Why An Insurance Company Made A Feature Film About Volunteer Firefighters
Manager of Content & Editorial at IAG, Raelene Metlitzky, shares why the NRMA Insurance brand decided to create a feature length documentary about volunteer firefighters. Rae shares how a leap of faith on behalf of the brand turned into a book, then a film, then a movement that’s reached across Australia and has made a profound impact on brand affinity after being picked up for broadcast by the largest network in Australia.
TRANSCRIPT
Raelene Metlitzky: The fires were unprecedented and the creation of this film for our brand was unprecedented. We started with a thesis in essence, you know, why do people run to danger? We then started thinking, well, we are sharing these stories of, of help and these stories of hope, but what's next? Ultimately we've ended up with a book, a film and a movement. And that is what we are most proud of because that is the long tail that, that we continue to build upon.
Jesse Roesler: Greetings and welcome to Content That Moves, the podcast from Brand Storytelling and Credo Nonfiction, where it's my distinct pleasure to interview the brightest minds in branded content creation who are out there telling the stories that make you actually feel something on behalf of brands. I'm your host, Jesse Roesler, the founder of Credo Nonfiction, where we partner with brands to find and tell stories that reveal brand purpose and deepen brand meaning in a way that traditional advertising just doesn't.
This podcast is co-produced by Brand Storytelling, bringing you the latest news, trends, and insights in branded content with top-of-industry events and in-depth industry coverage online. Brand Storytelling encourages a higher level of collaboration amongst advertisers, agencies, media partners, and creators in pursuit of a richer media environment. For more of the latest in the world of branded content, or to explore event offerings, visit brandstorytelling.tv today.
Joining me today is Manager of Content & Editorial at IAG, Raelene Metlitsky, who shares why an insurance company would venture to create a feature-length film about volunteer firefighters, and an incredibly moving one at that. There weren’t many dry eyes in the theater in Park City and the film has had an incredible impact in it’s country of origin where it was picked up for broadcast by the largest network in Australia. Rae shares how an idea became a book, and a book became a film, and a film has become a movement, all sparked by the NRMA Insurance Brand.
Well, Raelene, we're incredibly excited to have you, not just because you traveled halfway around the world all the way to be here from Australia, but sitting in that theater with this group watching ‘A Fire Inside’ was a really powerful experience. And if we're gonna spend a big chunk of our time talking about that, these amazing volunteer firefighters that fought the bushfires of 2019. And you know, it got emotional in the room, which I'm sure you've experienced before, but I just wanted to say thanks for coming all this way and for sharing that experience with everybody here.
Raelene Metlitzky: It is my absolute privilege, and I'm so delighted to be here. It's been such an extraordinary experience just to be surrounded by like-minded people, from filmmakers to people from brands. So it's been terrific. It's interesting you talk about the emotion in the room. What always sort of gets me, and the question I always ask, is at what point did you feel emotional? And everybody seems to have quite a different response. My response is always the part of the film where it becomes empowering. The part of the film where the help comes through, where people collectively say, "Wow, look what we did. Look how we ran to help other people." That's the bit that gets me. Cause that's the moment in the film where you go, yes, after all this devastation.
Jesse Roesler: Well, in like the classic storytelling structure and mythical structure, and like a hero's journey, I mean, to show how, like you said, it's like an apocalyptic environment. Like it gets dark before the help comes in, and then when the help does come in, it's like a triumph, like entrance. And it's powerful.
Raelene Metlitzky: It's really important to set the film up and to set the context. And just for the audience's context, particularly a U.S. audience. The fires began in 2019 and burned for about nine months straight. For context, if we're looking at the intensity and the scale, the scale of, from a U.S. perspective, is starting off in Vancouver down to San Diego and into Mexico. That's a big fire.
And we'd come off the back of three years of drought. So people, particularly in our rural regional areas, were already so vulnerable. And those fires burned and burned and burned, killed many people. And indeed, homes and lives were destroyed and so on. And I think no sooner had those fires been extinguished, the last of the fires, that very week our country went into the first of our many lockdowns.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. That's the timing is just, it's Shakespearean. I want to thank you for the context. Before we get super deep into the film, I'd love to set up a little bit more about your background and what led you from television to working in a brand. And maybe you can set up too a little bit for people that aren't familiar with IAG and NRMA. That would be great.
