288 | From Actress to Social Changemaker with Cassie Scerbo
Our guest this week on the pod is Cassie Scerbo. Cassie is an actress best known for roles in Sharknado, Make it or Break it, and ABC's Grand Hotel and a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida - the site of the deadliest high school massacre in US history. She is also the Vice President of Boo2Bullying, a nonprofit seeing to eradicate bullying, and one of the producers of the new documentary Code Red: Youth of the Nation.
This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of our host, Zelizer Consulting Services.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
Code Red: Youth of the Nation - an interview with producer Cassie Scerbo
NOTE: While it’s not perfect, we offer this transcription by Otter.ai for those who are hearing impaired or who don’t find listening to a podcast enjoyable or possible.
SPEAKERS
Paul Zelizer, Cassie Scerbo
Paul Zelizer 00:01
Hi, this is Paul Zelizer, and welcome to the Awarepreneurs podcast. On this show, we dive deep into wisdom from some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help increase your positive impact your profits and your quality of life. Before we get into today's topic, I have one request. If you could hit subscribe and do a review on your favorite podcast app that helps people learn how to have a positive impact or a values based business. Thank you so much. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Cassie Scerbo and our topic is From Actress to Social Changemaker.. Cassie is an actress best known for roles in Sharknado make it or break it and EBCs Grand Hotel and a graduate of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the site of the deadliest High School massacre in American history. She is the vice president of Buddha bullying, a nonprofit seeking to eradicate bullying, and one of the producers of a new documentary called Code Red youth of the nation. Cassie, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. And I just want to say thank you for all the work you do and for shedding a light on so many important, you know, subjects. And I'm just, I'm a big fan of all that you do. So thank you for having me today. Thank you, Cassie. It's an honor to have you here. And yeah, same to you deep bow. And, you know, one of the questions that I usually ask is, like, help us make the connection between like your early life and how you got into some of the work. But given where you grew up, it's a little more direct. So tell us a little bit about like, what would somebody who's listening need to know about being from Parkland and how that impacted the community and how that raised the issue of gun violence? how that affected you? And then we'll talk about what you've done with that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I did you know, I, I've been acting since the age of 10. So my career, you know, really started in the acting field, it was always my passion. Since I, since before I can remember I wanted to share stories, you know, that's basically like being an actress is your storyteller. And I always wanted to be able to give back and doing so and you know, really make an impact on the audience, you know, whatever it may be that I was doing at the time, I also was a singer and a dancer, I was signed to Interscope, Geffen, and I just I loved seeing the reaction on people's faces when I performed, you know, in whatever field that that may have been. I did go to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, I did attend, I am an alumni, obviously,
Cassie Scerbo 02:47
it's hard to put into words how the mass shooting affected me, I just remember, I was actually in a music studio and my phone started blowing up, I was recording a new song. And our family chat was just, you know, like I said, my phone was just blowing up. And I couldn't even comprehend what I was reading. My brother was actually in a neighborhood doing some work. He's an interior design designer. And he was in one of the neighboring areas right next to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and he was, you know, saying he heard all these helicopters, and, you know, the streets were all blocked off. And, you know, it just put everything into perspective. And I just remember feeling initially hopeless, I hated the fact that I was in LA that I wasn't in my hometown, that I couldn't, you know, be there in person to help in any way that I could, that I couldn't hug my family that I couldn't hug my neighbors. I just remember that initial feeling of hopelessness. And all I wanted to do was fly back to Florida.
