The Christian movie executive keeps lots of irons in the fire, as the Lord blesses his professional endeavors across multiple disciplines.
With producer credits to his name for hit faith-based films like Breakthrough, The Star and Miracles from Heaven, it is arguably the movie business where DeVon Franklin has made his biggest impact.
A devout Christian - and the husband of actress Meagan Good - he is a top-notch motivational speaker and a best-selling author, too, so he's plenty impactful in other arenas as well. And in that connection, he's come out this week with a new book, which we will get to in a moment.
First though, Franklin is in New Mexico right now for pre-production for Flamin' Hot, his current film project. It's based on the true story of Richard Montanez, who worked as a janitor at Frito Lay, but amazingly became the creator of Flamin' Hot Cheetos snacks and then rose to vice president at the company. Production is scheduled to begin this summer and the picture will star Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez, with Eva Longoria directing.
The biopic is obviously a hope-inspiring one, which is part of what drew Franklin to the project. He shares some insight into what helped Montanez achieve such incredible success.
"He didn't allow how others saw him to dictate how he saw himself. So as a result, here I am in New Mexico making a movie out of his life. Let me tell you, this movie is going to bless you, it's going to inspire you."
Franklin made those comments during a social media livestream to promote his new literary endeavor, Live Free: Exceed Your Highest Expectations, explaining that the book is about "the power of setting expectations." He defines "living free" as not being "under the mental, physical or emotional control of anyone or anything," adding that we must examine closely our expectations in order to align them with the Lord's.
"Is that what God's calling you to do? And if it's not, who are you making your god?"
Franklin was joined on the livestream by pastor Mike Todd, a gifted young man of the cloth from Tulsa, and they share plenty of Godly wisdom, including Franklin's stating "Who the Son sets free, is free indeed," in reference to that oft-quoted scripture from from Jesus in John 8:36. The discussion runs just over an hour and is a boisterous and thought-provoking affair. We recommend you check it out via this link to Franklin's Instagram page. And if you'd like to buy his new book, you can do so here.