In this 15-minute video podcast, Lisa Hall speaks about the work producing The Addict’s Wake. A transcript of the conversation is below.
This transcript is AI-generated and may contain errors.
00:06-00:14
Welcome, everybody, to the Recovery Movie Meetups Vodcast, a series that looks into some of the cool people doing cool things in the recovery space.
00:15-00:18
Today, my guest is Lisa Hall from Glory Girl Productions.
00:19-00:23
She’s got an amazing new book and several other projects and merchandise.
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And it’s all designed to help people and families and kids who are significant others of people in recovery.
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So Lisa, thank you and welcome to the show.
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Thank you so much for having me, Ted.
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It’s an honor to be here.
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And I just so appreciate the work you’re doing in the recovery space.
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So I’m a fan, you know this.
00:46-00:47
Oh, well, I’m a fan as well.
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So what got you into this space originally?
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Is this like lived experience or like family situation or just a desire?
00:58-01:07
Not lived experience and not family at first, but that’s kind of an interesting story.
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But when we moved from Indianapolis to Brown County, Indiana, this is the place where the glaciers did their thing.
01:15-01:25
And so most of Indiana, north of where I am is completely flat, but down in Southern Indiana, and people don’t know this, it’s just beautiful little rolling hills.
01:25-01:28
And so we moved here in 2017.
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And because I didn’t know much about the community or the people living here, I volunteered in our jail, which is a small little county correctional center, but just met the most amazing people in there.
01:41-01:44
And I started hearing the ladies stories, Ted.
01:45-02:05
And I realized that honest to goodness, it was just such a profound moment that they were women who had marriages, homes, careers, kids, dreams, goals, and in a vulnerable moment in their life, they decided to numb whatever pain they were going through with today’s drugs.
02:05-02:07
And we know that that’s no joke.
02:08-02:18
They can hook you very quickly with the addictive properties of fentanyl, which is predominantly heroin today is mostly fentanyl and fentanyl is in everything.
02:19-02:22
And so I just thought, oh my gosh, we’ve got to do better.
02:22-02:30
And I thought, man, in a moment of vulnerability in my own life, I could be sitting there in green and white stripes very easily.
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And I think anybody in recovery or is working with people in recovery realized that we’re all one decision away.
02:38-02:40
And so then what did you do?
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What was your first plan of action?
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You got involved locally, and then I also wanna segue to the book that you published.
02:48-03:03
Yeah, so got involved locally and then started hearing the stories And then at the power of social media, I had a woman in Indianapolis who had read one of my posts about how sick and addicted our underbelly really is here.
03:03-03:05
And we look like a Hallmark community on the outside.
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We’re very shiny.
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And it’s full of just amazing, incredible, artistic people, this community.
03:12-03:15
But the underbelly was not in good shape.
03:15-03:20
And so she saw that post and she said, “Do you wanna tell some stories?” And I said, “Sure.
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Let’s tell stories because film has a magical way of allowing you to step foot in another person’s path to breed empathy and compassion.
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And that’s one of the things I love about the medium of film is that it just, it just is magical that way.
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And I thought we do need to tell these stories until we can reverse the trajectory of today’s pandemic drug use and declining mental health.
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And so I said, what do I need to do?
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And she said, well, we got to form a team.
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And I’m like, okay, let’s form a team.
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And we did.
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And my director handed me a budget.
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And it’s so interesting because most of my life, I’ve been raising money for something at some time, somewhere for some reason.
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So I wasn’t daunted by the budget.
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And I thought, you know, we’re supposed to tell these stories then the provision will come.
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It took two and a half years to fund our original film, which is an hour and 48 minute documentary that followed four stories throughout Brown County for two and a half years.
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And that last bit of funding came right in the nick of time to allow us to finish right after the pandemic.
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So I had no street cred as a filmmaker and when you don’t have street cred, you’ve got to go get some laurels.
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So I did that, but really the intention of this first film was to get it inside of communities, gather as many people as we can, and really show the film and then have a conversation for impact.
05:01-05:19
Whether it’s shedding light on the issue for folks in that community, whether we’re breaking down the walls of shame and stigma, whether we’re debunking the silo mentality, which has got to continue to happen, and/or showcasing recovery, because a lot of people just hear of the problem.
05:19-05:27
They don’t get to see the ones that do recover and go on to use their life in very prolific ways and like you.
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And so that was very important to me to end each of the films in Hope and that recovery is possible.
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And so late 22 started in communities and everywhere we went, Ted, we had an outcry for an educational film.
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So we have another version of the Attics Way educational, and it’s for sixth grade through adult groups.
05:54-06:00
And then equally as great as the outcry was for that, we had one for law enforcement.
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And I just launched that film, three 12 minute segments that was done in January.
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And so I’ve been really conferencing this summer to get that one spread far and wide.
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And today I’m invoicing Wyoming, I’ve got one going to Maryland.
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And so, you know, I’m just so grateful, but it’s a lot of work trying to get the films out there.
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I have this amazing toolbox, right?
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And how do we get it to communities?
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That’s been the challenge.
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Of course.
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So the Attics Wake wonderful movie, I absolutely loved it.
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Very kind of a tear-jerker, get your box of Kleenexes ready.
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And that’s also available on the Recovery Movie Meetups on-demand platform for rental or purchase for anybody that’s interested.
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I’ll put the link in the description.
06:48-07:13
And then Lisa, then you, as if that wasn’t enough, then you segwayed into, and this is interesting for us because we just launched the Family Recovery Program, which is an acknowledgement that we’re not just treating people, we’re not just helping people with mental health and substance use disorders, but it affects an entire community and a family structure, family system and a family network, including children.
