Jason Melton Talks ‘Adventure in Wonder’, Prime Video’s Wonder Project Deal and the Rise of Faith-Based Content
…Do not take yourself too seriously. This is true in life generally, but especially in the entertainment space. When you work with people who have celebrity status, there are many outside perceptions of what that world is like. At the end of the day, people are just people. Those put on a pedestal usually wish they weren’t because they know they are just like everyone else. I have learned not to put anyone on a pedestal and not to worry too much about what others think — mostly because they probably aren’t thinking about me anyway! All I can do is my best, try to serve others, and let the rest fall where it may. When I mess up, I laugh about it, learn from it, and do not let it rob me of my peace and joy. There is a book in the Bible that talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are available to us for free through faith, in every circumstance. Nothing should rob us of that peace and joy…
I had the pleasure of talking with Jason Melton. Long before he was navigating the unpredictable waters of independent filmmaking or attempting to sail the Dalmatian Islands with cameras in his face, Melton was just a kid running wild in the dirt of West Texas. His father was a parks and wildlife superintendent, managing a state park miles away from a town of barely a few hundred people. For Melton, the wilderness was his entire world. He would head outside after breakfast and not return until the supper bell rang. It was an isolated existence, but a deeply formative one. When he eventually traded the wide-open spaces of Texas for the ivy-covered walls of Princeton University, the culture shock was real. “If I wasn’t the poorest kid at Princeton, I was certainly one of them,” he recalls. But looking around at his highly privileged peers, he realized something profound. He didn’t meet a single person who had a happier childhood than he did. It was an early lesson in where joy actually comes from, grounding him for the chaotic career that lay ahead.
For years, Melton was a serial entrepreneur, dipping his toes into nearly two dozen different industries. By his own admission, that simply meant he found a lot of ways not to build a business, alongside a few ways to be successful. He was busy raising a family and running a healthcare company, using film and television strictly as a way to decompress at the end of a long day. But about five years ago, the sale of that healthcare company suddenly gave him the time and the bankroll to step behind the curtain of the entertainment industry. He wanted to help people bring great stories to the screen.
He started writing checks, plunging into the volatile world of independent film financing. He quickly learned that Hollywood math is a brutal teacher. He managed to break even on a string of early projects, which he quickly realized is a terrible benchmark in any other industry. “I have since learned from a really smart friend that investing in independent projects is like taking venture capital risk without the venture capital upside,” Melton says. He also learned the hard way that chasing a sure thing rarely pays off. He admits his biggest financial loser was a project packed with big-name Hollywood actors that he was told was a low-risk investment. He ignored the fact that the script didn’t speak to his heart, a mistake he vows not to repeat. Still, his innate optimism pushed him forward. He became an executive producer and investor on a large-scale animated movie about the biblical King David, recognizing how major studios were finally opening their purse strings to meet a massive, untapped demand for high-quality, faith-oriented content.
But Melton’s most personal project was born out of a stark reminder of his own mortality. In a short span of time, his wife battled and beat cancer, he nearly lost his life in a snow-skiing accident, and he was still carrying the heavy weight of losing his parents at a young age. “We realized life was passing us by quickly, and we wanted to make the time we had with our kids as meaningful as possible,” he explains. He decided to take his wife and four kids far outside their comfort zone to learn how to sail off the coast of Croatia, a dream he had been incubating for over 10 years.
That dream became the docu-series Adventure in Wonder. To pull it off, the Meltons connected with the Woods, a British family who had sold everything to live on a sailboat for a decade. The idea was to capture the collision of these two worlds cinematically. But filming your own family while learning to survive on the ocean isn’t exactly a vacation. Putting his wife and four children on camera brought a lot of laughter, but also a lot of tears. In a moment of pure exhaustion, one of his daughters asked, “Dad, can we just go on a great trip like this, but leave the cameras behind?” It was a grounding reality check. When he later shared that story with survivalist Bear Grylls, Grylls stopped him in his tracks and told him he desperately needed to listen to his daughter’s boundary. Melton took it to heart, realizing he had to slow down and not force his own passions onto his kids. Still, the trip provided plenty of levity. His youngest son, Jett, provided lighter moments on camera, mispronouncing his fear as having a “phoby” of boats and water. That accidental catchphrase has since become a mantra for an anxious Los Angeles film producer Melton recently met, who uses the word to remind herself not to take life so seriously.