Raelene Metlitzky: Yeah. Crazy. How does a creative end up working for an insurance company, right? Um, and as I always say to younger people, you know, I think one's career, particularly in this industry, is never a straight path. And that's kind of the beauty of it because along the way you're getting all these more sort of tools into your tool belt, you know, as you go through. So my background really ironically started in drama and in theater.
Jesse Roesler: Me too.
Raelene Metlitzky: Spirits there. Crazy, right? I've met a lot of people here who have had very similar backgrounds, from musical theater to acting and so on. Um, and then I studied media performance and I loved that. And I went into radio, and I loved journalism. I grew up surrounded by radio and storytelling. I grew up in South Africa. Okay. And one of the interesting things about apartheid was that we didn't have television because they really had such censorship over the media. Ah, so we had radio, and we used to listen to radio plays. And so that storytelling was so profound for me. All I wanted to do was be a storyteller. So ultimately ended up as a news journalist and a news reader, and then I kind of moved into television news and documentary and then into light entertainment.
I did every reality show you can think of, throw it at me, and I'll probably nod mm-hmm. Um, had a couple of really terrific documentaries for commercial television, and then kind of discovered this commercial integration side of TV. Yeah. As people started getting into that TiVo stage where you were kind of able to skip forward in the ads, brands were going, "Crap, what do we do now?" Right. So moved more into integration and then ultimately sort of moved into being part of the content and editorial team. And I remember somebody saying to me in an interview, "Why do you wanna work for an insurance company?" I was like, at the end of the day, content is content and stories are stories. So yeah, it's been a wonderful journey, and I'm super privileged and proud to be able to tell those stories.
Jesse Roesler: That's awesome. I mean, it seems like even in the last three to five years, there's been an influx as brands realize, "Hmm, maybe we shouldn't hire advertising companies to make movies. Maybe we should talk to people that actually make movies and television to help us with that." Which is amazing. You're seeing so many people with your background now on staff at brands like that. Um, you mentioned the insurance company. Can you give us also a little bit of context of the insurance company and how it all fits together and then what your role entails within it?
Raelene Metlitzky: Absolutely. So IAG, Insurance Group Australia, is the largest general insurer in Australia. What's interesting about the company is that it's a purpose-led company, and we talk about the company being established to make your world a safer place, which is a beautiful premise, a purpose-led premise. And then NRMA Insurance is one of the biggest brands underneath that umbrella company. Okay. And we stand for help. Help is who we are. Help is in our DNA. And we're a very established brand. We've been around for about 95 or so years. We're a very recognized brand. We have great brand affinity and brand love, but help is our premise and the power of help. So we are at the stage now, very successfully, where we're able to not even put up an NRMA logo but a help logo, and there's instant recognition. So we're in a very privileged position from that perspective.
Jesse Roesler: That's awesome. So how are you working? Like, do you have a team that's looking for stories that fit within that premise? Or how does that premise guide what you do in your storytelling?
Raelene Metlitzky: It's interesting because ultimately, in regards to this film, we didn't set out to make a film. We thought at the very least, hey, maybe a little TED Talk or something along those lines. Organically, it grew into a feature-length documentary, and it's really a kudos to our former Chief Marketing Officer and our current Acting Chief Marketing Officer. A the end of the day, I mean, the way our sort of marketing team is structured, we have brand strategy and execution, and they deal largely with the above-the-line and the TVCs and so on. My team is more around the social and editorial and content, so we play more in the digital space. Okay. But we are seeking out those stories to share, and all those stories have at their heart, from a context and from a marketing creative strategy, they need to either show help, show us as being helpful, and so on. So my team is kind of some social media experts and writers, and I sort of sit on top of that team in terms of an editorial capacity.
Jesse Roesler: Okay. That makes sense. It's interesting, like each brand has a slightly different way of how it works, where you're talking to a few other brands that are here. Some of them, it can be as much as just there's one person working on editorial content, and everything else is like traditional market advertising too. Like for example, Stripe has Stripe Press. It's an entire publishing entity that sits alongside it, and they're publishing books. And so it's just interesting and helpful to understand where a brand is on that spectrum because it is quite varied at this stage.
Raelene Metlitzky: And look, we have some extraordinary agencies that we collaborate with. What I think the greatest challenge is, and I think what we're all getting better at, is really breaking down the silos within the marketing team because, at the end of the day, it's what touches the customer. It's what the customer is seeing and hearing and feeling, what emails they're getting, what they're seeing on Facebook or Instagram, what they're seeing on television or hearing on radio. And I think the challenge is to make sure that that ecosystem is cohesive and the messaging is coming through collectively. Yeah. And that's a tricky one because we're working on so many different parts. There's a retail message going out at the same time. There's a really profound brand message going out above the lines. So really trying to bring that in and make it one single source of truth.
