Families|January 24, 2014 11:09 EST
Stephen Baldwin's 'Rock and a Hard Place' Shows a Pastor Caught Between Ministry and Owning a Bar
Stephen Baldwin will star in a family-friendly, faith-based sitcom about a a pastor who inherits a bar in hopes to show, "God's love, grace, mercy and forgiveness."
Rock and a Hard Place isabout a small town pastor who unexpectedly inherits the bar directly across the street from his church. The sitcom will star Baldwin as the pastor, comedian Darren Marlar, John Schlitt (lead singer of Petra), and Bill Cosby's nephew, Braxton Cosby.
The storyline is based on a recently widowed pastor struggling to get money to raise his young biracial daughter along with his African American mother in law when he inherited Hard Knocks Bar and Grill from a close friend and parishioner. The series will show the ups and downs that the church leader experiences as he tries to manage his two contrasting jobs.
Creator and cast member Marlar told TheBlaze that the concept for the sitcom was born three years ago.
"It all started with a dream," he said.
Marlar once had a dream about a preacher who inherited a pub. While he said he did not remember much else, the overall idea of a man of God in ministry running a bar stuck with him.
"The more I started thinking about it, I thought 'This is really a good idea for an ongoing TV show,'" he explained.
Marlar said he then took a leap of faith and reached out to Baldwin and hoped to gain his interest in his concept, which at the time was just that. The actor's manager was interested and found the idea intriguing, which ultimately led to a plan, for a Hollywood project.
Marlar did not have a big budget to put a pilot together, so his team with Baldwin, decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise the necessary funds.
The goal for the campaign was $50,000 during the first attempt of fundraising. The target goal was superseded with more than $65,000 donated by hundreds of individual donors who apparently embraced the television concept.
"We're probably looking at late spring early summer to actually begin filming [in Northern Chicago]" Marlar told TheBlaze. He said his team tended to create a two to 10-minute trailer that can be taken to television networks with hopes it will get picked up. He said some have already shown some level of interest in the project.
"Our goal with the series is to show God's love, grace, mercy and forgiveness...We see so much negativity in the world and we want to bring some good, clean fun and laughter back to television," Marlar said to ChristianityToday.com. "We also want it to be safe for the entire family, so there will be no cursing and no sex in our series. We want the entire family to be able to watch the show together without fear of what they may see or hear with little ones present."
Baldwin also told the site he was "excited" to be part of the project. "I believe this is a brilliant opportunity to do something that communicates the message of our faith in a way that is truly fun, different and unique," he said.