Scaling a Documentary for Global Change: Nivi Jaswal’s Path from Self-Funding to 1,000 Screens

Alternative ideas for Outreach distribution for the documentary,  Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide.

In 2020, Nivi Jaswal-Wirtjes lost her father to COVID-19 while struggling through her own burnout after 15 years in high-pressure global marketing and strategy roles across consumer packaged goods, life sciences, and media. That dual reckoning — grief and exhaustion — became the catalyst for her life’s new direction: uncovering the connections between personal well-being, food systems, and planetary health.

She founded The Virsa Foundation Inc., and. the JIVINITI Research and Advocacy Program, a Boston-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit uniting experts in anthropology, psychology, lifestyle medicine, and creative advocacy to design plant-powered, climate-conscious initiatives that prevent chronic illness and foster resilience. Nivi also led The GAIA Study, the largest U.S. nonprofit study on burnout, lifestyle, and nutrition, conducted with Ipsos Public Affairs.

Her research inspired the award-winning feature documentary “Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide”, which won Best Documentary Feature awards at the 2025 Greenpoint Film Festival, 2025 Seatte Film Festival, 2025 Show Low Arizona Film Festival, and several others, and continues to screen internationally. As a speaker, she has shared her work at King’s College Hospital, Harvard Kennedy School, University of California Berkeley, University of California Santa Barbara and the University of the Arts London.

Through research, filmmaking, and advocacy, Nivi transforms personal loss into a mission to heal both people and planet.

Join our new educational platform From the Heart THRIVE and get free classes on film funding: https://fromtheheartproductions.thrivecart.com/from-the-heart-thrive/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I'm Claire Papin here with Carol Dean, president of From the Heart Productions, author of The Art of Film Funding, and a longtime champion of independent filmmakers. And we are so glad you could join us on The Art of Film Funding, the podcast that helps independent filmmakers learn how to fund, produce, distribute films with clarity, courage, and heart. Today we have a truly inspiring guest, Nivi Jeswal Wurchis, MBA. She's the founder and president of the Versa Foundation and the Divinity Research Program, a board certified health and wellness coach trained at the Mayo Clinic, certified lifestyle medicine coach, trained at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and the director and executive producer of the award-winning documentary feature Third Degree Burnout, a Survivor's Guide. Her film grew out of a deeply personal journey. At the height of her career in global marketing, she was navigating severe burnout and chronic disease. Then, during the pandemic, both of her parents contracted COVID-19. Her father passed away in just four days, while her mother survived. That devastating question, why did two people in the same household have such different outcomes became the beginning of a larger investigation into lifestyle, health, food, resilience, public health, and planetary well-being. Third-degree burnout brings together experts across medicine, psychology, public health, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, climate science, and resilience. The film has received multiple awards and recognitions, including teleawards and United Nations affiliated recognitions. It combines documentary storytelling, animation, expert interviews, and humor to make complex ideas accessible and actionable. Now, with partners including Picture Motion and Fathom Entertainment, she is entering the impact distribution phase of the film with a vision to reach theaters, campuses, corporations, conferences, healthcare communities, and audiences around the world. And Carol, I know this is exactly the kind of filmmaker journey our audience needs to hear. One rooted in personal truth, service, courage, and a powerful distribution plan. And I'm turning it right over to you now.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Okay, Claire, thank you very much. And we're so welcome to have you on the Art of Film Funding. Your film, Third Degree Burnout, a Survivor's Guide, is timely and deeply needed. Many people are exhausted and looking for answers. And what I love about your work is that you're not just making a film, you are building an educational movement around healing, prevention, food, and the connection between personal and planetary well-being. And you represent what so many filmmakers experience. You believed in the story so much that you invested your own savings, completed the film, earned recognition, built partnerships, and now you're stepping into the next challenge: raising more funds to bring the to the world one of your great films. So let's begin with your personal story. What was the moment that first told you this film had to be made? Tell us.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Oh, thank you for asking that question, Carol. For me, there wasn't a lightning bolt moment. It was more like a series of wake-up calls that finally became impossible to ignore. I had spent nearly two decades building what looked like a successful international corporate career. I lived and worked in seven countries, held global marketing roles with remarkable companies and brands, and by many external measures, um, some would say I was doing very well. But internally, I was falling apart. I was exhausted, disconnected from myself, and accumulating one chronic health diagnosis after another. And then I discovered whole food, plant-based nutrition, and lifestyle medicine, um, all by means of educational documentaries. I wasn't looking for philosophy, I was simply looking for a way to feel better. Um, and in just a very short period of time, my symptoms improved dramatically until I wasn't sick anymore and in fact was healthier than ever before. And that made me ask an important question: why hadn't anyone taught me this earlier? Um, and then, you know, the global pandemic arrived. Both of my parents um contracted COVID-19, as has already been mentioned in the introduction. They lived in the same home, they ate the same meals, and they got sick roughly at the same time. Um, yet my dad passed away within four days while my mom survived. Um, and as anyone who has lost someone, um you know that your mind grasps and searches for answers. I wasn't looking for someone to blame. I was trying to understand how could two people in the same household experience such different outcomes? So that question changed the direction of my life and my career. It let me explore not only infectious disease, but chronic illness, um, resiliency, nutrition, mental health, lifestyle medicine, public health, and eventually even planetary health. And it was as though, you know, like an onion, every answer uncovered another question. I was peeling back this onion of our socioeconomic, nutritional constructs. And eventually I realized I wasn't simply making a documentary about burnout. I seemed to be following a trail that connected our food, our health, our relationships, our workplaces, our communities, and ultimately the future of our species on the only planet that we call home, that is our Mother Earth.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Your film asks a very powerful question. Two people in the same household got COVID-19 but had different outcomes. So, why did that question become so important to you? How did it lead you into exploring lifestyle, resilience, nutrition, mental well-being, and long-term health?

