THE DEER FILM CAMPAIGN

An obsessive compulsive helicopter mom seems overly paranoid until we discover there's been another school shooting.

How do you maintain your sanity, and humanity, in a world out of control?

Joy, an obsessive compulsive helicopter mom, doesn't sleep. She's on edge, controlling, and often loses her temper with her husband Isaac and her 8 YO son Miles. To cope, Joy goes running. A LOT. But the forest trail holds hidden dangers for Joy. A discarded doll is mistaken for a corpse, a car backfiring as a gunshot.

When Joy's son is 10 minutes late getting home, Joy freaks out, blaming Isaac for his lack of vigilance. They're heated argument is interrupted when Miles arrives home. Joy's anger switches to him Miles, who recoils from her yelling.

What is Joy so afraid of?

Out for a run, Joy encounters a deer - calm, serene, beautiful. For the first time we see Joy release her anxiety. Suddenly - a GUNSHOT - cut to Joy lunging forward in bed - -

It was a nightmare!

Joy slips out of bed and goes to the garage gets into her car and breaks down crying.

Out on a real run, Joy gets a call. Her face drains of color. There's been a school shooting. Joy takes off in her car. She speeds along a highway, weaving in and out of cars in her way.

SIRENS. An ambulance passes. Then another.

Joy pulls up to an elementary school, jumps out and ducks under the police barrier tape.

No one stops her.

She runs towards the school, surrounded by law enforcement. Joy reaches a cop pulling on a hazmat suit. He hands her one.

In the final minutes of the film, we discover Joy is a first responder crime scene investigator, and her job is the cause of her unaddressed PTSD and anxiety.

We need more sensible gun laws. The solution is within our reach, yet it remains elusive.

Since the 1999 Columbine School shooting in Colorado, 380,000 children have been exposed to gun violence - an entire generation of Americans. As an artist I felt I had to DO SOMETHING. I decided to make a film about a school shooting, without actually showing one.

Instead I wrote about first responders as a way into the story. The people we call on to heal us, help us, save us. Emergency medical workers, military, law enforcement, firefighters.

Our everyday heroes.

First responders see the human condition at its worst. It's their job, their duty. They took an oath. They always show up. But at the end of the day, what do they do with their trauma?

They carry it with them.

33% of people who witness a mass shooting develop acute PTSD.

70% of law enforcement never seek support or mental health services,

57% fear negative repercussions,

37% fear being demoted or fired.

First responders face stigma and barriers when seeking support and the help they need to address their PTSD.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you. - - Maya Angelou

If you are drawn to the fear factor in THE INVISIBLE MAN, the adrenaline rush of THE DESPERATE HOUR, and the emotional weight of THE FALLOUT, our film THE DEER will resonate with you.

We are THRILLED to have Emmy-nominated and Broadway veteran JESSICA PHILLIPS (Law & Order: SVU) playing the role of JOY!

As a young adult I was robbed at gunpoint by three boys who looked no older than 13 or 14 years old. It was terrifying, though it only lasted seconds, and heartbreaking, to see children with guns.

24/7 news cycles and social media exploit disasters, natural and man-made, groom viewers, especially children, to normalize guns and gun violence. The US film industry glamorizes gun violence as entertainment.