The Second Line
Title: The Second Line
Creator: Shannon Annarella
Category: Space
Creator Commentary:
This is the first act of my screenwriting thesis: a World War One drama based on the real story of the Committee on Public Information. The CPI, chaired by George Creel, fought one of the most important, but underlooked battles of WWI: winning over the hearts and minds of the American people. The Second Line focuses on the domestic front… half the world away from the fighting in the trenches and the unrestricted submarine warfare. George Creel was a tour-de-force, leading what was at the time the largest advertising campaign ever seen. He adopted a multimedia, multinational approach that intuitively (and radically) understood the diversity of America and its Allies and reached out directly to those marginalized or overlooked by society: the non-native English speakers, women, the German Americans, and more. Most astonishingly, he garnered support and the highest praise from all corners of the globe without once resorting to propaganda. Creel believed wholeheartedly in the truth and in the “expression, not suppression” of information. His story, as meticulously documented in his book How We Advertised America, is a revolution of intellect and passion across an extraordinarily all-encompassing spatial dimension — a crusade into ‘every’ America that won over the world in the process.
Submission:
Creator Bio:
Shannon is an avid world traveler with a passion for singing, service, and storytelling. Now in her senior year, Shannon will be completing her degree in Screenwriting with a minor in Applied Psychology. She is also the president of the University Women’s Choir and the Membership Chair for the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society. This past Interterm, Shannon — as the Hufflepuff Prefect — studied Harry Potter critically in London and led her house in discussions on text-to-film adaptation, consumerism, and psychology. Her research from the course will form the basis of her Capstone project in May.