PROVO -- One of Utah's wealthiest companies has taken a plunge into the movie business -- but Hollywood executives probably aren't shaking in their boots just yet.
Nu Skin International, the skin and hair-care products giant headquartered in Provo, also happens to be a moviemaker.The billion-dollar company -- which has been criticized by some for their multilevel marketing tactics -- has made a slew of mini-movies intended to set a positive tone for its independent distributors worldwide.
Surprisingly, however, Nu Skin's latest film release, "Turning Point," has gained favor with a growing number of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"(Turning Point) has gone really far in the LDS market," said Joel Clark, a Nu Skin video specialist. "We get calls all the time. . . . The reason LDS people buy it here is because LDS people have seen it. It's totally word of mouth."
Despite the relative popularity of "Turning Point" among LDS Church members, Clark said Nu Skin's movies neither explicitly endorse nor mention any religious faith.
"Anybody can use them anywhere," Clark said of the movies. "The themes are universal."
Nu Skin has been producing the movies since 1996, taking them so seriously, in fact, that it has filmed scenes in Hawaii and Europe and also has 17 workers and a budget in excess of $1 million for its moviemaking department, according to Clark.
"Turning Point" cost almost $200,000 to make, Clark said.
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, this 20-minute movie does not feature a handsome hero racing against the clock to save a bottle of fine body lotion from falling into the hands of an evil dermatologist.
And, no, Tom Cruise was not offered the film's lead role.
Set primarily at a lighthouse in Maine, with additional filming in Provo, "Turning Point" is about a group of people sitting in an office room expecting a freebie. A man they never met has died and left them some money from his will.
Or so they eagerly assume.
Instead, each of the characters receives a letter -- but not a dime -- and each goes away disappointed. But when the characters eventually read the letters -- in the grand old tradition of Hollywood -- it changes their lives forever.
Clark says the films promote realizing that "little things mean a lot" and "putting family before business."
"Our company really tries to be family-oriented and to motivate our distributors with real good principles because this industry has been known for years to offend people," Clark said.
"Most of our distributors are incredibly ethical people. Some of them need a little help and we think this film will help. . . . This is the key to making and helping our distributors."
While Nu Skin is counting on the films as a clever form of internal advertising to its work force, it has veered away from conventional promotional videos that often bombard the viewer with prolonged rambling about their product.
"There was too much Nu Skin in them," Clark said of earlier videos the company made. "We figured we would just get a wider audience if we made them general. So we started doing that."
Mention of Nu Skin in the post-1996 films is sparse, with brief appearances of the company's products in a film's background or its name in the movie's credits.
Although clearly adhering to the financial wisdom that the business of Good Will is almost always good for business, Clark said Nu Skin makes no profit from the movies and instead merely recovers the costs of making the videos, selling them for $3 to $5 to distributors or call-in customers.
So far, Nu Skin has no plans to make 90-minute flicks that run on the Big Screen and run the risk of getting body slammed by movie critics.
That's one makeover the skin care company has yet to consider.
"Of course (the video personnel) would love to," Clark said. "When we make our pitches, we go for the big stuff.