes, so you might not want to spend your entire budget on the script.

7. Is God speaking to your heart? I recommend praying as you begin your search and see if the Lord speaks to your heart or your spirit about a particular play. Be sensitive to His leading and see if He doesn't direct you to the right script to meet your needs. Perhaps you may want to have a script custom written that would fit you perfectly.

Warren Sager
Scripts By Warren
http://www.scriptsbywarren.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Warren_Sager

End of the year

2010-12-31T15:22:00.003-06:00

As 2010 comes to a close I have been looking back and trying to figure out what this year was all about. There have been good things this year. There have been new scripts written. The web site got an upgrade. There have been new friends and new connections made and we move forward into a new year.

What writing I did this year was fun, and I really enjoy that. There are some things that I am working on (even if only in my head right now) for the future. I'm being interviewed also. That is new. I've had one interview and we're going to do it over next week. This will hopefully be available to listen to on our site, as well as the site of the interviewer. It's been fun.

But aside from the writing and sales... this has been a good year for some very special reasons: A year ago in October, my best friend moved here from CA. He is married to my wife's niece and they have five great kids. They live across town (and it takes us 25 mins to drive over there) which is so much better than living across the country. My wife started teaching some of the kids cooking this year and this past week they started on piano. We put our house on the market for six months in hopes of moving closer to them and that hasn't happened yet. But having them close and spending time with them is always a great joy. Stu has always been the guy I go to for ideas on scripts. Especially if I need some humor. He often has really good ideas and many of my plots, titles or character ideas have come from him. Titles: "Life, Death and Two Strips of Bacon", "Johnny Unforgettable" and "The Redemption Trail"; Characters: "Johnny Howland", "Velma, the old woman next door", "Sir Virtue". Plots: The story of Sir Virtue, the plot of "The Journey" being based on 2 Peter chapter 1, and many subplots from a variety of projects. We've been friends for 24 years and back in the early days, we spent a lot of time writing puppet scripts and doing puppet shows for the kids at church. We may have had big dreams back then of a huge puppet ministry... and perhaps that never materialized as I had hoped. But we never dreamed that we would be living in Tennessee and that I would be retired early and working as a playwright, full time. After living apart for five years... it has been great having him close by again. For that, I am grateful and it has made this year a blessing from God.

Finding Peace

2010-12-13T13:21:00.003-06:00

Another church production behind me. This year, I put the word out that if anyone wants to direct, to let me know... and Kim Powers stepped up. She has been my assistant director a few times and she has also worked a lot in community theater. With her at the helm this time, I was able to enjoy just doing some acting. We kept the cast small this time, and that was mainly because we knew that there were only four microphones that we could wear. In the past few years, we have hidden mics around the stage to make the stage "hot" and hoped it would pick up everyone. Well, I could always hear everything from the tech booth, but there were always folks who said they could not hear. Especially the older folks who have a hard time hearing anyway. I always felt bad the people take the time to come see a play and then can't hear it or aren't able to follow the story. So, this year, we wanted to make sure we had mics that we could wear.

Kyle Schrage and I were looking over some scripts as possibilities and he really liked Finding Peace. The only problem was that it really only had two characters and was about a half hour long. (I wrote this for Bill Rodebaugh and Landmark Baptist in Greenville, NC to go along with a choir cantata a few years ago) Kim also liked the script, so I said that I would build it up to a full length play. We called an interest meeting and from the folks who came (and a few others who approached us) we had our cast. I wrote in just a few more characters to build up the story. So, we had a cast of nine and never more than four people on stage at one time, so we could always be wearing microphones. There were some quick mic changes between scenes to make that work. (a good place to play some music while the audience sits in the dark, waiting.)

One scene that was so important to get just right, was the conversion scene of the main character. We re-wrote that scene a few times before we were happy with it. We worked hard for the past several weeks on the play and performed it twice, on Dec. 10 and 12. Every year, someone asks me why we do it twice. Several reasons, I guess... but the main one is that the cast works so hard for so long that it seems a shame to only do it once. Also, it gives people a choice, and often there are other conflicts at Christmas time and this allows people to see it when they might not have been able to otherwise. And in this case... we actually did better the first night than we did the second. It was nice to know that we could do it so well, at least once. The audience responded very well both times. Of course, the videographer was there for the second performance, so we will have the dropped lines, missed light cue, and shut off mic... instead of the perfect run of the first night.