Cassie Scerbo 03:54
And unfortunately, I couldn't do that, because I was already contracted to film Sharknado. Five, I believe it was at the time or sorry, six, there was a lot of our last Sharknado and I was headed to Romania, so far away from where I wanted to be. And all I could think of at the time was, how do I, you know, raise awareness raise funds for, you know, obviously, there was multiple fundraisers happening and
Cassie Scerbo 04:25
I, the first thing I could think of was just getting a bunch of my influential friends and celebrity friends together to create a video to send to the students any, you know, not that this is, you know, necessarily the most important thing but just, you know, sharing some comfort and what was going on and letting them know how many people you know, out there, we're supporting them and trying to lift them up. We had the cast of Modern Family on that video and Lucy Hale and just a bunch of wonderful, you know, influence
Cassie Scerbo 05:00
was an actor's that were willing to, you know, send their love and send their support. But I was like, obviously, that's not enough. I just didn't know what I could do from basically my phone with very little service in a foreign country. So that's where it started. But I knew that I wanted to do more, obviously, I donated and I was using my platforms to, you know, support different fundraisers, but there was just so much more that needed to be done. And I didn't know where to start. But right when I got back, actually, one of the victims, fathers who is a dear family friend of ours, you know, reached out and knew that I was in the entertainment industry. And you know, asked if I would help and use my platform and use my connections to originally it was to create a film, and, you know, to produce a film about what had happened, this very tragic day, and I had no idea if I'm being transparent, how to do anything. Behind the scenes at that point, I had only ever been a performer, you know, an actor, a singer, a dancer, I had no idea what that entailed. So I immediately reached out to some of my friends, trying to gain some, some sort of wisdom on how, where to even begin. And I was speaking with one of my friends, Connor Riley, who is the producer on this director, writer, very intelligent, very passionate man. And he basically, you know, said to me, Look, we could try to do a retelling of events through this film, but it's already so heartbreaking what had happened, why don't we create some type of documentary at the time, we were toying with the idea of a docu series and make it more solution based, like let's really research and figure out what went wrong here and how we can save lives moving forward. I mean, essentially, that that is the goal. That was the goal. And I was like, wonderful. Absolutely. I'm on board. I love that idea. Once again, where do we begin? We started by putting together a pitch deck. And you know, Connor obviously helped with that. And from there, we went out to different executive producers and people who are willing to help finance the project. Obviously, I wanted to be a part of that my father and I both are executive producers on this project, it was important for us to put our money towards something that is the most important, I mean, this This to me is, is at the top of the list of importance in my life is eradicating these school shootings. You know, last year, we had more school shootings than ever before. They're unfortunately becoming the new normal, they are not seeming to we're you know, we're not seeming to see an end to this, unfortunately. But the time is now and, you know, the documentary is a call to action. And I feel like I'm all over the place, because I'm so passionate about and aware, you know,
Paul Zelizer 08:15
and let me just say, I'm so sorry, that as a community, specifically, your family and the connections, you have had to go through this and the impact that it had, I just want to acknowledge it. And we're going through it as a whole country and a planet, but particularly in the US, we're seeing this unlike anything in almost any other country in the world. And yet, this is very personal. So I just want to say, I'm sorry. And I can imagine the impact that it had on you.
Cassie Scerbo 08:48
Thank you. Yeah, I mean, you know, like I was saying, this is becoming the new normal and you it's almost like every other day, you turn on the news and you're hearing about a mass shooting. But when it is your high school, and you're looking at this footage of hallways that you once walked, that has been turned into, basically that had been turned into a war zone. I mean, there's, there's just there's really, truly no words it is gut wrenching. But, you know, like I've said from the beginning, you know, I spoke at March for our lives back in Parkland. Obviously, this tragedy broke my heart into a million pieces. And I said, you know, I want to take every one of those pieces of my broken heart and do some good with them. And until I see change, I'm not stopping. So luckily, you know, Connor Riley, he helped put together this project. It took years of development and making sure that we found the proper people to interview, you know, from law enforcement to psychologists to the students that were there that day to teachers that were on, you know, the grounds that day. It was a huge task. And it really takes a village. I know you hear that so often, but like I said, I had no idea what I was doing. And it was a mate a massive learning process, you know, seeing where funding goes, and realizing that, you know, just being in front of the camera, you don't think of all these things, from your set to your lighting, to your crew, to your editors. You know, luckily, we have so many wonderful celebrity voices that are on this documentary as well that, you know, donated their time, luckily, and, you know, did it out of the goodness of their heart. But, you know, there's so much that goes into it. And I'm just so happy that it is finally out, you know, after years and years of dedication and research, honestly, mainly on Connors end, because, you know, this is more than that it was more of his field. And for me it was, it was really just, it was the passion that drove this movement that drove this project. And that's something I preach on often, you know, like, you don't have to have all the answers, you know, from the get go. As long as you are passionate about something. You can move mountains, like I really do believe that magical things happen when you are just simply passionate and willing to sacrifice time and energy to create change. You know, it really has to be, it takes a lot. So you've got to be dedicated and willing to put in that time.
Paul Zelizer 11:38
Yeah, when I started this podcast, I had no idea how to do a podcast or how to be an interviewer or who I was even going in, I knew a couple I was like, I think I got three, let me start with three. And 280 Plus episodes later, I can't keep up with all the amazing pitches that we get like yours. So before we get into the documentary part and the real like harm reduction strategies that you're highlighting in the documentary, our title today, Cassie is from actors to social change maker. And one of the questions I was curious about as I was thinking about this interview is like, had you already been Have you always been focused on social change? Or were you like, you know, living your life and being a good person, but like, you know, how much attention was social change making getting on your life radar before this incident happened in Parkland?
