What would Jesus do...if he were an AI bot built by the worst Silicon Valley Bro?

We're making a comedy that asks the most important question of our time: What happens when artificial intelligence gets so good at being divine that people start worshipping it?

Mr Jesus follows Chris, a down on his luck actor who wakes one morning to find that his image has been stolen to make a GenAI Jesus - and now people think he's the Second Coming. This film is a comedy about faith, technology, and the beautiful absurdity of human desperation. It's about how we're so hungry for meaning that we'll follow literally anything...even a chatbot with a comforting face.

In a time where we're told that AI's takeover is inevitable, we are deeply interested as artists how we leverage our agency. We can see that AI's current trajectory is harming our workforce, our planet and our ability to actually source truth - and its creators and stewards have utterly shirked responsibility for making it safe.

So, to address the elephant in the room: this movie will be made entirely by humans! AND we're playing with AI a little for this campaign because for us, it's artists who must guide exploring the tool for good - and for setting the ethical boundaries around it. The keys for us are curiosity, transparency, and consent. If you'd like a prime example of how artists are driving the conversation around AI, look no further than the new SAG contracts, or the incredible GenAI Guidelines issued by The Archival Producers Alliance. Artists are on the front lines because we have always been a bridge between the present and the future. The stories we tell help shape our collective imagination - and are essential to our ability to impact what happens next.

Mr Jesus, for this team, is an act of asserting our agency. Art is the quintessential expression of free will, and it requires a strong point of view and that emerges from experience (and let's be honest, all good comedy comes from suffering). So this team of artists is taking our collective wisdom, hard earned from our very human experiences in this real(ish) world to start a conversation about artificial "intelligence" in our communities.

Picture this: You're an out-of-work actor. You can't book a commercial for athlete's foot cream. Your sister's letting you house-sit while she's in Cabo, and you're eating cereal (and beer) for dinner again. Then you wake up one morning to discover that some tech bro has stolen your likeness thanks to a clause in your last background actor contract (thanks Netflix!) to create an AI Jesus that's gone viral.

Suddenly, pilgrims are camping on your sister's lawn. A desperate woman named Anna, with her scraggly daughter in tow, is convinced you're the Second Coming. She's organized a caravan to come to your house, and she won't stop ringing the doorbell. Meanwhile, Rev Muskee—the failed startup founder who created AI Jesus—is trying to build a megachurch faster than you can say "Series A funding," fully believing he's ushered in the new Messiah (and that the IPO will be divine).

This is the world of Chris, our reluctant not-quite-savior, who is forced to make a choice. Does he step into the role of a lifetime? Can he believe in himself the way Anna can, or does he just see the glimpse of fame he's always been chasing?

We live in an age where people form parasocial relationships with chatbots, where AI can generate sermons indistinguishable from the real thing, and where the line between authentic and artificial gets blurrier every day. Mr Jesus takes this reality and pushes it to its logical, hilarious extreme.

Because someone needs to ask: What happens when the tools we create to serve us start looking an awful lot like the gods we've always worshipped? What's the difference between putting faith in an algorithm and putting faith in an institution that's equally mysterious and (equally) profit-driven?

Because it's funny: There's something beautifully absurd about a world where reverse image search becomes a spiritual quest, where tech bros accidentally become prophets, and where the Second Coming happens because of Netflix's unfair contracts.

Because it's real: Strip away the comedy, and this is already happening. This church has put an AI Jesus in its confessional. LDS has gone AI. ChatGPT has its own portal where you can “talk to Jesus." We're already putting tremendous faith in systems we don't understand, created by people whose motivations we can only guess at. This movie asks us to look at the absurdity of it all and ask: what is it we are seeking?

Behind "Mr Jesus" is a team of producers, writers, actors, directors and more! With an eye for the creative world we are passionate about creating art made by REAL people for REAL people.