This play was quite different from what we have done in the past. A lot more serious and intense. We even had some controversy building up before the play that some scenes of a fighting couple might be too intense for young children. We just put it out there, because we didn't want someone to say something afterwards... but as it turned out, we didn't need to say anything and it was fine. I think our biggest obstacle was the weather. A snow storm blew in on Sunday morning and I think that kept a lot of folks at home. There were even questions as to whether the play would go on. We had about 100 in attendance on Friday night, which is low for our first night, and a few hundred on Sunday night... also low. But the positive and encouraging comments from folks afterward were very cool. The Lord blessed again, as He always does.

If you and your church or school has a story to share about your recent production, please feel free to post it. We would all love to read about how things are going in Christian drama around the world.

Merry Christmas

2010-11-30T00:56:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody. I know I need to start blogging more often... but it is just a habit that I have not been working on lately. I think if there were others reading and commenting, then that would surely motivate me. I titled this blog "Merry Christmas", not because this is my last post till then, but because I just sent out my "Christmas newsletter" to all my customers and members of my web site newsletter list. For all of you who are members, then you should have received the email newsletter and if you read it, then you know about the special surprise that is there for you. I hope you took advantage of that. For the rest of you... well, if you really want to know what the surprise was... then perhaps you should go to the site and sign up!! I will try to send out a copy of the newsletter to anyone who signs up this month. (December, 2010)

In the newsletter I asked folks to come to the blog and comment about the productions that they are doing currently. I would love to hear about what plays you are doing, and when you are doing them and how things are going during the production. I have a few folks on facebook who are keeping me informed on their latest productions... but this is another place where we can discuss that. Perhaps you have questions and if I don't have the answer, perhaps someone else does. I also said that I would be blogging about our most recent production at our church.

I attend Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN. This Christmas, our annual play is entitled, "Finding Peace" and we will be doing it in two weeks. The dates are Dec 10 at 7 PM and Dec 12 at 6 PM. Free admission. The play is one of mine that we have updated and reworked for this performance. I am not directing this time, but a lady who has assisted me a great deal over the past few years in our productions: Kim Powers. I have a part in the play and we are in the crunch period now, adding a lot of rehearsals over the next couple of weeks to polish it up and make it good. I think things are going well. The story is about a couple whose marriage is falling apart and the only One who can patch it up is the One we celebrate at Christmas. I play a Christian friend who clashes with the main character when I learn that he does not like the fact that his daughter has been coming to church with my family. The teenage girl is the key character that finally brings this broken family to the Lord and we see their greatest need being met. Rehearsals are getting exciting. Emotions are high and I feel privileged to be acting with these folks. The lead actor is doing such a good job and his emotions in the scene we have is amazing. I hope I can hold it together! If you live near us, I hope you can come to see it.

Please post your comments about your productions and we can all share together in this fantastic ministry of sharing the gospel in such a unique way!

New Look on web site

2010-10-23T08:28:00.002-06:00

It has been a tough year. Sales down all year and we just figure it has to do with the bad economy. Funny how the bills seem to keep getting higher even though the income is lower. Makes things really interesting. We just pray a lot and try to trust in the Lord. Somehow we manage.

One thing we needed to do this year was get an upgrade on the web site. The site is five years old as of November and after talking to our webmaster, Miki, at Studio 11 Productions, we got the job done this past week. He changed a lot of the back side and put in the necessary upgrades and only made slight changes to the look itself. The pages are now wider... to fit better on most computer screens that are now wider. The categories on the left side have been divided up between "site and store" and I think it is easy to navigate through them. We also tried out a new font. He gave me a ton to choose from and I liked the idea of the look of an old typewriter. When I wrote scripts back in the 80's, that is exactly what they looked like. He thought my choice looked really cool. Come and take a look and let me know what you think.

Trying to keep up with everything that is changing in the internet and media world is a challenge. I have buttons on the home page that will take you to your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social network accounts. I have accounts in most, but not always active or really understanding how to make them work for me. I also have LinkedIn, and I have gone on all four to announce the site's new look. I know I need to blog more... this is my first posting in months! YouTube is also a useful tool with video. I do have some video from our church's productions and whenever a client sends one of their productions on DVD. My problem is being able to rip the DVD and get it into a program where I can edit it and then load that short version on YouTube so I can play it on the site. I have one so far.

Also... SEO (search engine optimization) is something that I need to learn. Okay, I've cheated all these years by using a tool called WebPosition, where it was set up to automatically submit to tons of search engines every week. I think it served me well and I usually ended up on the first page of most engines with most of my key words. Well, they changed their program, no longer do the searches that way, and now you have to pay them a monthly fee for their online service and they only search 3 main engines. It is a huge financial increase that we just can't see us doing, so I'm needing to learn how to go to the different engines to submit manually. I confess that I really only know how to do things that I have been shown and then do repeatedly. Is there a class I can take to learn what I need to learn? Why can't I rip my entire DVD's? Portions of them never seem to come out. I've been wanting to show last Christmas's play on Facebook since, well... last Christmas! Maybe it's time to post a job request on Facebook and see if one of my 460 friends would like to come to my house and teach me how to get things done. Hmmm. Sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if it is in the budget.

