Two atypical efforts to generate public service advertising have recently surfaced on opposite coasts. Last month, commercial director Alex Munoz teamed with the City of Santa Monica’s Virginia Avenue Park/ Thelma Terry Center to conduct a video/film production class for youngsters, ages 14-18, who reside in the Southland’s Pico neighborhood.
Held on consecutive Fridays, the class brought young people together to write, direct and produce their own PSA for Virginia Avenue Park. The first session was spent developing and writing the PSA script, which the students shot during the second session.
Munoz led an ensemble of industry professionals who provided assistance, including producer Nina Kleiner and art director Claudia Cassillas.
Postproduction services are being donated by Beverly Hills-based production company Calar Films. The students will also learn how to edit and sound design the public service spot. Plans call for a special screening of the PSA this fall at the Virginia Avenue Park community center.
Munoz is no stranger to public service advertising. His PSA, which vividly depicted a drive-by gang shooting, made SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery in early 1999. Titled "Arturo’s Drive By," the spot appeared on several stations and was the subject of a two-minute news piece on CNN.
Now he’s not only involved in another community issue-oriented PSA but is involving members of the community in making the spot.
Some 3,000 miles away, a pair of industry veterans is also pushing to make worthwhile PSAs. Meg Rogers-Baugnon and Jeremy Warshaw have opened New York-based Give A Damn Films, specializing in short films and PSAs for nonprofit organizations (SHOOT, 9/15, p. 8). Rogers-Baugnon is a VP/senior creative director at McCann-Erickson, New York. Warshaw directs commercials through Maysles Films, New York, and makes documentaries and market research films via his own shop, The Observatory, also in New York.
Rogers-Baugnon explained what they do—and why they do it—at Give A Damn Films, which is currently working on a short film for gun safety group PAX. "We connect groups that want to get their messages out effectively to help the general public, with the people who have the skills to do that," related Rogers-Baugnon. Give A Damn taps into a network of colleagues eager to "give what they’re good at," she continued. "People want to work on stuff that feels good to work on when they have the time. There’s a need, especially with the number of nonprofits and foundations that have sprung up over the past five years.
"Most nonprofits don’t have the money to really get into films and do it so that they have the best impact. What we can do is find people to give services at a reduced rate or for free. And the money that we have left over goes back into the production."
The idea of a production company devoted to worthy causes first occurred to Rogers-Baugnon and Warshaw when they collaborated in ’96 on a Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD) PSA that Warshaw directed and Rogers-Baugnon wrote. They developed the concept independently and then presented it to GLADD.
Both felt that the experience was fulfilling. Rogers-Baugnon recalled Warshaw saying, " ‘I wish I could have a company where that was all I did.’ Unfortunately, that’s not a way to make a living," she added. "We have other obligations and jobs that we really enjoy. But it sort of dawned on us that that’s not a reason not to do it; we would just have to do it in our free time."