The road to getting the series on screens was just as treacherous as learning to sail. The show sat in the can for over three years, enduring re-edits, doubt, and plenty of rejections before finally finding a home on Prime Video through the Wonder Project — a platform that hadn’t even existed when Melton first yelled action. Looking back at the bruised knees of both his life and his filmmaking journey, Melton’s ultimate takeaway is surprisingly simple. If he could spark one movement, it wouldn’t be about box office returns. It would be about cultivating a relentless heart of gratitude. “If you are grateful, everything else in your life is so much better,” he notes. He isn’t trying to sell a specific dogma; he just wants people to open their eyes. “The world is a magical place filled with wonder, beauty, and miracles everywhere,” he says. He hopes his journey reminds jaded adults what it feels like to see the world through the eyes of a child, proving that it is never too late to step outside, embrace the unknown, and find a little bit of magic in your own backyard.
Yitzi: Jason, it is very nice to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share the story of your childhood and how you grew up, and the seeds for all the amazing work that has come since then?
Jason: Yes, thank you for that. I grew up in a state park in West Texas. My dad was a parks and wildlife superintendent, which really means a park manager. The closest town had a few hundred people in it and was several miles away. It was an amazing way to grow up. I was outside after breakfast until the supper bell rang, just out in the wilderness playing. Sometimes I would have friends over, and sometimes I would just be exploring by myself. I really developed a love for nature, and for the beauty and wildness of the world around us. That was a great way to grow up. I was very involved in sports and academics and wound up going to college at a place where, if I wasn’t the poorest kid at Princeton, I was certainly one of them. It was there I learned a beautiful thing my first year in college. I looked around and saw a lot of wonderful people who all had very privileged backgrounds and childhoods, but I didn’t meet any of them who had a happier childhood than I had. That was a great lesson to learn as a young man, to realize what is truly the source of joy, much like you mentioned with your name. It was simply a great way to grow up.
Yitzi: Tell us the next chapter. Tell us the story of how you became a filmmaker.
Jason: I have always been a fan of film and television. That is one of the ways that I decompress; I just get so engrossed in a great story. I certainly love a lot of books as well. For as long as I can remember, I have hoped that a part of my future would be helping people bring great stories to the screen, to help inspire and encourage others, and help their hearts come alive. I was a businessman and an entrepreneur. I was busy raising a great family and was very involved in my local church, my community, and the different businesses that I was running. I did not have the time or resources to get involved until about five years ago, when we were able to sell a healthcare company I was running. That provided us with more resources and time to pursue these things. I immediately got to work helping others bring their great stories to the screen. One of the first things we became involved in was Adventure In Wonder, which was a dream I felt the Lord put on my heart many years years ago. Ten years before I had the resources to do anything about it, this dream kept growing in my heart. It stemmed from the idea of wanting to take my own family on great adventures around the world to open their eyes to the beauty and diversity of the world around us. I wanted to seek God’s glory everywhere, to notice and appreciate beauty and diversity in different people, cultures, and locations, and to inspire my family to be curious and appreciate the goodness around us. As I started helping others tell their stories and make films and series, I realized there was an opportunity to not only take my family on these adventures but to film them with cinematic quality, hoping it would inspire other families to have their own adventures.
Yitzi: Before we get into the actual series, let’s talk a little broader. You probably have some amazing stories from your filmmaking career and from your career in general. I know this is hard to single out, but can you share one or two stories that stand out in your mind from your professional career?
Jason: I have been an entrepreneur in nearly two dozen different industries. What that really means is I have found a lot of ways not to build a business, and I have found a few ways to be successful. Even to this day, I am very involved in a lot of other ventures. I think it stems again from that curiosity and childlike faith. I am very optimistic and believe that everything is going to work out. Usually it doesn’t, but sometimes it does, and that is a fun way to go through life. One of the great projects I have gotten to be involved in over the last few years from a film perspective is an animated movie on the life of David from the Bible. It came out in theaters in the US around Christmas time, December 19th. I got to be an investor in that film, became friends with the filmmakers and the team involved, and then became an executive producer. I became very involved in the strategy of everything they were doing. It was really cool to see something of that scale and budget, because it was the largest independently funded animated movie of all time. It has done quite well, but more important than its financial success are the stories of the people who have been able to see it. David was such an incredible man in the Bible and is certainly one of my heroes. I think that is true for many people who find courage in him and truly understand what it means to surrender fully to the Lord, trusting in Him for provision and protection. For people who do not have the same beliefs and who may not know anything about the Bible, everybody still knows the story of David and Goliath. There are so many other great aspects of his life that have been passed down and shared with us. Being a part of something of that scale that could have the impact we believe it is going to have — and are already seeing it have — has been incredibly rewarding.
