By Nancy Cushing-Jones and Barbara Weller, Co-founders of Broadthink
Historically, many great movies and television shows have been agents for change, but their producers did not have access to the many resources now available to those hoping to achieve positive social impact via filmed entertainment from movies to television shows, videogames, theatrical productions, immersive experiences, and other platforms. Emboldened by the achievements of Participant over the past 20 years, impact storytellers and content creators from philanthropists to producers to distributors around the world are recognizing and adopting impact models introduced by Participant as core to their approaches. Even major names in Hollywood from George Clooney to Regina King and many more are urging Hollywood to embrace Participant’s social impact goals.
Recently it has become possible for storytellers to partner with companies that can actively support sustainable development goals by expanding a “story’s” reach by analyzing and devising plans to achieve a specific goal, creating content for articles and social media, and quantifying the social impact achieved. Companies such as the Abaunza Group, Plus Media, Green House, and Propper Daley focus on generating and quantifying social impact connected to entertainment that has as its ultimate goal generating positive impact. Even as Participant exits, mission-driven investors, such as the Ford Foundation, Emerson Collective, and the MacArthur and Robert Wood Johnson foundations, are leaning into the power of film and culture as an opportunity for delivering impact at scale. Recently established, the SIE Society is uniquely situated to access, collaborate, and partner with hundreds of business, non-profit, and entertainment professionals throughout the world across the major unions, guilds, professional organizations, and studios. It offers Impact Producing Services to staff, coordinate, and execute on jointly designed impact campaigns for your project. Clearly, achieving sustainable positive social change had become of critical importance across the world of storytelling.
Participant Media was one of the first to create an entertainment company that stands at the intersection of art and activism. Today, there is a growing number of producers and companies committed to making a positive difference in the world. The following is an example of how social impact producers can be helped by companies that help raise awareness around an issue and increase the possibilities for positive social impact. Several years after social entrepreneur Jeff Skoll launched Participant Media in 2004, Broadthink was asked to support the company’s social action campaign efforts. Broadthink worked with Participant for over a decade on communication efforts and content creation around their film and television projects to help drive awareness about some of today’s most vital issues. Helping clients achieve their social impact goals has long been a Broadthink service.
Broadthink’s founders have extensive experience working with a variety of clients from major studios to individuals in developing strategic business and brand plans, and translating content from film to books, social media, e-newsletters, and other platforms (www.broad-think.com) . Broadthink offers a turn-key operation when it comes to all aspects of brand expansion. It also helps clients define the social impact they want to achieve and creates reports on that impact that provide detailed analyses of what the social impact campaign accomplished.
Working closely with Participant Media, Broadthink established a strategy plan to help Participant raise national awareness about issues of major concern on which their films focused. For example, Waiting for Superman discussed why America’s public schools are failing and Food, Inc. raised awareness about how industrial foods are making Americans sicker, fatter, and poorer. Participant’s campaign for the original Food, Inc. helped pass the Food Safety Modernization Act, which has been called the first major piece of food safety legislation since the 1930s.
Broadthink helped them build a database of followers who might be mobilized, create compelling content and resources to share with subscribers and supporters, and use social media to help achieve change as fast as possible. Although Participant did not need Broadthink’s help to identify appropriate non-profit and corporate partners to help expand their campaigns, Broadthink has provided this service to other clients over the years.
Knowing that entertainment companies have and still rely on publishing to extend their intellectual properties, Broadthink’s first step was to handle all aspects of Participant Media’s expansion into the world of publishing from idea creation to contract negotiation with Public Affairs to hitting the #1 position on the New York Times bestseller list for two of its first six books published in the adult market. Then, Broadthink worked with the non-profit organization Journeys in Film (https://journeysinfilm.org) to produce educational discussion guides and lesson plans that are designed to educate the next generation to be competent and socially active by amplifying the storytelling power of film for teaching and learning.
Broadthink’s next step was to create and deploy a regular digital magazine, which was used to market Participant’s films and report on their social action campaigns, helping to reach an ever-widening audience. For each of their films, Broadthink created content around the social action campaigns for the newsletters, deployed the emails, and informed their subscribers and followers on specific ways they could contribute, take action, or volunteer to help. The newsletters also provided interviews with key players in the film and included updates on the campaigns with measurable results. Broadthink also produced printed materials for various nonprofit social action campaigns and email blasts, all designed to create content around their social action campaigns that provided information about specific issues and ways individuals could take action.
The final step was to create impact reports, brochures, and printed pieces that provided investors and non-profit partners with reports about the specific social impact achieved by Participant’s various films and television series.
Whether working on some or all of the steps outlined above for social action campaigns related to filmed entertainment, Broadthink and the various companies listed above have proven over the years they can successfully help their clients identify and achieve their positive, sustainable development goals. Despite Participant’s closure, it remains a positive inspiration for today’s media companies striving to highlight urgent issues of social concern and amplify marginalized voices through storytelling that can help make the world better.
