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Lifestyle/Technology: The life of a start-up movie producer doesn't follow an easy script | Susan Olasky

Rodney Bursiel

What does a Christian chasing an unlikely dream do all day?

Trying to develop a commercially viable movie is like being an oil wildcatter, hoping and praying to have a gusher rather than a dry hole. David Gonzales, a 35-year-old former fundraiser for Young Life, is now out to raise big bucks to make and bring to big screens The Beautiful Letdown, which depicts a man trying to figure out how to respond to the homeless guy on the corner.

Gonzales bonded with the script's main character: "I feel that's me." But feelings don't bring in $2.5 million from investors who might lose their entire investment if the well spits out sand rather than movie gold. So how does he proceed?

First, he found a businessman to give his production company office space in downtown Austin, Texas, while he and a partner raise money and get the script ready for production. The centerpiece of the office is a wall of dreams on which hang large sheets of white paper covered with lists of names. They are "dream" contacts, people involved with media, movies, and charity. "The project is relational," Gonzales explains: "We figure out who we know and how we can get to all these different people. We map out every person and who knows whom to try to bring that dream to reality."