Cassie Scerbo 12:32
Right? I remember being a little girl and just genuinely wanting to feed every homeless person. And anytime I saw a missing person, AD, I wanted to find every person on that ad I wanted to, you know, be able to cure cancer like that is always who I have been since I was a little girl. I just wanted to help I wanted to, I did, I wanted to create change. And I always said, you know, mommy daddy, like one day, I'm going to be this very big actress so that I can have a platform so that I can help people so that I have, you know, I want to amplify, I want my voice to be amplified. And I feel like, you know, I can marry both of my worlds, I probably didn't use that exact verbiage at the age of five. But you know, I've always wanted to find ways to marry my worlds of being an entertainer and being a social change maker. And that's all I knew, I just knew I wanted to create change. It was never even in one specific field. When I first booked my TV show, make it or break it on ABC Family. I was 18 years old. And I remember being on set five hours a week, you know, morning tonight, and I was on the phone with my father and you know, a couple other people trying to figure out how to for my own nonprofit, I and I didn't even know what I wanted it to be for at the time, because I'm like, Daddy, I don't know, I want to help everyone. How do I just How do I narrow this down to one cause, like, there are so many causes I'm passionate about. And right at that time, you know, it felt very Kismet. I got approached by butuh bullying at an event and they were looking for ambassadors. And at the time, I didn't even know what that had meant. You know, being an ambassador, it just sounded like such a profound word. And I loved that I could be helping kids that have you know that
Paul Zelizer 14:29
I get to live in an empathy or something like
Cassie Scerbo 14:33
NAFTA obviously I've come a long way and I know a lot about what you know what it takes to be an ambassador now being that I was I did wind up joining the organization as an ambassador worked my way up to West Coast Executive Director at 25 years old. And you know, now I serve as their vice president and it's really the greatest honor of my life. It especially you know, being in Los Angeles, it is such a specific you know, it can be a very daunting town. It so it can feel very people can seem very selfish in Los Angeles and I just, I never liked that I always wanted to find my people, my community, I always wanted to do more than just act or sing or dance or perform, I really did. And it's been such a blessing in my life to have that, you know, to have that balance where I can perform and do the things that I love. But in practicing, or in doing my passion, I found my purpose, in a sense. So yeah, you know, I like I said, I had no idea what this meant, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it. I've been involved now for over 10 years, and we've served over, you know, about 40,000 students, and that's just in person. And, obviously, you know, we're doing a lot of work online. Now, ever since the pandemic, we've moved towards virtual workshops, or even, you know, working with students of Nairobi. So it's been a beautiful journey. And I'm so happy that now it's led me to a whole new level with being able to provide a solution based documentary for people to really honestly, in my opinion, if everyone were to watch this, I genuinely genuinely feel we know that we can save lives moving forward. So yeah, you know, the social, I've always wanted to be, you know, social change maker, I just didn't know exactly what it entailed I, I had gone to acting schools my whole life and was always involved in the performing arts. But I always knew that I wanted to do so much more that I really wanted to create change. And I'm just so happy that this documentary is finally out doing that. And I'm so proud of the organization, you know, Buddha bullying, that we're really making big strides, continuously writing grants to support all of our, you know, endeavors. And yeah, I guess my answer, in a nutshell is that I've, I've always wanted to create change, it's something that I've always been extremely passionate about. And I want to continue to do that for the rest of my life, you know, I've been involved with the Thirst Project donating. So that third world countries can have clean drinking water and building wells out in third world countries. And I've been involved in a lot of anti sex trafficking work for years in a row, I skydived. To raise funds for just kind of crazy. For it was called 18 for 18. So it was 18,000 feet to raise $18,000. And we very well surpassed that, but you know, donating my time to going towards to go into children's hospital LA and volunteering with the patients there and spending time with the patients. So it's just always been a big part of who I am if I'm being honest. And but you know, I am learning every day. There's there's so much to learn. And there's so much to still do.
