Who Produced The Daniel Project?

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Stewart and Deborah Menelaws began the ground work for The Daniel Project documentary around 2001 which was finally completed by the end of 2010 and was based on their previous work, Cup of Trembling - countdown to Armageddon (1996).

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Director / Producer / Camera / Writer / Editor: Stewart Menelaws

Producer / Researcher / Writer / Interviewer: Deborah Forrest-Menelaws

Audio Recorder / Assistant Camera: Keith Elman

Second Camera (Extras DVD interview): Andrew Graham

Distributor: Mercury Media International (2010-2015)

Distributor: Journeyman Pictures (2015 onwards)

Media Lawyers: Gateley International

Media Insurance: Allan Chapman & James / QEB Insurance (Europe)

Content license agreements: Various

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Who Conceived and Created The Daniel Project?

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After a number of years of in-depth research at the end of the 1980s and early 90s, the storyline was created by Stewart and Deborah to follow an overview of biblical eschatological or end-time events as they produced Cup of Trembling - countdown to Armageddon hailed as the best film of the genre to date. Both projects can be seen to have the same pattern but use slightly different methods to tell a story which, in the case of The Daniel Project, was more to do with following television network formatting and protocol at that time.

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There was no outside collaboration with any other individuals or organisations other than the completed work was academically reviewed by a notable scholar, at Exeter University, to inspect for inaccuracies regarding theological and historical content.

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Who Financed The Daniel Project?
 

As the film could not get financial support from broadcasters or co-production without interference of the storyline, the production was personally and fully funded  by Stewart and Deborah Menelaws and their Media Company Studio Scotland Ltd. There was no outside funding from any other parties.

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During the development of the film, Studio Scotland used the time to create a slate of broadcast projects which were regularly presented at different international Film and TV festivals using their relations with the likes of the BBC and Discovery Channel with the aid of support from the UK government via their industry unions and professional organisations which support independent film production in the UK.

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High Definition formats were in their infancy and Stewart Menelaws became involved in spearheading the very latest camera technologies from Sony Broadcast in Scotland and would be chosen to become a certified expert as Studio Scotland began producing numerous corporate, commercial and educational films as well as television commercials and sub-contracting for various production companies and film/video agencies in both Europe and the USA. Their work was featured in a number of industry magazines and film clips used in promotional show-reels for Sony Broadcast Europe.

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Throughout this period the company was able to fully re-build their studio and editing suites to EBU standards to finance the marketing and DVD production side of the TV documentary.

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Who Distributes The Daniel Project?

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The film was initially picked-up around 2008 by CEO Tim Sparke of Mercury Media International, a distribution company specialising in documentaries whom Deborah met on several ccasions at film festivals in Toronto, Cannes and the UK. When the film was completed around the end of 2010, a formal contract was signed and the distributor began presenting the documentary to international outlets from 2011.

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​Around 2015, the CEO of Mercury Media International became terminally ill and the company went into receivership, owing royalty payments to a large number of production companies. Journeyman Pictures took over some of the assets of Mercury Media International and, in keeping with previous contractual agreements, acquired The Daniel Project.

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Where Was The Daniel Project Filmed?

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For the first section of shooting, presenter Jeremy Hitchen was filmed in the voice-over booth around 2006 at Studio Scotland in the UK.

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All the scenes in Israel were filmed on location by Studio Scotland in 2009 covering Jerusalem and the Negev desert. Interviews were filmed at various locations in and around those areas mentioned. An Israeli official had already spent some time interviewing and getting to know Deborah in London. He was pleased with what he learned and opened many doors in that country to gain access to some difficult places and arranged interviews for Deborah with both the PM and President, personally taking the crew to the more challenging areas of the country.  

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A number of other interviews were conducted in London where a suite was hired and converted into a studio over a period of days.

Jeremy Hitchen was finally filmed in a relaxed atmosphere at the home of Stewart and Deborah Menelaws, which included asking questions of the Bible contributor to be included in the Extras.

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The Daniel Project and Misinformation

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In the world of film making, stories and myths arise for all kinds of reasons and to quote: if you repeat a lie often enough - people will believe it is true. Since the release of this TV documentary, the unregulated world of social media has become rich in mis- and dis- information. 
For people who work on films like Studio Scotland's, these stories generally come from religious or atheist fanatics or those who feel threatened or jealous and they are spread by individuals who can’t be bothered checking the facts, preferring to have their ears tickled and spread malicious gossip. Here are a few facts about this film and the people who made it, just to be sure that this doesn't happen with you.