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Carol, that's a great question. Um, that question became important because I simply couldn't let it go. Um as I began reading scientific literature and speaking with physicians, psychologists, nutrition researchers, public health experts, and climate scientists, I realized there wasn't one single answer. Health isn't determined by one factor, it's influenced by what we eat, how we sleep, how we move, our relationships, our purpose, our environment, our stress levels, and the systems we live in. So one conversation led to another. I kept asking the same question over and over. And one expert introduced me to another discipline I had never explored before. So eventually, my nonprofit partnered with Ipsos Global Public Affairs to conduct what became the Gaia study, looking at the experiences of more than 14,000 Americans during the global pandemic. We weren't simply asking whether people were stressed. We wanted to understand how different lifestyles, behaviors, and mindsets related to well-being and resilience. And what surprised me most was how interconnected everything was. We often divide health into separate boxes: mental health, physical health, environmental health. But you know, real life doesn't work that way. Our lives are interconnected, and our health is interconnected. That critical realization became the foundation of the film. And that's why I just couldn't let go of that question.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Of course. Well, you described three core insights in the film. Food is mood, food is medicine, and food is planet. So can you explain what these mean and why they matter now?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Sure. Um, those three phrases became a simple way of communicating something that is actually quite complex. Food is mood recognizes that what we eat doesn't just influence our bodies, it influences our brains, um, our emotions, our energy, and even our ability to cope with stress. Next, uh, food is medicine reflects the growing body of evidence, showing that nutrition plays a key role in preventing, and in some cases, such as my own, helping reverse many chronic diseases. Lifestyle medicine is increasingly demonstrating that food can be one of our most powerful health interventions. And finally, food is planet. That reminds us that our individual choices don't exist in isolation. The foods we produce and consume affect biodiversity, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and the health of the ecosystems that sustain us. What I appreciate is that these ideas don't ask people to be perfect, they invite curiosity. So if we make one healthier choice today than we did yesterday for ourselves and for the planet, that alone is meaningful progress.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Yes, it is. And some of the doctors that I've interviewed say that just go vegetarian one night a week, all right, four times a month, and that is a great beginning, all right. And the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, said, Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. Leave the herbs in the chemist pot, he said, and let food be thy medicine. And I've lived by that, Evie, for 50 years now. Wow. And it works. So um let's talk about burnout because it's usually talked about as a work problem, but your film looks at it as a public health issue. So, what were what are we missing here when we treat burnout only as stress or exhaustion?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Before I answer that, Carol, I must say you're so inspiring. You're such a role model, and not only within the realm of filmmaking and funding and all of those things, but also through your lifestyle and through your commitment to self-care, self-compassion, and nutrition. Um, so thank you for being that role model for all of us.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

