According to Christianity Today magazine, Big Idea Productions, which creates the popular Veggie Tales video series, laid off more than 30 of its employees a week before the release of “Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie,” the company’s first theatrical release.
The magazine reported that former employees said it was the third time such layoffs had occurred in as many years, and the future of the company was resting on the success of the Jonah movie. A former Big Idea staff member told Christianity Today that the costs connected to Jonah crippled the company.
“My impression was that we needed to do really well on Jonah to continue,” the former staffer told the magazine. “Unlike how most people make a movie, where you get all the money up front, we were doing it backwards. We were making a movie trying to get money to back it as we were going along, which put them in huge debt.”
In a prepared statement, Big Idea’s Chief Operating Officer Terry Botwick said, “In order to uphold the integrity of our vision and maintain creative control on ‘Jonah,’ we made a corporate decision to not accept outside funding. That commitment has enabled us to bring the film to a whole new audience in the way and with the wholesome reliability our core fans have come to expect.”
Big Idea reportedly spent $12 million to make “Jonah.”
(EP)
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