LOS ANGELES - It’s the end of the 15th century, and the rebellious duchess Caterina Sforza, her children kidnapped by the forces of the ruthless Cesare Borgia, stands on the battlements of her castle, throws up her skirts and screams at Borgia’s 15,000 advancing troops: “Idiots! Don’t you think I can make more of them?” Later, with her castle reduced to rubble, Catarina is seized, raped and sent to Rome, where Borgia’s father holds a particularly high office: pope.

Provocative material for a movie, certainly. Particularly when the movie is being made by Jesuits.

“The Borgia Popes” is, in fact, just one of the projects under way by Loyola Productions, a nonprofit production company in Culver City, California, owned by members of the Society of Jesus, a large Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers. Jesuits are a missionary order whose members, in this case at least, would rather not be thought of as proselytizers.

“When I have meetings around town, you can see that people are thinking, ‘Oh my God, they’re trying to convert us,’ ” said the Reverend Eddie Siebert, the company’s founder and president. “It’s very frustrating. I try not to say who I am till they get to know me. I don’t even introduce myself as a Jesuit priest. It tends to really frighten people.”

While Hollywood has a long history of affection toward Catholic priests , doing business with them is another story.

“It’s been a really tough battle, to be honest,” said Father Siebert, who founded the company in 2000 and faces the same competition that every other production executive does.

Being a priest does have advantages. “Because I’m a Jesuit, if there’s a good Catholic executive over at Sony, they’ll take a meeting. Sometimes they take you seriously and sometimes it’s, ‘Well that’s great, Father, keep up the good work.’ I’ve had to straddle this really awkward fence of being a spiritually empowered Jesuit with a mainstream entertainment production company that’s trying to do cutting-edge material. And that’s really tricky.”

Loyola Productions produces some content “just to keep the lights on,” Father Siebert said. There are educational films, industrials and one of the company’s more popular series, “Who Cares About the Saints?” which has been marketed through Loyola , Catholic universities, high schools and parishes, through Loyola Press and, of course, Amazon.com.

And then there’s “The Borgia Popes,” which is compared by Father Siebert to the series “The Tudors,” although without the sex-drenched visuals. The film is being written by Michael Breault, a Jesuit brother .

“I used to work in the theater,” Brother Breault said, “and a lot of times people would say, ‘You know, being in this play has all been a spiritual experience.’ And I would say, ‘It is a spiritual experience.’ That is what it is. Being at the very core of humanity, right in the center, right now, that’s a spiritual experience. ”

“I came to the Jesuits because you could run a film production company and still be a Jesuit priest,’’ said Father Siebert . “One thing about the Jesuits is they say: ‘O.K., if you have a certain skill, run with it. Let’s see where it goes. Become an expert. Or do what you can.’ And they’ve always been supportive like that.’’

As for the problems of being Jesuits in Hollywood, Brother Breault dismissed them. “We’re not some religious company that has some Catholic ax to grind,” Brother Breault said. “I don’t even own a Catholic ax.”


By JOHN ANDERSON


Jesuit filmmakers include the Reverend Eddie Siebert, far left, on location in Rome.