Students and faculty of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication shared their experiences and lessons learned from producing a short film which documented heroin use across the state that was broadcasted on television networks and radio stations across the state.
The 30-minute documentary was screened after a brief introduction from Dean Christopher Callahan, who called the subject matter of “Hooked: Tracking Heroin’s Hold on Arizona” an “incredibly powerful topic.” It was followed by a discussion panel with the student filmmakers, who investigated the issue and compiled the stories depicted in the movie.
The film explores the heroin addiction epidemic in cities across Arizona, from Tempe to Tucson, and examines the lives of heroin addicts as young as 21 years old. It also includes interviews with law enforcement about the origins of the issue.
Jacquee Petchel, a faculty member at the Cronkite School who led the project, kicked off the post-film discussion by honoring the students who helped work on the documentary and proceeding to lead the discussion with five Cronkite students who participated in the making of the film.
One of these students was Lauren Loftus, who worked on the “Hooked” website and reported on both the first responders of heroin-related emergences and victims of the drug.
“We talked to hospitals, doctors, paramedics, firefighters in Tempe as well as Phoenix, as well as addicts who are currently in recovery,” Loftus told the audience. “It morphed into a story of a timeline of overdose… from the moment you shoot up to the moment you wake up in an ambulance.”
Panelist Erin Patrick O’Connor, a videographer and editor for “Hooked,” discussed his role in the making of the film and his methods of research, which included “ride-alongs” with on-duty police officers and sitting in on anonymous meetings for heroin addicts. He described to the audience his firsthand look at the issue and the mood of the heroin communities he witnessed.
“They all have the same scars and they’ve all gone through the same thing,” he said.
Petchel said the goal of the project was to make a difference and provide a public service.
“The idea was to provoke thought and engage conversation,” he said.
Exposure of the film reached far behind the walls of the Cronkite School, as the documentary was played on all television stations in Arizona, as well as dozens of radio stations.
Art Brooks, president and CEO of the Arizona Broadcasters Association, helped the school distribute the film on multiple platforms.
“They wanted to do a program on something like this,” Petchel said. “Working with the dean, they came to an agreement that the Cronkite School would do it, because they were very concerned about the growing problem of heroin.”
Audience member and criminal justice freshman Jess Van Inwagen said she heard about the film through a friend currently in the journalism program.
“I thought it was really informative,” Van Inwagen said. “It was cool to see the people’s side of it, not just the things that you hear or see, like people saying ‘drugs are bad.’”
The filmmaker’s humanizing approach to the issue helped Van Inwagen realize one of the documentary’s main messages: “It’s a human problem.”
This objective was not lost on the filmmakers, who implemented a non-narrative style to the film, giving a voice directly to the documentary’s subjects.
“The discussion was, we don’t want this to be a typical ‘drugs-are-bad’ type of show,” O’Connor said. “This wasn’t our story. This was their story, and we wanted to give them the time to be heard.”
Petchel says what makes her feel most proud is that the documentary was created by students.
“There’s no news organization that could deploy that kind of manpower,” Petchel said. “And we could do it here.”
Contact the reporter at lallnatt@asu.edu
