Maurice Smith <risingrivermedia@gmail.com> sends in:
Back in 1964, Country Music legend Buck Owens released what would become his signature song: I've Got A Tiger By The Tail (In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame). And, yes, there are days when documentary filmmaking feels like that. There are two basic issues when it comes to tiger-tail-grabbing: 1) knowing when and how to grab hold, and 2) knowing when and how to let go. Still working on both. I'll keep you posted. I've spent the past two weeks recording audio interviews with a half dozen individuals - advocates, researchers, treatment/service providers, healthcare workers, and victims. And we're just getting started. A one-hour audio interview can take upwards of two days to fully edit and identify the issues and expertise each person could bring to the documentary. Additional questions then need to be asked to clarify some of the points made, and the interview turned into bullet points highlighting the message being communicated. Statistics to be honed. Treatment options to be identified and explained. Barriers to help to be identified and quantified.
A Couple Things I've Discovered So Far
I want to be clear from the outset that I have no interest in filming people in the throes of their addiction. I don't believe it's fair to film people in the worst season of their lives just so I can attract viewers with outrageous footage. I believe there are better ways to visually explain the depth and breadth of the issue. We as a community need to see and do better. So, as the project moves forward, I plan to share some of what I'm discovering during this pre-production phase. I hope it will encourage others to step up, share their experiences, and tell their stories. Working together to address a serious community issue like opioid-fentanyl addiction is how we build the Shalom of our Community. It's time we all became Shalom-makers.
My first interview was with a local public school educator who walked me through a litany of issues their school students and families have experienced, such as:
Unexpected Vaping Issues (what's in that vape juice?)
The Impact of COVID (can't get your prescription filled? Get some off social media).
Fentanyl and Sex Trafficking (students being groomed, introduced to fentanyl, dragged into sex trafficking)
Fewer Treatment Options For Youth ('nuff said. It's a problem)
Ease of Access In Schools (stuff is everywhere)
Prevention & Barriers (what if we worked more on preventing the problem before it starts)
Fentanyl: The Problem or The Symptom? (If people use drugs to feel better about themselves, what's the underlying issue?)
Teenagers, Impulse Control, and Drugs (Think: the "tide Pod Challenge" of not too long ago, and then think about teenagers trying pills they bought on social media)
While each of these deserves reflection and attention, the connection between fentanyl and sex trafficking among school students jolted me and got my attention. It also came up in later interviews, too. This may become a documentary segment.
My second interview was with a researcher and professor from the WSU School of Medicine about his work to apply behavior modification techniques to the long-term treatment of addiction which, when combined with medical treatment, has shown remarkable success. "It's the only effective treatment that I'm aware of," he told me. It's called Contingency Management Intervention and they recently got a Medicare waiver for a broad roll-out in the state of Washington. While I found it interesting and encouraging, it was his emphasis on the importance of giving people hope that caught my attention as our interview ended. His parting words were memorable: "Yeah, I think hope . . . 10CCs of hope is some of the the most powerful medicine I know."
Yes it is. Thanks for reminding all of us. I hope the above vignettes from two-out-of-six interviews (so far) encourage and challenge you to speak up and get involved. I'll share more from interviews in future emails, much of which I'm still processing. In the immortal words of Buck Owens And His Buckaroos, "And it looks like I've got a tiger by the tail."
Yours for the Shalom of Our Community,
Maurice Smith