Scientologists plan Hollywood TV studio

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(Reuters) - The Church of Scientology, the religion whose followers include actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, plans to start a religious broadcasting centre to promote its teachings over TV, radio and the Internet.

The centre, located near the church's West Coast headquarters in Hollywood, would occupy the nearly five-acre studio property the church bought last year from Los Angeles public TV station KCET for $42 million. The station would elevate the public profile of a religion that has mostly relied on pamphlets and books by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to proselytize for new members.

"The church plans to establish a central media hub for our growing world network of churches and to move into the production of religious television and radio broadcasting," said Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Church of Scientology International, in an email.

She said there is no timetable for when operations would begin.

Scientology TV could be similar to Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network or the Trinity Broadcast Network. Trinity creates Christian programming at a production centre in Irving, Texas, and airs it on TV stations and cable channels, said Rick Ross, whose non-profit Rick A. Ross Institute in Trenton, New Jersey, maintains an online archive of data on cults and controversial movements.

"Hollywood is a major hub for creative talent and some of them are Scientologists," said Ross. "They'd have a lot of talented folks who could produce shows and stars like Tom Cruise who would appear on them."

Elayne Rapping, a pop-culture expert and professor of American studies at the University of Buffalo, told Reuters she is not surprised by the church's move.

"Having their own TV is a good idea since they can spin things their way," she said. "They are after good PR which they can control to offset the bad publicity surrounding them in other media."

Former members of the 60-year-old church accuse it of being a cult and have alleged that it abuses members and separates parents from children, among other things. The church denies such accusations.

The celebrity of controversial members like Cruise and Travolta is a double-edged sword for the church, Rapping said.

Cruise is one of the world's biggest movie stars, but his divorce from actress Katie Holmes has fuelled speculation that the couple disagreed on raising their 6-year-old daughter, Suri, as a Scientologist and sparked a flurry of news coverage about the church.

John Travolta was recently sued for libel by a Los Angeles man who wrote a book about his alleged homosexual encounters with the "Saturday Night Fever" and "Pulp Fiction" star.

The Hollywood studio would complement the church's existing production facility, Golden Era Productions, near Hemet, California, which produces DVDs and "other audiovisual materials that comprise a large part of the Church's religious and educational materials," Pouw said.

Scientologists are likely to buy time on local TV stations to air shows as other religions do, said Bill Carroll, vice-president of Katz Television Group, which advises TV stations on programming.

They could create their own cable channel, he said, but could also get a license from the Federal Communications Commission to operate a broadcast channel by adhering to FCC rules on children's programming, news and other regulations.

The church took physical control of the broadcast centre, located on Sunset Boulevard near Hollywood, in April when KCET employees moved TV station operations to a rented facility.

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Prudence Crowther)
http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/scientologist...211242182.html
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will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
Bring it on.

Scientologists are more entertaining than Christians.

But the title of this made me think they were going to produce movies.
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It reminds me of a toilet paper on the trees
- Paula



Bring it on.

Scientologists are more entertaining than Christians.
C'mon........!!!!



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Bring it on.

Scientologists are more entertaining than Christians.

.
I dont know about that. Pat Robertson is hilarious in an absurdist way.

It troubles me to think there are actually people that take his wild and crazy rantings serious, however i find his clips equal to Dana Carveys Church lady.



&feature=related

1000 years from now when they discover the tapes. will future people know which is which?
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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
I wonder how Scientology will end?

Hopefully some kind of entertaining bloodbath which I can watch well produced documentaries about later.



For those in the UK, they're showing the best episode of Star Stories (The Church of Scientology Presents - Being Tom Cruise: How Scientology Is in No Way Mental) at 12:45am Tuesday morning on C4.



that's what she said...
I'd actually watch a tv show on it. Heck, I think with its current publicity, it would do good as a movie theme! I bet it would capture the attention of the people, if even just for entertainment/education.
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Nicolas Cage
^to be in 14 movies in the next two years^



Honestly, Scientology scares the ever loving hell out of me. I have read Dianetics, which L.Ron Hubbard wrote its not anything that weird, and as far as I know it was very popular in the 80s, especially among eccentric business types. But what scares me the most, is that this isn't a stagnant religion, its actually growing, which is rather worrisome. All i really know about this religion is what I have seen from a bevy of investigative journalism, hidden camera type stuff, etc. For me the Tom Cruise, tipping point wasn't the Oprah Winfrey sofa stomping, but the interview/argument he had with Matt Lauer on the Today Show back in the day, I will post link below. And I try to be open minded to new things, blah, blah, blah (or for arrested development fans--Bob LobLaw), but the argument on that show was about prescription medication to treat post postpartum depression, specifically in the case of Brooke Shields. In short the argument was Tom Cruise was saying that psychiatric medicine is almost never necessary and that exercise and self discovery can rid, basically, whatever ails you. And Matt Lauer, being more calm then I would of been, even asked Tom if he can accept that fact that psychiatric medication might be helpful just even in this one instance, in which he replied no. And what bother me about this, is the inability to be open to new things, especially with the times as they are now. That is wonderful if exercise helped Tom Cruise be who he is today (personally I'm a big fan of his movies), but to make such a blanketed statement for a religion, especially to such a medicated country, is well.....absurd. Which then makes me think, who in the heck are these people that join this church, and do they need to be on medication, and if they do, would they still be scientologists? I don't understand a religion either, where you have to pay money in order to gain information and enlightenment. There have been so many books written by people who have left scientology that are just so damning, that its disgusting. And if anyone is up on their news, even the new Pope spoke out in regards to homosexuality, saying he can't say if it is wrong or right, so religions can change or atleast be open to discussion.

But in regards to the original post, I think its horrible that they are getting their own studio, I don't think this is going to be a beacon of healthy information in any regards. And if Tom Cruise and John Travolta are the spokesmen for this media front, I think that is worse. They are both good actors in my book, and they have gone through some very tough times personally, and have found solace i suppose in said church, but I can't really understand why this craze is growing at such a rapid rate. And I say this next thing, only from what I see in the media only, and these are my views only....I really feel Tom and John are "closeted" men. And I really don't mean that in any negative context at all, at all, I can't stress that enough. I can't imagine the business and societal pressures if that is the case for them, and can see why (abstractly) they choose to not acknowledge that lifestyle, or accept that, however, both these men are well into their age, accomplished many things, and I'm sure have a fair amount of money, so why not just live your life guys.

apologize for getting off topic

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Silencio



He is wrong to say almost no one benefits from medication when mentally ill(and shouldn't have even brought it up in public anyway when directing it at one person) but 'psychiatric' drugs are indeed a massive massive problem in the western world, especially America, and other forms are better used instead - cognitive behavioral therapy/longer sessions over time for example. An awful lot of people are put on such drugs when they don't have to be at all and unfortunately a lot of psychiatrists just willy nilly put people onto drugs.

As much as he looks an arse, parts of what he mentions away from Shields is all quite fine - masking the problem, chemical imbalance. For an awful lot of people all this can be true. But it's wrong to say that no one should be put on drugs because there are a % that need the things.



A loving heart is the truest wisdom.
Maybe we'll finally get the long awaited sequel to Battlefield Earth. Can't wait.
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Iroh



<>Dances with Wolves<>
Is John Travolta also a scientologist? I have never heard before.