Faith Is So Hot Right Now
A comedy writer goes to divinity school. But there's no punchline.
This is Rob Long with Martini Shot for the Ankler.
When I tell my friends in show business that I am now at Princeton Theological Seminary, getting a Masters in Divinity and on my way — I hope, or inshallah as we Episcopalians say — to ordination in the Episcopal Church, their response is usually to nod thoughtfully and say something along the lines of “can’t wait to read the pilot.”
“But I’m not doing this to get a pilot script out of it,” I always say. And they usually smile indulgently as if to say, C’mon now, we all know this is a good career move.
And then I try again to explain that it’s not really a career move. It’s a matter of genuine faith and curiosity. I say I am trying to make a significant change in my life — yes, at my age — and I impress on my show business friends that my motives are entirely spiritual.
Well, okay, I admit I was intrigued to learn that ordained clergy can apply for a placard to place on their dashboard which, in New York City anyway, allows for a certain leniency in parking law enforcement, but that’s not why I’m doing this. But it’s impossible to convince certain people that I’m here because I genuinely want to learn, to think, to serve. That seems incongruent with what they’ve observed from me in the past decades, and I get it. So they naturally try to think about what else might be driving this.
“Faith-based content is really big right now,” a friend of mine said when I told him where I was and what I was doing for the next three years. “But you probably already have a pitch ready to go, right?”
“Um, no,” I said.
“Seriously? You’re telling me that you’re not writing a screenplay about this? I don’t believe you. I mean, you should be.”
It’s probably never going to make sense to some people. As hard as I tried to explain it to my friend, there was no way I could convince him. It was the same with a studio executive I know. “Wow, fantastic!” she said when I told her my news. “That’s a really great thing. And I totally get it. You get to a certain point in your life and you’re looking for bigger answers.”
“And just so you know, we’re getting into that area a lot more,” she added. “But my question is: are you working mostly in the comedy arena or the drama side?”
“I’m not on a side,” I said. “I’m getting a Masters in Divinity because I’m genuinely called to it.”
“Of course, of course,” she said. “But I just want to know if whatever you write about it is, like, going to be funny? Because there’s a lot of room for the comedy take of the whole religion thing right now. Basically, our research suggests that shows like The Chosen and House of David are kind of running the table with the serious angle. Might be interesting to look at the lighter version?”
I shouldn’t be surprised. The entertainment industry is deeply confused right now, I’ve sure you’ve noticed.