GAP Acquires TV Rights to Three Da Vinci Code Books
by David W. Balsiger
GRIZZLY ADAMS PRODUCTIONS, INC. www.grizzlyadams.tv
Donald & Carol Scifres – Executive Producers
Charles E. Sellier – Supervising Producer
David W. Balsiger – Producer CONTACT: Carol Wilde
(407) 765-2012
Da Vinci TV Special/DVD To Be Based
on Nelson, Cook & Tyndale Books
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GAP Acquires TV Rights to Three Da Vinci Code Books
Denver, CO – Grizzly Adams Productions (GAP) announced today that it has acquired the worldwide TV documentary/DVD/VHS rights to three best-selling Da Vinci Code books from three major Christian publishers for their network TV production Breaking the Da Vinci Code—scheduled to air on a major TV network during the first quarter of 2005.
Breaking the Da Vinci Code, GAP’s latest TV special—and the Christian DVD version entitled, The Da Vinci Code Deception will be based on the acquired books—Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Dr. Darrell Bock, (Thomas Nelson Publishers), The Da Vinci Deception by Dr. Erwin Lutzer (Tyndale House Publishers) and Cracking Da Vinci’s Code by Dr. James Garlow and Peter Jones (Cook Communications Ministries). Each of the three publishers report run away sales on their non-fiction Da Vinci Code releases—with Thomas Nelson reporting 750,000 sold; Tyndale House 200,000 sold; and Cook Communications 500,000 sold.
The Da Vinci Code controversy centers around various alleged clues to a 2,000-year-old conspiracy that Leonardo da Vinci placed in his paintings The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Key elements of Da Vinci’s alleged secrets revolve around the reliability of the New Testament canon, the role of the “lost books of the Bible,” the role of Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus with their marriage resulting in children that became France’s royal bloodline, the Church’s invention of the divinity of Jesus, and the role of the Roman Catholic Church in a 2,000 year-old cover-up of these truths.
Doubleday author Dan Brown stirred the public’s interest on Da Vinci with his 10 million copy best-selling fiction thriller that clearly states: “FACT: All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in the novel are accurate.”
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GAP Acquires TV Rights to Three Da Vinci Code Books / 2
GAP Vice President and Producer David W. Balsiger points to the need for an investigative documentary. “While many dismiss Da Vinci’s controversial ‘secret code’ as harmless speculation, the novel’s heretical thesis shocks the Christian reader right from the start,” Balsiger explains. “We’ve found that a large number of Christians and non-Christians alike are deeply confused by the claims in Brown’s novel.”
Some scholars believe Da Vinci’s work intentionally provides clues to a powerful secret which remains protected to this day by a secret organization within the Catholic Church and a clandestine brotherhood that included “Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci,” writes Doubleday author Dan Brown.
.“Our TV/DVD special answers every question the novel raises and sets the record straight—including proof that many statements made in the book about the Christian Church are totally false,” added Charles E. Sellier, GAP President and Supervising Producer of Breaking the Da Vinci Code.
In addition to the acquisition of worldwide TV/DVD/VHS rights to the three books for Breaking the Da Vinci Code TV Special and The Da Vinci Code Deception Christian DVD version, interviews will include the book authors as well as some of the world’s leading experts in the fields of archeology, theology, art history, philosophy and science.
“Viewers will be fascinated, not only by the questions raised in this documentary, but by the complex and controversial evidence presented by all the experts, “says Balsiger.
Columbia Pictures plans a 2005 “Dream Team” movie version of Brown’s novel, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ron Howard. GAP’s producers note that the upcoming movie insures widespread interest in the Da Vinci mysteries they will address in their TV special of sorting out the fact from fiction in Brown’s novel.
Earlier this year, GAP also acquired TV/DVD/VHS rights to David Aikman’s best-seller, A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush (W Publishing Group), and Tom Freiling’s George W. Bush on God and Country (Allegiance Press), featured in the well-received non-partisan TV/DVD documentary, George W. Bush: Faith in the White House.
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GAP Acquires TV Rights to Three Da Vinci Code Books / 3
Named after its long-running NBC-TV series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, GAP has created more than 500 family-friendly TV specials for NBC, CBS, PAX, Discovery, and other networks.
Consumers can order the DVD version The Da Vinci Code Deception by calling (800) 811-0548 or by going to the GAP web site at www.grizzlyadams.tv. The program will release in January 2005.
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For additional quotes or to arrange interviews with the principal show producers at Grizzly Adams Productions, Inc. contact: Carol Wilde (407) 977-3869 office; (407) 765.2012 cell, or e-mail cwilde@cfl.rr.com.
Submitted on 2004-09-23 10:43:21
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