You know, to your question on burnout, I think oftentimes we miss the bigger picture. Burnout certainly shows up in the workplace. Oh, absolutely. I know I know that. But it doesn't begin or end there. It affects how we sleep, how we um eat, how we connect with other people, how we make decisions, ultimately how we show up for ourselves and outside of work, how we're showing up in our interpersonal relationships with our friends, with our families, um, our neighborhoods, our communities, and the world around us. Now, when burnout becomes chronic, meaning over a longer period of time, it can contribute to social isolation, anxiety, unhealthy behaviors, emotional eating, and poor physical health. And at the same time, many of the forces driving this burnout, such as food insecurity, financial stress, loneliness, climate anxiety, environmental degradation, and ever-widening social inequities, they themselves are a symptom of larger systems under strain. So that's why I believe that burnout is much more than a workplace issue. It's a public health issue. And increasingly, it's a planetary health issue. And planetary health recognizes that human health depends on the health of the natural systems that sustain us. We can't separate the well-being of people from the well-being of our food systems, our air and water, our communities, or our planet. They're just so deeply intertwined. And one of the most hopeful discoveries I made while creating this film is that, you know, many of the same actions that support our personal well-being, like eating nourishing food or moving our bodies, prioritizing restorative sleep, cultivating meaningful relationships, spending time in nature and living with purpose, they also, exactly the same attributes, also contribute to healthier communities and in many cases a healthier planet. So that's why I often say the film really isn't about burnout. Burnout is just the doorway. The larger conversation is about how we create conditions where people on the planet can thrive together. Ultimately, it's about building healthier people, healthier communities, and a healthier future for all of us.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Oh, how exciting! That's wonderful. So you connect personal health with planetary health, which is beautiful and ambitious. But how does the film help audiences understand that their fond choices, their food choices, their well-being, and the environment are all connected?

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, absolutely. And that was a big challenge. It was a big um research challenge as we went into the film, but also a big creative challenge. You know, how do we um showcase the research that we found about the interconnectedness? Um, you know, we talk about mental health over here, we talk about chronic disease over there, climate change somewhere else, and then food as an entirely different conversation. Um, but in reality, as you know, they're all part of the same system. So the food that we eat affects our physical health, our mental well-being, our energy, our resilience. And at the same time, the way our food is produced, meaning our agricultural systems, they also have implications for soil, water, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions. So the film doesn't tell people what to think or what to eat. Instead, it invites them to become curious about those connections. And I often say that personal health and planetary health aren't competing priorities, they're actually complementary to each other. When we care for ourselves, we often end up caring for the world around us a little better too. And perhaps most importantly, I wanted audiences to leave feeling empowered rather than overwhelmed or lectured at. And we don't have to solve everything overnight. Small intentional choices, repeated consistently, can have a remarkably cumulative ripple effect on us, our bodies, our mental health, and the rest of the world.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Well, I really enjoyed watching your film. You brought together experts across medicine, public health, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, climate science, and resilience. So, how did you choose the experts and what surprised you most in those conversations?