Jesse Roesler: And that's where you find the best thing when there is that, I think, that cross-pollination where what's happening maybe on your side, like I've seen really effective campaigns on the advertising side where there's content that was captured as part of a larger documentary story used in a shorter format that's still emotional and gets at the brand values and then maybe even points people to the larger film to see. So oftentimes they can work together.
Raelene Metlitzky: I feel as though we've got a little way to go in that regard, from the perspective of gone are the days of pitching into an agency or rather an agency pitching into us and saying, "Hey, here's a phenomenal idea for a brand campaign." And then the rest of the business, particularly in my area, being so social and digital, going, "Oh great, there's a 60-seconder. How do we now purpose fit that for our channels?" Yeah. So we kind of need to be looking at it from the outset going, "Here's the idea, here is the strategy, what is fit for platform on each platform," as opposed to retrofitting from this big brand 60-second shiny TVC that we all love. So I think there's a bit of a paradigm shift, but I do think we are getting better and better at that.
Jesse Roesler: You mentioned that ‘A Fire Inside’ wasn't initially going to be a feature film, so I'd love to hear all about the origin of that, like where it started and how it did evolve to become a beautiful book, a feature film, and everything else that you built around it.
Raelene Metlitzky: Yeah. Ultimately, we've ended up with a book, a film, and a movement. And that is what we are most proud of because that is the long tail that we continue to build upon. In essence, when I actually began with the organization at the end of 2019, I mean, there wasn't an Australian who wasn't touched by the fires. Even in Sydney, where nothing was on fire per se, the smoke was unbelievable. We had terrible, terrible smoke. You'd put stuff on the washing line in Bondi Beach, and you would have bits of ash on your washing. Everything smelled with smoke. So we were all really touched seeing it all on our news every night and people feeling so incredibly helpless. Our country was on fire all along the East Coast. I went to hear a firefighter talk about his experience. He also happened to be a filmmaker. And he spoke so articulately about what those moments felt like, to stand in front of a fire that was taller than buildings day in and day out, desperately trying to put these fires out to save people, what it did to his mental health. And these were early days of the fire. And it really struck me and indeed my director at the time, what makes people, what motivates people to run to danger? Who does that? And we have the largest volunteering firefighting service in the world, and we wanted to really unpack, is that a quintessentially Australian thing? What is in someone's DNA? You don't wanna run to fire; you wanna run away from fire. So we really wanted to unpack that and decided, well, we'll just do a TED Talk and perhaps we'll sponsor it. And as we sort of progressed and became involved in a production company, the idea just grew and grew. And then we saw these wonderful images from Matthew Abbott, who's an extraordinary photojournalist. And then we had these images, and all these stories began to emerge about help and what people were doing. And lo and behold, we decided we needed to share these stories, these stories of help and of hope, and we created a feature film. Voila.
Jesse Roesler: That's beautiful. I find for me personally, like I think the best documentaries are an exploration of the ‘why’ of some aspect of human behavior. And when you can find compelling characters to go on some sort of journey with and unpack that along the way, I mean, those are the best films, and I think that's what we're seeing here.
Raelene Metlitzky: Thank you. We started with a thesis, in essence, you know, why do people run to danger? We are the only species on the planet that do that. The human being, on two legs, runs to danger. What is that about? So that was kind of our thesis. And I guess as we began and continued exploring the film, and as this unfolded and the mental health issues began to unfold, etc., we then started thinking, well, we are sharing these stories of help and these stories of hope, but what's next? We know these fires are coming back. We know we are in a, we are certainly not a brand that shies away from climate change, which I'm very, very proud of as a purpose-led company. And that's why we thought this is almost a recruitment drive. We need, as our role, to live our brand purpose to make people's world a safer place. So we partnered with the Australian Resilience Corps, which was in its very, very early days, infancy, to say we will partner with you to rally people in this area of preparedness, which is one of our content pillars. Get prepared. What can we do to create the country's largest army of helpers? And that's what makes this, I think, so wonderful. That's the long tail.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah, absolutely. I love that there's, you know, it's not just the film, like you said, there's a movement happening. Uh, the film is at the center of it maybe, or helps inspire people to join that movement, but it's much bigger than the film. But a film is big in and of itself, and it's a lot bigger than a TED Talk. So tell me about the journey from TED Talk to feature-length film, both from like what made you decide it was a film and not just a TED Talk, and then how did you, like, was there precedence for a feature-length film in your brand? Or like, how did you sell through an idea to take a TED Talk and make it such a big, ambitious, beautiful project?