Yitzi: Amazing. I love how passionate you are about your faith; it is truly heartening. I am also excited to see the rise and success of faith-based films and TV shows; it is unbelievable. What do you think is causing this current explosion of internationally successful faith-based shows like The Chosen and the House of David? Why is there such a thirst for this content right now?
Jason: That is a great question. I certainly do not have all the answers, but you can see a great improvement in the quality of what is being produced right now in the faith and values community, independent of the major studios. You also see major studios investing heavily in this space. For example, Amazon funded The House of David and is investing in The Chosen. The difference is that when I was growing up, the quality of explicitly faith-oriented content just wasn’t there. People would give it a pass and watch it anyway simply because it was about God. However, that is not how the world works, and it certainly will not reach people who are curious but do not yet know what they believe. For decades, many people have wanted to raise the quality of faith and values-oriented entertainment, but it has been difficult because the industry has been largely controlled by the large budgets of the major studios. Those studios employ all the great professionals who have to toe the company line for their livelihoods. Over the last few years, I would credit Dallas Jenkins and his team for what they have done with The Chosen. They created something that caught wildfire, reaching hundreds of millions of people around the world who have watched and been impacted by the series. Each season has improved in quality and storytelling. The large studios took notice and realized there really is a market here. There are many people of faith working within the large studios, though typically not at the very highest levels. They have felt trapped, longing to use their craft and amazing talents for projects like this, but they just haven’t had the opportunity. Now that the studios are waking up to the huge market demand, they are opening their purse strings. This enables a massive amount of talent to finally work on the content they love. All of this builds the quality of the films and series being produced, making them increasingly accessible, watched, and popular.
Yitzi: There is a saying that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a humorous story about a mistake you made when you were first starting in the filmmaking arena, and the lesson you took away from it?
Jason: That is a great question. First off, I have made so many mistakes. I have invested in more than a dozen different independent film and television projects, and I had a pretty good track record, which really just means I was able to break even and get my money back. That is a horrible benchmark anywhere outside of entertainment; in all the other businesses I am in, that would be viewed as a failure. I have since learned from a really smart friend that investing in independent projects is like taking venture capital risk without the venture capital upside. I wish I had talked to him before I started writing checks! I probably wouldn’t have done many things differently, as I have been able to be a part of projects that have great impact and, fortunately, relatively good financial returns for this space. However, I didn’t initially understand the industry. I used to believe that if a film makes $50 million at the box office and costs $20 million to make, it is a huge home run. In reality, investors might not even get their money back in a scenario like that. I started writing checks before I truly understood the industry and learned a lot of lessons through that process.
Yitzi: There is a related idea that a “no” is not a rejection, but a redirection. Do you have a story where you received a “no” to an opportunity, but it led to an unexpected blessing, success, or even a better opportunity?
Jason: Take our show, Adventure In Wonder, for example. There wasn’t anybody who would have looked at what I wanted to do and thought it was a good investment. I needed to fund it myself. Fortunately, I had friends with more experience in the space who pulled together a really good team, and what we produced was high quality. After we finished shooting and it was in the can, I realized you really need to understand your distribution at the beginning, rather than waiting until you have spent a lot of money and time. There have been so many great projects that never went anywhere after the initial investment was made. We filmed this show almost five years ago, and it finally got released towards the end of December and throughout January. In the meantime, there was a lot of doubt, many rejections, and we had to completely re-edit the show. I am glad we did because it is much better now, and I am grateful for the team that came in to help me. Thinking about the investment for production and then waiting another three and a half years for release is tough. Our show is not unique in that regard, but I have learned a lot. If we were to do it again, we would figure out how to get it onto screens much faster. The blessing is that if we had people say yes early on, we wouldn’t be with the right partner. We are with the perfect partner now, but they simply weren’t ready at the time. Our show was delivered a year ago, but the Wonder channel wasn’t ready to debut it until December. They were launching their channel in October with House of David season two and wanted to layer in their originals later. For three years after we had the show in the can, they weren’t ready, but they are absolutely the right partner. Their vision to provide high-quality, curated entertainment for the faith and values community is fabulous. John Erwin, the founder of the Wonder project, and Kelly Merryman, the CEO, saw some of our content while we were working on the re-edit. They got really excited, visited me at my ranch, and told me they loved the show and wanted it to be an original on their platform. That was a huge blessing we couldn’t have foreseen just a few months prior. We went three years not knowing if anyone was ever going to see the show, only to find out that the right partner was building their platform and didn’t even exist when we initially thought we needed them.
