Filmmakers outgrow Mormon audience

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OREM, Utah - After almost five years of making movies for Mormons, the group of filmmakers who were part of the genre's most prolific production studio are branching out with projects that leave the church jokes behind with the hopes of engaging a broader audience.

And they want to do it in their own back yard. Could Utah become a "Mollywood" of sorts -- a family focused, film-making Mecca that still caters to Molly Mormons, the nickname given to those who embrace the faith's clean-cut morality?

If filmmaker Richard Dutcher started it all with "God's Army," his 2000 film about missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Los Angeles, Dave Hunter and Kurt Hale perfected it. The two formed Halestorm Entertainment in 2001 and went on to release a string of movies over the last four years, mostly comedies, aimed exclusively at a Mormon audience.

Members of the LDS church are discouraged from watching R-rated films.

Halestorm's films are made with small budgets that are easily reclaimed by screening in states such as Utah, Arizona and Idaho, where a significant number of the population belongs to the Mormon church. DVD sales of the movies are where the filmmakers make their money, they said.

While Mr. Hale says the niche possibilities are endless -- "there are three or four great stories on my desk right now ... a Mormon horror comedy, a Mormon musical" -- Messrs. Hunter and Hale are ready to develop a broader, commercial base and maybe turn Utah into a wholesome Hollywood along the way.

Their company has gotten the attention of motion picture industry insiders by shooting films for $400,000 to $500,000 and making double or triple that back. But that seems to be the ceiling.

The company also has been an incubator for other filmmakers, including Jared Hess, who had a breakaway hit in "Napoleon Dynamite" last year.

"We're done engaging the Mormon audience," Mr. Hunter said. Added Mr. Hale: "There [are] just not enough Mormons."

Early next year, Halestorm plans to move into a $5 million production studio with 46,000 square feet of space that will house all of its offices, production and distribution, as well as two large sound stages.