Movies that matter: the evolving role of film in philanthropy

Written by, Gill Tataev founder of Ruthless Giving.

“Humans think in stories, and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories,” says Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens.

Stories are incredibly powerful. Before the written word, they were the means through which knowledge was passed down from generation to generation; a tradition that continues to this day. Stories can help our primate brains make sense of big, abstract and complex problems, converting them into something more compact, digestible and relatable.

You might’ve noticed a change in your Netflix feed over the years. An ever-increasing number of socially-focused documentaries and series seem to be popping up, shining light on issues that may have previously been relegated to the back pages of the morning paper — if indeed they were printed at all.

Thanks to a few inspired change-makers, the film, TV and streaming industries are beginning to understand the power that they wield. An evolution has been underway for well over a decade now; one that is leading to real people acting as catalysts for real change.

This is the story of a Hollywood that has found its conscience, and empowered its audience to understand and act.

Becoming an active Participant

During the dot-com boom, Jeff Skoll was a Silicon Valley superstar. He was eBay’s first employee, going on to become eBay’s first president. By 2001 he’d more or less made his fortune, and so exited the company to chase his dreams.

Skoll’s focus turned to an area that was then unknown and unnamed, but that we now call social entrepreneurship. He knew the power of stories, and remembered being deeply affected by movies like Gandhi and Schindler’s List. ‘I wonder who is doing these types of films today?’ Skoll thought to himself, soon finding that there was a gap in the market: not one studio or production company was focused on public interest filmmaking.

Skoll established Participant Media in 2004, despite everyone advising against it — the surest way to become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire and go into the movie business, he was told. His mission: to produce entertainment that created and inspired social change.

Skoll’s pessimistic advisors couldn’t have been more wrong. In 2004 Participant launched its first four films — Murder Ball, Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, and North Country — scoring no fewer than 11 Oscar nominations in the process.

But while commercial success was a compelling proof of concept, and allowed Participant Media to make even more movies, it was far from the main goal.

A true catalyst for change

“We don’t just want people to see our movies and say, ‘that was fun’, and forget about it. We want them to actually get involved in the issues,” said Skoll in this 2007 TED talk.

Advocacy and activism programs were created for every movie that Participant produced. At the end of the film the audience would be offered a way to make a real difference, and tens of thousands of people did so in this initial run alone. It could be argued that the least commercially successful of the first four films, North Country, ended up having the greatest impact, as it was widely credited with influencing the successful renewal of the Violence Against Women Act in 2006.

In the years since, Participant has continued its mission, with films like An Inconvenient Truth, The Help, Spotlight and Green Book enjoying critical, social and legislative success. In 2018, the film Roma (and its associated campaign) played a key role in revealing the plight of domestic workers, and led to protective legislation being passed in both the US and MeMovies that matter: the evolving role of film in philanthropy

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Others have been inspired to follow the same path. In creating Higher Ground Productions in 2018, the Obamas hoped to follow in Skoll’s footsteps. Their first film, American Factory, highlighted the challenges presented by a globalized economy. It was produced with the help of Participant, and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2019.

A slew of small and socially conscious studios and production houses are now popping up, with streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon and Disney increasingly interested in content that engages with the audience on a deeper level than the latest superhero blockbuster does.

A golden era of impactful filmmaking?

The media landscape has changed dramatically since Participant was formed. Cinemas have been traded for lounge rooms, transferring industry power from studios to streaming services in the process. And this hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing.

Instead of measuring performance through box office sales alone, clever algorithms are now capable of tracking exactly what an audience likes, and the innate goodness of humanity has been revealed in the process. If the viewing figures of these socially aware productions are anything to go by, people want to understand the world’s issues, and they want to play an active part in solving them.

Creating high-quality content that inspires social change while being commercially viable. Not so long ago that might’ve felt like an impossible task, but the successes of the last decade and a half have shown that it is not only possible, but that it’s as sure-fire a recipe for success as any in the production game.

People understand the world through stories. It’s a fact that places studios and production companies in a privileged and powerful position. Happily, an increasing number of companies are using that privilege and power for good.

This article is sponsored by People’s Foundation.