The movies already have a Hollywood and a Bollywood, but some local filmmakers see Central Florida staking its claim as “Holywood.”

A single faith-based movie filmed here last year has led to a handful of like-minded movies being shot from Ocoee to Mount Dora.

“The Whisper House,” based on the biblical parable of the prodigal son, was filmed in Ocoee last winter. It has its Florida premiere next Saturday at the Ocoee-based Central Florida Film Festival.

An adaptation of a Christian children’s fantasy novel, “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword,” just wrapped location filming in Mount Dora.

“Heading Home,” a faith-based drama about redemption and baseball, was written by local filmmaker De Miller and is slated to go before cameras in Lake County in October.

And the local producers of “Letters to God,” the first big faith-based movie shot here, plan to film two more faith-based projects here before the end of the year.
David Nixon, who co-directed “Letters to God,” is a firm believer that Central Florida “should be the capital of Christian films. We have world-class facilities, just as good as or better than L.A.”

Adds Miller, “We’d like Central Florida to be ‘Holywood’ because we want to get the ‘L’ out of Hollywood.”

Unlike Hollywood’s blockbusters, these faith-based films are made on micro budgets. “Letters to God,” which started this Central Florida boomlet, cost $3.5 million to produce. But the films following in its footsteps have even smaller budgets — ranging from $785,000 for “Ryann Watters and the King’s Sword” to $70,000 for “The Whisper Home.”

Most are made with lots of donated labor, locations and gear. “Ryann Watters” was shot on cameras donated by a church member, said Kerry L. Fink, CEO of TYG Studios, the film’s producers.