Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians under 25, with more young people taking their lives than die in car accidents or skin cancer. This isn’t just a problem in our country- every 40 seconds a teenager somewhere in the world commits suicide. After suffering from depression and attempting to take his own life, Jay Richards was inspired to create Sunnier Side Up, an in-depth documentary intended to engage the community and raise awareness. We spoke to Jay about his project, youth suicide and the terrifying experience of depression.
RESCU: What inspired you to create this documentary?
Jay Richards: I was inspired to make the documentary firstly because of my own experience with depression as a young person, which ultimately led to me trying to take my own life. After my recovery I thought I could’ve used something like Sunnier Side Up because I would’ve been aware of other healthier alternatives and solutions.
Then in 2011 the ABS informed us that suicide was now the biggest killer of young people in Australia. I just couldn’t sit by and not try to do something positive and meaningful about that.
Then I was further inspired by the massive online community that teenagers and young people all around the world had created for themselves on sites like Facebook, Youtube and Tumblr, where for better or worse they were already sharing their experiences and pain with each other in such a raw and honest way. I felt an in depth documentary was needed to help bring everything and everyone together in one place where the issues were easier to digest and understand.
RESCU: What do you hope to achieve with Sunnier Side Up?
Jay Richards: Our agenda with Sunnier Side Up is simple – we want to stop youth suicide. We can only achieve this by engaging and informing the community on a large scale, because it’s going to be in the family homes, the classrooms and the wider community that real, positive change will occur. There is no doubt in my mind this documentary and the web series will save young lives.
RESCU: Traditionally, youth suicide has been a bit of a taboo topic. Did you have any difficulty securing funding for this project? If so, how did you overcome this?
Jay Richards: Youth suicide has always been a taboo subject, especially in the media. When we hear about we cringe inside, and that makes it difficult to talk about. For a long time, young people suffering from depression, bullying or the need to self-harm for example have found it almost impossible to talk about their problems to friends, teachers or parents because they feel alone and embarrassed, or scared, and worry they won’t be taken seriously.
Securing funding for any documentary is difficult these days, especially for this one. And it’s never been done before, not the way I’m doing it. Our funding so far has been privately sourced, and Rob Moroney from R&R Media at Fox Studios has generously funded the development stage. But we need a little more than that to produce this documentary with the high production values I have in mind.
In the past 12 months the wider media and commercial networks have started reporting more and more about youth suicide, and I think that has also made it a little easier for us to convince people there is a problem, and that we can do something about it. We also use social media extensively, and even rolled out an ambitious Crowd Funding Campaign with Fan Dependent at Spectrum Films in Sydney. This helped raise more awareness about the documentary.
RESCU: There are a lot of real-life stories in this documentary. Did creating this film change the way you think about youth suicide at all? Were there any significant lessons you took away from the project?
Jay Richards: Sunnier Side Up is all about young people’s stories, giving them an opportunity to tell us about their hopes and fears, struggles and successes and their ideas for a positive future. It’s revealing, honest and intends to inform as well as entertain in a very human way.
I already had an insiders perspective on youth suicide, but I’ve learned a lot from extensive research and talking to teenagers, their families, psychologists and other professionals also involved in the film. I travelled as far as Western Australia to visit with some Indigenous communities, elders and families in the remote Buttah Windie region, Meekatharra and Cue who have some amazing stories to tell. We have people participating in the documentary personally and professionally from all walks of life in NSW, VIC, WA, and QLD.
I think one of the most important things I’ve learned producing this project is that if any child or teenager is to have a fighting chance at growing in to a healthy, happy adult, they need a loving, supporting family. Any young person who has that stands a good chance.
RESCU: Do you have any words of advice for parents who believe their teenager may be suffering from depression?
Jay Richards: First I’d like to say I’m not a Psychologist or Counsellor. But I know talking and listening to them is always a great place to start. And by that I mean they talk and you listen.
One thing all the professionals agree on though is there are usually some warning signs, and certain things to potentially look out for in their behaviour and personality. It can be hard to tell if a young person is just being a typical teenager or is in trouble and needs help. That’s the great thing about this documentary, we’re able to put all of this very important life saving information in one place, not just in the film but also on our website. This is really important because it means teenagers and parents can access all the information from their own homes in their hour of need.
RESCU: What’s next for Sunnier Side Up?
Jay Richards: We’re taking on the world here in a positive, uplifting way. We still need to raise the rest of our budget before we go in to production to film in October 2013. Then straight in to the edit four weeks later. For the next 8 weeks we’re also running a Crowd Funding campaign to help with that, in Partnership with Thomas Mai at Fan Dependent.
And in the meantime we’ve got a big job spreading awareness not only for Sunnier Side Up, but for the cause in general to stop youth suicide. We’ve got lots coming up online to keep people entertained and engaged. You can join us on Facebook to keep up to date.
Watch the sizzle reel for Sunnier Side Up below.
For more about the Sunnier Side Up campaign visit sunniersideup.com or Facebook.
Find them on Twitter
To donate to the Sunnier Side Up project visit Pozible