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The Daniel Project is a Religious Film

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False: The Daniel Project television documentary was developed in 2001 and was finally produced by the end of 2010. The documentary promotional teaser-trailer was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival (from 2006) in a bid to attract an international distributor. The film's message is simply to ask, "Are we here by chance or design and does the Biblical record hold information that claims to outline our beginning and end?" or put more simply Are we living in the "end times"?

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The Daniel Project is a Christian DVD

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False: It is not a 'DVD' but a documentary made for TV ... however in a bid to attract an international distributor, a DVD (special directors cut) was allowed to be produced in small numbers by Studio Scotland, in accordance with the contract signed with Mercury Media International, to help promote the film within faith based groups since it highlighted biblical topics of importance.
See the final section below about the 'gospel' for further details.

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The actual film itself never became a commercial DVD sold by secular retailers. However, a leading DVD distribution outlet did want it but asked for it to be edited to suit a wider market and take out some of the 'religious' bits! This would have compromised the storyline and therefore the directors, Stewart and Deborah Menelaws refused which, in turn, caused the talks with Mercury Media International and the DVD distributor to break down.

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The limited edition DVD (special cut) version was financed solely by Stewart and Deborah Menelaws and Studio Scotland Ltd for which they would use any finances eventually recouped to make other language versions - a very expensive exercise - and giveaways for various Christian charities.

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The Daniel Project was financed by Religious Organisations

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False: The documentary was developed in 2001 and was finally produced by end of 2010. Its promotional teaser/trailer was first shown in Cannes 2005 in a bid to attract an international distributor. It was personally financed by Stewart and Deborah Menelaws (Directors of Studio Scotland Ltd) as well as their own multi-media company Studio Scotland Ltd, a company well-known for its commercial work covering a wide range of genres for which it had received a number of awards. Deborah takes absolutely no salary or payment of any kind for any of her work as Head of Production at Studio Scotland but does all work pro bono so that her salary would go towards their self funded projects as well as financing what she could on a personal basis by working elsewhere too.

 

Personal funding by studios within the documentary world is a common practice as this allows them to have greater control over storylines, allowing a documentary to speak freely although very few are able to afford to undergird the whole project. Conversely, outside funding and/or co-production with other bodies tends to lead to a project being written to meet the agenda of those footing the bill.

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This is simply a documentary looking at the claims regarding Biblical prophecy. It is a work that required many years of research, investigation and in-depth study.

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Who Wrote The Daniel Project?

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There has been some serious misinformation regarding who wrote The Daniel Project. Misguided followers of one of the contributors interviewed for the film (James Aloysius Prasch junior k/a 'Jacob' Prasch) have erroneously promoted the documentary as something written and produced by Mr Prasch himself. This, of course, is a complete fallacy and wholly false. Mr Prasch was a contributor like all the others and came to Israel to be filmed on location whilst visiting his son there. While his inclusion was used to help carry the storyline, his actual script involvement was nil as he followed the arc developed by Stewart and Deborah who had done the same thing in their previous Bible prophecy film mentioned earlier.
Production records clearly show that it was skillful editing that helped Mr Prasch come over well which is an expected requirement for professional productions. At times, contributors and/or actors can get a little above themselves which can manifest in self-delusion causing much embarrassment for themselves.

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Film and television production is a regulated industry that requires a full record of production content and includes release forms, various contract agreements and licenses, permits, insurance, clearances and financial information. Studio Scotland Ltd has a complete record from development through to final edit and production delivery masters. Under no circumstances was any third party involved in the writing of this documentary.

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The Daniel Project was not filmed on location

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False: Another erroneous, circulating story is that the production was not filmed in Israel. As can be clearly seen from within the film and outlined in its credits, the production team spent ten days in Israel filming from Jerusalem to the Negev Dessert in the south. Jeremy Hitchen, the voice artist and presenter was not filmed in Israel but this is explained in the storyline as it was part of the creative presentation. Six of the contributors were interviewed on location in Israel with the rest in London and the studio in Scotland. 'Behind the Scenes' production images scattered throughout the Studio Scotland web site depict the documentary crew at work both in Israel and London.