I will tell you another humorous lesson learned: nobody in my family had ever been on camera before. We now have ten episodes where my wife and all four children are on camera, and there were a lot of lessons learned through that process. There was a lot of laughter and many tears. Being a part of it was truly special, and we are all grateful for the experience now, but going through it was a challenge. I can remember at one point one of my daughters asked, “Dad, can we just go on a great trip like this, but leave the cameras behind?” I replied, “Maybe next time that is a good idea.”
Yitzi: Now that we have spoken about it, let’s dive in. Tell our readers why they need to watch this series, Adventure in Wonder.
Jason: Adventure in Wonder is something the whole family can watch. I believe it will inspire you to get out of your comfort zone, learn something new as a family, and explore the beauty of the world around you. Our family had never sailed before. We had recently come out of some health scares; my wife had beaten cancer, I nearly died in a snow skiing accident, and I had lost my parents at a young age. We realized life was passing us by quickly, and we wanted to make the time we had with our kids as meaningful as possible. I suggested we go do something we had never done before, see the world, and learn how to sail. My wife pointed out that we knew nothing about sailing and had never really been on a boat. I was able to find a great British family, the Woods, who had been traveling around the world for five years living on a sailboat. They sold everything, bought a boat, and started raising their family on the water. They recently finished their ten-year trip around the world, which is amazing. They were sailing experts and generously met with us in Croatia. The Dalmatian Islands off the coast of Croatia are gorgeous; it is a bucket list destination for sailors worldwide. We joined them on their boat for a couple of weeks to learn what we needed to know. Then, our family took a sailboat out on our own for a week to see if we could figure it out. Along the way, we met amazing people in Croatia and learned cool things about their culture, science, nature, and history. The show is educational, funny, and incredibly uplifting. We have received great feedback. Our editor, a man in his late 60s who has been editing for four decades and was recently inducted into the Editing Hall of Fame, told me that working on the show changed the way he looks at life. He said he now goes outside and slows down, he hears and sees things differently than he did before; he smells and notices things he never noticed before. Another humorous story involves my youngest son, Jet. During an interview before the trip, he mispronounced the word “phobia” as “phoby.” He honestly stated, “I have a phoby of boats, oceans, and water, but I think I like sailing.” It was a cute remark. About a month ago, I was at a film conference in Atlanta. As I was leaving, a lady noticed me, stopped, and said, “I have phobies.” I was confused at first, but then realized she was quoting my son! She explained that she is a film producer in LA, and she and her husband deal with a lot of anxiety. Whenever they feel scared or anxious and know they are taking themselves too seriously, they look at each other and say, “I have phobies.” It lifts their spirits and helps them realize their worries aren’t that big of a deal. I’ve heard dozens more great stories of people who have been inspired by watching the show.
Yitzi: Amazing. What is the core message or takeaway you hope society can take from this series?
Jason: The world is a magical place filled with wonder, beauty, and miracles everywhere. You do not have to travel around the world to experience this; you can find wonder and miracles in your own backyard, at a public park, inside your own home, or even within your own body. I want people to be curious about the world and recognize that there is always more available to us. I hope the series reminds people what it is like to see the world through the eyes of a child. As adults, we often get beaten down by life, become jaded, and forget that sense of hope, amazement, wonder, and joy. It is contagious to be around children when they are experiencing something new. I want people to remember what that feels like and realize we can go through the rest of our lives with that same outlook. I hope viewers reflect on where their lives are now versus where they hoped to be when they were kids, and realize it is never too late. They can go out today, create new experiences, and share them with their families.
