We open on a roomful of people, most standing before us at eye level and some high up in a mezzanine across the way.
“Everyone has friends,” relates a voiceover.
But then the crowd thins out slightly as the narrator narrows down the type of friends. “Online friends.” Next the crowd diminishes further with, “Friends to go out with on a Saturday night.”
Still, the number of people in our view remains fairly significant. But more “friends” fade away as the voiceover then says, “Friends to hang out with and do nothing.”
The next qualifier pares down what was once a standing room only crowd to but a handful of people: “Friends who show up on a moving day.”
And then all but one friend fades away before our eyes as the voiceover relates, “And then there are the friends who will be there when someone is dealing with a mental illness.”
That one special friend then steps forward towards the camera. The voiceover asks, “Are you one of those friends?”
An end tag reads, “Mental illness. What a difference a friend makes,” accompanied by a website address (whatadifference.org) and logos for the Ad Council and federal government agency SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).
“Friends” was directed by Clay Williams of bicoastal/international MJZ with production services provided by Radke Films, Toronto. David Zander and Scott Mackenzie were exec producers, respectively, for MJZ and Radke Films. Line producer at Radke was Ken Eggett. Andre Pienaar was the DP.
Agency was Grey, New York, with a team that consisted of chief creative director for Grey North America Tim Mellors, creative director Rob Baiocco, art director Roger Wong, copywriter Ben Seldon and producer Eric Tao.
Editor was Jerry Fried of Red Car, New York. Visual Effects artist was David Sullivan of Red Car.
Supreme Court Seems Likely To Uphold A Law That Could Force TikTok To Shut Down On Jan. 19
The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok's ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. "We might be in a different world again" after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a "political resolution." Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration' in defense of the law a... Read More