Paul Zelizer 18:00
SIBO always been a change maker and the documentary, The incident really like honed in those skills, your network, and it landed in this documentary. So let's do this. In a moment, I want to come back and hear about the documentary The process of making it and funding it and the strategies that you highlight that are solution focused in the documentary. Before we do that, I just want to take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. Are you facing one or more important decisions in your impact business, and you'd like an experienced thought partner to develop a plan about how to proceed in the complex times we're living. But you don't feel the need for an extended coaching or consulting contract that's going to cost you many 1000s of dollars. You're looking for an affordable, targeted and time efficient type of support. Through Paul zelizer.com, I offer a strategy session package. These packages are ideal for entrepreneurs who are facing 123 immediate decisions, like how to increase your positive impact, fine tune your marketing strategies to get more results for less effort, launch a new product or service successfully, or refine your pricing structure. So it's both inclusive, and provides you with a great quality of life. You can find out more by clicking below. And thank you so much for listening to this podcast. Welcome back, everybody. In the second part of the show, we like to put our social entrepreneur glasses on so Kathy, as you put on your social entrepreneur classes and look at the documentary, you really wanted to create something like you said that wasn't just documenting what happened on that fateful day, but you really wanted to highlight solutions and what people could do to make a difference around gun violence. Give people a sense, like what does that look like in the documentary?
Cassie Scerbo 19:55
Absolutely, you know, in creating this documentary It was really about what can we do right now. So the documentary is set up in a format of 11 lessons, providing the viewer with insight as to what went wrong that day. And what can be fixed right now, you know, we speak, as I said, with activist teachers, students, psychologists, author's officers, and I feel that we've done a really good job at breaking it down everything from from security break down, you know, the fact that the cameras were on a 20 minute delay that day. You know, knowing the difference between a fire alarm and a code red, we feel that schools should be outfitted with active trigger fire alarms, which send a signal to the main office first, so that staff can decide whether or not to activate the alarm. You know, often the fire alarm is pulled on purpose by the perpetrator in order to get students to funnel into the hallway. You know, ensuring people are aware of what a code red lockdown entails active shooter training, you know, making certain that teachers are well equipped to function under this immense amount of stress and to follow the proper protocols. And I do understand, you know, teachers are already overworked and underpaid in my opinion, but like I said earlier, this is the new normal and, you know, unfortunately, we have to be prepared. Nobody thought this would happen. In a town like Parkland, Florida, nonetheless, should this be happening anywhere ever. But, you know, we did sit down on a documentary with a wonderful teacher. Her name is Kim, who was in attendance that day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and she had gone through the active shooter training and knew exactly how to respond. You know, she was one of two teachers on her floor who didn't let students into the hallway that day. And, you know, there's also emergency communications, I believe that's less than five of the documentary, you know, the police radio system for Broward County became overloaded and failed. The same situation actually occurred at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. So you know, it's imperative that the police force has updated and well equipped radio state systems. Also, you know, ever since Columbine, least have been trained to respond to these mass shootings by engaging and neutralizing and unfortunately, on to 1418, our school resource officer over at Marjory Stoneman Douglas failed to confront the shooter and instead took shelter for nearly 48 minutes behind a wall. Like I said earlier, the CCTV access, you know, really knowing it's so important to have severe trauma training, I believe that's less than eight in the documentary, because there are so many times that, you know, every, there are so many, you know, there's a lot of times where every single obviously, like every single second is critical. And by knowing what's inside of a trauma kit, such as applying tourniquet, tourniquets and gauze, you really can save lives and that day. The one one good thing was that every person who had a survivable gunshot wound did survive because there were trauma kits on campus, people didn't know how to utilize everything in the kit, from the gods to the chest shields to the tourniquets, it's honestly very simple to learn. And, and so important moving forward that you know, in case of emergencies like this, that people do know how to operate everything that's inside of the kit. And then, you know, we go into system failure, the fact that the shooter should have never come back to Stoneman Douglas after being put in, you know, Cross Creek school for students with emotional or behavioral problems. This behavior hadn't been documented would have placed him right back at Cross Creek. Numerous tips were made to the Broward County Sheriff's and other authorities on the shooter. And instead of him being arrested for his violent acts, he was continuously transferred to other schools, or referred to counseling due to programs such as the, you know, the Promise Program, which does protect students from having a criminal record. And it is a bit terrifying when you look into some of these policies. You know, I understand why some of them were initially put into play. But unfortunately, when doing our research, I had no idea to be quite honest that some of these policies were in place and how they've become so detrimental to our students. Making sure that we have, you know, the proper help, after something like this happens. But of course, the whole point is to ensure that this never happens again. But so many of these students were, you know, we're dealing with survivor's guilt. And unfortunately, unfortunately, we lost two more students after the Um, tragedy due to suicide from this survivor's guilt, obviously, you know, no, no child should ever have to see what, you know, these students saw that day it is it's just, it's absolutely heartbreaking. And I know that the officers were trying their best to get the students to face, you know, the walls and to not really look behind them. But, you know, it is what it is they were basically walking through a warzone. So yeah, I mean, there's so obviously, you know, the documentary does a really good job at going in depth. And really breaking down every single thing I just stated, you know, all these, these lessons, the 11 lessons, but I just really encourage everyone to try to give it a watch, because I just feel it that there's so many policies, and just so many mishaps that happened that day that people are truly unaware of, and I do know that it is very hard hitting, it's not easy to watch. It's, it's heartbreaking. But we can't turn a blind eye, you know, especially at the fatal cost of our youth, we have to really be aware of everything that's been going on since Columbine, and unfortunately, is continuing to happen in our schools.
