Executives from the movie and TV world are working to create solutions to the real-world problem of school shootings.
Mike Riley and his son Conor, who lived near Parkland, Florida, and became successful in the film-financing business, and former CNN executive Greg D’Alba are heading the team behind Code Red: Youth of the Nation, which is dedicated to providing tools and resources to make schools safer and help traumatized students.
The organization has created a documentary, titled Code Red: Youth of the Nation, about school shootings and strategies to protect kids, and a public service announcement to raise awareness that already has been running on Fox properties, particularly Fox News Channel.
Code Red is looking to add sponsors to help fund its activities, which include distributing trauma kits to schools to be ready for any future violence.
The effort became all the more urgent this week when six people were killed in another school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, near where D’Alba lives.
Shortly after the 2018 school shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, the Riley family was gathered in Los Angeles.
“For our family, this was home,” said Conor Riley, CEO of Blacklion Media and the producer of Starz Media films Impact Earth and Category 5. “My sister, [the actress] Bailee Madison, was heartbroken and looking for answers that we could not provide. That’s when the conversation started.”
Also at the gathering was actress Cassie Scerbo, a family friend and Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumna, She had been in Parkland to support the families whose children had died in the attack. With all the connections the group has, she asked what else they could do to help.
MIke Riley is chairman of Blacklion Media. Before producing Code Red: Youth of the Nation, his companies financed films including Crash, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Monster, He started his career as Assistant State Attorney in South Florida and later served as chairman of Imperial Credit, which owned Hollywood’s largest independent film finance company.
“When the Parkland shooting happened, he was down there talking to investigators, and they told him everything that could have gone wrong there went wrong,” Conor Riley said. “He told me to get on a plane and told me we might be the only guys who could shed some light on this without choosing a side politically.”
They started listing common-sense solutions to address the problem. One was distributing trauma kits to schools. Riley said that in shooting situations, it can take time for first responders to be allowed inside to treat victims. With trauma kits in schools, victims can get early medical attention.
The trauma kits were developed under the supervision of trauma doctors and experts from Vanderbilt University. They contain combat tourniquets, wound-packing gauze, abdominal gauze pads, nitrile protective gloves, pressure dressings, trauma shears, permanent markers and survival blankets.
Using their show business assets, they created a documentary film and public service announcements, taking advantage of the popularity and social media followings of Bailee Madison and other family friends.
Madison, who has appeared in Good Witch, Just Go With It and Pretty Little Liars and has 7 million social media followers, executive produced and appears in Code Red: Youth of the Nation.
Scerbo also appeared along with Peyton List, Sarah Hyland, Jordi Vilasuso, Monique Coleman and Milo Manheim, all of whom also have substantial social-media followings.
“All these folks jumped in the documentary for us, so that we would have a bit of a base before we went out,” said Conor Riley, who produced and directed the film.
When Madison put out the trailer for the documentary, it got 14 million views and millions of likes. She also made TikToks to market the documentary, Several went viral with one attracting 8.7 million views and almost a million likes.
The documentary is designed to expose the fatal cost of school shootings and proposes ideas for restoring student safety by providing the tools and solutions to put an end to these tragedies.
“The material is resonating with people. They understand exactly what needs to happen,” Conor Riley said.
Riley doesn’t yet have numbers from distributors on how many people have seen the documentary so far.
In order to gain commercial distribution and get platforms to accept the title so they could reach wide audiences, the producers had to go through the formal distribution process for the film, he said.
The film is currently in its transactional video-on-demand phase, which means viewers pay to watch it via Amazon Prime Video and other platforms. Once that window closes, it will go to AVOD (free, ad-supported video0-on-demand). Then it will go to subscription VOD, Riley said.
D’Alba, the former CNN executive, is leading the effort to get corporate sponsors to support Code Red. ■
“What I like about Code Red is that this has an intention to create a safe situation for a demographic that’s being assaulted right now,” said D’Alba. “These shootings are on almost every newscast and there’s a lack of infrastructure and training to deal with the violence in schools.
While potential sponsors embrace what Code Red is trying to accomplish, Those young influencers attached to the initiative, and their millions of followers are a big selling point, especially if they’re looking to reach a young audience, said D’Alba.
“We're out there with, with five packages at various levels,” said D’Alba. “Our emphasis is to get to the brands that care about families that are into wellness and safety.”
Code Red has also produced a public service announcement to raise awareness about its activities.
Fox was the first to pick up the PSA in December. Reilly estimates it has been seen by more than 3 million people.
“This seems like a really great cause, something anyone would get behind,” said Jeff Collins, executive VP at Fox News, who worked with D’Alba at Turner Broadcasting.
“We support many different causes here,” Collins said. “We do a ton around veterans but this is somewhat of a new and growing issue, so we’re happy to get this into the rotation”
The PSA has been submitted to all media companies, but so far, most of the viewer feedback Code Red has been betting has been the result of appearances on Fox networks, Riley said.
In addition to the trauma kits, some of Code Red’s solution include rapid mental health support for schools, active shooter training for teachers and new monitoring technology for emergency situations.
At this point, Code Red initiatives have been requested, discussed with or endorsed by leadership in several states including the State Department of Education of Oklahoma, the State Board of Education of Florida, the Office of the Governor of Rhode Island and Tennessee, and the Lt. Governor of Nevada, Riley said.
“We haven't had any issues from, you know, whether it be right side left side, everybody's in agreement. Hey, something needs to be done,” he said.. ■