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so Carol, I wasn't necessarily looking for experts who all agreed with one another. I wasn't looking for consensus. I was looking for people who had spent decades asking thoughtful questions from different perspectives. Um, some of these experts, you know, as you mentioned, are physicians, others are psychotherapists, nutrition scientists, public health leaders, climate scientists, coaches, researchers. And each one of them, I felt, brought a different piece of the puzzle that we were trying to solve. And as I interviewed them, something fascinating began to happen. Um, without knowing what the others were saying, obviously, all of these experts kept arriving at remarkably similar conclusions. So whether they were talking about chronic disease or emotional resiliency, um, food systems, loneliness, or environmental change, many were describing different aspects of the same interconnected system. So many of them had personally and professionally experienced burnout as well. So they were giving me these intuitive answers, um, and and they all actually sounded the same, um, uh even though with separate specialties. And that was probably my biggest surprise. Um, I didn't set out to prove a theory, I set out to learn. And then the more I listened, the more I realized that this wasn't a collection of separate conversations. It was one conversation viewed through different lenses. And I think that's one of the strengths of the film. It doesn't present one expert as having all the answers. Um, instead, it allows for many voices to contribute to a richer understanding of what health and resilience can look like. Um, and if I may also add, like when I was looking for these experts, I wasn't necessarily looking for um celebrity experts that you see on television like all the time. It was very important for me to have experts who had a degree of industry independence, um, that were not relying on uh corporate and industry funding, um, and and that their voices were truly independent and belonged to to them, and that those voices were their own. That was a critical thing in searching for these uh experts as well.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Great. Well, you did a very good job. And uh the film uses cinematography, storytelling, animation, and even humorous sketches. This was wonderful for me because I love the humor, I love the sketches. And I want to ask you, why was it did you think going in that humor was going to be very important in a film about such serious objects as subjects as burnout and chronic disease and climate impact?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, I'm so glad you enjoyed that part, Carol. Um you know, because burnout is heavy enough. When people are exhausted, they're anxious, they're overwhelmed, the last thing they need is another lecture. And one of the challenges with making a documentary about complex public health or planetary health issues is that audiences can quickly experience information fatigue. And my team and I, we wanted people to stay engaged, not because they felt guilty or they had purchased a ticket or they went to a screening, but because they were genuinely curious and enjoying the experience. And we felt that humor and levity creates that much-needed space. It lowers our defenses, it helps us laugh at ourselves, it makes difficult conversations feel safer. And we included 15 humorous sketches throughout the film because we wanted moments where audiences could breathe, they could smile, they could recognize themselves in the story. And sometimes, you know, when people laugh first, and then a few seconds later they realize, oh, that's me. You know, that that could be me in the clinician's office. Right. That is a very powerful moment. Um the animation served a similar purpose. Some of the scientific and historical concepts we were discussing, you know, those can be quite intimidating and complex. So animation and motion graphics allowed us to simplify complex ideas without oversimplifying the science underlying those ideas. And ultimately, my goal wasn't just to inform people, but it was to create an experience that they would remember and hopefully want to talk about with someone else afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Exactly. Making them aware of what was going on in their life. How kind of you. And I understand you were invited to pitch a film at Cannes in 2026 by Largo. So tell us what did Largo AI script analysis or their audience research help you to understand about the film.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Well, first of all, before I, you know, talk about Largo, I have to say that I got to know about Largo through you and through from the Heart Productions. So thank you so much for that and for bringing these amazing tools and opportunities to your filmmakers. It's just so incredible. Now, the Cannes experience was incredibly valuable because it brought together two very different parts of my professional life. Before founding my nonprofit and making films, I spent nearly two decades in global consumer marketing working with some of the world's largest brands. And one lesson that was deeply ingrained in me was that you never assume you know your audience before you've listened to them. In fact, one of the first global brand teams that I worked on, we had what was called a consumer passport. You know, it was literally like a passport book, like a booklet. And every month we were expected to spend time out with consumers, and we had to uh record those hours and you know put it, put them in like tally marks in our uh passport book. Um, the philosophy was simple: the closer you stay to the people you're trying to serve, the better your decisions become. And that mindset never left me. When I founded the Versa Foundation, two of our very first initiatives were research projects. So we conducted an in-depth qualitative study followed by the Gaia study, a large quantitative public health study in partnership with Ipsos, involving more than 14,000 participants. And these projects ultimately became part of the foundation of this film. So when I learned about Largo through From the Heart Productions, I was immediately intrigued. Um, around the same time, a friend introduced me to Largo's VP of Sales, who generously arranged a demonstration of the platform. And I ended up going much deeper than a typical filmmaker might. Um I ran more than 15 simulated audience focus groups across different demographic profiles and explored multiple content analyses. I wanted to understand not just whether people liked the film, but why did they say they liked the film, or what they didn't like about the film, obviously, as well. And which themes resonated with different audiences? Where did emotional intensity rise and fall? Um, how were relationships between the characters and the experts perceived? Um, which moments generated curiosity, empathy, surprise, fear, disgust, or relief? And what I found was incredibly encouraging. Um, despite tackling complex subjects like burnout, chronic disease, and planetary health, audiences remained emotionally engaged throughout the film. I think that was like a big takeaway from the Largo analysis. Um, the analysis also reinforced the value of balancing serious science with personal storytelling, animation, and humor. Those lighter moments weren't simply entertaining, they helped people stay emotionally connected and receptive to difficult ideas. But perhaps my biggest takeaway wasn't necessarily, you know, about artificial intelligence at all. It was that data and intuition work best together. And research can help us ask better questions, it can reveal patterns we might otherwise miss, but storytelling is still profoundly human. People don't connect with films because an algorithm predicts they will. They connect because they see themselves, their struggles, their hopes reflected on the screen. So for me, Largo AI wasn't necessarily about replacing that creative instinct or that storytelling instinct. It was an important tool for listening to the audiences. And after all these years in marketing and research and now filmmaking, I still believe that listening to our audiences or our consumers and our respondents is one of the most important um first things that we should do and that we can do.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

