The National Academy of Sciences Goes to Hollywood: Employing Creative Engagement Strategies to Connect with Broad Audiences
· Invited
Abstract
Entertainment media saturates our lives. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, an average of 600 new movies are created in the United States every year. With the exception of 2009, when the global economic crisis slowed production in Hollywood, the number of movies released in North America has steadily increased since the year 2000. In 2018, a record 878 movies graced U.S. screens.
In 2008 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) launched The Science & Entertainment Exchange (The Exchange) to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to create a synergy between accurate science and engaging storylines in both film and television programming. The goal of The Exchange is to use the vehicle of popular entertainment media to deliver sometimes subtle, but nevertheless powerful, messages about science that catalyze more storytelling grounded in authentic science, encourage the depiction of richer, more diverse STEM characters in order to challenge traditional stereotypes, and inspire new media projects driven by science and engineering themes.
Learn more about the ways in which The Exchange has worked closely with the Hollywood community to foster and incubate a collaborative community of scientists, engineers, and entertainment industry professionals to generate science-inspired film, television, and video game projects that have the potential to impact the next generation of scientists and engineers.
In 2008 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) launched The Science & Entertainment Exchange (The Exchange) to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to create a synergy between accurate science and engaging storylines in both film and television programming. The goal of The Exchange is to use the vehicle of popular entertainment media to deliver sometimes subtle, but nevertheless powerful, messages about science that catalyze more storytelling grounded in authentic science, encourage the depiction of richer, more diverse STEM characters in order to challenge traditional stereotypes, and inspire new media projects driven by science and engineering themes.
Learn more about the ways in which The Exchange has worked closely with the Hollywood community to foster and incubate a collaborative community of scientists, engineers, and entertainment industry professionals to generate science-inspired film, television, and video game projects that have the potential to impact the next generation of scientists and engineers.
*The Science & Entertainment Exchange is grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Google, the Simons Foundation, The Walt Disney Company, the Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the Cabot Wellington Family Foundation, and the many individual donors who make our work possible.
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Presenters
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Ann Merchant
- Office of the Chief Communications Officer, National Academy of Sciences