The Offer — Video Outline (current version)

A short video test for the Callistus project. Source: Andrew Pettegree, *Brand

Luther*, p. 290 — the Wittenberg printers' 1539 offer of 400 gulden per year,

which Luther refused. The number is hidden from the audience until the final shot.

Scene 2's dialogue is adapted from Luther's own account of the episode in the

Table Talk ("Printers had been willing to give him 400 gulden a year... he

would not sell his gift of grace").

DRAMATIC LICENSE: Invented for drama: the three prior refusals (the sources

record a single conversation), and Katharina's role — the printers' "speak

with Katharina" card and her discovery of the number in Scene 3 (the sources

credit her business sense but record no such scenes).

Scene 1 — Mystery in the Wittenberg print shop

Cold open. A title card on screen: WITTENBERG, 1539. A thriving, cheerful print shop — presses pounding, jokes over the noise. Business has never been better.
The door bangs open. A printer slams a proof sheet onto the table; the room falls quiet, expectant, still half-smiling: "We're losing ground to Leipzig."
The cheerfulness dies. People come to Wittenberg because of Luther — "These presses don't run without his books." "Neither do our homes."
Later, presses silent, the masters gather around one table. The head printer decides: "Then we ask Luther again." Groans — he's refused three times already. "A contract — first access to everything he writes. Leipzig cannot print what they never receive."
A master asks: "And when he refuses again?" The head printer: "His wife keeps his accounts. She will understand what he will not."
He writes a number on a contract and holds it up to the room, not the camera. Eyebrows shoot up; a low whistle. The audience never sees it.
He folds the paper: "This is what it'll take." Cut.

Scene 2 — The refusal

*(Luther's lines here are adapted from his own recollection of this offer in the Table Talk — see the source note above.)*

The Wittenberg printers arrive at Luther's print shop, contract in hand.
The head printer makes the case:

"Wittenberg's fortunes are your books, Doctor — and Leipzig is circling. We

ask only first access to what you write. Leipzig cannot print what they

never receive."

Luther, a faint smile — he's heard it all before:

"Three times you have come to me with this."

They slide the folded contract across the table. Luther pushes it back
without unfolding it.

"God has raised me in a fatherly way, me and my whole household, and given

me everything freely — without payment. Shall I sell His gift of grace back

to Him?"

A printer protests: no one is asking him to sell grace. It's a contract, like
any author signs. Fair business.

"The Elector gives me two hundred gulden a year I never asked of him. God

has given me a wife and children — a most beautiful blessing. I have quite

enough, and I am satisfied."

The head printer insists:

"At least look at what you are refusing."

Luther unfolds the paper. The camera stays on his face — the audience never
sees the number.
A long silence. His face gives nothing away — no reaction at all.
He folds it back up and slides it across the table.

"In all my life I have never sold a single copy, nor lectured for a fee —

and I mean to carry that boast into the grave. Having food and clothing, I

shall be content."

The head printer plays their last card:

"Then speak with Katharina. Perhaps she'll persuade you."

Luther sighs, grabs the folded paper, and walks home.

Scene 3 — Outside Luther's house

Luther steps outside with Katharina to discuss the offer.
He dismisses it as just another attempt to buy his writings.
He turns the folded paper over in his hands — he knows exactly what it says.
Then he tosses it onto the ground.
Katharina picks it up.
As Luther continues explaining why he'll never profit from God's Word, she unfolds the paper.
She freezes.
Looking up at him, she quietly asks,

"Martin... do you know what they've offered you?"

The audience finally sees the paper:
400 gulden.
Hold on the number for a beat.
End with a simple note or narration:

*Four hundred gulden was roughly three times Luther's annual salary. Even so,

he refused, believing God's Word should never become a source of personal profit.*

Optional second card, for the record:

*The men who offered it were not rivals. They were his own printers — paying

a fortune for what he had always given them free.*