A Short Film On Suicide Draws Unique Attention

Our work was focused on community outreach. We were tasked with building relationships throughout the community. Throughout that process, we hosted luncheons and had booth exhibits. We also designed a unique 3.5-hour event on suicide prevention and awareness. The primary objective of the film was to foster relationships in the community and create a powerful piece of media to be used at the event and in ongoing outreach efforts.

Participants at the events where we screened the film raved about every aspect of it. The film itself was deeply appreciated and gentle tears were shed throughout the rooms. It was a powerful space as suicide is a topic often avoided. Leaving people who have either lost someone to suicide or have struggled themselves feeling rather alone in their journey. This film was designed to be real about the challenges while also offering hope.

We also wanted people to meet the lawyer who was doing the outreach through this film. This would help establish him as someone who truly cares about those struggling in the local community and beyond.

Not only did people in the room love the film and they shared how they felt so seen in their experiences, it also produced a variety of tangible outcomes. Two in particular stand out.

First, we got a placement featuring the law firm and the film with the Florida Bar on their news site. This is something that, due to new rules, was stopped shortly after that placement. In other words, the firm received a high-value backlink along with news going out to all of the lawyers in the state. This is powerful for SEO as well as for networking for referral business.

Second, because of the law firm’s work in the community around suicide, a highly sought-after trial lawyer went on to work for the law firm. The lawyer specifically cited the fact to us that this film, the work on suicide, was what drove their decision. In our conversations with the client, it was explicitly acknowledged that they were extremely excited about this and that it was far more valuable than a seven-figure case.

In addition to the above, the law firm was able to disseminate a wide range of content on the subject and numerous strategic relationships were started with community leaders.

This was our first-ever film. We didn’t know what we were doing with camera settings. Our audio was subpar. Our lighting was poorly executed. And this demonstrates the power of storytelling over the greatest visuals. Not that visuals aren’t important, but we achieved well-beyond what our client expected and it was due to the powerful emotional storytelling.

Our multi-step spreadsheet process for identifying stories from our interviews was first used here and has continued to prove itself to be exceptionally powerful as we work on bigger and bigger projects.