How wonderful! Because that's what it's all about. You've made a film for an audience, and now finding that audience and screening it to them is wonderful because you with the the content, the way you have arranged the humor, gives you tell us some outstanding, surprising, shocking information. Then you give us a bit of humor, and actually we sit back, we start breathing again. It's okay now. Go ahead, hit me again. What else is it? I need to know. And here you come again with important information. But you gave us time to regroup. I thought uh the timing, the tone of the film was excellent, and it was very smart of you to put the humor in there. You did a good job. Thank you, Carol. So you self-funded much of the film from your own savings. Well, many filmmakers uh face that same leap of faith. So, what kept you going when the financial burden or the emotional weight felt heavy?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Oh, yes, you know. Um, some would call me brave, maybe some others will call me foolish. You know, there were definitely moments when I questioned whether I could keep going, um, whether I could keep self-funding, uh, how sustainable it is. I definitely don't recommend doing it like all the way. Um uh filmmakers need funding, uh, documentary films need funding. Um, independent filmmaking can be incredibly lonely. And and you're wearing every hat. Um, you're the researcher, the fundraiser, director, marketeer, social media manager, and in my case, also the funder, you know, and because you've invested so much of yourself, the stakes feel very personal. It's like birthing a baby. And what kept me going was remembering why I started. And whenever I felt overwhelmed, I came back to the people this film might help. I thought about healthcare professionals experiencing burnout, students facing anxiety, families navigating chronic illness, and people who, like me, had never been told how profoundly lifestyle can influence health and well-being. You know, even though it sounds super intuitive, um, there's a difference between knowing and doing. Um, I also learned something very important during this journey that purpose can sustain you, but purpose doesn't eliminate the need for partnership. So for a long time, I believed I had to carry everything myself. And now I understand that creating those, creating meaningful change requires an ecosystem of collaborators. Um, you need the funders, you need the educational partners, healthcare organizations, especially for documentary films such as this, you need universities, distributors, and community leaders and and guides and coaches such as you, um, Carol, and and CJ, um Carol Joyce. I'm just so fortunate to have you as my mentors. Um, you know, and and in many ways, finishing the film uh wasn't the end of the journey, it was the beginning of building that ecosystem, starting of a conversation. So it's not done yet.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

It still is still working, but now listen, this is amazing because your film has received more than 15 awards, three tally recognitions, and two United Nations affiliated recognitions. So, how have those honors helped you build credibility with funders, partners, and audiences?

