• Home
  • >
  • >
  • Local author Brad Montague produces first tv show “The Kindness Project”

Local author Brad Montague produces first tv show “The Kindness Project”

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email

By Kendall Patterson

Pictured is a behind the scenes shot of “The Kindness Project” that was filmed in Ann Arbor, Mich., and also in the alley of Besso’s in Henderson. Photo by Kristi Montague

Local New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Brad Montague, who is also known as the creator of “Kid President” can now be found on your TV screens.
On Friday, Dec. 16, his first TV show called “The Kindness Project” began streaming on the Magnolia Network via Discovery+ and the Magnolia app/Magnolia.com.
In order to experience this milestone with people he loves, he, along with his wife Kristi Montague, hosted a Hometown Watch Party last Thursday at Mid-South Youth Camp.
“It feels good to be able to share this with people that are my neighbors. People that I love and who know me and love me for who I am. We could have done the premiere anywhere but there’s no place like home. Henderson’s home and these are my people,” said Montague.
Those in attendance had the opportunity to watch the show which features Brad as he explores Ann Arbor, Mich. with the goal to share kindness to others with the hope that they will share the kindness to someone else and it become contagious. The alley of Henderson’s Besso’s can also be seen in the show.
“What was really fun about creating the show in a town I’ve never been was beginning to see, after we spent a few days there, getting to see the ripple effects of our time with people,” Brad said. “I think it’s exciting to be able to see glimpses of the impact that we have. Sometimes it’s big but most of the time it’s small and we have to pay attention.”
Brad explained what kindness is to him.
“I think there’s a misconception that kindness is a sweet thing… That it’s gentle. It can be those things, but kindness is really a deep respect for other people and their value. Kindness is a rebellious thing, because it sees things not as they are, but as they could be and should be. So when you do something kind you are not just putting icing on the cake, you are creating a meal that we all need. Kindness is what makes a community great. Kindness is what brings a community together. Kindness is what makes us realize how much we all matter to each other,” he said.
Second Grade Teacher, Emily Taylor, of East Chester Elementary attended the viewing and stated that she loved seeing someone she knew do work like this.
“It was really awesome to see people we know doing something like this, and then seeing that other people can see it too is really cool,” Taylor said. “I’m a teacher and I would love to share this with my students and see what they can come up with to do for other people.”
She liked the idea of spreading kindness because she also believes kindness can be contagious.
“It does spread a lot. If someone tells me to have a good day, I just do because that was really kind and it makes me want to do that for somebody else,” she said.
This central theme of kindness in the show is just another example of what Brad and Kristi Montague do in all the stories and projects they create; to make the world a better place.
“It was a lot of fun to be able to see Brad be able to interact with other people and be able to spread kindness,” said Kristi who tagged along and took photos behind the scenes. “We feel like the work we do is very purposeful, and a lot of the things that we choose to do, we feel like they have to have a purpose behind them and be able to spread good and be able to make a difference. We don’t want to make a tv show just to make a tv show. If we’re going to do something, we want it to be something that inspires other people and encourages them to do something to make the world a better place.”
“The Kindness Project” really ties with their book “The Circles All Around Us” that released in May 2021 and an upcoming book of theirs, “The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination” that is set to release March 2023.
“I would hope there’s a common thread in everything my wife and I make. Be it a picture book for children or a web series for a television show; that there be a common thread of pointing people toward love and what it looks like to draw circles of goodness larger and larger around us. Our previous picture book “The Circles All Around Us” was about just that. And our book coming out this March is The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination – it’s all about imagining the best in each other and imagining the best in the world.”
Longtime friend of Brad’s, Sara Cravens who is a famous voice actor in works such as Mortal Kombat 11, God of War (2018) and Injustice 2, was able to attend the watch party and be one of the first people in the world to watch it.
The Montagues invited Cravens to the watch party, before the show, she interviewed Brad about how this project came to be.
Brad said “I’ve been working on tv shows the past 10 years, and they made it to various degrees of development.”
Then, around this time last year, he said he did some work for the Magnolia Magazine and they asked him if he would want to do a show.
“After all these other things have died, I thought ‘that’s cute.’ They actually think we can make a show, so I said yeah. That would be fun, and I kept on saying that and the next thing I know they said, ‘okay we’re booking the plane tickets.’”
Up to the very moment of it launching, Brad could not believe it was happening.
“I legitimately didn’t think it would happen,” he said.
Brad and Sara met at Mid-South Youth Camp when they were kids and Taylor enjoys how they have grown from creating things in their free time during camp to doing it for a career.
“We had a schedule of things to do, but in our free time we were always inventing things and creating things, so it’s so fun to get to now, 30 years later, and still be so close and see where everyone’s career has taken them to and we still get to be those creative kids we were. Now we get to do it for a living which is awesome,” Taylor said.
Readers interested in Brad’s “The Kindness Project” can view it at https://magnolia.com/watch/show/8bc2a169-109f-4644-b18e-57a18ef25a35/the-kindness-project/.

Sara Cravens interviews Brad Montague about “The Kindness Project” during the watch party last Thursday. Photo by Cora Sharp

Related Posts

The Chester County Independent is a weekly newspaper, published on Thursdays, serving Chester County, Tennessee.

© Copyright 2024 

chestercountyindependent.com, 218 S Church Ave Henderson, TN