Proposal · Prepared for
Dominican Friars
Province of St. Joseph
Province of St. Joseph
Video in Service of
the Campaign
the Campaign
Narrative Film · Anthem Film · Two Creative Directions
This proposal covers two video deliverables, both designed to serve the Province's capital campaign — giving donors, prospects, and mission partners a compelling, cinematic case for why this moment in Dominican history demands investment.
A capital campaign asks people to believe in something before they can see it fully built. That belief requires more than a case statement. It requires a felt sense of what the mission already is, what it is already doing, and what it becomes when properly resourced. These two films are built to do exactly that — one with depth and narrative weight, one with reach and immediate impact.
Both are captured in the same production window across New York, Washington D.C., and Ohio, with footage serving each deliverable from a shared production block.
The centrepiece. A cinematic document of the Eastern Province's mission — the scale of what is already happening, the quality of the men doing it, and the urgency of this particular moment. Built for major donor meetings, campaign launch events, parish presentations, and anywhere the Province needs a serious conversation to begin.
We have developed two distinct creative concepts for this film. Both serve the campaign. The question is which approach best fits the Province's primary donor audience and the specific ask being made. Both are presented in full below.
The campaign's reach asset. Music-driven, fast-cut, built from the same footage — but edited to an entirely different logic. Where the Narrative Film opens a conversation, the Anthem Film starts a fire. Designed for social media, parish AV screens, campaign kickoff events, and any room where the Province has thirty seconds to make someone feel something before the ask.
Both concepts share everything in production — the same crew, the same locations, the same shoot days. The differentiation is creative. Read both. The one that speaks most directly to the campaign's primary donor audience is the right one.
Sed Contra — "But on the contrary" — was the signature pivot in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae: the moment he acknowledged a strong objection, and then quietly, rigorously demolished it. It is the most Dominican phrase in the history of ideas.
This video opens not with inspiration, but with honesty. We acknowledge the objection as any good Thomist would. Then we turn. The calm, confident precision of people who have been arguing for truth for 800 years.
Campaign role: The film for the sceptic in the room — the prospective donor who needs to be convinced before she opens her chequebook. It meets objections head-on and answers them with evidence. Ideal for campaign prospect events, university donor audiences, and younger major gift prospects who respond to argument over sentiment.
Cold open. Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and former DOJ trial attorney, speaks directly to camera, calm and unhurried: "The objection is real. The data is real. And a Dominican is not afraid of either." Cut to black. Text in stark white serif: the data on religious decline, the cultural narrative of empty pews. Then, in Dominican blue: SED CONTRA.
The Dominican House of Studies, Washington D.C. The chapel first. Friars in white habits at Vespers, chant settling into stone. Then the classroom. These men pray before they argue. Over 50 in formation, learning to think and to worship at the same time — because for a Dominican, those are the same thing.
College classroom. Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P., Director of the Thomistic Institute, in heated discussion with students. On-screen: 4 campus chapters in 2015. Today: 100+ on three continents.
The Godsplaining studio. Frs. Pine, Briscoe, Kress, and Chapman — four friars, one podcast, a different kind of preaching. The same ideas, now travelling at the speed of a download. Aquinas 101 thumbnails cascade across the screen. Hundreds of thousands of listeners. Fewer than 300 friars.
The sound of a banjo. The Hillbilly Thomists, friars in white habits, take the Grand Ole Opry stage. The crowd erupts. Fr. Austin Litke, O.P. on Bill Monroe and Aquinas, grace and music. People who came for the bluegrass. They didn't know a Dominican would be waiting.
St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village, Sunday evening. The line stretches around the block. A baptism. The 6pm Mass, standing room. Fr. Jonah Teller, O.P. from the steps: "They say this generation doesn't want the Church. I'd say this generation is starving for something real." That's the receipts.
We return to Fr. Legge, where we began. His voice, steady: "The objection has been raised. The evidence has been presented. Sed Contra. Come and see."
Where Sed Contra raises the objection and answers it, Set the World Ablaze is visionary and prophetic. It does not debate the narrative of decline. It simply shows you what the alternative looks like, up close and on fire.
Campaign role: The film for the donor who is already moved but needs to feel the full scope of what she is funding. Visionary and prophetic in register — built for campaign launch events, major gift solicitations, and the moment just before the ask. It doesn't argue. It shows. That is often more powerful.
"She dreamed that a dog leapt from her womb with a burning torch in its mouth — and as it bounded into the world, it set the earth ablaze."
Near-darkness. A single voice reads from a medieval text. A candle flame. Then a satellite view of a city at night, light spreading outward from a single point. "St. Dominic's mother had this dream before he was born. His sons are still at it."
The Dominican House of Studies. The chapel first. Friars in white habits at Vespers, chant in the stone. This is where it begins — not in a studio, not on a stage, but in prayer. The library, the classroom, the habit bent over a book at midnight. The fire is not spontaneous. It is tended.
Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., in full habit on a university campus, entirely at home: "The world doesn't have a shortage of certainty. It has a shortage of wisdom." Cut to Aquinas 101, a student watching at a laptop in a coffee shop, pausing, rewinding. Something is catching.
The Godsplaining studio. Fr. Patrick Briscoe, O.P.: "The culture has told itself that God is not interesting. We disagree. Loudly and with evidence." Hundreds of pieces of content, reaching hundreds of thousands, from fewer than 300 friars.
