This post is timed to coincide with Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day. Mythic Bridge, a non-profit using film-making to enable at-risk youth to actualise their potential, is running “Change The Script”, a PSA film and online awareness campaign. At the heart of the Mythic Bridge Change The Script campaign is a commercial showing what at first appears to be a young gay man preparing to jump from a city rooftop. We hear the voices of his family struggling to accept his sexual orientation, and we see his messages to family and friends sent as texts on his phone. As he falls we discover that in truth he’s on a film set of teens working with mentors to enlist the power of storytelling to affect change. The powerful piece brings to light that LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.
Mythic Bridge, with co-founders Gage Cass Woodle and Donald Klein, is a non-profit that uses the transformative power of filmmaking to enable at-risk youth to actualize their potential. The campaign supports Mythic Bridge’s LGBTQ filmmaking workshops through a Crowdrise fundraiser. This programming creates a supportive community for LGBTQ youth and their straight peers to safely express themselves, uncovering personal experiences and transforming them into narrative storytelling.
“Mythic Bridge is a safe space for kids,” says Klein. “Everyone has their version of how scary coming out was; maybe they didn’t have that safe space to lean on. I hope they see the Change the Script campaign and learn that Mythic Bridge is an open door. They should understand that we’re here, and we make no judgment.”
The campaign brings to life Mythic Bridges’ dedication to storytelling as a means to transform personal struggle into art and help kids channel issues into focused creative and practical skills. Mythic Bridge is working to spark meaningful, activating conversations stemming from the messaging in this campaign which includes additional PSAs, also helmed by Xander™, that highlight different challenges that LGBTQ youth face.
An accompanying Mythic Bridge Change The Script portrait campaign shows LGBTQ youth and their supporters posing with a film slate reading “Change the Script” and their name as director. Photographer Christopher Lynch shot the portraits that feature celebrities like transgender supermodel Geena Rocero, actress Alysia Reiner, director Pamela Romanowsky and actor Christian Campbell. The portrait series will be ongoing and continue to grow, broadening the community of people who want to “Change the Script” and support LGBTQ youth and a narrative of inclusion.
Film director Xander™ not only helmed a number of spots for the campaign, but also jumped in as a mentor, working with the Mythic Bridge students and mentors on set to give them the confidence to discover their own creativity. He notes, “The fact that I have made a film career is an enormous blessing in my life. If it weren’t for a few, very specific opportunities I had as a young man, I most likely wouldn’t have even considered production as a career path or a way to express myself. Working with Mythic Bridge gives opportunities where maybe there hasn’t been one before and to give strong voices to those who may need that foot in the door, or a hand on a camera.”
Mythic Bridge Change The Script Credits
The Mythic Bridge Change The Script campaign was developed by Happy United executive creative director Jane Keller, Rabbit, Rabbit & Partners executive creative director Brian Lightbody, and copywriter Kate Lummus.
Filming was shot by director Xander via Backyard with producer Josh Jupiter and casting director Erica Palgon.
Editor was Jane Keller at Happy United. Post production was done at Significant Others by executive producer Sarah Roebuck, producer Alek Rost, and Flame artist Betty Cameron.
Music and sound were produced at duotone Audio Post by creative director Jack Livesey, executive producer Ross Hopman, managing director David Leinheardt, composer Brad Fischer, producer Giovanni Lobato, sound designer/mixer Andy Green, executive producer Greg Tiefenbrun.
Colorist was Alex Bickel at Color Collective.
Title design was by Susan Armstrong, Great Five Lakes.
Actors are Malcolm Xavier (hero) and Emerald Sullivan (director).