Trying to help out in this economy

2010-07-27T14:17:00.002-06:00

Time for Summer Specials. Sales are typically slow in the early summer months and this is a good time to bring folks back to the site by offering discounts. For the months of July and August, I have discounted a bunch of the Christmas scripts. Some are marked down by $10 and some by $5. This gives the customers a savings of 20-25% in some cases. I have also lowered my rates for custom script writing for people who want to have a script written for them specifically to meet their needs. I can usually write to fit any theme.... any cast... whatever the specific needs are.

I don't send out newsletters too often, but I have recently sent out a newsletter to all my customers with news about the summer specials as well as a special offer to those who are getting the newsletter. I am now using a company called "Vertical Response" where I do have to pay to send out a mass mailing. This has become necessary as Comcast will shut me down if I try to send out more than a few hundred at a time... and Google will allow me to send 500, but I have nearly 1900 email addresses, so I pay a little bit and let VR do it for me. If I get a couple of sales... that will usually make up for the cost of the mailing. They also give a report about how many are opened and how many click through to the site, etc. Looking at those stats... not so sure how good it is. Only 20% of them have been opened... and only 2% click through. July is coming to a close and so far, no one has taken me up on my special offer in the newsletter, but we have had a few sales that were the discounted scripts.

On a personal note... we have our home on the market and hope we can sell soon and move across town so we can be closer to family that has recently moved here from CA. We did not do a summer play at the church this year, but plans are under way to decide what kind of drama we will be doing for Christmas.

Not too many changes have been made to the site in recent months but I have added some new scripts. It is getting to be time for a major upgrade to the site, but we are still waiting to see when this can be done. Perhaps that will be a reason to send out another newsletter.... especially if we have a new look. I'm also working on adding video to the site. Uploading links to YouTube is actually quite easy... but getting my videos into a file that will upload is the challenge. I did manage a clip from "The Hiding Place" which you can watch if you go to the excerpt for that script. This is taken from a production we did at our church a few years ago. It was a huge success and the video turned out great! Still working on getting some others done. My problem is a lack of skills in that area. I needed to have some kids that would be about the right age now to really know how to do things. They seem to have a knack for this.... at least more than I do at 52. LOL.

I have managed to figure out Facebook and have built up a large number of friends. I have an account for the web site also, with about 85 fans. I do have a Twitter account for me and for the web site... but not really mastering it yet. MySpace is older and I rarely check it and LinkedIn is growing slowly. I'm trying. This is my first blog entry in about six months.

December Discounts at Scripts By Warren

2009-12-01T13:46:00.001-06:00

Greetings and Merry Christmas from your friends at Scripts By Warren web site! We want to extend our best to all of you who have been our customers in the past and offer you some special savings as we close up 2009.

I’m sure that many of you are right in the middle of putting together your Christmas production. So am I. It is such a hectic time and often stressful; but at the same time, quite wonderful, if we are able to sit back and enjoy what’s happening and soak in all of the real meaning behind what we do. As a special Christmas present to you, we would like to offer you some savings this month on your script purchases for the coming year, or even perhaps, at the last minute. If you visit the site: www.scriptsbywarren.com
you will find a great number of our scripts have been discounted for this month only. You can shop for your Easter production, or a spring or summer production, or even get an early start on next Christmas. Remember, the discounts will end on Dec. 31st.

As a special bonus offer, for any of you who have taken the time to read our blog, we are offering you a free script/scripts at a value up to $25 for any purchase of $50 or more. All you have to do is make your purchase and once you have done that, just send me an email and request your free script/scripts. Tell me which one/ones you would like, and I will email them back to you as an attachment.

Wait! There’s more! (Do I sound like an infomercial?) We are also giving away a $5 script of your choice just for the asking! There is no purchase necessary! Just visit our site and scroll through the skits and select one and let me know which one you want and I will email it to you. Don’t click on “add to cart” unless you are prepared to pay. Just our way of saying , “Thank you, and Merry Christmas!”

My wife and I do try to remember to pray for all of you who are doing our plays throughout the year, but especially at Christmas time... that God will bless your efforts and your production in a mighty way, and that lost ones will find the Savior as a result!

God Bless you all...