07:13-07:20
And so you’ve done something really remarkable that I think is really sweet and also, I think, very vital.
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Tell us a little bit about that.
07:23-07:26
Well, the last tool in the toolbox is A.V.’s Hope.
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And this has been on my heart since we started filming in August of 2019.
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And I had met a young woman living in this county and I heard her story and I knew that I wanted to adopt her story loosely in some way to create this story that is so pervasive in our nation. And so I wrote “Avy’s Hope.” “Avy is an eight or nine-year-old little girl navigating active addiction in the home with mom.” And I had three goals, just like I had four consistent goals with each of the films. I had three goals for Avey’s hope and one that Avey would have healthy coping strategies as she, you know, looks through the lens of mom not well.
08:18-08:23
And so she has Prince and Rizzo and all the other buddies.
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And when she when she’s feeling such dread, she goes to them and they sing and they dance and they play in her head.
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And so she’s so thankful for her ponies because they really make her happy and bring her joy.
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The second goal was that we want all young people to have a trusted adult in their life that they can confide in.
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And so, A.V. in this case spends a lot of time with her Nana, but she also likes to share with her teacher.
08:53-08:55
And that is just so critical.
08:56-09:37
And then third and most important to me, Ted, I mean, they’re all important goals, but I want A.B. to know that at eight or nine, you can start using your voice to command your life or change. And if you don’t like watching what’s going on in your home, then make that determination to change and not carry on that generational use. Generational use is about as pervasive as it could be in this nation. And so we’ve got to break that cycle. And of drug use that we’re experiencing today is gonna happen with all those little sitting in the seats.
09:38-09:45
So I wanted them to know we see them, that they’re seen and that their pain is real, but they’re not alone.
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And so just like the films, to date, Avey’s Hope has been a conversation starter for families, for parents, for grandparents.
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And it’s been so fun to hear how it has helped people just have those hard conversations.
10:05-10:06
That’s just awesome.
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I think that is just awesome.
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And it totally aligns with what we see, which is that, you know, imagery and sound and stories that people can identify with are really, really, really helpful and vital.
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And I’m assuming that people can find your book on Kindle or Amazon?
10:27-10:29
Yeah. But yeah, it’s a few places.
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But before I tell you that, I did want to give a shout out to Lisa Illig.
10:35-10:38
And Lisa was my illustrator and it took me a year to find her.
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And I want to tell you something.
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I knew that when I saw her first sample illustration, she got it.
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This is not unicorns and cupcakes.
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And therefore the illustrations couldn’t be unicorns and cupcakes.
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And see, we see mom there a little bit of sleep in the curtains and she can’t wake her.
10:58-11:08
And so I just am so thankful that Lisa got it and really lended her talents to this book.
11:08-11:11
But the book is on my website at theatticswake.com.
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And if you want to order, if someone wants to order bulk copies, that’s the best way to do it because I can work with some pricing discounts that way.
11:21-11:28
But otherwise, it’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Archway Publishing, who they’re my publishers.
11:28-11:33
And so, yes, and then the comfort care animal is also available.
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And the ladies here in my community, a couple of who are in recovery are helping to make these because they just want to be a part of something that’s really helping others find recovery and in comfort.
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So I’m calling in my comfort care punies.
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Wonderful.
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Well, I’m going to put links in the description of this video so people can find your book.
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and I’ll put your email as well.
11:58-12:00
And Lisa, that’s just terrific.
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Continue the good work.
12:01-12:05
What’s your, so you’re so entrepreneurial, what do you do after this?
12:06-12:12
Well, I do have a film on the back burner that I’m currently trying to raise funding for.
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You know this is not the most friendly fundraising climate we’ve ever had currently.
12:17-12:31
So it’s taking me a little longer, but I’ve learned to trust the processes, but we’re gonna look at the mental health and wellness of our first responders and our veterans and why suicide has become the option for so many.
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And again, it’s just senseless to me and my own son came out of the Marine Corps in 2020 and has lost 10 men that he served with to suicide in roughly five years.
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And I’m not okay with that, Ted.
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And so my working title is Scars and Stripes And I’m not sure we’re gonna be able to hang on to that ’cause a couple of other brilliant people had that title already, but that’s our working title, but it’ll be something similar.
13:02-13:12
And I hope to have some funding in place by the end of this year so we can get that made and get it out to communities again to help our veterans and our first responders.
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We need to change the culture a little bit of how they come back home.
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And so many veterans become first responders because of the skill set that is such a match and it carries over.
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And so that’s why we decided to put first responders in there as well, because many of them have veteran backgrounds.
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But just like I wanted to do better by individuals, you know, I just think we have to do better by our veterans.
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They give so much to protect us all.
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And we wanna help affect cultures where they can easily get the help and talk about things that are important to them.
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Lisa Hall, Glory Girl Productions,
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a one woman dynamo of creativity, grace, and help, and contributing to her communities.
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On a worldwide basis, the book is available worldwide, the film is available worldwide, and I’m sure your movie is gonna be available worldwide.
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Keep up the great work, Lisa.
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Congratulations on everything that you’re doing.
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Ted, thank you so much.
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And I think movie, recovery movie meetups is an absolute brilliant idea.
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I’m sorry that I didn’t think of it.
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So, but I just say all the success and best wishes back to you ’cause it’s an incredible concept that I hope people are taking advantage of.
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So we’re proud to be a part of that and thank you for giving us that platform and for having me on today.
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Absolutely, all right, we’ll talk soon.
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And for all of you who joined us on our Recovery Movie Meet Us podcast, thank you for joining and we’ll see you on the next one.
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Thanks.