SPEAKER_00 33:51

The awards have certainly been encouraging. Um, I'm deeply, deeply, deeply grateful for every one of them. Um, and what they've really helped with is create trust. Um, when you're asking someone to invest their time, host a screening, or consider supporting an impact campaign, independent recognition provides that reassurance that the work has been evaluated by others and found to be of merit. Um, and increasingly and interestingly, what has influenced me even more than the awards are the conversations after you know the screenings or after the awards night at a film festival. People stay behind, they share their own experiences with burnout. Many of our post-screening QA conversations have gone on for longer than 45 minutes. And one in the UK, which was actually hosted by a university in the UK, that even lasted longer than an hour. And we had to go and spill over to a nearby coffee shop to continue. Um, healthcare professionals, climate communicators tell me they finally have a resource they can share with colleagues or with patients. Um students tell me they feel seen, that they feel understood and heard. And audience members often will say things like, I never realized these issues were so connected, or just the other day, we you know wrapped up our screening at the London Climate Action Week, and one of the audience members who is a big follower of lifestyle change and you know has amazing Facebook group herself, and she said that she didn't realize that with all the intensive agriculture, we had actually tilted the planet's axis, you know, the axis on which our planets uh rotating. And and so these are the little quips and you know bites and um the the quips that I hear from our audience members that just have helped me understand that yes, you know, there's so much trust and so much credibility, and the awards have contributed to that. And um, the awards may open the door, but really it's the audience response that tells you whether your work is truly making a difference.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Absolutely true. That's very important. But what about the role of university screenings? What does that play in proving audience demand?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Yeah, that's a critical question, especially for an educational documentary film. Um, I would say university screenings are incredibly important because universities are places where curiosity is encouraged and dialogue is welcomed. Um, students aren't just watching a film, they're questioning it, they're discussing it, they're challenging the ideas presented in the film, the ideas that they may have brought to this cleaning, and they're making connections across disciplines because they're still in, they're like sponges. They're still in that learning mode that many of us in our post you know educational years, a lot of us as adults, we just tend to forget. And and students make this work a living, breathing, animated being that continues to grow bigger with every screening. Um, and that's exactly what I'd hoped uh for third-degree burnout to inspire. We've already begun conversations with different universities because the themes of burnout, mental well-being, public health, nutrition, climate, resiliency, like all of those conversations, they naturally bring together students and faculty from many different fields. So even if you know, otherwise students are and faculty members are, you know, teaching or learning certain specialties and they have their own fields, but I feel like our screening helps create this interdisciplinary kind of a community for the students and faculty members to come together. And another thing that I've learned is that panel discussions afterwards are just, you know, often just as valuable as the screening themselves. For example, following a recent screening during London Climate Week, we were joined by a lifestyle medicine physician. Um, now he's also a public health specialist. Um, and then we also had a licensed psychotherapist whose mental health counselor specializes in somatic and embodied healing approaches. The conversations became wonderful and super enriching because then the audience members are, you know, all of a sudden discussing their reflections and not just hearing a medical or a clinical point of view, they're also hearing an emotional health and somatic, you know, receiving these practical guidance. And those interdisciplinary discussions, they help us understand which ideas resonate most deeply while also demonstrating genuine um audience engagement. And something that's super valuable as we titrate and optimize with uh future partnerships, uh, future educational institutional screenings, corporate screenings, and even have these discussions with funders as to how we want to make an impact.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Exactly. Now, are you can contacting any of the Fortune 500 companies to screen to their overworked executives?

