Bronze
Health & Wellness-Craft
Editing
Entrant: | Havas New York, New York |
Brand: | The Harris Project |
Title: | "You Don't Know The Half Of It" |
Corporate Name of Client: | The Harris Project |
Client Company: | The Harris Project, New York |
Client President: | Stephanie Marquesano |
Agency: | Havas New York, New York |
Agency Chief Executive Officers: | Dan Lucey/Sarah Collins |
Chief Creative Officer: | Dan Lucey |
Creative Directors: | Tyronne Schaffer/Lindsey Rock/Chris Serna |
Associate Creative Directors: | Sarah Spicer/Eduarda Castro |
Copywriter: | Caroline Seibel |
Art Director: | Camille Walker |
Agency Head of Production: | Melissa Tifrere |
Agency Senior Producer: | Josh Kornrich |
Agency Producer: | Jamie Whitefield |
Senior Integrated Agency Producer: | Wyatt Smith |
Agency Content Producer: | Shoaib Ali |
Agency Project Manager: | Liz Leiser |
Agency Chief Strategy Officer: | Tim Maleeny |
Agency Business Director: | Suzanne Voss |
Agency Corporate Communications Directors: | Jocelyn Weiss/Mariana Delacqua/Aedyn Gorenberg |
Production Company: | Love Song, New York |
Production Managing Director: | Kelly Bayett |
Director: | Daniel Wolfe |
1st AD: | Louis McCourt |
Executive Producer: | Deannie O’neil |
Producer: | Tatyana Alexandra |
Line Producer: | Sarah Park |
Cinematographer: | Anna Franquesa-Solano |
Production Designer: | Christian Stone |
Head of Production: | Paige Kauffman |
Production Project Manager: | Julie Wald |
Post-Production Company: | Mathematic, New York |
Executive Post-Producer: | Hadi Dahrouge |
VFX Producer: | Andrew Turner |
Edit Facility: | Trim Editing, New York |
Editor: | Fouad Gaber |
Editorial Producers: | Eva Bartschi Klein/Tatyana Alexandra |
Color Company: | Company3, New York |
Colorists: | Simon Bourne/Chris Anthony |
Sound Design Company: | Barking Owl, New York |
Sound Design Executive Producer: | Gus Koven |
Sound Design Producer: | Paul Giger |
Heads of Sound: | Kelly Bayett/Ashley Benton |
Sound Designer: | Gus Koven |
Sound Mixer: | Stuart St. Vincent Welch |
Senior Designer: | Liberty Leben |
Description:
Harris Marquesano was one of these people. At the young age of 19, he died of accidental overdose after struggling with ADHD and anxiety for the majority of his life.
When the American healthcare system failed to treat both of his co-occurring disorders—ultimately leading to his tragic death—Harris’s mom, Stephanie Marquesano, founded the first and only national nonprofit solely dedicated to helping people see the connection between mental health and substance misuse.
The film twists a seemingly innocent drinking game—a relatable “rite of passage” that spans generations—to follow the story of one young woman as she slowly reveals the truth about how her mental health drives her substance use and vice versa. Helplessly, we witness her struggle to get through even the most routine moments: eating breakfast, going to school, being with friends.
The intentional repetition of “drink if you…” becomes a beating drum at the heart of the story, mirroring the cyclical nature of addiction as she’s forced into revelations she might otherwise avoid.
For this highly sensitive film to connect with young, skeptical audiences, the script needed to feel highly authentic. To ensure it reflected true lived experiences, each line was based on interviews with hundreds of people with co-occurring disorders.
The script opens with “drink if you…” challenges from our street casted actors. As it begins to grow darker, the lines are composited from the real experiences of those we interviewed. It is ultimately delivered in a flat and defeated deadpan, with little hope that the repetitive cycle will ever come to an end, building to a final cry for help.
The film launched 10/23/23 on the 10-year anniversary of the death by accidental overdose of Stephanie’s son, Harris Marquesano. It ran on donated media from AMC theaters, on pre-roll on Paramount Plus, Hulu, Fubo, and across social media.
More importantly, it has been integrated into schools and rehabilitation clinics across the country and has been screened for both local and national policymakers in an effort to establish a national comprehensive treatment program designed to treat mental health challenges and substance misuse together.
It has been covered in the press extensively, on morning news shows, and has even debuted in Washington DC.
It aims to reach young people at a time when they are experimenting, and may be unknowingly self-medicating themselves.