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April 12, 2022 47 mins

Today we sit down with Alex Kaplan the founder of a non-profit film company that raises the conversation about addiction and mental health through short films. 
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carl Fessenden (00:02):
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your power and become a superfantoday.
All right, and welcome to thedrunken Warren podcast. And
you're going to be listening toEpisode 33. today and I want to
say Happy Tuesday to everybody,I hope that everybody is doing

(01:08):
well. Man, it's into spring nowa couple of weeks in and it's
really starting to warm up alittle bit. And I'm starting to
get that springtime field going.
We just had St. Patty's Dayabout a month ago. So I hope
that everybody had a safe St.
Patty's Day I hope that you guyswere out there being safe. I
know that a lot of times thatcan be a trigger for people. And

(01:28):
so you know, we have to startcombating these triggers and
finding out other safe ways tohave celebrations and to stay
safe during our recoveryprocess. And one of the ways
that we're going to be stayingsafe today is we're going to be
talking to our guest, Alex, andhe's going to be talking about
his project in his company ofsubstance and how they reach out

(01:50):
to people with short films toempower them to succeed in their
recovery and to succeed in life.
So without any further ado,let's jump into this week's
episode. Welcome to the drunkenworm podcast. Each week, I will
be bringing you dynamic contentthat will educate and inspire.
This podcast was created to talkto mental health professionals

(02:12):
about addiction recovery andtheir own personal stories that
can help inspire us to becomebetter people and live healthier
lives. Alright, and again,welcome to the drunken worm
podcast. My name is Carl, thehost and the creator of this
podcast. And today's guest isAlex Kaplan. We're going to be
talking about how Alex Alex usesmovies as a tool to improve

(02:34):
people's sense of belonging andempowerment, addiction and
health within the media. Andwe're also going to be thinking
progressively about the way thatwe treat addiction, mental
health, trauma, and more. Intoday's episode, Episode 33 on
the drunken worm podcast. So Iwant to welcome Alex to the
stage and into the studio. Alex,welcome, man.

Alex Kaplen (02:55):
Hey, Carl, thank you so much for having me. This
is so cool. Yeah, you're

Carl Fessenden (02:59):
welcome, brother. You're welcome. You
know, we got a lot of a lot ofthings to celebrate man, you
know, our sobriety, the greatwork that you guys are doing at
of substance, which reallyfocuses on bringing awareness to
mental health issues, andaddiction through short films.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about your story and
how you came to want to spreadthe word about this and further

(03:23):
people's education andempowerment process?

Alex Kaplen (03:27):
Sure, yeah. Thank you so much. So I, my my
personal story is I was my daddied when I was 23 years old.
I'm 36 now, and I was raised,wealthy, and very lucky, very
fortunate. But on the day thatwe buried my father, we found

(03:50):
out we were 10s of millions ofdollars in debt, due to some
interesting circumstances, butnothing shady, just unfortunate.
And, and so on the same day thatI lost my dad, we also lost
everything that ever made mefeel safe, but it's really what
I lost was my context with withthe world around. That's how I

(04:14):
related to the community I knewand the people and like it's um,
it's weird how, how much of youridentity is in like your socio
economic, like standing andenvironment. And so I ran away,
I disappeared, I crawled into adeep bottle of booze and under a
huge mountain of cocaine. I justI disappeared i numb for years.

(04:35):
And um, and once I realized,like, this wasn't going
anywhere, and you know, I wasdoing to eight balls a day for
five days straight. With abottle or two of something to
balance it out each day. Yeah.
When I was still alive, somehowI was like, hey, maybe there's
maybe there's a differentchoice. And I started I started
seeking help for myself. And Itried A couple of different

(04:59):
methodologies. And I don't thinkthat it's about the methodology
you find, I think it's about thecommunity. I think it's about
people. And unfortunately, the,the communities and the people
I've found where they may havebeen abstinent, but they were
miserable. And it didn'tencourage me to want to go

(05:20):
through the work it would taketo be as miserable as a work so.
So I, I was about to quit beforeI found a progressive room that
was led by a doctor who, inwhich we don't really talk about
recovery, we don't use the termsrecovery or relapse. And we

(05:40):
don't count days, we don't eventhe goal of the room isn't even
to get into stay sober. The goalof the room is to intentionally
work to consistently improve thequality of your life. Yes, oh,
that's, that's where I gotsober. I've been in that room
for nine years. Now. When Ilearned to be a, it's the room I

(06:00):
learned to be a husband, abetter son, brother, father, son
someday and a professional and afriend. And, and it was a place
that was really warm andwelcoming, that I fell off the
wagon every week. And everyweek, I'd come back Tuesday

(06:22):
nights, because they just said,keep coming back and just be
honest with us. And I would comeback and I'd be honest, and I'd
say hey, I fell off again. Ifucked up again. I left group I
got I got blow and I didn't allweek, maybe like, hey, that's
okay, you're doing great way tocome in and waited just tell us
that is that's the hardest thingyou can do. Right? You're doing

