Don’t just sit there, participate!

Film producers are usually in it for the money, whatever they might say about wanting to produce great art or entertainment.  But when Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Productions, says he wants his films to change the world, you somehow believe him.  After all, he doesn’t exactly need the money.

Skoll, together with a university colleague, founded eBay, and consequently is now a billionaire.  When he left eBay in 2000 he turned his sights to philanthropic projects.  He had long harboured a dream to write stories which would change the world, but then realised he could use his wealth to hire writers.  And what better way to get those stories out to the public than to make them into films?

Participant Productions came into being in 2004, and now has its first batch of successful films under its belt.  Syriana, starring George Clooney as an American spy, looks at how America’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil results in global violence.  Another George Clooney film, Goodnight, and Good Luck, which the actor also directed and co-wrote, is a drama about Senator Joseph McCarthy and his attempts to censor American television news. In 2007 An Inconvenient Truth, the film presented by Al Gore about the climate crisis, won Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Original Song.

The first film to come out, North Country, was less successful at the box office than the Clooney films, but still critically acclaimed.  Starring Charlize Theron, it tells the story of a woman working as a miner, and the sexual harassment she and her female colleagues face.

Hollywood has seen a spate of ‘political’ films, such as Munich, The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamonds, and it could be said that Participant is jumping on the bandwagon.  Nobody else, however, is doing what Skoll is doing.  Participant works in partnership with activist groups and organises a specific campaign to tie in with each film.  Its community website (participate.net) helps people get involved by taking part in group blogs as well as the campaigns.  

For North Country the company has set up a campaign to end sexual harassment and domestic violence, and the website has downloadable information kits.  Goodnight, and Good Luck is tied in with a campaign to promote better reporting of the news, which encourages people to write in with news stories from their neighbourhoods.  Syriana’s campaign is Oil Change, which aims to reduce dependence on oil by informing people about ways they can make a difference as individuals.

Are these campaigns having any effect?  It’s too early to say, but if the number of people visiting the website is anything to go on then the message is getting across that people can participate and films can be a vehicle for social change.