© 2000 Benton Foundation
Of Special Interest: Model Campaigns Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Television Race Initiative Chapter 4: Positive: Life with HIV Perspectives Chapter 5: Strategic and
Contents
POV's High Impact TV
from Partners
For Filmmakers
Practical Advice
An Interview with the Producers of
The Heart of the Matter
by Catherine Gund
Catherine Gund: What was your purpose in producing The Heart of the Matter?
Gini Reticker: It was really very simple: people weren’t informed about the risk of AIDS to women. That quickly evolved into realizing that people also didn’t care. I was appalled that feminists had not taken up the issue, even though they had been very involved with women’s health care in the early days.
Amber Hollibaugh: I’d been doing AIDS discrimination work and had seen countless women struggle with the stigma. I had also wanted to do a film about women and HIV. When Gini approached me, she was already at work on The Heart of the Matter. She had seen The Second Epidemic , a film I had made about AIDS discrimination, which really resonated with her. That’s how we ended up working together.
TARGET AUDIENCE
CG: How would you define your target audience?
Hollibaugh: We wanted to reach women who had no idea about HIV, who thought AIDS had nothing to do with them. But equally important was reaching those who were infected with or affected by HIV who had never heard respectful stories about the disease told from a woman’s perspective. We also wanted to reach people in the state and federal legislatures who pass health care bills and make appropriations.
Reticker: There is an entire network of feminists who are willing to address the issue of women controlling their own bodies, yet they were not dealing with this epidemic because it was about poor women. It was about “other” women dirtied by the stigma of the epidemic. We wanted to tap into that network.
Hollibaugh: Our challenge was making a good film that would speak to women from diverse perspectives. How could we begin to capture the experience of women and AIDS without clouding the differences around sexuality, class or race? How could we tell a cohesive story yet not diminish the differences between being positive and being negative, being a dyke and being straight, and being positive and being an HIV-negative partner?
CG: Could you discuss how Janice Jirau and other representatives of the target audiences were involved in the production?
Reticker: They were
very involved through the pilot, Women and Children Last . When we were doing research for the film, we would screen the pilot and ask people for feedback. Occasionally we found ourselves in tense situations, where people were suspicious of us. But when we showed the pilot, everything would change. People knew exactly where we were coming from, and offered to become involved. We thought about and planned for distribution well in advance of the film’s release.
Hollibaugh: I continued to do AIDS work through the entire production of the film, especially with women. I was in touch with many of these women outside the pilot screenings. In fact, I met Janice on a panel we both sat on. So Gini and I weren’t just outside filmmakers, and we didn’t just make a film and then ask people how they liked it. We spoke with people as they were trying to build a women’s group in a small town, as they were trying to deal with a right-wing attack in school. Their views helped inform the content of the film.
STRATEGY
CG: In the beginning, how did you plan on reaching your target audiences?
Hollibaugh: We had grand ideas! I think we first assumed that there was a huge network for AIDS films.
Reticker: I thought more along the traditional lines, such as the festivals.
CG: Did your distribution goals change after the film was selected for inclusion in the P.O.V. series?
Reticker: No. That was part of the plan! But theatrical release was beyond our dreams and expectations.
CG: How did your contacts contribute to P.O.V.’s High Impact Television campaign?
Hollibaugh: First of all, Gini and I thought about and planned for distribution well in advance of the film’s release. We had very clear ideas that Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Red Cross, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. and other organizations would be involved. We knew they could help reach the kind of women we had targeted as our audience. We also understood the different kinds of networks and communities that needed to be reached. For instance, we knew that you don’t reach the African-American religious community in the same way that you reach gay male AIDS organizations. And you don’t reach Planned Parenthood in the same way that you reach the Girl Scouts. So when we joined up with P.O.V., it was a fluid partnership, because we came with a lot of national connections, and we were already thinking along the same lines.
CG: How did the results of P.O.V.’s High Impact Television campaign compare with your expectations for the film?
Reticker: Had P.O.V. not been as committed to audience development, I don’t think nearly as many people would have seen it. With P.O.V., at least two or three million people saw the film, and that’s really significant. Most major films don’t get that kind of audience. And there’s nothing like seeing your film with an audience. Their campaign was also so involved in making the film work for the organizations at the local level. They always asked, “How can this organization, that has been fighting in a small town in the Midwest, use this film?” P.O.V. concentrated on helping people use media to their benefit. I don’t think we could have ever done that without them.
Hollibaugh: We had no idea how phenomenal it would be to work with P.O.V. It’s not just about how many people turn the TV on, but also where the film can make a difference. We put our hearts into making the film, and P.O.V. helped insure that it would be helpful to people on the local level before, during and even after broadcast.
POST-BROADCAST
CG: How did you adapt P.O.V.’s strategy for your post-broadcast distribution?
Reticker: We went back to the people who had been the most active in working on the film and asked, “Where do we go from here? What would work well for your community?” Some concrete things came of it. For instance, we approached Pernessa Seele of The Balm in Gilead, which works extensively with African-American churches around HIV issues. We produced an edited version of the film for her to distribute as part of The Balm in Gilead’s Comprehensive Black Church HIV/AIDS Education Kit. The United Way announced in their newsletter that the full-length film is available for educational purposes.
Hollibaugh:
For anyone doing an issue-oriented film, I would suggest always making a 10-minute promotional version, even if it’s to accompany a longer version.
Reticker: Making and distributing a film are two very different things. Some filmmakers decide to make distribution part of their lives, but we worked with a distributor from the beginning. But whenever you do this, you know there will be some limitations. If you have the time, money, and the passion to reach an audience the distributor has never had any contact with, you can develop a new market. But most distributors just go with the markets they know.
Hollibaugh: For example, distributing a film in a prison won’t bring any money to a distributor, so they’re not going to fund this kind of work. But The Heart of the Matter should be in every women’s prison in this country, but it requires a tremendous amount of time and money, and an unbelievable commitment, to get a film into a prison.
CG: How did the pilot fare after broadcast of the full-length version? Was there still a way to use it?
Reticker: Since it’s only 12 minutes long, we got the distributor to sell it at a low cost for educators.
Hollibaugh: The pilot will always have a life that the film will never have. Women and Children Last is used in AIDS organizations. RJR Nabisco also uses it to educate its staff about AIDS. I don’t think we understood its significance when we cut it, nor did we suspect it would have such a long life. It will be as much a legacy as The Heart of the Matter because it’s so truthful and short at the same time.
Catherine Gund is a producer/director, writer, teacher and activist.
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