Raelene Metlitzky: The fires were unprecedented, and the creation of this film for our brand was unprecedented. It was a leap of faith. We buckled in, and we held on tight. And I think, and I've had this conversation with a number of people in Park City during all the meetings, is that it takes a brave leader and brave leadership to do this. And I think the irony here is that insurance companies are notoriously risk-averse. Man, we are all about risk. Like, we just wanna run away from risk. So I think to really have that leadership to believe in something and to know that this could be profound. And from a marketing perspective, I mean, it is a marketer's dream to get into culture, an absolute dream, to then take that one step forward and then to potentially change culture, which is what we hope to do, is extraordinary. So I think it was definitely a leap of faith from our leadership perspective, but it was also something we felt really moved to do. You know, the fires went out, COVID hit, the stories were lost, the news cycle moved on, it was off the front page. And as an insurance company with our own assessors on the ground, spending weeks away from their own families, going in, helping people, paying out claims, organizing emergency accommodation, etc., we felt almost a responsibility to have these conversations, to share these stories. And if nobody else was going to do it, to try and spark a national conversation. So we hoped the film would become a lightning strike to do that. So from a TED Talk to a feature film, I think was not what any of us expected, but I'm supremely proud and thrilled that we were able to do that. And it's a legacy piece for all of us. It's a moment in time to document those stories of help and hope and resilience.
Jesse Roesler: That's great. Can you pinpoint any moment where you said, "Oh, this actually does need to be a feature-length film, and I need to ask leadership to make a leap of faith"? Or was it like slow little steps, or was there a moment where you're like, "This is now gonna be something much bigger"?
Raelene Metlitzky: I don't think there was a particular moment. I think as we began hearing about some of the stories in the very early days of pre-production, where we sat down with our production company and did the pre-prod and a little bit of research, and we started dipping our toes in. And as these stories started coming back from the field, we realized there was so much content, there were so many stories to tell. And I think the way we then sort of tried to unpack it was in chapters, because ultimately, it had a beginning, a middle, and an end. And that end for us then became a call to action because it wasn't the end; it was the beginning. So I think there were just so many stories to tell and to share, and organically, as the guys went into the field to film this during the fires, they were coming back and reporting to us and saying, "We found this incredible guy. He runs a pub in Cobargo. It became this meeting place for people. He then started rallying people, etc." So man, let's tell his story. And then there was a young firefighter who ultimately became an antagonist in the film. And then we uncovered that while he's saving other people, his own uncle and cousin are killed. It was like, man, we've gotta tell that story. And it just became this ripple effect. So we knew we had a lot more than a TED Talk.
Jesse Roesler: That's the moment that got me, by the way. When he went back to the family that he saved, and they were talking about, he was talking about not being able to save his own family, I was like, oh, I'm feeling it right now. I'm like, that was so powerful. So yeah, I think when you, when stories like that come about, you're like, oh my gosh, there's so much depth to that and emotion to that that, like, whatever call to action you're gonna wrap into that, people are gonna feel it at a level they wouldn't if it was just "Volunteer, help your neighbor." It's like stories like that make you like, "I have to do something."
Raelene Metlitzky: And that's what we wanted people to feel, I guess. An extraordinary young man, extraordinarily resilient. And I think the reason that we got such beautiful stories from these people was because they had not had an opportunity to tell their story, to share their story. So for many of them, this was the first time they had a moment to speak, to unpack. And I think as an audience, we were then front row to that emotion for them as they were unpacking and being so honest and vulnerable. You know, there is a young firefighter in his twenties saying, "I felt guilty that I saved you, but I couldn't save my own family." And I'm thrilled to hear that you come out of that film thinking, "Man, I wanna do something." You know? And that's the point, to try and empower people and encourage people to think about helping and volunteering and doing something. It's all that help reflex. That's who we are as humans.
Jesse Roesler: Absolutely. I'd love to ask two kind of more inside baseball questions from two different perspectives. A lot of our audience are of course brand marketers, brand storytellers. When you had those stories, how did you package that to leadership to get them to take that leap of faith and say, "We're gonna fund a feature-length film, which we've never done before." Like, what's your pitch internally?
