Steven Christ

A “Farmgatefilms” FILM
WRITTEN BY Craig Johnson

In a tiny rural community tucked away in a remote part of New Zealand lives a simple farmer named Steven who, according to his friends and neighbors, can seemingly perform miracles. So strong is their belief in his feats that they call him Steven Christ.

The legend of Steven has spread to a nearby town where Julian Rickard, who will not let a previous catastrophic business failure bankruptcy stop him from achieving success, has relocated from Auckland and set up his new PR Company – JRPR. Julian is hugely excited by the PR potential of the second coming of Christ would bring, and convinces a very reluctant Steven to let him manage his publicity brand. From that moment on Julian sets about his task of raising Steven’s profile with gusto. Julian is a publicity whore; from fun runs to supermarket openings, nothing is too small for Steven to attend. Julian also uses the services of a social media expert by the name of Sarah to harness the latest internet communication technology and spread his client’s profile to a global audience. In a short time Julian canny PR tactics together with Sarah’s social networking smarts begin to work and Steven’s profile begins to rise dramatically.

Steven wakes one morning to find his front farm paddock full of the tents of modern day disciples. Steven has become an internet phenomenon. The media also becomes fascinated, but the fascination soon becomes a feeding frenzy as paparazzi turn up in his life and try to dig the dirt on who exactly this 'Stephen Christ' character actually is.

Julian’s thirst for PR is relentless as he seeks to continue to build the hype around Steven but Sarah has developed feelings for Steven as is starting to see him as a lamb to the slaughter. She warns him of her concerns but by now events have overtaken them all and the media juggernaught cannot be stopped.

Sarah knows she must do something drastic to save Steven but Steven has a surprise for them all…