Warren Sager

Scripts by Warren
warren@scriptsbywarren.com
www.scriptsbywarren.com

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:46:00.002-06:00

It's been over five weeks since the tornado hit and much clean up has been done. We only recently were able to get into some of the areas hit and there are many vacant lots now where houses were completely destroyed and the area cleared. Many have already begun to rebuild. Today, we saw a few houses that are well underway to being rebuilt or repaired. But still, there were a lot of homes that have yet to be touched. These pix were taken today, so we can only imagine how much worse it looked on April 10th. I am not posting them all, but will probably add them to my facebook photos. This is only a very few images. Imagine this repeated over and over a hundred times.

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:44:00.000-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:36:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:35:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:34:00.002-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:33:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:32:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:31:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:30:00.001-06:00

Tornado damage

2009-05-19T15:19:00.004-06:00

The Good Friday Tornado

2009-05-19T13:48:00.002-06:00

The tornado story:

On Good Friday, we left with a group of seniors from our church on a road trip down to Columbus, MS to see a church's production of Living Pictures, an Easter production that they put on every year. The teacher of the class used to go to that church, and he wanted us to come because of my interest in church drama. Sharyn and I were the youngest in the group out of about 25 people. The church rented two vans and we were sitting in the back of one of them. We stopped in Decatur, AL for lunch at Cracker Barrel and as we continued on south, we began to hear reports of a tornado touching down in Murfreesboro. The first thing we heard was that it was seen at the intersection of Memorial and DeJarnette. Well, that is right where our bank is, the Kroger that we shop at all the time and the post office. The lady sitting in front of us (Martha) lives off of DeJarnette just a ways from there.

Everyone was on their cells trying to find what information they could and reports began to come in... some of them not true. The tornado touched down in the Blackman community (the area west of the interstate) and we heard that 12 people were killed. That wasn't true. Perhaps 12 were injured. We also heard that it hit certain businesses and finally one report said that Martha's daughter's house got hit. They just live off of Haynes, and we drive by their place all the time. Don and Jennifer both sing in the choir and are excellent soloists. They have three boys.

We stopped at a gas station and made a lot of calls and sat out a hail storm. After much talk, we decided to turn around and head for home. Too many were concerned about their homes or their families and we figured they would not enjoy the program that night. Some were unable to reach family members. Sharyn and I told them that we would go along with the majority, we could do either. The next problem was for us to figure out how to get back. We heard reports that the I-65 was having heavy storms, so we decided not to return the way we came. We also heard that tractor trailers were overturned on the I-840 and traffic was backed up and also that the tornado had crossed the I-24 and it was now closed. So we took back roads and went a round about way which took longer.

My problem was that I never program people's numbers in my cell... so we didn't have anyone to call. I could only call the numbers that I knew by heart, so I called my friend, David, and got his machine and Sharyn did finally find our neighbor's number and she also was not home. This was sounding bad enough that we figured it would be on national news and I knew that my family would hear this and begin to worry. I mean, some of them will call even when the storms are a couple of counties over. I knew my sister's number by heart, so I called and got her husband. I told him that there were tornadoes in Murfreesboro and we were fine, and that we were in AL and on our way back home. I asked if he could spread the word for us. He called Sharyn's brother at the church and that was where my sister was and she learned of it. I also called my best friend, Stu. We didn't get back to the church till nearly dark, and folks were there to meet us and we heard how badly the one family's house was damaged. Jennifer and three boys got into a closet with pillows and felt it hit their home. When they came out... the dining room table was still sitting where it was and all the dishes in the hutch were unbroken and not moved... but the whole upstairs was gone and the rest of the house torn apart. The brand new two story office building on Thompson was demolished. Anyone who has driven up Thompson Lane to our house would have seen that building, and you can also see it from the greenway by the river. There was a lot of damage to the businesses in that area right there.

We thought it would be a good idea to drive by our friends' place on our way home. They were in TX and we had their keys, so we went over there and everything seemed fine, we could even see lights on outside. We didn't go by way of Osborne, since we heard that it had been hit, too. So, we drove up to Compton and quickly learned that there was much damage there and we had to drive very slowly through that area where we could see several houses severely damaged and many with minor damages. A mother and baby who were killed were at the intersection of Haynes and Sulpher Springs. (an area that we drive through a lot) Her husband was hurt badly. A neighbor across the street said she watched from her window and saw the tornado hit the house across the street. (how stupid is that?? looking out the window instead of hiding where you can be safe!) The folks we sit with every Sunday live just a few blocks from there and they only had minor damage to the roof... with just shingles missing. Also near there were other friends, including our pastor, who were not harmed at all. We heard later that at least 60 families from our church had damage and at least 3 families had their homes totaled. I knew two of them, but not the third.

