Undying Commitment: A 14-day Study in StewardshipНамуна

Sealing Hearts - Concessions to Political Game Playing
We call them schmoozers. Some of their concessions seem harmless enough. Other tactics are less than upright - if not downright wrong. Wrong, maybe, but often successful. Quentin J. Schultze, professor of communication arts and sciences, relates the unfortunate story of a principled man who opted against this course of action:

British film producer David Puttnam wanted to make a movie about 'winning on your own terms.' For 'the past ten years,' recalled Puttnam, 'my career has led me to behave rather expediently.' He hoped that Chariots of Fire would enable him to 'exorcise' his expedient ways. Puttnam imagined himself as the film's major character, Eric Liddell, an evangelical Scot who refused to run the one-hundred-meter Olympic race on a Sunday - the Lord's day of rest. But he recognized that his own life was more like that of Liddell's competitor, Harold Abraham, a 'somewhat aloof, unpopular figure who ran in order to satisfy his personal ambition.' Puttnam felt that, like Abraham, he was living as a pragmatist rather than acting in accord with his higher ideals. He hoped that the making of Chariots of Fire would put him on higher moral ground.

Puttnam's dream of producing Chariots of Fire soon turned sour. Financiers refused funding, and media moguls humiliated Puttnam for trying to produce a movie with limited audience appeal. One studio executive held a draft of the screenplay over a wastebasket as he told Puttnam what he thought of the project: 'You must be out of your mind. I don't understand you. You get an opportunity to produce mainstream commercial movies and you bring along this.' The executive dropped the script in the trash and offered these words of wisdom: 'Go away and grow up, and don't waste our time again in the future.'

In spite of obstacles, Puttnam persisted. He raised the necessary money, worked closely with a screenwriter on five drafts, and cast a little-known pair of actors for the lead roles. Along the way, Puttnam made what he considered to be acceptable compromises! Chariots of Fire eventually won the Academy Award for best picture in 1981, and five years later Puttnam became head of Columbia Pictures.

But Hollywood was not excited about Puttnam's rise to power. In the industry's eyes, he was too principled - too much like Olympic runner Liddell. Puttnam refused to pay stars and their agents outlandish fees. He turned down fat-cat deals that would guarantee whopping salaries to produce even if their films failed in the box office. Worst of all, he simply declined to give the Hollywood elite royal respect and the attention they expected. Within a year, Columbia's board ousted him!

The story of Puttnam's rise and fall raises troubling questions about the potential for justice and peace in Hollywood.

While reading today's Scripture passage ask yourself what role does compromise play in your own life, and what tactics are acceptable for you to 'get ahead'?