A Production Company whose SOUL PURPOSE is to create film that
reaches and inspires people that need it the most, and that redefines people's preconception about ALL Christian movies being "Corny"!
Welp..........NOT OURS!
Co-Mission
HOLYwood Films, is a Faith-Based/Veteran owned Production Co. that pushes to distribute a healthier and more positive approach to Filmmaking, giving something to the audience with more substance to chew on, and still be just as edgy and entertaining as mainstream. Our goal is to help encourage, inspire, and plant the seed of hope while telling stories with a grittier approach about real life situations. We go deep into a place that everyday people can relate to, and genuinely feel, as if they've not been forgotten about. People can look up at the screen and say, "That's my story!".
...and maybe not in every detail or circumstance played out, but they can absolutely identify with the struggles and the battles in the valley's that we ALL encounter day in and day out. Our attempt is to give
hope, where all hope is lost.
At HOLYwood Films, our hope is to also teach the UN-teachable, reach the UN-reachable, and encourage those where there is nothing but DIS-couragement all around them, while pointing them in the right direction... all this, with a language they understand, vibe with, and can identify with.
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LEAVE THE 99, AND GO AFTER THE 1
"What if a Shepard had a 100 sheep, and loses 1 of them.
Would he not leave the 99 in the country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then calls his friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in Heaven over 1 sinner who is sorry for their sins and turns from them, than for 99 people who are right with God, who do not have sins to be sorry for."
- LUKE 15:3-7
media coverage
BIO
Jay ASHTON
Born into this "Life"
Writer/Director, "Jay" Ashton, was born and raised in Los Angeles, Ca. in the 1980's, by his single mother and grandparents. At an early age, not only was he surrounded by LA gangs, but also top celebrities in the martial art world; with his grandfather being one of Bruce Lee's best friends and original students. Jay got to see the gritty side of the streets that the ghetto had to offer and also saw and experienced the lavish lifestyle his mother was a part of; having some of the high-profile boyfriends that she had.
“La Familia”
Family life for Jay wasn’t the so-called “American Dream”. Jay never got the chance to meet his real father. Eventually, his mother met a man, who would fill the void of being that "Father figure" that Jay so yearned for. However, this man had a past of his own. This man, who ended up taking Jay under his wing for the next several years, was an Associate in the Gambino Crime Family from Brooklyn, NY named Dominick Montiglio. While holding nothing back from Jay, schooling him in the "Life" of a gangster..."A Real Gangster", as he would put it, Jay ended up behind bars for a crime that he took the heat for, proving his loyalty to that "life".
Swearing "IN"
Although his new "father" seemed to have pointed him in the wrong direction, Jay also seems to give him credit for saving his life as well… to this day. Dominick dared him to go into the military and get out of this "life" (as Dominick was also a Special Forces Combat Veteran himself). Fresh out of jail and heading right back into the streets knowing it was just a matter of time, before that "life" REALLY sank its teeth into Jay.... he accepts the challenge of getting "out" while he can and joins the military. Hoping to once again prove his loyalty to Dominick.
Finding Purpose
After serving 8 years in the U.S. Navy Seabee’s, barely making it out Honorably, because of the "troublemaker" name he made for himself while he was in, Jay got out. Struggling to keep himself on track and away from the streets that were swallowing him up once again, dealing with his mother and her alcohol addiction, and battling the demons of his past… that were back to stake their claim, he fights on to find his true purpose.
“I Surrender”
After a series of events that led him crying out and surrendering himself to the Lord, Jay, a single father of 3 (Carlo, Nigel, and Unique), is trying to be the father that wasn’t there for him, and now living up to his Biblical name “Joshua”… by leading God's people to the Promise Land and serving the One he should've been serving this whole time, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
From Secular, To Sanctified
Although pursuing his childhood dream out in Hollywood becoming an Actor seemed too far-fetched to consider while residing on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, it soon became a possibility once finding out that Mississippi was one of the Southern States that made up what they now call, “Hollywood South”.
From Florida all the way to Texas, and all in Between (AL, MS, LA, etc.) had become a hotspot for “Mainstream Hollywood Productions” with Films such as Jurassic World, Interview with a Vampire, 21 Jumpstreet, Dawn of Planet of the Apes, 12 Years of Slave… just to name a few of the many; and TV series like Power, NCIS New Orleans, Queen of the South, Pitbulls & Parolees, American Horror Story… the list goes on and on.
Jay started to dibble and dabble into the film scene out on the Gulf Coast, that at one point he thought was non-existent. He found himself doing some work as an “Extra” in films, then a couple of Featured Background Roles. He also landed a few Principal Roles, and then in such a short period of time, he was full blown OFFICIALLY part of the “Hollywood South” … turning his childhood dream into reality… OR SO HE THOUGHT.
After giving his life to God just a few years prior, the Lord started to work on his heart and convict him in areas that made him start thinking twice about what he was being a part of and ultimately, what kind of messages were being sent out through the programming of airwaves that were being deposited into people’s spirit & subconscious minds.
Jay wanted nothing more to do with an industry that he believes is being manipulated by a much deeper and darker source. “There is something seriously sinister going on in Hollywood pushing a wicked agenda into our home, promoting evil and a Godless life with a distorted level of morals & values. And it’s main objective and target… our children” – Jay Ashton.
So, to combat that as a Man of God, with the desire to help others instead of hinder, bring healing rather than hurt, promote good instead of sin, and yet still with a passion for Acting & Film making, this Christ – Centered Movie-ment called “HOLYwood Films – A Motion Picture Ministry”, was Born.
Films
Coming Soon
Drama, Family
Taking place on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, a young man named Joshua, (U.S. Navy veteran) moves back in with his alcoholic mother.
Trying to help her cope with the separation of his father, an organized crime boss in New Orleans, Joshua must overcome his own set of demons before it’s too late.
based on true events
This film is based off of an On-Stage production called SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, performed in front of a LIVE audience in 1991, in Los Angeles, Ca. that was supposed to be televised on a Christian Network channel (TBN), but because of technical difficulties, was never aired.
NOW, for the 1st time, IT'S BACK....but in the form of a Motion Picture.
This film he has written holds near and dear to Writer/Director Joshua "Jay" Ashton's heart, not only because it was he and his family who performed it back in the day in 1991 when he was a child, but also because it's derived from the same message of the original SWORD OF THE SPIRIT (spiritual warfare) and based off of people, places, things in his life as well as events that have happened to him, in real life, during his personal journey/battles since the 1991 performance.
"A Christian Film.......with a Double-Edge"
- WLOX News
"The Fight that we fight every day, is not against flesh and blood at all, but of a darker and more evil principality of an unseen world."
2 Corinthians 10:4
gallery
SWORD of THE SPIRIT
the Movie
Behind the Scenes Footage
SWORD of THE SPIRIT
Music Video
Behind the Scenes Footage
“Sword of the Spirit” Behind the Scenes
Movie Soundtracks
SWORD of THE SPIRIT
The movie
preview music video
SWORD of THE SPIRIT
the movie
official music video
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