Raelene Metlitzky: Okay. My pitch internally, from my perspective, was this also provides us with unbelievable staff pride. You cannot underestimate sharing the stories of our people and our teams on the ground during the most harrowing time, one of the most harrowing times in a natural disaster in our history, sharing our people's stories. Staff pride is incredibly important. We're a big brand. We have, you know, nine or ten thousand people across Australia and New Zealand. This film is now used as an induction. Yeah. So every person that comes in is shown this film. So I think that's a big tick, right? The way up to leadership, that's a big piece. And that goes to culture as well. And for any brand, culture is supremely important. Yeah. It's the heart of the company, right? It's what makes you wanna come to work every day. So yeah, I think that was a big tick. And I think that we really could show in other ways post the film how we were helping. We could tell the stories of our chopper, which flew 400 hours to help the rural firefighting service. We could use our own climatologist and meteorologist. We have an entire team in our safer communities team and in our major events team. So we could share those stories too. And as I mentioned before, in a greater ecosystem. So the film really was one piece and the long tail and then how we expanded and extended on those stories. From a brand's perspective, we got a lot of mileage and leverage out of that.
Jesse Roesler: That's great. And it's something that has come up, like the benefits are myriad. Like a lot of times these are externally facing films, and it's consumer-facing, but you can't discount, especially with something like this, the internal, like exactly what you said, like if your employees don't understand brand purpose, they're not gonna be motivated in the same way as when they finally do. There's this story, I always think of this story: There's a bricklayer, you know, working on the road, and someone passes by and asks, "What are you doing?" And you see him laying bricks, it's like, okay. Someone else walks by, another person working on the wall a little further down, asks, "What are you doing?" "Oh, I'm building a wall." It's getting a little bigger in scope. And then walks further down, sees another person working on it even further down, and asks, "What are you doing?" "Oh, I'm building the community center where our entire town will come and gather and be together." And like, when you understand that bigger picture, when you're working on one little thing, it's easy to get stuck in your task. But when you have that big picture purpose in mind, wow, you're gonna be much more motivated to keep on your task.
Raelene Metlitzky: Right? Absolutely. Yeah. From individualism to collectivism. And I think, again, the conversations I've had with so many brands here is it's not just a piece of content you are creating, it's what sits around that content and go into it. I mean, it'll be organic regardless, but go into it. It will build brick by brick, but perhaps begin with the end in mind. What could this be? What could this piece of content, this big brick wall, be so much more? And I think that's the beauty of a long tail is that we will continue to build those walls, um, hopefully for many years to come. So begin with the end in mind. What do you really want out of this? You can't go into it saying, "Hey, we're gonna make a really cool brand film here, and it's gonna win awards." That's great. But what's the long tail? What else can you get? What else can the brand get out of it? Um, so yeah, for us, I mean, we're able to tell the stories about people, a lot of staff pride, um, and we will use this content moving further and further forward.
Jesse Roesler: The other piece of inside baseball question I wanted to ask is more on...
Raelene Metlitzky: I know nothing about baseball, Jesse, come on. I'm from Australia. Throw me a cricket question, throw me an AFL question.
Jesse Roesler: This is an American, I'm using an American term. I don't even think about that. Uh, it means we're getting into the other American term is how the sausage is made. Have you heard that one?
Raelene Metlitzky: I have not.
Jesse Roesler: Okay, so...
Raelene Metlitzky: But as long as you haven't told me to throw a shrimp on the barbie, where I get... Right, because we don't really do that.
Jesse Roesler: Oh my gosh, I'll be kind.
Raelene Metlitzky: Too funny.
Jesse Roesler: Part of what we're trying to do is like peel back the curtain and it's like, I think this film is so amazing for a general audience, but like for our very specialized audience, both on the brand marketing side, like, how do I pitch this internally? But then on the filmmaking side, which I'm always, you know, fascinated by. An interesting thing that was mentioned at the screening: your filmmaking team, like, or at least the director went and spent time with these people without a camera, without a crew, and really built some trust. And I think so many times with these projects, because of timeline, because of budget, there's just not either the time or the money to actually do that. It's like, we have to make this thing just go start shooting. But you lose this relationship that's built before, and that changes completely how people show up.
