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Actor Jesse Hutch says there’s a great need for wholesome, values-based fare — so much so that he’s getting into producing features and series as well as performing in front of the camera.
“Uplifting content is always important,” said Mr. Hutch, who has become a mainstay in family-friendly rom-coms such as “B&B Merry” and “Snowmance.” “The more I interact with the fans, whether it be through social media or in-person meetings, doing stuff in the mall or the gym, or going to conventions … there’s story after story of how they have enjoyed or found joy or found peace, just in everyday life, or maybe they’re going through something really hard and this movie helps uplift them.”
The 42-year-old Canada-born actor is a partner in Third Coast Film, a new venture that aims to “develop, produce, and distribute films that captivate and inspire,” according to the firm’s website. He said he wants to “create film and television projects filled with hope and family and uplifting messages [and] comedy.”
His recent turn as Otto, the non-romantic lead in Great American Family’s “A Christmas Blessing” shows how he tries to uplift audiences. Otto helps save a food pantry just as the woman who inherited the space is about to sell it for commercial development. Instead, the pantry stays open and helps the community.
Upcoming is “Homestead,” a streaming series produced by Angel Studios. He portrays a former Green Beret hired to provide security for a compound — the homestead of the title — after a world-ending tragedy. The survival drama will premiere in theaters, with a series release to follow.
Mr. Hutch, whose TV credits include roles in “Batwoman,” “Smallville” and “American Dreams,” described “Homestead” as “kind of a present-day, post-apocalyptic story about how you take care of your life, raise your family, make the food — how would you take care of yourself if these other elements of your life were taken away?”
The upcoming streaming series “gives people a lot to think about and approach the topics of life, love, faith, understanding, childhood, adulting [and] protection, joy. I mean, it’s gonna hit all those aspects, and we have a fantastic cast,” he added. The cast includes Neal McDonough, Dawn Olivieri and Bailey Chase.
Giving people uplifting food for thought is gaining ground in the entertainment industry, said Mr. Hutch, who also has directed a pair of short films and several episodes of a TV series.
“I think there is this message of hope that’s going around in film and television, and people are catching it and they’re seeing it, and they’re witnessing it, even if it’s just from a purely financial standpoint,” he said.
Mr. Hutch — a Christian who says he follows his faith in his career — cited an upcoming Hilary Swank film, “Ordinary Angels,” based on a true story in which a rural Kentucky community rallies to help a girl get a liver transplant, and “The Shift,” a loose adaptation of the Book of Job with a sci-fi vibe — as examples of faith-affirming films that appeal to wide audiences.
“There’s definitely people who are making uplifting content, and I think it’s surprising people [that] it’s doing well, it’s selling movie tickets, it’s bringing people to the theaters,” he said.
“You have these in-person discussions with people, and I’m blown away by how people literally just are so thankful for a movie that they feel, brings hope, brings joy, brings laughter to their world. And so I can’t deny that that’s something that I have to listen to.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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