I was so proud to produce this pro-bono work for Ad Council. The fentanyl crisis needs urgent attention and most of Gen Z don’t know this issue affects them.

Substitute Dealers was handed to me as an idea - an idea to have former drug dealers teach real high school kids about the dangers of fentanyl. I knew I wanted to approach it from a documentary POV and worked with 2 PAs on research for almost a month before we reached out to anyone. We found our substitute dealers through an organization called Second Chance Studios and through former dealers active on social media. We researched high schools that are in areas highly affected by fentanyl overdoses and ended up working with casting to call over 250+ schools. Then there was weeks of preparation and writing and re-writing lesson plans in collaboration with the substitute dealers, the school, Ad Council, and their expert partners. The result is an Anthem, individual Lesson Plans, and a Zine with instructions for teachers around the country to teach these lessons on their own.

PRESS: NBC News, Rolling Stone, Ad Age, Campaign, MM+M, Adweek

Content available at https://realdealonfentanyl.com/

Director: Courtney Sofiah Yates

DOP: Zach Sky

Partner on Substitute Dealer Casting & Talent Partner: Second Chance Studio

Editor: Chiao Chen, Grace Wiehl