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Yes, very much so. You know, I'm a recovering corporate burnout survivor, recovering consumer marketeer. And so that's very much my former tribe. So it's very much part of our long-term vision. Um, right now we're building the foundation for those conversations by working with educational institutions, healthcare organizations, grant-making foundations, mission-aligned partners who share our belief that burnout is much more than just an individual workplace issue. Um, my own background, as I mentioned, was in global consumer marketing. So I understand firsthand the pressures many professionals experience. And I also know that these organizations are increasingly recognizing that employee well-being isn't simply an insurance benefits issue. You know, it's connected to employee engagement, um innovation, uh, employee retention, the quality of their leadership, and longer-term organizational sustainability and resilience. Um, I would love to see the film screened within corporations, but not simply as a one-off wellness event. So my hope is that it becomes a starting point for richer conversations about organizational culture, prevention, resilience, mental well-being, and practical issues such as food choices available in office cafeterias and restaurants that cater to such office spaces, you know, because what's the point of learning about all of this interconnection, um, you know, and learning about the fact that we must fuel our bodies in a healthier way, finish the screening and then head off to the cafeteria to eat some really unhealthy food. Um, so that would defeat the purpose. So if we can help organizations shift the conversation from treating burnout after it happens to preventing it in the first place, um, and to build ecosystems that are healthy for their employees to work in, I think that's where the greatest opportunity lies with this film.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

Oh, yes, I hope you're able to achieve that. Well, you're now moving into impact distributions with partners, including picture motion and phantom entertainment. So, what does this next phase look like? And why is it so important for filmmakers to think beyond simply finishing the film?

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah, I mean, finishing the film is a major, major, major milestone. Um, it's obviously the biggest first milestone, but it's not the finish line. As I'm learning, it's just the beginning. And we often think of a documentary as the final product, but in the longer arc of the journey of why this film was even made, um, you know, it's really not the final product. I see it differently. The film is the invitation, it's the beginning of a much larger conversation. And that's why I'm so excited to be working with Picture Motion. Um, they're the best of the best in um, you know, in the business of creating amazing impact campaigns. Their team has tremendous experiencing experience in designing impact campaigns around documentary films. And together we're thinking strategically about how this film can reach the people who need it most, and not just through festivals, um, but also through universities, healthcare organizations, other nonprofits, um, global conferences, and community partners. We're also in very early conversations about what could be a potential limited theatrical strategy and how that strategy could look like with Fathom. Now, those conversations are exploratory, but they reflect this broader ambition to reach audiences in multiple ways. And, you know, ultimately, I don't think impact happens because people watch the film. Impact happens because a film sparks conversations, builds relationships, inspires partnerships, and encourages people to make um to take meaningful action. And that's exactly where picture motion excels. You know, they really have deep experience in measuring the impact made um through content such as this. And uh so that's the phase we're entering now. It's every bit as creative and every bit as important as making the film itself. And I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Yes, me too, because you you're going to reach uh the audience you made it for. But you have a bold vision: 1,000 screens, 100 corporate and campus partners, and 10 global conferences, healthcare audiences, community screenings, these are all part of your plan. So, how are you turning a documentary into a scalable behavior change platform?

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Well, it's, you know, one screening at a time, one heart at a time. Uh, I know those numbers sound ambitious. But I believe every movement begins with a simple single conversation. And one of the most encouraging things I've seen is that every screening seems to create the next opportunity. So a university professor would introduce me to another department, or a physician would suggest bringing the film to their colleagues or to a local event, or someone in the audience will say, Hey, have you spoken to this organization, you know, or that organization? And that's exactly what has happened following our screenings at Stanford University, or earlier at UC Santa Barbara, or the most recent one at London Climate Action Week. And we're also thinking beyond a single feature-length documentary. Different audiences can have different needs. So a university classroom or a healthcare conference and a workplace wellness program, each might require a different format and a different conversation. So that's why we're exploring shorter educational versions that can be tailored to specific audiences while preserving the integrity of the larger story. And maybe even doing a multi-part series, you know, so that people have an opportunity to watch 20, 30 minutes and then metabolize that specific facet of the entire story and then go on to the next one. So for me, as a consumer behavior marketer, you know, behavior change doesn't happen because someone watches a film once. It happens when stories are uh continuously reinforced, and that reinforcement comes through discussion, through trusted partners, trusted people, you know, in those people's communities, um, educational resources that are thoughtfully designed, and then communities then can continue that conversation long after uh the credits roll. So that's the behavior change, um, meaningful action educational ecosystem that we're trying to build.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

Well done. So you are seeking mission-aligned executive producers, you're looking for foundation support, venture philanthropy, strategic partners. So, what kind of funder is the right fit for the third degree burnout? And what do they become part of when they support this film?

