Southern alum takes helm at new Seventh-day Adventist film studio

Kevin Christenson, a Southern Adventist University alumnus, is now head of Hope Studios, a recently established cinematic department under Hope Channel International (HCI). He and his team are currently working on a film documenting the start of the Seventh-day Adventist Church titled “The Hopeful.” 

In a phone interview with the Accent, Christenson shared his personal story — how he has progressed through Hollywood and the film industry since graduating and how Southern kickstarted that journey.

“When I was at Southern, I was studying business by day, but I was doing creative stuff by night.”

While attending Southern, Christenson received a bachelor’s degree in international business management and a bachelor’s in international studies with an emphasis in Spanish. He said how his career has often focused on the business side of film, not just production management. Since graduating in 2016, he has visited the School of Visual Art and Design (SVAD) and spoken at some of its events. 

“When I was at Southern, I was studying business by day, but I was doing creative stuff by night,” Christenson said.

During his freshman year, he started Studio 4109, a student production similar to Saturday Night Live. The show grew to have a live studio audience of about 1,000 people. It had several different guest stars, including Anthem Lights and a member of Pentatonix. It also showcased other features such as skits, rap videos and fake commercials. Studio 4109 was held from 2011-2016 and was Christenson’s first major experience with film as a whole. 

After graduating, he started to get into the film industry in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved up in his career, starting with roles as an extra, then an actor stand-in and eventually some speaking roles. He got his first opportunity to be an executive producer, which led him to the production side of the industry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he started discussions with HCI.

Vyacheslav Demyan, who had just started working as HCI’s vice president at the time, spoke with Christenson about business models. The big question HCI faced was how to get their productions on major streaming services and accessible for more people to see. 

“You’ve got to switch away from this media ministry model to a film financing company.”

“Well, what that would look like is a complete structural change [in the]  organization and the business model for it,” Christenson said.

In order to evangelize outside of the already existing Christian population, Christenson suggested that HCI start doing business like Hollywood. The media and the structure needed to change. One major concept Christenson addressed was the different way Hollywood produces movies compared to HCI.

“[Hollywood studios] don’t want to be liable if something goes wrong on a set, or with a movie or a show. So they will open up a limited liability company just for that project,” Christenson said.. “ … You’ve got to switch away from this media ministry model to a film financing company.”

“If we’re going to be evangelistic, we have to go out into all the world and preach the gospel.”

In 2022, HCI established a new film production department called Hope Studios centered around the business model Christenson had presented years earlier, and the studio wanted him to run it. HCI saw this as an opportunity to grow closer to their goal. 

“If we’re going to be evangelistic, we have to go out into all the world and preach the gospel,” Christenson said.

Christenson is now the head of Hope Studios, and Demyan is the new president of HCI. They are currently working on their first major feature film called “The Hopeful.” This movie about the Advent Movement will be coming to cinemas in the spring. It is a 90-minute feature with an “Emmy Award-winning director [Kyle Portbury] and Emmy-award winning composers and a multi-Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter that wrote two original songs for the film,” Christenson explained. 

“It’s an introduction of who we are to the world,” he added.