The Hillbilly Thomists take the Grand Ole Opry stage, friars in white habits, banjos catching stage light. Fr. Austin Litke, O.P.: "People hear bluegrass and their defences come down. They're singing along before they realise they're singing about grace."
St. Joseph's in Greenwich Village. In Vino Veritas in the basement. The 6pm Mass, full to overflowing. A baptism. Fr. Jonah Teller, O.P.: "They say this generation doesn't want the Church. I'd say this generation is starving for something real."
Return to the candle. Camera pulls back. It is lit inside a full church. Then the satellite view again, light spreading from a single point outward. "Eight hundred years. One mission. A fire that does not go out. Come and see." Hillbilly Thomists music swells.
Sed Contra is the film for the prospect who needs convincing. It leads with the cultural problem and answers it with evidence. The right choice if the campaign's primary donor audience is newer, younger, or more sceptical.
Set the World Ablaze is the film for the donor already in relationship with the Province — the one who needs to feel the fire, not hear the argument, before writing a significant gift. The right choice if the campaign is built primarily around established major donor relationships.
If both audiences are in play, both films can be produced from the same footage. The production block is identical either way.
Capital campaigns live and die on momentum. The Anthem Film is a momentum asset — the piece that circulates before a major donor event, plays at the opening of a campaign kickoff, runs on social media during the public phase, and keeps the mission visible between asks. It is not a summary of the Narrative Film. It is a different instrument entirely.
Built from the same footage captured during the shared production window, but edited to an entirely different logic: rhythm, energy, visual surprise. The white habit against the Grand Ole Opry stage. The packed nave at St. Joseph's. Chant cut against a banjo riff. You don't need to understand it to feel it — and donors who feel it give.
This is the film that plays at the campaign gala before the ask. That circulates among donors in the weeks between meetings. That runs on parish screens and social feeds during the public phase. It works in every room because it doesn't need the room to be ready.
No preamble. The first frame earns attention or loses it. Opening image TBD based on the strongest visual from the shoot — likely the habit on the Opry stage, or the line forming outside St. Joseph's. Music in immediately. No voiceover, no titles yet.
Rapid intercutting across all apostolates — chant, lecture, podcast, banjo, crowd, baptism — edited to the rhythm of the music track. Minimal titles. The visual argument builds: this is one thing, with many faces. The editing accelerates through the middle section, compressing time and geography into a single impression of extraordinary momentum.
The music peaks. A single sustained image — probably the full nave of St. Joseph's, or the Opry crowd on its feet. Then a beat of silence, or near-silence. The viewer has been moved before they have been told anything.
Title card. Call to action — website, vocation inquiry, or donation prompt, depending on the distribution context. Castletown Media credit. The Province seal. Music out.
The Anthem requires a distinct colour treatment from the Narrative Film — richer contrast, slightly elevated saturation, a visual signature that reads immediately as a different kind of piece. Music licensing will be selected to match the tonal ambition: something that sits between sacred and propulsive, that doesn't sound like a corporate sizzle reel or a worship video.
We recommend commissioning music from a composer rather than licensing from a library, if budget permits. The Hillbilly Thomists catalogue is also worth considering as a source track, both for quality and for the implicit endorsement it carries.
The following is a planning-level estimate based on a coordinated production window across New York, Washington D.C., and Ohio, with footage serving both the Narrative Film and the Anthem Film.
All figures are ranges. Final investment will be confirmed once creative concept and production scope are agreed.
| Line Item | Detail | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Development | Story architecture, shot planning, interview development, concept refinement for chosen narrative approach | Included |
| Anthem Creative Development | Distinct tonal approach, music direction, editing logic | Included |
| Logistics & Scheduling | Coordinating access across three states, friar scheduling, location clearances | Included |
| Pre-Production Total (4–5 days) | Included in production block | |
| Line Item | Detail | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| New York | St. Joseph's Greenwich Village, Godsplaining studio, additional NYC coverage | 2 days |
| Washington D.C. | Dominican House of Studies — chapel, library, classroom, formation | 2 days |
| Ohio | Thomistic Institute campus chapter, Hillbilly Thomists | 2 days |
| Crew | Producer/Director, Director of Photography, B-Camera Operator, Production Assistant (as needed) | Included |
| Shared Production Block (6 shoot days) | $30,000 – $40,000 | |
| Line Item | Detail | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Narrative Film Edit | Ingest, story edit, narrative shaping, rough and fine cuts, titles/graphics | |
| Narrative Film Finishing | Music licensing, colour grading, sound mix, two rounds of revisions (10 edit days) | $10,000 – $13,000 |
| Anthem Film Edit | Footage selects, rhythm-based edit, graphics/titles | |
| Anthem Film Finishing | Music licensing, distinct colour treatment, sound mix, revisions (5–6 edit days) | $5,000 – $6,000 |
| Post-Production Total | $15,000 – $19,000 | |
| Total Estimated Project Range | $45,000 – $59,000 |
If the Province anticipates additional short-form reels from captured footage, we can structure either a monthly retainer (e.g. 4 reels per month) or a batch package of short-form edits delivered over a defined campaign window. We can outline those options once campaign cadence is clearer.
For further conversation about this proposal, creative concept selection, or production timelines, please be in touch.