Show about the life of Jesus now largest crowdfunded series ever

The record for the largest crowdfunded series ever goes to a series about the life of Jesus.

What's the story?

VidAngel is a company that allows users to edit out potentially offensive content like sex, language, or violence from movies and TV shows. It also has a studio that distributes the work of independent filmmakers.

In 2017, VidAngel released a pilot episode for a series on the life of Jesus called "The Chosen." According to director Dallas Jenkins, the series will show "the life of Christ through the eyes of those who encountered him." The team behind the project stressed that they want to make the series as biblically accurate as possible, stating that they "don't need to create unnecessary controversy by messing with the truth."

The 23-minute pilot focuses on the birth of Jesus. According to Fox News, that pilot was seen by 15 million people worldwide.

Having released the pilot to generate interest, Jenkins began a crowdfunding campaign in order to raise the money needed to create the rest of the series.

As of the publication of this article, Jenkins had raised $10,271,053 from 15,041 different donors. This was nearly double the $5.7 million raised by the previous record holder, the cult classic, bad-movie-riffing series "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

"The vast audience for high-quality, faith-based entertainment — all too often overlooked and underserved by Hollywood — made a loud and unmistakable statement that they're so eager for content that resonates, they are willing to fund it into existence," Matthew Faraci, the executive producer of "The Chosen," said in an interview with Fox News.

Jenkins is the son of "Left Behind" author Jerry B. Jenkins. Four episodes of the series will be available to stream on Easter, which will fall on April 21.