Monica Yant Kinney: Teen's anti-bullying plea makes its debut
For a world premiere, STOP's was low on ego. It helps that the feature presentation was a public service announcement conceived of and directed by an unassuming 13-year-old victim of bullying.
For a world premiere, STOP's was low on ego. It helps that the feature presentation was a public service announcement conceived of and directed by an unassuming 13-year-old victim of bullying.
One of the laid-back young stars wore sneakers and basketball shorts. Another was MIA, stuck at a doctor's appointment.
There was no red carpet, no paparazzi, unless you count the director's mom and an Inquirer photographer snapping pictures of 900 Strath Haven Middle School students silently watching themselves on the big screen.
Ben Harowitz, a speck of an eighth-grader from Swarthmore who plays sax and loves Harry Potter, had reason to fear the reaction of his peers. Being bullied is hardly a cool calling card; broadcasting the slights carried a social risk.
Opening up was the point, he insisted. Too many kids suffer needlessly in silence when telling an adult can bring instant relief.
"I wanted to give victims a voice," Harowitz told me excitedly before the assemblies. "When you say something, you get it to stop."
Make it raw, keep it real
The first screening was for the sixth-graders, small and squirmy and clueless about the occasion.
Principal George King explained that Harowitz inspired family friend Solita Hanna to recruit 40 filmmaking pros to produce the PSA free. They worked 12 hours just to make a 30-second spot.
STOP was no amateur affair. Co-director Rob Markopoulos spent a decade at NFL Films. Assistant director Hanna has worked with Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks, but gushes over Harowitz. Shooters INC, the Old City post-production masters, fine-tuned the public-service announcement and a three-minute making-of video that would have cost a paying client at least $70,000.
The vision? All Harowitz's.
"He wanted it raw. He wanted real kids and to film it at his school," marveled Hanna, who aims to air STOP on TV and hopes the campaign goes viral online.
"I said, 'Ben, what is the message?' He said, 'To speak out with victims' voices.' "
The script features hair-pulling, name-calling, shoving, and tripping. On the bus, in class, and at lunch, kids intimidate and insult one another in a crescendo of cruelty.
Please stop the noise, a girl begs as the camera encircles four kids in the final dramatic scene.
Please stop the anger.
Please stop the hatred.
Please stop the bullying.
It happens to everyone
Lest the students think Harowitz an anomaly, before each screening he and classmate Joe Seifrit read sobering statistics about the emotional epidemic.
"Ninety percent of fourth- through eighth-graders say they've been a victim of bullying," Harowitz shared, whether the abuse takes place in the hall, on Facebook, or via text messages.
Added Seifrit, "One of five kids admits to bullying."
And should Strath Haven students presume only brainiacs and squirts get teased, Markopoulos - a hulking 39 - revealed that he was taunted in elementary school for being big for his age.
"You could be tall, short, heavy, thin, or wear glasses," he said. "It happens to everyone."
No one snickered. To the contrary, the final audience of eighth graders erupted in applause as though to assure Harowitz he was not alone.
"Incredibly powerful," concluded a classmate named Nicole when a counselor asked for reviews.
"I thought it was cool," added Jason, "that a 13-year-old could make a commercial."
A redhead named Lily, who appears in the PSA, asked to speak.
"When we were on set," she said, "I almost cried seeing Zach get tripped and Joe get punched, even though I knew it was fake.
"Watching it today," she said, "I almost cried again."
Kids nodded approvingly at the clearly relieved director as they streamed out of the auditorium heading back to class.
"Ben, hug me!" a girl demanded.
The boy beamed and obliged.