Angel Studios and Monarch Media are teaming up to turn a popular Christian musical film into a TV series.
“A Week Away” is a Christian musical that was released on Netflix in 2021. The story follows a troubled teenager, named Will Hawkins, who takes a leap of faith by attending summer Bible camp and ends up falling in love, making friends, and “finding a place where he belongs,” according to IMDB.
Now, Angel Studios and Monarch Media are launching a TV series based on the film that will star Antonio Cipriano, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, David Koechner, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Sacha Carlson, Ava Jean, Haven Greene, Jason Marsden and Carlos PenaVega.
“A Week Away: The Series” will tell the stories of a group of young people who connect at Camp Aweegaway and grow deeper in their faith while attending the camp.
“The Angel Guild enthusiastically approved the proof of concept torch for A WEEK AWAY,” Jared Geesey, Chief Distribution Officer at Angel, said in a press release. “Our audience is eager to support exceptional quality entertainment that the whole family can enjoy together.”
He continued, “A WEEK AWAY checks all the boxes and we couldn’t be more honored to work with these incredible musicians and storytellers.”
Monarch Media helped produce the original movie and is widely recognized for the 2023 musical “Journey to Bethlehem.”
Alan Powell, with Monarch Media, was tapped as the showrunner and co-writer of the series after being a co-writer of the original film.
Powell told Deadline the original film was a “personal” project and childhood memories served as a springboard for the script.
“A Week Away has been a very personal endeavor for me from the beginning,” said the founding member of Christian rock group Anthem Lights. “I grew up a Pastor’s kid who went to Christian Camp every summer and I have vivid memories of those moments even to this day. So personal, in fact, that the girl leads in the film are named after my two oldest daughters, Avery and Presley, and now two of the leads of the series are two of my other daughters, Lennie and Rowe.”
Four years ago, the faith-based musical climbed the charts on Netflix landing in the Top 5 in the U.S. and no. 3 worldwide.
“It’s been an honor to see the original film resonate with so many people, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue the story through the series with our partners at Angel Studios,” he added.
Powell said many of the same people who made the original film a success will be on this new project.
“The same guy that did all the music for us in the film is coming back, [along with] the same choreographer, same DP (director of photography),” Powell told Crosswalk. “So there’s going to be a lot of similarities in storytelling. And if you like the film, certainly you’re going to like the series. But we are excited to tell a longer version of the story, dive into these characters a little bit more, do more music, have more fun.”
“When music and film come together, it’s the most impactful thing for me, personally, emotionally,” he expressed.
“A Week Away: The Series” is scheduled to launch this fall through the Angel Studios platform.
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