Through collaboration with Partnership for Public Service, we explored the common tropes of how civic leaders and politicians are portrayed on screen and how they might be affecting the public’s trust in government, eagerness to become civically engaged, and interest in pursuing careers in the field themselves. We wondered, how might uplifting stories and characters that counteract these ingrained narratives of corrupt, incompetent, and ambivalent leadership shift who takes up the mantle next?

We brought together a broad group of elected officials and community leaders from all across the country and lines of difference to learn more about their worlds and their stories. We asked them questions like, “What do you wish the media got right when depicting characters who are civic leaders?” “Were there any portrayals of civic leaders that inspired you to pursue this line of work?” “What are some types of leaders we need more of in your field?” 

We analyzed these conversations to find emerging narrative themes that might guide any creative projects that resulted from our research. We saw opportunities in celebrating small victories, centering authentic everyday heroes, uplifting the long journey of making change, and valuing complex emotional challenges. We were particularly interested in reaching audiences under 30 who might be inspired to take on the fight themselves, so we applied our industry expertise to ideate a creative project designed to appeal to young viewers. 

We’ve been developing a digital docuseries that pairs entertainers with inspiring leaders dedicating their lives to our most pressing issues. These are smaller stories building up to make giant changes, showing that making a difference is well within reach. The show is fun and optimistic, not homework, bringing in viewers that might otherwise shy away from learning more about our government. And the leaders are young with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, empowering young people to recognize their own agency and potential. 

In the meantime, we want to make sure as many people have access to these insights as possible so that the change we hope can come from this project can be much bigger than anything we can accomplish on our own. It’s not just about us—it’s about the whole industry. We’ve been partnering with the creative and philanthropic communities to spread the word through interactive convenings and conversations that help people envision how they might apply our findings to their own work.