Cinereach

"I'm feeling a little meta after seeing Saturday Night yesterday. We spend a lot of our time at Cinereach thinking about how stories shape people's beliefs about all of these huge topics — climate, justice, democracy — but as an industry that loves telling stories about ourselves, I'm curious what people think about movies and TV shows about making movies and TV? Do you love them or hate them? Do you think they have any effect on the industry? Did watching them inspire you to pursue your career?" - Celeste Kaufman, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications

Last night, our CEO Jennifer Strachan spoke with Heather Mason of The Impact Lounge about the power of entertainment as part of #UNWeek! We believe story is an essential part of social change, and are always thrilled to talk about how we're working to help that impact be even bigger.

"I keep thinking about the Maxine Shaw Effect, which I read about recently from Joy Donnell, co-founder of the Center for Intersectional Media + Entertainment (CIME). Because of Maxine’s high-powered job as an attorney, executives were so intimidated by her that they didn’t want her to be a part of Living Single. The creator, Yvette Lee Bowser, almost walked away until they compromised on having Maxine live across the street, rather than with the rest of the main characters. And how lucky are we that they did! We know now that Maxine had a huge real-world impact on the lives of Black women. Color Farm Media has discovered 1 in 3 Black women lawyers say the character directly impacted their decision to go to law school, and some of those women include Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, and Ayanna Pressley. I love hearing about ways entertainment media has enormous effects on our culture, and how we view the world and the people in it—it makes the work we’re doing even more exciting!" - Mary Dunaway Cage, Chief Philanthropy Officer

Cinereach-supported film, The White House Effect, premiered at Telluride Film Festival and was met with rave reviews! Three decades ago, the world was poised to stop global warming. Using exclusively archival material, the documentary tells the dramatic origin story of the climate crisis and how a political battle in the George H.W. Bush administration changed the course of history. Variety called it "engrossing as well as damning," IndieWire praised how it "plays out like a quiet tragedy," and The Playlist states that the directors have "crafted an essential piece of viewing." We can't wait for more people to see this remarkable film!

"Something we get asked all the time is, ‘What are you watching lately?’ For me, the main thing I’ve been watching isn’t film or TV; it’s Critical Role — a ‘bunch of nerdy voice actors sitting around and playing Dungeons and Dragons.’ In this ever-evolving technological and social-media world we live in, it's no secret that we humans are developing shorter attention spans. We're getting more used to digging to the heart of what we want to consume as fast as we can scroll our thumbs, and I’m seeing that affect how things are made. I often find myself struggling with quick on-the-nose dialogue, how unnaturally fast plots move forward, and how inconsequential character development has become in a lot of storytelling. There's been a lot more telling and less showing, and in the end, the impact of stories suffer. What draws me to these stories told through tabletop gaming is not only the electrifying feeling of going through a journey alongside the player-characters, but also the respect GMs (game masters) and players have for the quality and impact of the story that they're playing through. There's a powerful synergy between exposition, character development, and stakes that builds to stories that keep me binge watching episodes that are over 3 hours long. If there's one thing the success of the tabletop and fandom industry shows, it's that audiences still care about their lore and their character development, and they are going to find it wherever they can. I can see Hollywood trying to figure out how to tap into this side of the gaming world — with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Amazon Prime taking on Critical Role’s animated fantasy series, The Legend of Vox Machina, adapted from their first campaign — and I’m curious to see how it’ll continue to impact stories told on screen. Does anyone have any predictions?” Zubaydah Bashir, Philanthropy Coordinator P.S “Filling out a Dungeons and Dragons character sheet is a great exercise for character development!” - Celeste Kaufman, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications

We're still buzzing from the energy in the room at our event with JustFilms at the Ford Foundation, talking about new models for culture change through entertainment! "I can't tell you how many people reference how they built careers, what they decided to do with their life, their political beliefs, how they save money, where they've lived, all based on a game they played, a show they loved, a movie they watched. This is it!"

Can't imagine why, but we've been thinking a lot about how civic leaders are portrayed on screen, and how typical depictions might discourage some people from seeking leadership roles and running for office while encouraging others. At the Hollywood Climate Summit, our Chief Creative Officer Candice Sanchez McFarlane spoke about just that on a panel with Tianna Shaw-Wakeman, Heather Hargreaves, Sandra Perez Gonzalez, and Nimay Ndolo. How can we write our characters and choose who to tell stories about in a way that helps shift the image of leadership for the better? #climatejustice #narrativechange #civicleadership #hollywood #storytelling #systemsthinking #climatechange

For our Just Play Game Jams, we equip video game developers with a toolkit of takeaways we’ve learned from our research into how to make media that bridges the gap between impact storytelling and popular entertainment. Our latest Jam focused on narratives about the climate crisis, bolstered by insights we found in partnership with Good Energy. We weren’t only thinking of video games, though — we’d love to see how storytellers working in any medium would be inspired by our findings! This is just a peek into what you can dig into, so check out the full toolkit here: https://bit.ly/3W0rGGT

Submit to Just Play: A Game Jam for Climate Futures, produced by Cinereach in collaboration with Anima Interactive and powered by Dreamspace by May 17! Final prototypes and award winners will be showcased at the Hollywood Climate Summit closing night party on June 28. You can get your tickets now at bit.ly/gamejamhcs! This global game development competition challenges video game developers to explore climate themes in creative ways to open minds and inspire new perspectives. Participating in Just Play will provide a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations at the intersection of media, art, and social impact. Participants can also access a Cinereach toolkit for game jam participants that includes findings from their recent climate visibility workshop with . Questions? Visit justplayjam.com for more information!

At Cinereach, we believe in the power of story to change the world. Learn more about our expanded mission as story incubator and production company weaving narrative change and popular entertainment across film, TV, video games, graphic novels, social platforms and more! https://lnkd.in/ekaWjBjQ