Brennan Kelleher (playing Chris) and Emily Best (director) wrote this screenplay with Virginia in mind for the character of Anna, knowing she is married to an incredible cinematographer, Yann De Moerloose. Then, Emily was lucky to meet Brenna and Jude from La Fuse entertainment at a Seed&Spark Creative Sustainability Summit in Atlanta, and a superteam was born!

We're incredibly proud to be part of the remarkable creative community here in Georgia. All of us are deeply invested in ensuring that the film infrastructure in our state is leveraged to surface stories rooted in this place. The film will be a showcase of Georgia talent from start to finish (with one important cast addition from Los Angeles, Gregory Cohan as Rev Muskee because he was the Velocipastor, and played an AI in a recent series oppostive Jennifer Lopez, and we believe this film may convince him to move here, too.) You can read more about each of our team members in the TEAM tab.

Your backing doesn't just fund a movie—it funds a mirror. A very funny, slightly uncomfortable mirror that asks: In a world where anything can be faked, what's real? And if we can't tell the difference anymore... does it matter?

This isn't just a movie about technology— Mr Jesus is a story about connection in an age of artificial everything. It's about the very human need for meaning, purpose, and something bigger than ourselves, and how that need makes us both beautiful and ridiculous. And crowdfunding is an essential act of community care - we are making this movie in public, not to begin a conversation but to enter in to one that is already happening, ask some challenging questions, and participate with our community every step of the way.

Your support makes it possible for us not just to make this film but also to tour film festivals, tech conferences, museums and more to host conversations with local tech, faith and community leaders and engage more deeply in these existential questions that we simply cannot run from any longer. At what cost is our convenience? Is it connection we desire or fame, and when you're chronically online, how can you tell the difference? 

We will also leverage the incredible community screening platform Kinema to make it possible for anyone to host a screening and conversation in their own communities.

Join us in making a comedy that's part cautionary tale, part love letter to human absurdity, and entirely committed to asking the questions everyone's thinking but nobody wants to say out loud.

Because if we're all going to hell in a handbasket, we might as well laugh on the way down.



With your help, our team of multi-hyphenates will take this film from pre-production to post with everyone playing many roles. We will compensate all our cast and crew fairly as a SAG short film production, standing by and strengthening the union that has fought so hard to prevent scenarios like the one Chris faces in Mr Jesus.

We are using a personal home, friends and family are donating food, and we are reaching out across our network for loans of equipment and the things we need to make this look exceptional.



JOIN THE CHOIR

You can share the project on social media:

Join me in supporting the short comedy Mr Jesus: Because what would YOU do if you woke up one morning to find your face had been used to make a GenAI Jesus, and now everyone thinks you're the second coming? This film is by an all Georgia-based team as a part of the Film Impact Georgia Rally on Seed&Spark.

And you can share this image if you like...it cracks us up every time.

GIVE AN OFFERING

Whatever you can spare would help us on the way to building something...well, at least it will be funny. There are so many great perks for supporting this campaign - from getting your own Mr Jesus sticker pack to being able to host your own screening of the film, virtually or in person.

SHARE THE GOSPEL OF MR JESUS

Every screening we can book will help grow the conversation around what AI means to us as a community, as artists, as humans. Do you have a local screening venue you could put us in touch with? Are there local coffee shops or libraries who want to host a screening and party?

Check out the PRAYER ROOM or SECOND COMING incentive bundles designed specifically for individuals or organizations who want to get involved!

Contact us directly through this campaign.

$40,000 - ART IS HUMAN

We will be able to employ a VFX artist during post production.

$45,000 - GET MR JESUS ON THE ROAD

This funding will jumpstart our impact campaign, making it possible for us to travel and tour with the film.

$50,000 - MR JESUS EVERYWHERE

Not only can we design materials and collateral for impact, we can guarantee screenings in all 50 states!

THANK YOU FOR READING THE GOSPEL OF MR JESUS!

SPECIAL THANKS

Jennifer Reeder

Jack Newell

Seith Mann

James Kaelan

Michael Ladipo (this was kind of your idea)

**Graphics throughout this campaign contain AI Generated photos (prompted and inspired by very real individuals)**