Raelene Metlitzky: I totally agree. And I think that has been so prevalent in almost all the films that have been showcased in Brand Storytelling. The relationship, the trust is so important, and it shines through. And I think particularly for our director, who went with a small team into those communities who were so traumatized and who didn't really understand what had happened, what was going to happen, I think they were in an incredibly vulnerable situation. So as a brand, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, if you have the opportunity to nurture those relationships, build that trust, you are a filmmaker, you know that you're going to really eek out those beautiful moments because people trust you and they're okay to be vulnerable with you. Having said that, not all brands have the capacity or the funding to be able to do that. Um, it's a tricky one to navigate, you know, but I think as an experienced filmmaker, you can probably forge those connections pretty quickly.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. I mean, it can be a meal. It's even that. That's what I've done when we've been limited is just go in the night before the rest of the crew, have a meal, and like, even just a few hours to connect as a human before somebody making something about them.
Raelene Metlitzky: And that trust again. I'm an authentic human being. I want to authentically tell your story in the most authentic way. Um, yeah, I think that's super, super, we know that's super important.
Jesse Roesler: Especially when there's a brand funding it. I mean, I've made dozens of purely, like, independently, like passion projects where I'm just going in because I find a story fascinating. And then I've made more than that, maybe hundreds of brand projects where I'm going in and representing a brand, and there's certainly more skepticism on behalf of subjects when it's a brand that's funding it. So there's an extra layer there. I think you need to really be able to articulate and communicate the motive, the motivation of why the brand is doing it. And clearly, this motivation, I can understand how everyone was like, "Absolutely, I'll be part of that." If you want to inspire more volunteers and more people to help, like, of course. So I think knowing that motivation and being able to communicate it is critical to get authentic, real people to feel like they can be themselves.
Raelene Metlitzky: It's a challenge for a filmmaker to go in and say, "Hey, we're making a film about the fires, about the power of help, about resilience, and NRMA Insurance has commissioned this film." I mean, instantly, whenever a brand is involved, brands sell stuff. We sell insurance policies. We're a grudge purchase until people really need us. Right. So I think it's really difficult for a filmmaker and a huge challenge, even, you know, really huge challenge, to go in and say, "This is funded by, powered by a brand." So kudos to everybody, to every filmmaker who has brand backing and brand funding to go out and be able to tell these stories and empower and encourage the subjects in the stories that they're telling to be comfortable with that. That can be a tough gig, no doubt.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah, for sure. Along those lines, you know, for folks at brands that are hoping to do something maybe not exactly like this, um, maybe not centered on, you know, it's such a rare thing that something so huge would be happening, but even just to tap into some cultural conversation, um, maybe like what you did with ‘Slow Ways,’ I think it was, right? In both of these, you know, that's very, very different, but you're tapping into a cultural conversation in some way and really seamlessly, as a credit to you, like integrating it into a brand purpose, value set, something like that. What advice do you have?
Raelene Metlitzky: I think you've said it. I think the key word here is integration and, a word prior to that, seamless integration. If you are able to tap into culture, to tap into cultural spikes and moments that are relevant and potent to your audience, it's gonna resonate. So you mentioned ‘Slow Ways’ as a case study. ‘Slow Ways’ came off the back of the fires, and then following a pandemic, people couldn't travel. We couldn't go from one state to another. People were taking holidays in and around their own state. We sell caravan insurance. People were, well, you couldn't hire a caravan. You couldn't get one. Everybody was on the road. Yeah. And the ‘Slow Ways’ campaign, the idea around that was, take the slow way. Here's an itinerary that we've created for you. It's caravan-friendly roads. Take the slow way, and along the way, you can go and help reinvigorate those local communities who've been decimated by fire and then impacted further by COVID. Um, so I think my advice, for what it's worth, would be tap into culture, tap into what is happening at that time. Why are you telling this story? Why are you telling this story now? And why is it relevant to your audience? And I think if you do that, you are going to really connect with people because it's relevant. Otherwise, you're just telling stories for story's sake, which is lovely, but it ain't really gonna benefit the brand, and it's not gonna benefit the audience necessarily.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. It's important to keep all those things in mind, and I think that's a beautiful piece of advice to wrap up on.
Raelene Metlitzky: So no, thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I've had so much fun. Yeah. Uh, it's been a terrific event, and I hope the film sparks a fire inside every storyteller to continue making beautiful content and sharing the content with the world.
Jesse Roesler: Having seen it, I'm sure. I hope you've been enjoying the podcast, and I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, drop me a note at jesse@credononfiction.com.