Paul Zelizer 26:19
I'm just taking a moment to pause I didn't know and maybe some of you listeners didn't know that there were two suicides related to the young people who lived through that just touched me, I'm just taking a moment to acknowledge before I move on, not business, this is not business as usual to rain, like I'm going to be fine. And like deep breath there and the layers of impact. And we didn't talk about this before the we hit record, Cassie, but my first career was in community mental health 15 years and I wound up working with a lot of young men there aren't that many male clinicians who are frontlines there's a disproportionate number of female clinicians who are frontline clinicians working in schools and with young people, some family so so I have lots of experience with young people who have been impacted by hard things and violence in many, many ways.
Cassie Scerbo 27:15
So that's really incredible work. And I, I commend you, because I know it's not easy, you know, especially
Paul Zelizer 27:23
Oh, I got compassion, fatigue and burnout and know how to pivot. After 15 years. I was like, that was hard, right?
Cassie Scerbo 27:29
It's really hard. And, you know, there's such a parallel to between bullying and mental health, and also what roles that played in this, you know, that those two things played in this tragedy, right. So for me, it's crazy how much like I was saying earlier like to marry all of my worlds how much of this parallel we are seeing, you know, a lot of the work that I do is in suicide prevention, and, you know, anti bullying, and, you know, 46% of bullies, bullied students that report, you know, report to an adult, at school about an incident, you know, it often doesn't really lead to a positive outcome. And unfortunately, it's kind of crazy, but it's because of national policies that put our teachers and administrators and school funding at risk. You know, a lot of times, unfortunately, there is $1 sign basically above every student's head. And this is so sad, you know, to even think about, but it is something that they take into consideration. The documentary does a really good job at, at breaking that down as well. But there are so many parallels from the shooter being extremely mentally ill. Unfortunately, there were so many warning signs and nothing was done, but also like we're, you know, like, we've been talking about the aftermath. You know, I personally know some of the students being that I'm from Parkland, and just seeing how this affected them and the suicidal thoughts that they've been battling since two, you know, 1418. It's, it's so it's just so unfair, it really is. It breaks my heart.
Paul Zelizer 29:22
Just wanted to make some room for all that. And we're gonna pivot a little bit because it's a social entrepreneur, podcast listeners. Let's all take a deep breath. Lots of feelings. This is big, hard stuff. And we're pretty granular social entrepreneurs. So in that spirit, Cassie, talk to us a little bit about the process of making a documentary like you said, you'd been in front of the camera and you had all this experience. It's like almost magical. And this is just to highlight something listeners, like these divergent experience seemingly divergent Oh, like, Cassie is an actress and she's wanting to help and like, I want to start a nonprofit, but I'm not even sure. And I do bond up like doing bullying work, and then boom, right? This thing happens. And suddenly, all so many experiences in your life like it just catalyzed and came together and synchronize, I'm going to make a documentary. Right? You know, you've never done that before. So talk to us a little bit about somebody like who's like, wow, yeah, I've thought of making a documentary. But I've never done that before, either. What, what are some of the lessons you've learned about creating a solution focused documentary about a really hard impact area?
