Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
We could use your help

We could use your help

Last updated on: July 29, 2026 at 2:33 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

We could use your help 2026-07-29T14:33:46-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Some of those involved in the creation of Six Days in August. Standing: William Clayton (Gabe Casdorph), Willard Richards (Michael Pearson), Joseph Smith (Paul Wuthrich), George A. Smith (Noah Kershisnik), John Taylor (Chase Elwood), Mark Goodman (director/producer), James Jordan (1st assistant director/producer), Wilford Woodruff (Ted Bushman), Heber Kimball (Quinton Kappel), Brigham Young (John Donovan Wilson), and Lyman Wight (Paul Cartwright). Kneeling is Russell Richins (producer/BTS)

You may have noticed my appeals recently for you to share our Becoming Brigham series with others, to call it to the attention of family and friends and ward members.

I’m quite serious about this. I’m not satisfied with the size of the audience that we’re reaching with it thus far, and I would love, if it’s at all possible, to grow that audience several times over.

Now, my zealous followers over at the Peterson Obsession Board have an explanation for our inability, so far, to reach as large an audience as we seek: They know that it’s because, like everything else with which I’m involved, Becoming Brigham is of laughably low-quality, embarrassingly bad, and desperately boring — as well as, it scarcely needs saying, comprehensively dishonest. And they know that everybody rightly hates Brigham Young. And, anyway, much of our budget likely goes toward financing my lavish apologetic lifestyle. Furthermore, they knew those things, and posted about them, well before the first installment of Becoming Brigham went up online.

I confess that the Obsession Board’s diagnosis doesn’t match my own personal experience. I think that our short documentary videos are pretty good, and I know that people who’ve been watching them — and we’re just slightly more than a third of the way into the number of episodes that we plan to create and release — are receiving a solid and substantial course of instruction (and, I hope, a pleasant one) in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the nineteenth century. Moreover, I’ve spoken with many people who have watched one or more (or all) of the episodes of Becoming Brigham and, without a single exception, they have spoken positively about the project.

The real problem — notwithstanding the dedicated mockery of the Obsession Board — seems to me quite clearly not that large audiences have seen Becoming Brigham and concluded that the series is badly done, ridiculously inept, and devoted to a man whom even most committed Latter-day Saints correctly despise, but that very few in our ideal target audience know that Becoming Brigham even exists. They aren’t knowingly rejecting it. They’re unaware of it. I continually run into people who, although they’re exactly the “demographic” that I would expect to like Becoming Brigham, have never heard of it.

Now, it’s entirely possible that the folks who have spoken positively to me about our efforts are merely being polite, not wanting to hurt my feelings by telling me the hard truth. So please don’t try to change my perception of how Becoming Brigham is being received by deluging me now with candid, detailed critiques of our execution of the project, and so forth. I’ve invested a great deal of myself in this effort, as have others, and my self-esteem is very fragile. I might have to resort to my usual method of coping with emotional stress or upset — and of celebrating happy things, for that matter, and of dealing with ordinary daily events — which is, I’m told, to flee to my safe space of gorging myself on mountains of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, heaps of greasy onion rings, and dozens of double-bacon cheeseburgers and country-fried steaks, all of them washed down with a half-dozen chocolate milkshakes at a sitting. And that, presumably, wouldn’t be good for my health.

Three of the attendees chatting outside the theater just prior to the premiere of Six Days in August back in 2024.

If, though, you have found some value in Becoming Brigham, if you have enjoyed it at all, I really do hope that you will call it to the attention of others who might enjoy it and profit from it, as well. We’re doing this project on a very modest budget, and we simply don’t have the funding for an extensive promotional campaign. The donations that we’ve received to support creation of the series (as with the Interpreter Foundation films that preceded it) have covered its production, but they have left precious little beyond that (if, indeed, really anything at all) for promotion and marketing. And, of course, the Church itself will not officially endorse or publicize our work. Nor do we ask or expect that it do so, wonderful as that would be. For publicity, we have been obliged to rely upon word-of-mouth and such other quite inadequate vehicles as, well, this blog.

Did you know — I didn’t, at first — that, in the commercial film industry, the typical promotional budget generally falls between 50% and 100% of the production budget? That is, that the ratio of production cost to costs of promotion is typically 1:0.5 or even 1:1? That, for really high-profile Hollywood releases, studios routinely spend an amount on marketing that equals or even exceeds the actual cost of making the film? That, thus, if a blockbuster costs $100 million to produce, it’s standard practice to allocate an additional $100 million or more for global marketing, trailers, press events, and media buys?

We haven’t been in a position to aspire to anything remotely resembling that model.

The Becoming Brigham videos are available for free, online. We have never sought to monetize them or to enrich ourselves by them — notwithstanding the accusations to that effect that are frequently leveled on the Peterson Obsession Board (and perhaps elsewhere). But we are creating them in order for them to be seen. You can help us in that, and your help would be hugely appreciated. Indeed, your sharing of Becoming Brigham would be, far and away, the most effective (and the most cost-effective) method of spreading the word and attracting a larger audience for the series. You could, among many other things, mention the series in a Facebook post or in emails. Heck, if you would encourage just two others to watch Becoming Brigham, and they would then invite just two others to watch it, and . . . Well, you get the idea.

And I want to remind you that our two-part documentary Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon is also available for viewing at no charge (see here) as well as that, for a limited time, our 2021 theatrical film, Witnesses, is likewise accessible for free viewing (see here).

Please help us to spread the word. The donors have been doing their part. Please, do what you can.

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Previous Post

July 28, 2026

Retrieving History

Next Post

July 30, 2026 A note on some (rather atypical) recent reading

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I'm sad to say I don't share your hope. As nice as it would be ..."

axelbeingcivil

“Utah saw the biggest shift toward ..."

"He can. My estimation when I wrote this was that Democrats would have little trouble ..."

axelbeingcivil

“Kauf nicht bei Juden!”

"It will be nice to have a healed brain in the Resurrection."

Michael Hoggan

Beethoven and the Berlin Wall

"Trump can still veto. I don't know how many bills will be popular enough to ..."

Michael Hoggan

“Kauf nicht bei Juden!”

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet said, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joel Hosea Daniel Amos