We reached our home around 7 PM and found the power out in our area. There was no damage and the nearest seemed to be about 2 or 3 miles away. I tried a few neighbors to try to gather information, but no one seemed to be home. David finally called me back and said he had been at the one house all afternoon trying to help them clean up. The church's website told how to get involved to help out and the report was that thousands of people (perhaps mostly from churches) were in the hit areas and helping clear debris and cut up trees. It didn't take us long to determine that we needed to get our food out of the fridge and some place cold. David offered their house to us and said he could bring over some coolers....but they were heading out to a wedding and would not be there. We said we had keys to our friends' place and we knew that they had power, so we were heading back over there. We loaded up four coolers with food and ice and grabbed a few clothes and things and went over there. We finally got to watch some TV and see what was going on and learned about how bad everything was. I called Stu again and talked for awhile and called our friends in Texas to tell them we were using their house and that it was fine. They were very gracious about us using it. It was soon late, so we didn't make any more calls and Stu had suggested that I try my home phone to see if the machine picked up. That would indicate the power was on. So, I called and I heard the machine, so I told Sharyn we have power. We decided to leave the food and just go home to check things out. When we got home, there was still no power. That baffled me, but I had called my phone from AL and got the machine then, too. We didn't learn till the next day why this was happening. We crawled into our own beds and went to sleep. We were exhausted since the night before, a very loud storm in the middle of the night had messed up our sleep, so I think I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep tops on Thursday night.

I slept in and probably got about nine hours that night. We soon headed back over to the other house to figure out what we were going to do next. We talked about finding out how we could be out helping people. I stopped at Kyle's house (the friends of ours in our neighborhood who were on Super Nanny last year - he is going to direct one of my plays at the church over the next couple of months) to ask if he could let us know if the power comes back on. They had a generator going in their garage and he was talking about them going to Franklin for the night if the power didn't come back on. He filled me in on more storm damage info and we headed out. Sharyn decided to turn on her cell while she was waiting for me and discovered that she had 14 messages. That was when we figured out that all of our calls were being forwarded to her cell phone. When I called my home number, I was getting the voice mail of her phone. If I had just listened to it, I would have realized that it wasn't the message that I have on the home phone. She was writing down all the numbers that we needed to call back and by the time we got back over to the house... she had heard most of them and my sister-in-law had called several times. She called back and got my brother, Art before we got over there. Our friends have Vonage and free long distance, so we used their phone to make a lot of calls: Sharyn's aunt, my sister and another brother, and a bunch of others that we needed to contact. Meanwhile we also took calls from folks checking up on our friends. They hadn't told that many people that they were going to TX, so we had some people to reassure, including their daughter and some grandchildren. We never did get out to help anyone, because we spent the whole day talking on the phone and checking things on the internet. A week later, we did some babysitting at church so parents could go out to do clean up. I got on facebook and there were people asking us there if we were okay and I decided I had better post some info there for the people out of the area who were hearing this on national news. Then a neighbor called and said we had power.

The closest we got to helping anyone that day was when we called our church administrator who lived only two blocks from some major damage, to see if they were alright. They had, like us, been out of power for a long time. We offered them to come over as well, since it was very close, only about 5 minutes away. He said if the power didn't come on, they just might take us up on that. We called later to tell them we were headed home, but they were more than welcome to some spend the night at our place. They called us back a few hours later to let us know that they finally had power and they would just stay home. We also called our friends who we sit with in church and they had family in town to stay with. Their biggest concern was getting their roof covered before the big rains on Monday.

When we got home, we had cable TV, but no internet. After a few hours.. Sharyn called Comcast and they said that they could not get anything to our address. They said the earliest that they could come out was Tues. after 3 PM. We checked with our neighbor, Rose, and she had internet as soon as the power came back on. With a Vonage phone, that means no phone and no internet. That is hard when you are used to those things as automatic. But it seemed a small thing compared to what some folks were dealing with around town. Turned out our modem got fried.

Sunday morning came early for us since Sharyn had to be there for orchestra at 7:30 and both the orchestra and choir stayed on the stage for all of both services. I didn't mind because Pastor Dean's message was really good and I enjoyed hearing it twice. He tossed out his Easter sermon and really addressed the issue that was on everyone's minds. If you would like to hear it, you could find it on a podcast at www.belleaire.org
Donna, the other organist, invited us over for Easter dinner.
David called and asked if I wanted to join him at a road side soup kitchen that they set up on Compton. But my massage appointment kind of messed up being able to do that. Sharyn was concerned that I would not beat the storm home, so I left and sure enough... it hit as I was sitting on Osborne, trying to get onto Memorial. A downpour that was really hindering vision. I could not believe the number of cars that didn't have their lights on and I could have easily pulled out in front of them. I ended up going home a round about way to avoid traffic and schools.

