Can you tell me a little about the Eagle Scout project?
Eagle Scout rank is the highest rank achievable as a Boy Scout. There are many requirements including two years in Scouting , leadership positions held within the troop, a certain number of merit badges which are earned through learning about a particular skill, a certain number of days on outings and of course a community service project. The Scout is responsible for getting a sponsor, creating an idea for a project, getting approvals, funding, material, leading the project, and reporting on the project. The scout then applies and participates in a board of review where he is interviewed by a panel of adult Scout Leaders. These projects and the workbook associated with the project usually take a scout six months to a year to complete. Eagle Scout rank is acknowledged by business owners, colleges, police and governing agencies and even the US military. Being an Eagle Scout carries a lot of status because of the dedication it takes to complete the rank.
What inspired the project?
When Michael was 12-years-old he got sick. In the hospital one of the EMT’s was visually amazed at Michael and his behavior. He talked to us more about what Michael had gone through. His nephew had recently been diagnosed with autism. Michael gave him hope for his nephew’s future. Michael felt that if he could help this man to understand, perhaps he could help others as well.
Michael currently goes to the Children’s Developmental Center f or “social club.” The center is very supportive of their students with anything they want to achieve. Michael discussed the project with his social skills teacher. Then he made an appointment with the office manager and director, were he pitched his idea. They were more than happy to help with whatever he needed. The CDC will be using this video as a marketing tool to help convince parents of the benefits of early intervention. We scheduled the lip dub [featured in the song at the end of the video] on a date when the CDC was hosting another event. We benefited from having all the teachers and some of the students available to us [on the day of filming]. We also went recruiting at different scout meetings, town hall meetings, an email blast, social media posts and even an advert in the newspaper. We had over a hundred people to help shoot the lip dub.
Did Michael direct the film? Was it all his vision?
This was definitely Michael ‘s vision. He wanted something inspiring and upbeat. He wanted parents and caregivers to acknowledge the situation they were in with their children. The words in the beginning relate to what a parent goes through initially. The other parts let them know there child will be useful, successful, have friends, hold a job, and be happy. It was not an easy decision to let him do this video as being so public has its downsides as well. But he convinced us the message was too important to not take the risks. Michael is very open to suggestion, as long as the suggestion was not to do a different project. He insisted on doing the video.
Yes. Michael directed the whole thing. He took script advice and he took filming advice from his videographer and me, his personal assistant. However we are filtering his promotion of the video to shelter him from less scrupulous people. We were very surprised that the video went viral because it is 13 minutes long. We anticipated about 5000 views.