The Challenge
“A lot of what goes on in charitable giving, people are in silos… They may be doing exactly the same thing, but they don't talk to each other,” observes Elliot Steinberg, Director of the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation.
When Firestarter Interactive partnered with the Foundation in 2017 to work collectively on advancing their guiding mission of making a “dent in poverty” through expansion of high-quality early childhood education in the United States, we were met with a similarly fragmented landscape in the early education sector, with government not engaging with nonprofits, researchers not talking to business leaders, and pediatricians not communicating with educators.
To add to this, we observed confusion across all sectors about what information to trust in regards to curriculum and definitions of optimal early childhood experiences, and how to get started in the hands-on building of an effective early education system.
Meet our client, and the vision
and inspiration guiding this work.Elliot Steinberg,
Director of Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation
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The Goal
To bridge communication gaps and establish a shared vision for change—as well as pragmatic guide to systems building—through digital media and storytelling.
Our Solution
A Documentary Film:
Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America
Runtime: 64 minutes
Key Audiences: State Governors & Policymakers; Education thought leaders & Organizations
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In Depth
Our process, The Firestarter Difference, in Action
LISTEN | WORKING COLLABORATIVELY
In the early stages, we engaged in many meetings and conversations with key partners and stakeholders in the project: The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation (our client and co-Producer of the film), The Hunt Institute, The Ounce, and Alabama Department of Early Education’s leadership team, whose interest and wholehearted support of this project was critical for its success.
INTERVIEW | ENGAGEMENT & INQUIRY
Over the course of a year, we conducted over fifty interviews across the United States in thirteen states and the District of Columbia, from governors’ offices to classrooms. We asked questions like, “What are key features of high-quality early childhood education?” and “What is the role of the business community in building an early education system?”
DISTILL | NARRATIVE BUILDING BLOCKS
Every interview was transcribed, resulting in over a thousand pages of transcripts. Our story team set to work analyzing the information gleaned from these interviews—the common themes—and identifying the most illuminating material.
Key Issue Takeaways
As we traveled the country conducting interviews with governors, nonprofit and business leaders, academics, administrators, teachers, pediatricians, parents, and children themselves, we heard far more commonality than division: everyone wants a bright future for young children.
Many individuals and organizations across sectors are working tirelessly to achieve this bright future, but are unaware of others working toward the same goals, the resources available outside their circle, and the great work being done in nearby states.
Building effective systems to ensure high-quality education and experiences for all children birth to eight requires public-private partnerships and cross-sector collaboration between government, business, nonprofit and advocacy, and medicine, to leverage community resources and create a shared vision and plan of action.
To engage viewers and compel constructive action, positive framing is far more effective than dwelling on the problems of the sector and system (low teacher compensation and credentials, high turnover, lack of resources, etc.). Instead, we focused on high-quality early childhood education as a potent solution—key to developing tomorrow’s workforce, and ensuring a prosperous future for our society.
Through observing success stories and interviewing key leaders in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Montana, as well as organizations like National Governors Association and the Hunt Institute, working at the national level, we identified that governors have a unique opportunity to be leaders in this space, creating high-quality early learning systems at the state and community level.
PRODUCE | ALCHEMY OF STORY
We developed a film script around these Key Issue Takeaways, and our guiding goals: to bridge communication gaps, offer pragmatic guidance on systems building, and establish a shared vision for change.
In particular, we focused on the following themes:
Today’s children are tomorrow’s workforce, and so “education is economic development,” in the words of Alabama’s Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, and the key to our nation’s future prosperity and competitiveness.
Building effective early education systems requires leadership at the state level, and governors play a critical role.
The early years are a critical period of brain development, and provide a foundation for all other development to follow.
There is alignment among experts on what constitutes high-quality early childhood education and experiences, with an emphasis on social-emotional development and play-based learning.
A high quality education from birth to eight, with appropriate resources, ensures that all children have an opportunity to pursue the American dream.
Moving Beyond Theory
To truly deliver on our goals, we understood that we needed to move beyond theory, and show how these principles can be implemented on the ground.
We devote a chapter of the film to a case study on Alabama’s #1 ranked state pre-K program and successful birth to eight framework as an actionable how-to guide for states and communities seeking guidance—as we learned many are—on building effective early learning systems.
LAUNCH & ANALYZE | COLLECTIVE ENDEAVOR
Our documentary Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America is just over an hour in length, unfolding in five chapters based on our Key Issue Takeaways. The film is modular by design, and can be viewed in its entirety or in individual chapters. We are currently developing broad national PR campaign focused on our primary audience of governors and state policymakers, with distribution online, through film festivals, and screenings by leading organizations nationwide. We are also partnering with key groups like the National Governors Association and Head Start to leverage the content and develop custom shortened versions of the film—ranging from four to twenty minutes—focused on key areas of interest for their audiences.
Metrics of Success
The ultimate success of Starting at Zero will be measured by the number of governors, policymakers, and advocates who are informed and inspired by the film, and take new steps toward establishing high-quality early learning systems in their states.
Prior to public release, conversations are already underway around the film and next steps for action with leaders from across the country, from Louisiana to North Dakota, indicating that—thanks to the power of digital media and storytelling—we are a step closer to the bright future everyone wants for America’s children.
What’s your impact challenge and vision for change?
Schedule a consultation to see how we can leverage film storytelling together to catalyze positive change.