Yitzi: This is our signature question. You have been blessed with a lot of success, and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Let’s focus on the filmmaking part. Looking back to when you first started in filmmaking, can you share five things you have learned over the years that would have been nice to know at the beginning?
Jason:
- I will try to be succinct, but I might ramble a bit. The first thing is something I mentioned earlier: a very intelligent and wise friend told me that investing in independent film and television is like taking venture capital risk without the venture capital upside. There are different reasons to help fund entertainment — you might want to be a patron of the arts, or you might be looking for a good investment. Understanding the main motivation for your involvement is an important lesson I am still learning.
- The second lesson is to follow your heart. The biggest financial loser among my investments was a project that did not speak to my heart. I was told it was a low-risk investment because it had some of the biggest actors in Hollywood, and I would get my money back quickly since I was the last money in. I decided to invest, even though the script didn’t resonate with me, and it turned out to be a bad decision. Even if an investment fails financially, if you follow your heart and invest in something you are personally passionate about, you can still feel good about being involved.
- The third lesson is to be really thoughtful about putting your own family on screen. We wanted to share our experiences with others, and it has been a blessing, but I am not sure we would do it again unless the circumstances were right. I was talking to Bear Grylls recently about our shows, and I mentioned my daughter asking to leave the cameras behind on our next trip. Bear stopped me immediately and said, “Man, you really have to listen to that.” I felt like it was the Holy Spirit speaking directly to me. I wasn’t looking for that advice, but I realized the importance of what he was saying. Some of my kids want to do it again, and some don’t, and you have to respect each individual’s position. I have learned to slow down, not force things on my family, and recognize that it is okay for me to pursue my passions without pressuring them to participate.
- Fourth, I have learned that who you work with is incredibly important. Early on, I trusted blind recommendations from friends, gave away equity and titles, and ended up working with people who did not perform well and took advantage of me. I thought that because we shared the same beliefs, I could trust them blindly. I have been burned many times because my natural default is to see the best in people. While that is a more fun way to go through life, I have learned the importance of truly understanding business structures and not giving away more than necessary just because you are inexperienced. A mentor in the early days could have helped me avoid some of these mistakes.
- Fifth, do not take yourself too seriously. This is true in life generally, but especially in the entertainment space. When you work with people who have celebrity status, there are many outside perceptions of what that world is like. At the end of the day, people are just people. Those put on a pedestal usually wish they weren’t because they know they are just like everyone else. I have learned not to put anyone on a pedestal and not to worry too much about what others think — mostly because they probably aren’t thinking about me anyway! All I can do is my best, try to serve others, and let the rest fall where it may. When I mess up, I laugh about it, learn from it, and do not let it rob me of my peace and joy. There is a book in the Bible that talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are available to us for free through faith, in every circumstance. Nothing should rob us of that peace and joy, which is why I love your name, Yitzi — the bringer of joy. Those are my five things.
Yitzi: Amazing, Jason. This is our final aspirational question. Because of your amazing work and the platform you have built, it is not an exaggeration to say that you are a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can spread.
Jason: That is such a great question. There are two parts to my answer. The first is to cultivate a heart of gratitude. I have often thought that if I could pass just one thing on to my kids, it would be a heart of gratitude. If you are grateful, everything else in your life is so much better: how you relate to people, how you feel about yourself, and how you serve others. Understanding what gratitude can do for your health and your community is powerful. The second part is to maintain a heart of wonder, to see the world through the eyes of a child. Always be curious. If you look around, even in difficult situations, there are elements of beauty and miracles everywhere. Just the fact that we can breathe, see, hear, and have this conversation is a miracle. Do not take those things for granted; recognize that true joy and peace and love are available to everyone, regardless of your circumstance.
Yitzi: Jason, how can our readers continue to follow your work, watch the series, and support you in any way possible?
Jason: Thank you so much for asking. Our show, Adventure In Wonder, has ten episodes available to watch on the Wonder channel on Amazon Prime. The Wonder channel is where you should go.
Yitzi: Jason, it has been so nice to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. I hope we can do this again next year.
Jason: That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for your time; I appreciate it.
Yitzi: My pleasure. I hope one day we can meet in person.
Jason: That would be wonderful. If you are ever in Texas, please come visit me. The picture behind me is our ranch near Austin, so come see us.
Jason Melton Talks ‘Adventure in Wonder’, Prime Video’s Wonder Project Deal and the Rise of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.