It was interesting that the Lord allowed us and our friends both to be out of town when this thing hit and that our homes were protected. I told someone that if you had a map of Mboro and put a dot at our house and a dot at theirs, (10 mins away) the tornado passed right between us. It went along the ground for 15-20 miles. The SS teacher who invited us on that road trip told me on Sunday that the tornado passed right between his home and the neighbor's. (they do not live real close together)

Having this happen does make you stop and think about what is important to you. Obviously, family and friends are more important that possessions. Talking to a brother at church this morning, we reflected on our stories and how the odds are in our favor to survive these things because it really is quite random. Looking at all the devastation on the news... it is quite amazing that only 2 were killed.

Warren and Sharyn

SAGER SAGA - CHRISTMAS 2008

2008-12-05T15:49:00.003-06:00

For those who are interested in hearing about our family....this is our Christmas letter for this year. The year began in CA as we visited our old stomping grounds, seeing family and friends and visiting our former church. We stayed at Warren’s sister’s and Sharyn’s brother’s. This began a busy travel year for us as we went back to CA in late July to witness the marriage of Sharyn’s nephew, Aaron Orman to Marcia Harrison. This time, the Kilgours put us up. Stu and Warren were excited about getting to hang out together for the third time this year.

In April, Warren flew to Greenville, NC to be in a production of “How to Make the Mrs. Happy”, a comedy that he co-wrote with Bill Rodebaugh and also starred with. It was a lot of fun and the Rodebaughs were gracious hosts for the week.

The Sagers also made two trips to OH to visit Sharyn’s Uncle Dwight and Aunt Dorothy. The second one was for his funeral, since he passed away in early Sept. The rest of the traveling was done by others, as family and friends were making their way to our house this year. Warren’s brother Floyd, and wife, Linda, and his brother Art, and wife, Colene all visited. We had other friends stop by and the Kilgours came for two weeks in May. Warren and Stu like to go on little road trips, and it was great fun having the five kids around. (Stu is co-writer on several of the scripts on the web site. Best friends for over 20 years, Warren was Stu's best man.)

Warren kept busy at church, too, (Belle Aire Baptist in Murfreesboro) directing the youth drama at the Valentine Banquet for the second year. This year we did a radio show, “Love is On the Air” and the actors got to read their lines. For Christmas, we did “The Murphy’s Mountain Holiday”, a comedy sequel to last year’s play, "Christmas at the Murphy's", and we will soon be under way on next year’s youth drama, “Love’s Old Sweet Song”. Sharyn joined the church orchestra this year, playing the keyboard, and since Warren also sings in the choir, we both stay busy with church activities.

("The Murphy's Mountain Holiday" was a success. The audience seemed to love it and laughed a lot. There was a 21 second laugh toward the end when Warren's hairpiece came off. Looks like it's staying off now.)

But the drama does not stop there. Warren also co-directed “Beauty and the Beast” at Oakland High School for the second year in a row. The custom play writing has slowed down this year, compared to past years, but we still keep busy doing that along with keeping the web site going. Sales go up and down and we learn to trust the Lord for providing for our needs, which He is always faithful to do. Sometimes we even get our wants provided as well.

The most exciting part about this new career is when customers contact us and share how much they enjoyed doing a play and how good it turned out. When they tell us that the gospel message was clearly presented and people came to know the Lord or that lives were affected, then that really blesses us more than we can say. This is happening all over the U.S. and even in other countries, and we never cease to be amazed.

We hope and pray that God is blessing you and your family this Christmas season and that you have time to dwell on the Christ of Christmas and His amazing gift to us.
Love to all,

Billy: The Early Years

2008-11-08T00:54:00.000-06:00

The main reason to see this film is for the lead actor, Armie Hammer. What a find! A good looking and charismatic actor who really made me feel that I was looking at the young Billy Graham. Stefanie Butler as Ruth was also very good, and I didn't even recognize Lindsay Wagner as Billy's mother, another good performance. The fault with this film I'm afraid lies with the director, Robby Benson. I always liked him as a young actor, but this seems to be his first venture into directing films and I wasn't sure that some of his choices here were the best ones for this movie. (he's been directing TV shows since the early 90's) It had the feel of a low budget Christian Film, though I don't think it was a Christian film at all. The story focuses on how Billy came to Christ and then felt the call into the ministry and how he met and fell in love with Ruth. The side story was about his best friend, Charles Templeton, who was also an evangelist, but later denounced his faith and walked away from it forever...as played by Martin Landau in his aging years. I thought these scenes with Landau weakened the film, although he is a great actor and was really acting up a storm as the crazy old man. (He actually died of Alzheimer's, so that could be why he played him like that) He plays the narrator telling about Billy in an interview, though this was an interesting side story that I never knew about, I found it dragging the main story. I just wanted to watch Hammer play Billy and learn how this all happened for him. Whenever the story went back to Templeton, I was anxious to get back to the main story. This film wasn't as good as I had wanted it to be, and I think it may end up being nothing more than a kicking off point for Hammer's career. It was also fun learning some stuff about Billy Graham that I didn't know. Franklin Graham did not like this film, but the sisters did. The scene with Bob Jones was a bit over the top, but I've heard that it was pretty much how Billy tells it in his book. The movie is already gone from theaters and it may have only gotten theater play in the south. It didn't do well. They think they might break even with DVD sales.

