Science & the News:
Creating Journalism with Impact
With climate change and the COVID pandemic making headlines and trust in news media and science at an all-time low, it is more vital than ever to understand what makes impactful science coverage. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute commissioned our Media Impact Project to identify and study best practices for achieving impact through science journalism. The results include recommendations for both newsrooms and funders.
Climate Change in Entertainment
Extrapolations is Apple TV+'s new anthology series about the life-altering choices that must be made in a changing climate. In partnership with advocacy organizations Rare and Good Energy, we will measure the impact of this series in the first quantitative study of a major scripted climate storyline in nearly two decades.

Last month, Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) hosted a screening of episode 4 of Extrapolations ("Face of God") with show creator Scott Z. Burns and executive producer/writer Dorothy Fortenberry. (Instagram)

HH&S Director Kate Folb and Research Director Erica Rosenthal both made it on Forbes' list of 68 Climate Leaders Changing the Film & TV Industry!
"We're Still in the Game"
Five accomplished Hollywood veterans say there should be more stories in entertainment about the vibrant lives of older adults. Watch Hollywood, Health & Society’s video, featuring Norman Lear, Marla Gibbs, George Takei, Mimi Kennedy and George Wallace, and produced with support from the SCAN Foundation.

WATCH: #RethinkAging
Study of Fat Bias in TV/Film
Research shows that people in larger bodies experience a disproportionate amount of discrimination and stigma in healthcare. To better understand those implications, we are teaming with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health to study how fat representation and fat bias in film and TV -- particularly in medical dramas -- has affected society’s perspectives and discussions of fat people. The study is funded by a Nielsen Foundation Data for Good grant.

Kaplan, Kun Announce New Appointments
Lear Center Director Marty Kaplan has been named a Faculty Fellow to USC Annenberg's Center for Communication, Leadership and Policy.
Our Popular Music Project Director and USC Professor Josh Kun has been appointed the inaugural USC Vice Provost for the Arts and will facilitate a new arts vision that focuses on elevating the work of students, faculty and staff.

Congratulations!
Reshaping Breast Cancer Narratives
Popular entertainment can play a critical role in getting the message out about breast cancer, whose incidence rates have risen in the past four decades. Hollywood, Health & Society convened a panel of showrunners, writers and medical experts for a discussion about young women affected by early onset breast cancer, how the disease disproportionately affects women of color, and the importance of messaging to raise awareness about risk.

Upcoming Event!
Wed., May 10, 2023 | 6:30 - 9pm
Do the Write Thing
Join Hollywood, Health & Society for its first in a series of mixers connecting cultural creatives. The first mixer includes a fireside chat with Yvette Lee Bowser and Joy Gorman Wettels, executive producers on the new hit series UnPrisoned.