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News
Submissions Being Accepted for Second Annual
Tirota/Finish Line Social Impact Script Competition
The competition celebrates writers of scripts for film and television that are pro-social, raising awareness and inspiring action in a world begging for more purposeful entertainment.
Winning scripts are awarded an $1,000 option and the opportunity for their script to be pitched to socially-conscious members of the entertainment industry towards securing financing and production with built in marketing through Tirota.
Coming soon! Foster Boy, A Courtroom Thriller
Taking On the Injustices of the Foster Care System
Foster Boy, an indie drama about an African-American boy’s fight for justice in a system normalizing abuse against foster youth, releases nationwide in select theaters and on demand on September 25th. Pre-order on iTunes.
Foster Boy has won more than a dozen film festival awards including six “Official Selection” accolades. NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal executive produced the film.
As co-producers, the principals of Tirota helped develop a platform for audiences to advocate for safer foster care, support outreach and advocacy efforts and learn more about becoming a foster family. Learn more on the Foster Boy website.
Civil Rights Drama ‘Chicago ’66’ Wins Inaugural Tirota/Finish Line Social Impact Script Competition
The Tirota/Finish Line Social Impact Script Competition has selected Morehouse College Professor Stephane Dunn’s screenplay Chicago ’66 as the very first grand prize winner of the inaugural screenwriting contest.
For Chicago ’66, Dr. Dunn took inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s impactful but largely forgotten crusade in Chicago. The crusade in question is set in the summer of 1966 when a coalition of civil rights and community organizations came together in a high visibility initiative across a range of social and economic issues to encourage an end to discrimination and de facto segregation in Chicago. This effort even further amplified when the civil rights pioneer Dr. King joined them. For at least one summer, Chicago became the frontline in America’s civil rights battle. Chicago ’66 tells the story of a grieving young boy living with his grandfather in a Chicago slum who becomes inspired and emboldened when Dr. and Mrs. King become his neighbors that summer.
New Screenwriting Contest Will Celebrate Screenwriters
Focused on Social Awareness and Action
Purposeful Content Agency Tirota Unites with Leading Script-Writing Competition Finish Line to Encourage and Recognize Screenwriters with a Message. Learn about a new contest that is trying to make a difference.
A new script competition will celebrate writers of film and television screenplays who aim to raise awareness and inspire change around critical social issues, with the goal of helping to meet a burgeoning audience demand for socially purposeful entertainment.
TIROTA, a groundbreaking communications and engagement agency that enhances both the societal impact and commercial success of issue-focused entertainment, is partnering with the respected FINISH LINE SCRIPT COMPETITION to launch the Tirota/Finish Line Social Impact Script Competition.
The Tirota/Finish Line Social Impact Script Competition will identify and support talented storytellers with an evident passion for changing the world, helping them improve their scripts and ultimately gain a foothold in the entertainment industry.
Awards Strategists Ric Robertson, Jonathan Taylor Launch New Venture With Advocacy Agency Tiller
Robertson Taylor Partners, the boutique L.A.-based communications agency headed by awards strategists Ric Robertson and Jonathan Taylor, is joining forces with Tiller, a New York-based consultancy that advises companies on social advocacy campaigns, in a new joint venture called Tirota, which will assist filmmakers and entertainment companies in creating issue-oriented campaigns that have ongoing social impact.
In describing the new venture, Taylor explained to The Hollywood Reporter, "There is a real marketplace for purposeful films," citing examples like best picture Oscar nominees Green Book, on which he and Robertson have been working, and BlacKkKlansman. But when it comes to issue-oriented films that hope to promote social causes, he continued, "Hollywood has often satisfied itself with putting a URL on the end credits, simply saying 'for more information, go here.'"
Groundbreaking National Survey Finds:
Americans Attracted to Entertainment On Urgent Social Issues, But Frustrated By Lack Of Information, Opportunities to Take Action
Americans are eager for Hollywood to produce more purpose-driven entertainment, especially when it provides information on the underlying issue and opportunities to take action, according to the results of a groundbreaking survey released today by TIROTA, a new consultancy specializing in bolstering both the societal impact and bottom-line success of issue-focused entertainment.
Of the 1,000 adults surveyed, 80% say they are attracted (29% strongly) to movies and documentaries addressing social issues or causes, and another 80% believe (30% strongly) the entertainment industry should produce more movies and TV series exploring important social issues. Seventy-eight percent believe the industry should provide more information on how to act on the issues their content explores.
Entertainment Companies Seeking To Engage Audiences For Lasting Social Change Will Get A Boost With Launch Of TIROTA
Entertainment companies offering content that seeks to inspire social change will get help generating lasting impact and boosting box office thanks to TIROTA, a unique marketing communications partnership launching today.
This enterprise brings together Tiller, LLC, a New York-area consultancy that helps leading companies leverage the social value inherent in their products and services, with Robertson Taylor Partners (RTP), a Los Angeles-based boutique communications agency that helps entertainment companies maximize their communications and financial performance. The partnership is aimed at enhancing both the societal impact and bottom-line success of issue-focused motion picture, TV, streaming and music content.
TIROTA is built on the firms’ shared commitment to social change and the belief that coordinated, strategic communications campaigns can help purposeful content realize its considerable commercial as well as social potential.