Fireproof

2008-11-08T00:50:00.001-06:00

From the church in Georgia that made "Flywheel" and "Facing the Giants" comes this third and much improved film. These amateur movie makers can claim professionalism with this third one. Starring Kirk Cameron this time and a solid cast of unknown actors, they pulled it off. Kirk had so much emotion in his performance. Very touching as a man who did not want to see his marriage fall apart. The scenes with the smaller parts that didn't involve Kirk were noticeably weaker, but not horrible. Good special effects and dramatic intensity during the fire fighting scenes and rescues. This added some excitement to a story that was mostly about a failed relationship and how this man began to try to put it back together even before feeling the desire to do so. Have your tissue ready as the emotions are heavy and it just might get to you. It did me. As I sat there watching this with my wife, I could not help but think about our marriage. This film is doing very well in the theaters already clearing 25 million dollars. It has surpassed several much larger films that opened at the same time. When you realize what a small budget these amateurs were working with, it makes it all that much more impressive. I think Kirk was much better in this than in the Left Behind films. I heard that he wanted to do the film so much, that he did it for no pay. He also has a clause in his contract that he will not kiss a woman other than his wife. So, in that romantic scene, they brought in his wife, put a wig on her and pulled the shot back...you can't even tell.

Evan Almighty

2008-06-13T14:59:00.003-06:00

I just watched "Evan Almighty" on cable. I have not been anxious to see it because it just looked really lame to me. However, it was recommended by a few Christian sites and critics, so I thought there may actually be something redeeming there to see. Well, maybe you have to look a lot deeper, but I found very little to like. Steve Carrell was the only one in the movie who was the least bit funny, and I just didn't think he was that great either. I really liked Lauren Graham in "Gilmore Girls", but she was not doing anything in this film. The writing seemed poor. Not that I am an expert by any means. I just wrote my first screenplay and the responses I got were that I had written a big mess. So, it can't be all that easy to write a great script. But I thought the jokes fell flat 95% of the time and it was just not that fun to watch or that interesting. But then it happened...there was something there that actually grabbed me and tugged a little. I found myself getting wrapped up in something special. Oops...that didn't last long. What was it? Oh well... too little too late. Maybe I just didn't see the point of a modern day Noah. Okay, the beard joke was funny at first, sort of.... but not after they ran it into the ground. Almost all of Wanda Sykes lines were trying to get more laughs out of a joke that already died. The animals following him around was too much, too. Funny for about a minute... but it went on way too long. Okay... so there was a special reason for the boat... the dam and all... and the special effects with the flood were actually exciting... but that was hardly worth the long wait to get there. If you have nothing better to do... go ahead and watch it on TV, but I wouldn't spend any money to see it.

Me and You, Us, Forever

2008-02-17T15:29:00.002-06:00

This is a new Christian film by Dave Christiano. If you saw "Unidentifed" from a few years back, you will recognize the lead actor. I think his performance was good, but the movie as a whole was a bit surprising. Maybe that isn't a bad thing, but I sort of expected a romantic story. I found the story sad as it deals with a man who has gone through a painful divorce and now he finds himself thinking a lot about his first love, a high school sweetheart that he broke up with about 30 years ago. He becomes obsessed with seeing her again, and his friends advise against it. His closest friend, who is also his business partner, tells him that he is not following Christ in this matter and encourages him to seek the Lord. The scene where he meets his old girlfriend is the best scene in the film, and I think its because it seemed real and not just written for the sake of being romantic. Maybe that is because the whole story is based on actual events in Christiano's life, who also wrote and directed the movie. Some people will think the film gets preachy (especially non-Christians) and some Christians may feel that it doesn't deal properly with the issues at hand. But, I think it is just about one man's journey and where it took him as he dealt with the changes in his life.

