Actor (Mask, Pulp Fiction) and director (episodes of Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, Nip/Tuck) Eric Stoltz has directed a pair of spots for The Medicine Abuse Project, a national campaign from The Partnership At Drugfree.org out of Hill Holliday, Boston.
The Project’s goal is to prevent half a million teens from abusing medicines by 2017. This week’s “Best Work” entry is “Reflection-Grandpa” in which a grandfather walks into the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet for prescription pain meds. Once the bathroom cabinet is closed, the reflection on its mirror is no longer the elderly man but his teenage granddaughter who is taking the pills at the same time that he swallows them.
A Stoltz voiceover asks, “Who else has been taking your prescription?” It continues, “Keep your medicine and your family safe and secure.”
The message “Mind Your Meds” is then supered on the screen, followed by a website address that gives people a start on doing just that (drugsfree.org).
Disorderly Conduct Stoltz is affiliated with Disorderly Conduct, a Los Angeles-based commercial production company headed by Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino and exec producer Ron Cicero who helped make the “Mind Your Meds” campaign possible. Disorderly Conduct is a division of Straight Up Films, the feature film company co-producing Transcendence with Johnny Depp as well as the Natalie Portman film Jane Got a Gun.
“As I directed these TV spots, I was shocked to find out how dangerous the abuse of medicine really is, especially among teenagers,” said Stoltz. “Having recently lost a dear friend of mine to drug addiction, I wanted to help show that there is something you can do to help protect your families and loved ones.”
Teen medicine abuse is a pervasive and devastating problem, with one in four teens admitting to using a prescription drug to get high or change their mood. Most teens who report medicine abuse say they get those medications from their family or friends. This public health crisis has been deemed an “epidemic” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s always a great feeling when you can do meaningful work that can make a difference in the lives of young people,” said Lance Jensen, chief creative officer of Hill Holliday. “This is an important issue and we hope this work really gets people talking.”
The Medicine Abuse Project aims to help educate parents, teens and the public about the dangers of medicine abuse and unite parents, educators, health care providers, coaches, government officials, law enforcement officers and other partners to help save lives.