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Yes, you know, before I go anywhere, I do have uh, you know, wonderful, what I have wonderful news. So, Katherine Kramer, who is the daughter of the late um legendary director Stanley Kramer, and founder of um uh, you know, Catherine Kramer, uh Katherine Kramer's or Kat Kramer's films helped uh change the world. I think that's the name of her um foundation. She has agreed to come on board as an honorary executive producer for the film. So I think that already is an amazing win. Um and in terms of you know, more funding partners and other executive producers, I'm looking for partners who see our storytelling as an investment in prevention. And the right partner isn't simply funding a documentary or its um impact campaign, they're helping build an educational platform that can reach people before burnout becomes a crisis. So, you know, and before chronic disease progresses and before young people inherit the idea that exhaustion is simply the price of success. So at this point in time, we're speaking with grant-making foundations, philanthropists, mission-aligned organizations that recognize these challenges are interconnected, that burnout doesn't exist in isolation, and neither do mental health, nutrition, chronic disease, or environmental well-being. And what excites me most, Carol, is that bringing together people from these different sectors who might not otherwise sit around the same table. So when someone supports this work, they become part of something much bigger than a film. They become part of our Beyond Burnout coalition. It's a it's a big, large coalitional effort. And they become part of this collaborative effort to make evidence-based ideas more accessible, to foster meaningful conversations and to help create healthier, more resilient communities. So if there are funders out there who believe in everything that I've just said, they are the right fit for this film and they can become part of this big movement.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Yes. Well, that's wonderful. They should take advantage because this is sorely needed, and it's the direction we need to go in to get healthier, definitely. So for filmmakers listening who have a personal story, a social impact mission, or a health-related documentary, what advice would you give them about building partnerships, providing audience demand, and raising money for distribution?

SPEAKER_00 50:40

I would say two things. First, don't wait until your film is finished to start building relationships. And some of the most important relationships and partnerships we've developed began simply by sharing the vision, you know, asking thoughtful questions, listening carefully to what other organizations were trying to accomplish. Because people don't just invest in films, they invest in people, they invest in purpose and they invest in relationships. And second, I would say don't think of fundraising as asking for money. Think of it as inviting people to participate in solving a problem they already care about. So when I meet with a foundation or a potential partner or a potential producer, executive producer, I spend far more time understanding their mission than talking about my own. The best partnerships happen when there's genuine alignment, not when you're trying to convince someone who isn't already interested. And finally, I'd encourage filmmakers to stay curious. This entire project began with this one question I couldn't answer. I never imagined it would lead to public health research and award-winning film conversations at the Cahn Film Festival, London Climate Action Week, or partnerships with people across just simply so many diverse disciplines. So if your story comes from a place of genuine curiosity and service, people will recognize that. Because at the end of the day, we're not just making films, we're creating opportunities for people to see themselves and perhaps see the world a little differently. And I think that's one of the greatest privileges of being a filmmaker.

SPEAKER_02 52:39

How wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your story, your wisdom, and the extraordinary mission behind your film, Third Degree Burnout, a survivor's guide. So, what I want filmmakers to take from this conversation is that your personal story can become the doorway to something much larger. A film can begin with one person's pain, one question, one loss, or one moment of truth, and it can grow into a movement that educates, heals, and changes lives. So Nevi's journey also reminds us that finishing the film is not the end, it's the beginning. The next great creative challenge, which is finding the right partners, raising the right money, reaching the right audiences, and building an impact campaign that gives the film a real life in the world. So, to our filmmakers listening, please know that From the Heart Productions is here to support you. So visit FromTheHardProductions.com to learn about our grants, fiscal sponsorship. We have a lot of free classes and resources that we created especially for independent filmmakers for film funding and producing films. So please take advantage of our Thrive platform. There you're going to find even more free film funding classes, educational tools, and support to help you move your project forward with confidence. Your film matters, your voice matters, and when you combine your passion with preparation, strategy, and art, you give your story the best chance to reach the audience who is waiting for it. Thank you for listening to the Art of Film Funding. We will see you next week.