New Forum for Christian Drama

2007-06-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

My website, "Scripts By Warren" has some new features that I would love for you to check out. Along with all the scripts that are being added, I now have a new photo gallery and a forum. The forum is there for Christians to discuss their productions, talk about how things are going, or perhaps ask questions to get some help with various aspects of the project. I am hoping that this can become a place where Christians who have an interest in drama and theater can come and discuss things, even new films that have been released, or just how the Lord has blessed your various drama events. Come visit my site at http://www.scriptsbywarren.com

The Ultimate Gift

2007-03-09T18:36:00.000-06:00

Here I am again recommending another movie. I wasn't going to do this again so soon, but we just came from the theater and we both really liked this movie. It is one of those feel good movies and I think it's worthy of our support so that they can make more decent films like this. The movie is "The Ultimate Gift" and it opened today. As the opening credits rolled by, I was excited to see the name Dave Ross, who is my cousin's son-in-law and a producer with Dean River Productions. They produce mostly Christian films, but this one isn't your typical Christian film. There is no gospel message and no scripture shared, but the message in the film is a good one. We found the movie entertaining, humorous and heart warming. Perhaps a bit predictable, but I found it interesting the way it played out. This movie is based on motivational speaker Jim Stovall's novel of the same title. It is directed by Michael Sajbel, who recently did "One Night With the King". James Garner plays a billionaire who has died and all his acting is shown on a DVD that was recorded obviously earlier as part of his will. He basically has cut his children out of most of his fortune (they didn't need it anyway) and saved the special stuff for his grandson, a single young man who has never worked a day in his life. Garner does not tell him what he is leaving him, but instead sends him on month-long assignments that he has to accomplish before getting to the next one. You guessed it...the guy really grows up and becomes a different person through the experiences.

Starring Drew Fuller (Pretty much unknown TV actor), Bill Cobb, Brian Dennehy, Lee Meriwether and recent Oscar nominee, Abigail Breslin...It is rated PG and there's very little to find offensive. I'm not sure the film has the right title, because when I think of the "the ultimate gift", I can't help but think of Christ's death on the cross for my salvation. That wasn't the case here, but still...I thought it was a good story. Sharyn liked it more than most of the films we have seen recently.

Amazing Grace - the movie

2007-02-28T10:51:00.000-06:00

February 23rd, was the 200th anniversary of the slave trade being abolished in Great Britain. The man responsible for getting that accomplished was William Wilberforce, and this movie is about his struggle for years to get parliament to listen to him. I really liked this movie. It is made well and has a lot of good actors in it. The lead is played by Welsh Actor Ioan Gruffudd (Pronounced YO-wahn GRIFF-ith) who was in "Fantastic Four" and the lead in the "Horatio Hornblower" series. The movie brings out the fact that he was a man with faith in God (but perhaps not portrayed as strongly as was the actual truth) and how he fought the idea of his political vocation being a calling from God. Some of the best scenes are when he goes to visit his old friend, and former pastor, John Newton. John is played by award winning actor Albert Finney (Big Fish, Erin Brockovich, Annie) who plays the part with a lot of feeling. My favorite part is when Newton says, "Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior." They do talk about the fact that John wrote the words to Amazing Grace and they sing it a couple of times in the film, but some think the title would be more fitting as a film about Newton. They tell about how Newton was once a slave trader himself and got saved, and went on to be a preacher. He seemed to give William the inspiration he needed to not give up on his mission.

This is a British film with British actors and some may find it hard to follow, slow moving or even boring at times. I watch Masterpiece Theater a lot, so I had no problem following it. The spiritual aspects in the film are handled with sensitivity and truth, just the way they did in "Chariots of Fire", one of my all time favorite films. This is directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter) who is a fine director and also stars Ciaran Hinds (The Nativity Story, Munich) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter movies). I recommend it realizing that it may not be entertaining for everyone. It is certainly a good history lesson on how slavery was abolished at the time. I guess in reality, Wilberforce was a much smaller man, but most people will probably not even know that. I felt that it built to a fine emotional impact at the end.

Warren Sager http://www.scriptsbywarren.com
http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/

Welcome to a new Christian Drama Blog!

2007-02-27T16:56:00.000-06:00

Hello, my name is Warren Sager, and I am a playwright. I have been writing Christian plays and skits for years and I now make my living primarily through the sale of scripts and custom writing. Please take a look at my website: http://www.scriptsbywarren.com

This blog is here for starters to talk about Christian Drama. Get ideas on how we can create a drama ministry in our church, or make improvements to the one we have, or just find out what others are doing in the area of drama for the Lord Jesus Christ.

This blog can also be a place to talk about new films that are out or are coming out that we perhaps want to encourage the Christian community to see. I just recently saw the new film, "Amazing Grace" and I plan to write a review of that film and I will post that review here in this blog.

Please be patient with me as this is the first time I have done this, and I'm not really sure what I am doing. I know I will learn as I go. Thanks for joining in and reading!

Warren