Cassie Scerbo 30:42
Absolutely. Well, first of all, if you are listening, and you are one of those people, like me, who wants to create a documentary, or you know, produce a documentary Who wants to start a nonprofit, if I can do it, you can do it. full transparency. As I said earlier, I did not know what I was doing. And all it really takes, like I said, you know, is passion and focus and getting the right team together, I'm still learning to this day, I really have so many people to thank, for, you know, the completion of this documentary and for the fact that it's now out and, you know, doing really well, and hopefully, you know, we save some lives moving forward. Of course, that's, you know, the goal and the mission. But, you know, initially, it was really figuring out what is it that we want to convey hair here and narrowing that down. And the thing with a documentary is that policies change, by the day, I mean, by the year, I mean, it's there, that you really have to have a wonderful editor and also need to be on top of everything that's going on in the news, and in the law enforcement world, and in, you know, the world of policy, to be able to produce, you know, a film that makes sense, when it comes out. Do you know what I mean? Like, we started on this journey, about four, yeah, about four and a half years ago now. And so much has changed. So you do have to really, you know, you have to do your research, and you want to sit down with the proper people that are going to convey your message. And in real time, sort of speak obviously, things change every day, but you know, in real time as to when it comes out. So, yeah, it was it was really sitting down with the right people, and ensuring that, you know, when Connor was creating these 11 lessons, as we call them, making sure like, you know, what is most important, what, what can we truly as a people change, moving forward by just simply knowing, you know, just having this knowledge, so it's making sure that you, you know, you've got a very clear vision of what you want to convey. And then from there, you know, I've never been good at asking people for money. It's something that
Paul Zelizer 33:16
is how much does it even cost to make a documentary?
Cassie Scerbo 33:19
And, you know, what, they're all different. And there are so many different you know, every documentary has a different budget, and there's so many different factors, that it's everything from which cameras, are you, you know, wanting to use, who do you want to be sitting down with? And what is their, you know, cost? What does it cost to have certain people that you want on the documentary? What does it cost to have them and you know, that you know, flying all around to do your research and building certain sets, and then you have your, you know, your lighting crew, your gaffers, you've got your sound crew, you've got editors, you know, it's, it's, there's so much that goes into it. And it's a world that I was somewhat familiar with always being in front of the camera, but Oh, my God was I just so surprised, you know, taking on this new endeavor as to how much really goes on behind the scenes. But like I said, if you have that passion, look, it took us four years. And, you know, Connor was amazing and taught me so much along the way. His father, you know, played a role in the project as well. And they were they were going around really doing the research and if you have the people that are committed, and you have the right team, you know, put together then really, you can make anything happen. You know, my father and I are executive producers on this project. And, you know, we had tried to get other people involved as well to help finance the project. And it was uncomfortable, like I said, and you're gonna have to, you know, get used to rejection as well. It's so hard to hear like, especially if you know, someone maybe has the funds to help produce a project, but they just whatever it is about the project you're wanting to produce, it just doesn't maybe hit home with them. Or maybe they just signed on to a different project, you know, to help finance a different project. It's hard to hear someone say no, you know what I mean? Like, that's not easy, but you just have to keep going. And at the end of the day, I would have to sit there and tell myself, okay, maybe this is uncomfortable. You know, obviously, we had all of the, you know, the proper tools in reaching out to people, like I said, the pitch decks and whatnot. But as much as this may be uncomfortable, like, how badly do you want this? How badly do you want your project out in the world? And the answer was very, very badly. So to the best of my ability, I was reaching out to everyone I could, and then obviously, Connor had, you know, being that he's produced before he had, you know, wonderful people that were committed, and that he got involved, you know, that, that have also, you know, helped fund this project. And, you know, his family played a huge role in this project as well helping write the script and his sister Bailey Madison, you know, just she just did such a beautiful job narrating this film immaculately. Honestly, it really takes a village. And like I said, I'm still learning. I didn't produce this on my own at all. I had it. We had a huge team. And yeah, it's it's just you have to have that dedication and that passion.
Paul Zelizer 36:37
Absolutely. So a couple things I wrote down listeners that I'm hearing Cassie, I think I'm hearing anyway, there's the funding piece. And you're really strong advice that I highlight and circle and like with a big neon green highlighter, right? That you have to be passionate, I was talking to a climate entrepreneurs incredibly passionate, right. And so it had got to if anybody doesn't know, this vocabulary was doing a series a raise, right, which is like the second and usually a four step process of a company maturing, if it's a more tech or capital intensive company. So let's say they were trying to raise a million dollars ish, maybe one to $5 million is a Series A, he said, Paul, I had a talk to 250 people. And I got told no a lot. But it's the climate and the world is burning. And this had to happen. And he did, right. So I just share that to say like, look, this is not asking for resources once with a project like this. I don't know if it was 250. But it probably wasn't three people. Is that fair to say, Cassie?
