Diane Winston shared her insights on the challenges facing producer Mark Burnett (“Survivor,” “The Voice”) and his mini-series “The Bible” airing this month on the History Channel.
Winston told the LA Times about the pitfalls associated with interpreting the Bible for general consumption — many in your audience have developed their own interpretations of the book and may be resistant to Burnett’s view of the holy book.
“After years of going to church, people have very fixed opinions, and they’re looking for things to criticize,” Winston said. “How do you even compress the Bible into 10 hours? The risk is whether your audience agrees with the way you’ve interpreted the material and with what you’ve chosen to include and leave out. It’s a minefield.”
Ahead of its premiere on March 3, “The Bible” received endorsements from a number of religious heavy-hitters, including Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes as well as Maya Angelou, Tony Robbins and Focus on the Family on the secular side.