The Goal of Living Scriptures Inc.
Living Scriptures recognizes that there are many challenges that families must face in their day-to-day lives. One of the greatest challenges that parents face is teaching their children how to develop moral principles that will help them make decisions that will make them happy in the future.
With a rising amount of immorality and violence in most of the television shows and movies, Living Scriptures Inc. strives to provide a spiritually healthy alternative that can teach children how to navigate the challenges in their lives morally. The Living Scriptures DVDs feature many of the well-loved stories found in the Book of Mormon, New Testament, and Old Testament. These stories can teach children about the principles of obedience, charity, repentance, courage, standing for the right, and many other values that will help them make choices that will make them happy.
The mission statement for Living Scriptures is to Teach Values and Change Lives through helping families turn to the scriptures. The Living Scriptures DVDs, CDs and other products are all designed to bring the stories in the scriptures to life for children, teenagers, and parents to enjoy. These stories can help families strengthen their testimonies and make wise choices throughout their daily lives.
Visit the Living Scriptures site for more information about their products, services and mission.
History of Living Scriptures Inc.
Jared F. Brown and Seldon O. Young first founded Living Scriptures, Inc. in 1974. Based in Ogden, Utah, they began by creating and selling audio cassettes entitled the “The Family Hour.” The Family Hour audio cassettes were dramatizations of well-known and beloved stories that were positive and uplifting. Some of the stories found on The Family Hour series include the Ugly Duckling, Joseph Smith’s First Vision, The Story of Joseph F. Smith, Patrick Henry, Abraham and Isaac and so forth.
Later, they earned the funding and began producing animated videos of various stories from the Book of Mormon. As success followed the making of these videos, they quickly expanded their product line into other areas including CDs, music, and books. Two of their productions, the Docudrama of the Restoration and Modern Prophets series, won awards for their high quality production.
However, Living Scriptures Inc. was best known for its first fourteen years of business for its audio cassette dramatizations. In the mid-1980s however, the founders began focusing on the video product line as the VCR was invented and TV became very popular. They knew that their videos would have to be high quality if they were going to be successful.
In order to produce the highest quality that they could, they hired talented and experienced professionals to be a part of their team. Some of these people included former Disney director Richard Rich, famous composers Lex de Azevedo and Kurt Bestor, and famous author Orson Scott Card.
With this talented team, Living Scriptures Inc. worked hard to bring the scripture stories to life while maintaining the message that the original story intended to convey. They also strove to overcome the challenge of making the scripture stories understandable for children as well as entertaining for adults.
Years later, the hard work combined with talented voices, beautiful music, and well-written plots has resulted in the successful production of 69 videos. Through all of their efforts, Living Scriptures Inc. has never meant to replace the reading of the actual scriptural text. However, they do hope to provide another way for children and parents to gain an understanding of what is said in the text in a fun and entertaining way.
By the 1990s, Living Scriptures began expanding their product line into Church history and other stories as well as the scriptural stories. Later, they began expanding into the use of live actors and other languages.
The Living Scriptures Production Team
Living Scriptures features a very diverse and talented team of animators, authors, and composers that works hard to produce uplifting videos that will educate and entertain every member of your family. Many of the names on this team are recognizable from other popular productions.
President-Jared F. Brown: Jared Brown is one of the presidents and a co-founder of Living Scriptures, Inc.
Finance Manager-Seldon O. Young: Seldon Young is also a co-founder of Living Scriptures, Inc. He also helped manage the financing associated with the productions of The Swan Princess and Living Scriptures Hero Classic series.
Producer and Director-Richard Rich: Richard Rich worked at Walt Disney for fourteen years as a director. During his time there he helped create The Fox and the Hound and Pete’s Dragon.
Script Author-Orson Scott Card: Orson Scott Card’s name is recognized nationally as a famous author. He has won several awards both nationally and internationally for his work. He was also an editor for the Latter-day Saint magazine, the Ensign.
Composer-Lex de Azevedo: Lex de Azevedo helped to compose the music in the popular productions of Saturday’s Warrior and My Turn on Earth. Now he adds his talents to the Living Scriptures team.
Composer and Musician-Kurt Bestor: Kurt Bestor has also played an important role on the Living Scriptures team as he composes music for the Living Scriptures animated DVDs. He is also a famous Latter-day Saint composer and musician.
Director -T.C. Christensen: T.C. Christensen is best know for his work on The Testaments and The Work and the Glory. He also directed Praise to the Man and the Visit Israel series produced by Living Scriptures.
Narrator-Dr. W. Cleon Skousen: Dr. Cleon Skousen narrated the Visit Israel series for Living Scriptures. He had a vast knowledge of this area from his time spent studying as a scriptorian, Brigham Young University professor, and author.
Director-Laurie B. Stephens: Laurie B. Stephens has been recognized for her work by the Telly Awards, Houston Film Festival, and KBYU on PBS television. She has contributed to Living Scriptures through directing the Docudrama Series as well as many of the Modern Prophets films.