Her social media feed is filled with frustration and “prayers” for families torn apart by yet another mass shooting as filmmaker Natalie Johns is engaged in the morning ritual of negotiating school attendance with her 4½-year-old. Between laughing and arguing with their daughter, the Johns think deeply about the prospect of waking up without her–deeply enough to feel an inch of what it might be like to lose her–a feeling profound enough inspire her most personal commitment to date as a filmmaker.
“Gun violence should not be a normalized part of life in America,” she noted. “I felt it was worth putting my whole heart on the line to deliver this message.”
The director invited her long-time collaborator and cinematographer, Bill Kirstein (Mean Girls, Happyend), to capture their family’s experience over several mornings in a spec PSA. She wanted to capture her own joy and truth as a parent with a view to inspiring action from the deepest love she has known.
On the third day of filming, Johns received an email from their daughter’s preschool notifying parents of a lockdown that had occurred due to a gunman outside the school. The children, aged 2-5, were gathered in a small bathroom for an hour, singing songs with their teachers while the man was apprehended by law enforcement. This was the family’s first narrow escape from tragedy.
“The coincidence of filming this PSA and experiencing my family’s first lockdown was both shocking and surreal. I simply could not wrap my head around it,” said director Johns.
Even more terrifying for Johns was discussing the incident with other parents who had already experienced several lockdowns with their older children. This reality is all too common and far too close to home.
For a long time, Johns has followed and supported the work of Everytown.org, which brings together mayors, teachers, survivors, gun owners, students, and everyday Americans to make communities safer. Everytown.org makes it easy for anyone to join the 10 million and counting in a movement to end gun violence.
By texting ACT to 64433, people can join the Everytown movement, unite with Moms Demand Action, and get involved with voting for gun-sense candidates.
These candidates can support compelling new legislation, like The GoSafe Act, sponsored by Senator Martin Heinrich. This law regulates the sale, transfer, and manufacture of semi-automatic firearms while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes. Currently 2024 is on pace to exceed the record number of school shootings recorded in 2023. Eleven children and teens are shot and killed every day and another 48 are shot and wounded.
Every day, military-grade weapons and inadequate background checks threaten to steal our joy. If the unthinkable happens, it won’t be the big events that are missed, but the moments taken for granted, the ones sometimes slept through or rushed. This spec gun violence prevention PSA, titled “Last Morning,” captures some of those moments.