Cassie Scerbo 37:46
Oh, yeah, no, it's you definitely have to get used to the word no, and it was really build your skin, I mean, you, you have to have thick skin going into the world of producing because it is difficult, and you will hear no, a bunch of times, and it was also really difficult for me, just thinking back, reaching out to some of these students. You know, not long after the massacre, the tragedy, it was hard for me to reach out to them to ask if they would be willing to speak on this project. And certain teachers, you know, who were affected and Connor as well, I mean, he did, he did so much outreach, and it's so hard because it's such sensitive subject matter. So I really found, you know, so much conflict within myself, like, is this selfish, but at the same time, what I'm doing like I want, I want, I don't want this to ever happen again, you know, and you do have to approach the students and the teachers in a very sensitive manner, it's, it's something that is affected them that will be, you know, that will affect them for the rest of their lives. So, you know, that wasn't easy, either. And I do commend so many filmmakers that create, you know, these wonderful documentaries with such, you know, on such important subject matter, it's not easy reaching out to people who have been affected, and it's not easy to watch them have to relive some of those events. So, that was very difficult as well. Like I said, like, you really have to find it, and you've got to find that strength and just remember the purpose and remember the, you know, get that gotta get that fire in your belly going because it's not easy. You know, it's in hindsight it oh, you know, it seemed so much easier to me in the beginning, like, I've been in this world for a while. I know many producers, like I should be able to figure this out. But I mean, you come across so many challenges in creating a documentary. And once again, I just have to give it up to the team and to Connor for really navigating this project and leading the ship. And it's also about finding somebody that that you trust and that you believe in and who believes in you and having that same passion for What you're trying to accomplish? So yeah, it definitely takes a village and it definitely takes thick skin. But I'm just so proud that we got the job done. Yeah, like I said, I just there were so many challenges along the way, but just gotta hang on in there just gotta hang on. Yeah.
Paul Zelizer 40:17
So three other things, listeners that I just highlighted and starred, in addition to the funding and being willing to ask and hear now, three other things I heard Cassie is, one is the vision like, what is your vision, you can have an impact area. But it's not enough. In many cases, especially where there are so many hard things, so many challenges our world is facing. You didn't you did something very successful here, which is tied to bullet point number two, you had a vision for the documentary that went beyond, hey, gun violence is a challenge. And let me tell you all the reasons gun violence is a problem. Yes. And you had a vision that this documentary would help people look at concrete solutions. And then the second thing I wrote down is, you really you have these 11 lessons, they're there. They're areas there, their strategies, their tactics, we can use whatever word we want. But you you had this vision that this documentary was going to be about, hey, there is a challenge here. But there's reasons to be hopeful. And there are things that you can do. And then part of what you did is really did your homework about what solutions this documentary, what policies where were, where did some of the things fall apart? Or on communications? Or how can you really be intentional after something like this happens to try to address some of the ongoing impact that could lead to things like suicidality, if it wasn't skillfully addressed, etc, etc. The last bullet point I just want to highlight listeners is partnership, you knew that you had skills, the network, and were familiar with telling stories, but you also knew Cassie, that producing and creating a documentary you hadn't been on that side of the camera. And I lost track of how many times you've mentioned, Connor, and how grateful you are at that relationship. So I just want to highlight listeners like listen to the willingness to get help in skill areas. So the vision like you knew what you wanted to do, or the two of you together, or your team did, but you also were willing to get some help. And some of the skill sets that in this case behind the camera and producing and the whole process of like, forming a vision for a documentary, and then getting it to market. And you got some help in some of the places where you didn't have experience. So just want to like good job and listeners. And notice that there were some real, successful strategies that led to this point, that if you weren't listening carefully, you might have missed and I wanted to highlight those. So yeah, so Kathy, speaking of getting to mark it, my understanding is that code read is available on Amazon, Apple, Google, like, these are some pretty significant platforms, if you were to get a document or like, talk to us, like, how does that work? So you spend years like working on the documentary? And then there's the whole, like, how do you get it to market? And you got it into some of the biggest platforms on planet earth? What What was that process? Like?
