About
What We Do
We are an evangelistic Christian production company. We specialize in Christian films and producing engrossing, intelligent podcasts.
Where Does the Name Glowing Nose Come From?
The name originates from our first Christian film, “Sauce”. In the movie (which is about the production of an art film), the characters have a lighting issue: there is a strong shadow under the nose of the actor. The crew jokingly puts a glowing nose on the actor, which frustrates the director, ultimately, driving him to face the facts about Jesus. It’s a quirky concept, but it proved very effective for the audience. We tried out the name and it stuck. We’ve been using it since then!
The name represents several things to us:
1) Most importantly it stands for putting your faith in the most prominent place on your face (your nose!) and letting it shine.
2) It demonstrates the goal for our movies: to be a catalyst that brings people to the gospel.
3) It is a constant reminder to us that Glowing Nose is a different kind of Christian company. Other organizations use the easy buzz words like “grace”, “holy”, “pure”, “living water”, etc in their names. Rather than take the easy way out, we want to speak to audiences in a new way, without resorting to the easy answers. Our name reflects that principle.
4) From a filmmaking standpoint it is a constant reminder of God’s provision. In pre-production for “Sauce” our main dilemma was “how are we going to get his nose to light up?” In order to make the film work we had to figure out how to execute that lynchpin gag. We had considered putting lights in the actors nose, shining a fine-tuned spotlight on the actor’s face… anything we could think of! After a lot of thought, God provided the answer, simple as it may sound: “put a light-up nose on his face”. God’s provisions are often through simple, unconventional answers. Since then, the “glowing nose” lynchpin (issues on which the entire project swings) have always been there. In “The Elephant” it was (obviously) finding the live elephant to play the title role. In Between the Walls it was the tapes. Bringing up Bobby really needed a water park. Each instance is a simple reminder to us that God provides, though, not always in our timing, and not always to our immediate satisfaction.
5) Let’s be honest… it’s catchy.
And that is where the name comes from! But how did we get started in Christian films?
The Foundation of Filmmakers
When we were ten years old my brother and I attended a play put on by a local church. The production clearly spelled out that there is only one Way to Heaven. At the end of the play there was an altar call and both of us responded that night. Praise God. But that was only the beginning.
As we began to grow in our faith, Christian media had a great impact on us. Each night we listened to Christian talk radio and learned a lot about theology from listening to these speakers. 
All the while, we were producing short videos for fun. Later on these short videos proved to be a great exercise because they taught us how to think on our feet and to solve problems on the fly. Our senior year in high school we produced over 40 short videos.
After graduating from high school we attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. It was a tough school to go to because most of the people attending the college had completely different worldviews as us. It was a great, but challenging training ground! We soon realized that our friends had a lot of misconceptions about Jesus, and so we began crafting our film school assignments to address the areas that needed addressing. In class we were given a portion of time each semester to explain what our film was about. Since our films were about Jesus, we had an obvious opportunity to talk about the Lord before an audience of our peers. We then made a habit of visiting our friend’s dorm rooms and building relationships with them. It was in those conversations that we began learning that people’s issues with Christianity are not solely due to a lack of knowledge surrounding the steps to becoming a Christian. Though many of our friends did not know what it takes to be a follower of Jesus, most of their objections came from poor experiences with Christians, or else, knowledge of atrocities committed by people claiming to come in the name of the Lord.
I’m not saying that our process was a wild success. But it did open doors for us to discuss the gospel with our friends. And it helped us to see into their hearts. It also showed us what a negative stereotype Christians have – and how much, historically, we deserve that stereotype. It challenged us to clearly present the message of the gospel, but to do so while meeting the needs of those who were listening. To be bold with the gospel, not holding anything back, without being condescending and while simultaneously meeting their physical and emotional needs. It meant being the exception to the negative stereotypes in their lives, thus, building a bridge to the gospel.
After graduation from college and interning in LA we moved to Los Angeles to work in the secular film industry. It was a great training ground. Not only did we learn some excellent tips of the trade, but also got to learn in the school of hard knocks. Some days we would be doing camera preps in big rental houses and working on big shoots, and some days we were taking out trash on reality shows. We lived and worked and were involved in the whirlwind of Hollywood. It truly is a desperate land that greatly needs missionaries. It is also a world of cardboard promises. We were offered everything from directing documentaries for major networks to funding for our own feature films (none of which worked out, nor did we expect them to).
In 2004 we attended the International Christians in Visual Media (ICVM) conference in Atlanta with our film “The Elephant”. God provided a great opportunity for us to make connections with some excellent Christian filmmakers. Through connections we made at the conference we volunteered to work, unpaid, on a major Christian film. That six-week shoot opened doors for us to go on and work with other gifted Christian filmmakers. Through their mentorship we began to learn how the Christian film world works. With their encouragement we moved back to Ohio to start pre-production for Between the Walls. The rest, as they say, is history. Though, believe me, the story is not nearly as simple and easy as it sounds. The process has been littered with obstacles. But through the grace of God we are still breathing! And we’re proud to be proclaiming His name.
The Summary
All of these things come together to this point where I am supposed to summarize our goals into one brief statement. The fact of the matter is that this whole process has been very complicated. It has involved constant issues and headaches, a lot of our personal money, and a great deal of failures (or “life lessons”, depending on how you look at them). We are not people who get these great booming calls from God. Rarely do things come easily for our movies. The entire process for Between the Walls was nightmarishly difficult. There were a lot of restless nights and unproductive days. Bringing up Bobby has many of its own challenges.
It started with what we call a sense of inevitability. For Between the Walls it meant that we were in Los Angeles, sleeping in a friend’s living room, and getting offers from the government for food stamps. We both found ourselves knowing that, inevitably, we would have to make Between the Walls ourselves. That is the only way I can explain it. No, it did not manifest itself in a peaceful feeling. Rather, it caused us to be quite restless. But inside we knew it was going to happen, one way or another.
So, it has not been an easy process. But here is what it comes down to: life is in the struggle. Our favorite personal stories are in times when things were tough, when the answers were not easy. But as Ryan says in Between the Walls, “God use[s] the time to teach [us] to rely on Him”. With that in mind, we have resigned to avoid the stereotypes that people have with Christian entertainment. We have also resigned to avoid the things that the market says that Christian’s want if they conflict with the burdens that God has placed in our hearts. Some would have you believe that what Christians need is “positive” films that warm the heart and do not challenge the audience. What we have found is that life is in the challenges. Freedom comes from accepting those challenges. As God makes us more and more like Jesus, we must be tested in order to grow.
Our films are challenging. They are prayerfully made. They are as theologically sound as we can possibly make them. They boldly proclaim Jesus as the only Way to Heaven. And they address real issues in order to provoke the audience, Christians and non-Christians, to repentance. Imperfect people who serve a perfect God make these movies. We want to be honest about those things. If you are looking for a reason to buy products from Glowing Nose, please consider that we strive for integrity in sales, quality in production, and honesty in life. It is not our goal to be the biggest, highest grossing, blockbuster movie company that will take Hollywood by storm. We would rather be a small company that challenges and motivates, than a big company that makes concessions in order to sell more disks in order to pay the overhead. That is why we need your support! We do not want to sell-out. And if you want to see more quality projects, and to encourage others to produce the same, we’ll need your help to spread the word. It is our goal to challenge, to inspire, to reach the unreachable, to uncover our sore spots so that they might be healed, and to share the burdens that God has placed on our souls. The rest is up to the Lord.
Sincerely,
Chris Staron
Writer/ Director
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