‘Southern Utah is the perfect fit for our Old Testament series’: Mockumentary on biblical times coming

“After exploring locations across the country, we found that Southern Utah is the perfect fit for our Old Testament series. The stunning red rocks and red sand in St. George provide the ideal setting we’ve been searching for,” Johns said. “We are excited to be following Kevin Costner’s  ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ to Washington County, choosing this incredible location for our production.”

Mitch Hudson, the director of “The Promised Land,” told St. George News that they had a great reaction to their YouTube pilot and he is excited to start filming the rest of this season in Southern Utah. The pilot was shot in the fall of 2022 in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

“People seem to really like the pilot,” Hudson said. “Our goal with the show is to make a fresh new take on a very ancient story and try to find a way to make some of these characters and these stories relatable to a modern-day audience, especially a younger audience.”

The show uses a mockumentary style popular with audiences, similar to shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Recs.” In “The Promised Land,” Moses and his family struggle to manage the hardest part of their journey, the people. The comedy TV series will offer the story of Exodus through a mockumentary lens.

“I grew up on this style of show. Making the Bible, Exodus and the story of Moses in this style is really fun. I hope a lot of people watch it,” Hudson said. “The style of the show is a framework that makes the characters feel real, like people that I could meet and that’s the goal with the show to make a biblical story feel relatable.”

Although “The Promised Land” will be humorous, Hudson said they will stay true to the history of the Bible stories. He noted plans to give the audience a genuine feel for what life was like in that time period, but “it also has a lot of heart.”

Hudson said St. George sets the stage since it is in the desert, like what the biblical family endured. The location is also appealing since the city has an airport, television and film production infrastructure already in place.

“And obviously, you look around, it’s just such an incredible, beautiful area,” Hudson said. “It’s definitely exciting that St. George seems to be very open to filmmaking. They seem to have a very strong local creative arts community.”

Hudson advises people who want to get into the film business to be prepared for a long entry process. About 10 years ago, he was a student at a film school, and when he was able to get onto a film set, he “worked my tail off. “

Then, in that film, Justin Talley saw his work ethic and hired him for another project.

“The way to be successful as a crew member, especially in film, is to be ready to work hard and to make connections on set,” Hudson said. “Because every job I’ve ever gotten, I got because of a phone call because someone I already knew called me or recommended me to someone else who called me. And so it really is a relationship business.”

Hudson splits his time between Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Provo, since he is working on “The Chosen” TV series, currently on Amazon and other platforms. Hudson is the second assistant director for the series, which is filmed in northern Utah. Hudson directs all the backgrounds on the set.

Johns added that when they filmed the pilot, they didn’t have much money: “It was very guerrilla.”

Yet, they had a lot of support from Dallas Jenkins creator, director, co-writer and executive producer of “The Chosen,” which is the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Johns said many of the same crews helped with the pilot and will be involved in “The Promised Land” season one. The two TV series are different; “The Chosen” is a drama, and “The Promised Land” a comedy.

“I think what a lot of people will be surprised with about our show is yes, it’s a comedy, but there is also a lot of heart with our show,” Johns said. “And that’s one of the things that, especially diving into season one by the finale, you’ll see a lot of growth in our characters. And hopefully, it also causes some people to want to dive into the Old Testament.”

Johns hopes the audience will view the characters as real people. And relate to the idea of not feeling qualified to do a job.

“Moses, on paper, wasn’t qualified at all. God was able to use him to lead the Exodus,” Johns said. “So I think there are a lot of stories that people can relate to.”

Johns said he appreciates Costner’s productions, which has seen two movies filmed in Washington County. He said thoe films paved the way for them and others by setting up film vendors in St. George.

Residents of Southern Utah are invited to try out as extras for “The Promised Land.” Season one will be focused on the building of the tabernacle. Johns said the TV series will need hundreds and he wants to use real humans and not computer generated animations.

“We’re building a full-scale tabernacle out in Warner Valley,” Johns said. “And so ideally we need hundreds of people to come. Because in the Bible it says 600,000 fighting men, which most scholars anticipate when you count women and children and non-fighting men to be closer to a million.”

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