Cassie Scerbo 43:33
You know, I, if I'm being completely transparent, I can't take full credit there. I once again, I'm going to bring up partnership, it was Connor Riley, really knowing those markets and working with them previously. And, you know, we're still working on getting the documentary on more platforms, we want the whole world to see this. But if I'm being honest, you know, I know that it took a long time, I know that it took a big team. And not just it wasn't just one person, it wasn't just, you know, like, it wasn't one person. It's the whole team really pushing and it's relationships, you know, having, you know, some of our producers, you know, they have relationships with some of these platforms, which is definitely helpful. But if I'm being honest, I was not in all I wasn't in on all those meetings. So that's just me being completely honest. And me, you know, as expressed earlier, it is a learning process. And I've been very honest about that the whole time. I'm still learning there's so much more I want to do and that I want to learn I want to continue to produce. And I actually wish Connor was on the line. I was trying to reach them earlier because I know that he would be able to go so much more into depth on on how it was sold to these platforms, but I just don't have that exact answer.
Paul Zelizer 44:59
I totally appreciate it. Your honesty, Kathy, I get hanging out with you all day you're doing amazing work. And I know you're super busy and our listeners are as well. We will put links to everything in the show notes listeners from the Buddha bullying site to the site for the documentary Code Red youth of the nation, Cassie, some of your acting work, there's more, it would be really, really long show notes if I did every single meal. But you will get an idea listeners of what Kathy's been up to. As we start to wind down Cassie, if there was something you were hoping we would have gotten to and we haven't touched on it yet. Or there's something you want to leave our social entrepreneur listeners with, that they can take into the impact work that they're doing, as we start to say goodbye. What would that be?
Cassie Scerbo 45:45
Absolutely. Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for speaking with me. You know, I am so used to doing interviews about my acting work, you know, I can answer any question anyone has when it comes to being in front of the camera. But this has been such a learning process going about doing press for a project that I am a producer on. So thank you for bearing with me. And like I said, I am still learning. And I think the most important thing is to always be honest, you know, and to not bite off more than you can chew. And I feel that we have, you know, the good old saying two ears and one mouth for a reason. And I really did my best to just listen to my, my team and my co producers. And so yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for, you know, sitting down with me and being with me during this process where I am still learning. So if you're someone out there who's still learning that's, it's a great place to be at least you are, you know, you are trying and just putting one step in front of the other, you know, I was able to, at the end of the day, get a documentary out there, with the sole purpose of changing lives moving forward and educating viewers. So just wanted to say that, but you know, I do happen to put a lot on my plate. And I think that is about prioritizing, but so I can go on about so many different things. You know, obviously my organization is so important to me. And that was a learning process. Like I said earlier, I started as an ambassador, and now I'm writing grants and working with children all over the world. We've partnered with huge organizations like Oceana, and you know what not so there are so many different things that are important to me. But I would love I mean, if anyone is interested in, you know, learning more about Bucha bullying in the work we do there are donating to some of our upcoming initiatives. We are a nonprofit and the organization, you can find us at BU number two bullying.org boo to bullying.org I do have some projects coming out. But that to me, you know, in this type of setting and on on your platform, that's just it's not even that those aren't, you know, they're, they're precious to me, but they're not the same level as important, as you know, right now, getting this documentary out there, you know, the press for that will come but you know, press like this. It's just it's about awareness. And it's so important to me. So thank you for giving me the time to talk about code red, and, and Bucha bullying and the work we're doing there and in the mental health space and, you know, trying to eradicate suicide and whatnot. Obviously, those are things that are really important to me. And lastly, yeah, like we've said over and over, if you do have, if you have a passion, in pursuing a project that you feel, can alter lives and make a difference in this world. Just just keep going. That's what I'm still going. I'm still learning. You know, I couldn't even answer properly that last question, because it does take a village and I didn't know exact I don't know exactly how we sold the project. But I was so happy to find out when you know, we did that it was on these wonderful platforms. And I'm so grateful to those platforms for, for holding that space for us. And, you know, for taking on code read. But yeah, if you have that passion, just just keep going.
Paul Zelizer 49:07
Thank you so much for being on the show today. And thanks for all the really important work that you do.
Cassie Scerbo 49:12
Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much.
Paul Zelizer 49:15
So again, listeners, check out the show notes, go check out code, read youth of the nation and tell your friends if it's anything like your heart, my heart is just a deep bow that you put your time and your team put your time into this and our young people are hurting. So this is a solution focused real deep dive into what we can do so please go check it out and tell your friends before we go I do want to remind you we love listener suggested topics and guests so if you have an idea, go to the AWARE printers website and on our contact page we have this simple guidelines that we use what kind of stories we're looking for. We try to be really transparent it's right there. If you say this looks like a perfect fit for our printers after looking at those guidelines, please send Your ideas on it. So for now, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. Please take really good care in these intense times. And thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our world.