Bobby Downes (born October 17, 1967) is an American

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and the older brother of

Kevin Downes Kevin Downes is an American actor, writer, producer, director, and co-founder and Chief of Production and Distribution of Kingdom Story Company. Downes grew up in Visalia, five hours north of Los Angeles. Many of the Christian films he particip ...

. Downes is a leading American executive in faith and family entertainment. He founded ChristianCinema.com in 1999, which has become the largest independent retailer of faith-based movies in the U.S. and a leading Transactional Video on Demand platform. Downes holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University and has been involved in every aspect of film production for the past two decades. He has produced over a dozen feature films for the faith market, with his most notable work being the adaptation of Karen Kingsbury's novel, "Like Dandelion Dust." Additionally, Downes played a significant role in the publication and success of the #1 New York Times best-selling novel, "The Shack."

Biography

One of America's leading executives in the area of faith and family entertainment, Downes grew up in

Visalia Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

, about north of Los Angeles, where most of the early Christian films he produced were shot. He currently lives in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

with his wife Layne and their son Brennen and daughter Bo.

Professional life

Downes holds both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from California Polytechnic State University. In the early 1990s, after a three-year teaching stint in public education, Bobby spent much of the 90's leading teams of missionaries into more than 20 countries as an ambassador. In 1999, Bobby founded ChristianCinema.com, now the largest selection of faith-affirming and family-approved movies on the Internet. The company is the largest independent retailer of faith-based movies in the U.S. The company specializes in title curation and consumer marketing of faith-based movies and is respected in the industry as one of the leading key indicators for faith-based movies. He led the company into one of 2010’s 'Inc. 5000' leading companies in America. Today, the company is the leading Transactional Video on Demand platform for Christian & Family Movies with thousands of movies streamed over platforms like iOS, Apple TV, Roku, and Android. During the last two decades, Bobby has been involved in every aspect from script development, financing, production, marketing and distribution worldwide in all formats. Bobby has produced more than a dozen feature films for the faith market. Beginning in 1999, Bobby produced his first independent feature film The Moment After and its sequel The Moment After 2: The Awakening, both of which were acquired by Sony Pictures. Bobby produced Mercy Streets starring Eric Roberts and again worked with Roberts in Six: The Mark Unleashed', starring

Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor, producer and director. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome'' (1994), ''The Usual Suspects'' (19 ...

and

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...

. Both films acquired for distribution by Sony Pictures. He executive produced for producer Ralph Winter (X-Men, Fantastic 4) on

Frank Peretti Frank Edward Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural. , his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. He has been described by the ' ...

's best-selling novel

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

distributed by 20th Century Fox, producing The Lost Medallion with Bill Muir, The Redemption of Henry Myers and Hoovey, the true life story of Eric Elliott. Downes' most notable film was based on the novel by New York Times best-selling author Karen Kingsbury:

Like Dandelion Dust ''Like Dandelion Dust'' is a 2009 drama film directed by Jon Gunn and based on the novel by the same name by Karen Kingsbury. The film won 26 awards at 23 film festivals. Plot Two police officers knock on the door of a home and a drunk man answe ...

starring Academy-Award® winner

Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995). She also starred in the films ...

and Emmy Award Winner

Barry Pepper Barry Robert Pepper (born April 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He played Private Daniel Jackson in ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), Corrections Officer Dean Stanton in '' The Green Mile'' (1999), Roger Maris in '' 61*'' (2001), Joseph L. Galloway ...

was released by Twentieth Century Fox after winning more than 30 international film festival awards for Best Picture and premiered in Deauville, France at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2009. From January 2006 through the end of 2008, Bobby helped finance, develop the branding, collaborated on the writing and was core to bringing the #1 New York Times' best-selling novel '' The Shack'' to publication through its first million books sold. He was then instrumental in structuring a deal with Hachette Book Group, the world's second largest publisher. The book has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and remained number one on the New York Times Bestseller list for more than 50 weeks.

Filmography

Producer/Executive Producer

*''The Moment After'' (1999) *''

Mercy Streets ''Mercy Streets'' is a 2000 Christian action drama film written and directed by Jon Gunn. It starred Eric Roberts and Stacy Keach, among others. Plot ''Mercy Streets'' is the story of twin brothers, John (David White), a con man and Jeremiah ( ...

'' (2000) *'' Lay It Down'' (2001) *''

Time Changer ''Time Changer'' is an independent science fiction Christian seriocomic film written and directed by Rich Christiano, released by Five & Two Pictures in 2002. The screenplay concerns Dr. Norris Anderson (Gavin MacLeod), who uses his late fathe ...

'' (2002) *'' Six: The Mark Unleashed'' (2004) *'' The Visitation'' (2006) *'' The Moment After 2'' (2006) *''

'' (2009) *'' The Lost Medallion'' (2009) * '' Heaven's Rain'' (2010) *''

The Redemption of Henry Myers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2013) *'' Hoovey'' (2013) *'' Faith of our Fathers'' (2015) *'' The National Bible Bee Game Show (Season 2)'' (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Bobby 1967 births Film producers from California Living people American Christians People from Visalia, California