PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BEGINNING FOR ROUTE TO CHRISTIANITY

Executive Producer Drew Levin announced today that his company Initiative Productions is commencing production on the company’s 8-hour PBS series The Route to Christianity. The series follows chronicles the rise of one of the world’s great religions and follows on the heels of Levin’s last PBS series Walking the Bible which was a huge critical and ratings success. Drew Levin has many PBS, broadcast and cable credits as Executive Producer include Future Quest starring Jeff Goldblum and Showtime’s one-hour drama series Total Recall 2070.

Drew Levin said that principal photography is to begin on December 23, 2009 in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and will include footage of some Christianity’s holiest sites, including the Church of the Nativity which marks the spot where Jesus was born and the Cenacle or Upper Room, site of the Last Supper and other epochal events in the history of the Faith. All production will be in 1080P HD and the series will be shot throughout the Middle East and also in France, Italy and Greece.

The series will be presented by Jonathan Phillips who has been appeared prominently in numerous documentaries including Christianity: A History for UK Channel 4 and The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross for History Channel.

Veteran director Hector Galán will helm the entire 8 hour series and will Executive Produce along with Levin. Galán’s most recent credits include the acclaimed feature film Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads, the popular PBS series Visiones and History Channel’s Cinco de Mayo.

The series writer is Ben Loeterman, also a PBS mainstay with numerous “Frontline” and “American Experience” episodes to his credit. Loeterman recently wrote and directed the highly acclaimed documentary “The People vs. Leo Frank.”Says Drew Levin about the new series, “All of us at Initiative Productions are thrilled to be commencing production on The Route to Christianity. We’re confident that it will be an even bigger hit for PBS than Walking the Bible was.”