Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.
Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) based at American University’s School of Communication, is an award-winning creative innovation lab and research center that focuses on media for equity and social justice. Our work bridges boundaries between scholars, media producers, social justice organizations, and communication practitioners. GoodLaugh, a CMSI initiative, is a comedy production engine and knowledge lab that brings together the most talented minds in humor, social justice, entertainment, and philanthropy to collaborate and create comedic content and insightful research to help repair the world and build a more just, equitable future.
What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?
At CMSI, we value great minds of varied backgrounds and professions. We trust in artists to use their talents to process difficult topics, and we leverage our own skills and experiences to support their visions. We are unique in our ability to bring together artists, thinkers, creative makers, philanthropists, and business leaders to collaborate on the good work of making a more just world.
How can people join or learn more about what you do?
Sign up for our newsletter: https://cmsimpact.org/subscribe/
Follow us on socials: @CMSImpact
Please, and thank you!
Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?
The Most Urgent Townhall That Has Ever Happened is a climate comedy show that stemmed from the Climate Comedy Cohort, and premiered to a sold out crowd in NYC at Caveat Comedy Club in November, 2023. The Climate Comedy Cohort, created in partnership with Generation180, is a one-of-a-kind national fellowship that brings together comedians to learn, collaborate, and create new comedy informed by the hottest climate science.
Described as a chaotic and severely overbooked Town Hall that features everything including: concerned citizens! Erotic fanfic readings! Mixtapes! And a full standup comedy show too. This show features top-notch comedians from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and BET to Comedy Central—this is the most hilarious way to exercise some civic participation!
What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?
Merging comedy genres–like sketch, satire, and improv–into a single show experience can be a challenge. So, finding the correct pacing and balance between sketch comedy and stand-up was a creative puzzle to solve, along with creating a live show that translates well onto the screen. We collaborated with an amazing team to make it all happen.
Do you have any advice to other filmmakers based on your career or your team’s approach to work?
Work with reliable people who amuse and surprise you, and you will create amazing art.
Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?
One of the most satisfying parts of producing this show was watching comedians transform and translate daunting statistics from leading climate scientists into thoughtful and hilarious comedy. It’s entertaining, inspiring, and motivating to witness the inherent innovation in a comedian’s creative process.
Tell us about the most memorable response you got from this work.
“This wasn’t PG comedy! We were expecting PG!”
Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling…’
… understanding what you want to say, and removing everything that gets in the way.