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The Daniel Project does not give a full account of the Bible

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Yes, that’s correct but... it’s not intended to and watching the project, from start to finish, clearly shows that the topic is Bible prophecy and the claims made. What is clear within the project is for people to investigate for themselves and, in so doing, they can read a full account throughout the pages of the Bible. The best way to understand this film is to understand it in the light of why it was made, to ask questions, to provoke discussion about our origins and explore whether the Bible holds answers to life’s deepest questions.

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In short the film, at the time of production, had to meet the rules and regulations set out for broadcast production which had a bearing on what could and could not be presented.

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The Daniel Project was made to make money

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This is a highly misleading statement. Whilst the directors financed the project themselves, the film was made from a passion to share Biblical accounts regarding our existence and mankind's greatest problem. Based on a previous documentary (Cup of Trembling - countdown to Armageddon) which was produced for cable TV and Video cassette in the1990s, the new film had to be formatted and produced to meet the broadcast requirements of the time which is an expensive undertaking.

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Both Stewart and Deborah Menelaws turned away many highly paid contracts and opportunities within the commercial world to spend time putting The Daniel Project together and, in turn, the feature film version, The Daniel CONNECTION (2014) - which more than 500,000 people have watched on Amazon Prime TV and PopcornFlix.

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As Stewart Menelaws will tell you, “if you wanted to make a financially successful film, there are far better ways of making that happen”. The approach to the way they made The Daniel Project caused a number of the larger distributors and networks to ask for a re-edit to fit their particular viewing formats to which the producers refused. This meant the film lost a great deal of financial potential but, as Stewart said,

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“That’s fine; we won’t change the storyline because we didn’t make it for financial reasons although, clearly, we need to see some return to recoup costs and also to be honourable to the organisations who supported us to go to Cannes and other events to meet distributors thereby bringing tax revenue into the country (UK).

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While a worker is worth his wages, we funded this project because it means something to us personally; no different from someone passionate about saving endangered species or searching for a lost tribe in the Amazon. You do this because you are passionate. If your project can pay for itself, that’s great. If it can actually turn a profit, that’s even better because then you can invest in another project you are passionate about. It’s simple. Every film maker has this within them. Only misguided, stupid people could ever think the goal could be about making money. How ridiculous! The topics that make money are in another camp altogether…”

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The Daniel Project does not give the gospel salvation message

 

That’s correct; it’s a television documentary about some of the claims regarding Bible prophecy. When the production was made, there were strict guidelines in regard to religious proselytisation which it had to abide by. This is the reason the producers managed to procure an agreement with the distributor, allowing them to make a special cut DVD with further information (extras) to help people in regard to Christian faith and the Gospel message. This extras content has been freely aired on internet based sites and at least one cable television channel. Secular TV networks have no interest in the extra content.

The 'Extras' Facts as again some of the followers of the Bible teacher mentioned earlier have been guilty of defamation and quite frankly, telling lies.  

The distribution contract allowed Studio Scotland to create a limited number of director’s cut DVDs to help promote the film to those within a faith based environment and they were allowed to create a second DVD disc to accompany the main film, both to be enclosed in a single case which had to be either given away free or sold for a minimum retail price otherwise it would be in competition with the distributor and any broadcasters that they licenced it to.

This second DVD of Extras was produced to give guidance and further answers to those who desired to know more about Biblical topics. This endeavour was wholly financed by Stewart and Deborah Menelaws and was very expensive, so when compression techniques improved, the Extras were put onto the single disc with the main documentary. There was no outside funding and nobody contributed financially although the ministry of the aforementioned Bible teacher used on the film purchased a number of them at cost price which they sold at conferences and on their website and additionally the teacher himself was gifted with 2 or 3 boxes of them as a thankyou for his contribution to the project.
NB contributors to documentaries are considered to be 'expert witnesses' and not to be 'paid' for their statements lest it is seen as coercion although of course expenses are paid and a small gratuity may be given. If the broadcast rules aren't followed then it is considered a polemic - and in this case would be considered proselytising... yes, there are plenty smaller broadcasters who don't care about these rules but the serious ones such as the BBC certainly were much stricter when this film was made.

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The End things...

NO...it was not made at Paramount Studios or in Hollywood or sold to either of them or to China (unfortunately - wouldn't that have been amazing if China TV broadcast it!) or or or... just ask us if you have any questions - it is extremely serious to lie, to defame and to gossip according to The Bible! Just drop us an email - we look forward to answering any questions if we can.