(06:43):
everything right, just keepcoming back. And I kept leaving
and falling and leaving andfalling. But I keep coming back
and saying I fell again. Andthey kept making me feel like I
wasn't. I wasn't, I wasn'tworthless. You know, like, I
wasn't a complete fuckup everyweek. And there was just
something to that I developedthe, the this the the habit of

(07:05):
vulnerability and honesty,right. And I stopped hiding and
I stopped lying. And I startedto feel less shame. And I felt
seen, I felt encouraged. Andover time, it just, it was
tremendous. And that's, that'sthe room I got. So this is
really cool. And so I'm ofsubstance, I also happen to be a

(07:28):
filmmaker. And I was makingdocumentary short documentary
films for companies inPhiladelphia. And but but I i
still deeply believe in thepower of just movies. And we my
co founder, and I were justlike, hey, what if there were a
bunch of short films that werejust as immersive, entertaining

(07:50):
and high in quality as they werechallenging, authentic and
insightful and some perspectiveof addiction. Right? Oh, a
growing collection of those on aYouTube channel would be
something more than a collectionof films, it's a it's a safe
place where I can go in aninstant and feel seen, heard and
loved and feel empowered, andrecognize that I'm not alone,

(08:13):
feel understood, and then goback to work all through a five
minute rom com. So so that's howwe got started. And that's where
we're where it all came from.
But we've evolved quite a bitsince then. Yes, it's been a
hell of a road.

Carl Fessenden (08:28):
Yes. Yeah, I love the work that you guys are
doing. And you know, I'm a hugefilm buff man, like, I love the
ability for a film to to removeme from wherever I'm at in that
moment, and to immerse myselfinto this cinematic adventure,
right, where, you know, I havenothing that I need to worry

(08:52):
about in that moment. And I knowthat there are certain films out
there that that strive to dodifferent things. You know, a
documentary is striving toprovide an educational context
or a history, like a historycontext towards somebody's life,
or an event or you know,something like that. And then
you have, you know, yourdifferent genres of movie. So

(09:16):
let me ask you, man, what wasthe what's the one movie that
really has influenced you overthe years that you've seen? That
was like, that was like yournumber one. Like, this is what I
want to do.

Alex Kaplen (09:28):
Oh, man, are you out of your mind asking you that
question? God, that question oflike, what's your favorite
movie? I'm like, I could add ithere. Right. I'll be totally
honest, though. Yeah. i i Myfavorite movies are are stranger
than fiction. Okay. Are A LittleMiss Sunshine. Do you know

(09:49):
these? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Ithink like that. I love all
right. Yeah. 1917 was one of themost incredible things I've ever
seen in my entire life. I Sothree times in theaters, right?
Like, it's not my favorite moviemight those warm movies that are
just like human relationshipsand down to earth, and they're

(10:10):
funny, and they're smart, Dan inReal Life, like, those are those
are my favorite movies that thatmake me feel connected, that
makes me think of myrelationships in my family in my
world. Why? And I know thatthose are the ones that that are
just always there in the back ofmy head, that are influencing me

(10:32):
who I want to be and how I'mrelating to my life in my world,
right? Yeah.

Carl Fessenden (10:39):
Yeah, man in and I can, I can totally agree with
you on on those films, greatfilms. 1917 truly amazing, the
cinematography in that movie.
And the whole story about, youknow, this young guy going
through this whole process. And,you know, in all of the things
that go along with that, man,I've got to tell you, I think

(11:01):
the probably the, the one moviethat really comes to mind for me
that I saw in the theaters. AndI've made a mention of this on
another podcast that I do. Andit's Jurassic Park, man. And I
remember seeing that in thetheaters. And I was very
hesitant to go to that filminitially, because I thought it
was going to be scary, I didn'tknow what to expect, you know,

(11:23):
and I thought I was going to bescared out of my mind, and I'm
going to be stuck in this movietheater, and all my friends were
going to be there and I wasgoing to be embarrassed. And my
mom's friend detta, who was asmall Italian lady, who I
towered over in my teen years,because she's like, literally
just over four feet tall. Andshe told me, she said, you know,

(11:43):
you should go to this movie. AndI'm so thankful for her for,
like, just encouraging me to dothat. Because the the way that
that movie was presented to uswhen that helicopter is going
through the mountains, and youhave the music by, you know,
John Williams, and you have thisbig, triumphant moment, for the

(12:03):
first time when they see thelive dinosaur out in the fields.
And they're coming up out of thecar and taking their glasses off
in this whole, you know,production of cinematic value,
right. And it was at that momentthat I was sold on the fact that
movies can transport somebody toa different place. And they have
the ability to relieve stressesthat happen to us in our daily

(12:27):
lives. And it was at that pointthat I was completely sold on
movies, man. And so let me ask,let me ask you this brother. So
we talk about short films. Andwhen I think of a short film,
I'm thinking of a film that'sprobably maybe between 25 to 30
minutes long. Is that kind ofthe essence of a short film?

(12:49):
What what does it mean to have ashort film versus a regular full
length movie?

Alex Kaplen (12:55):
So actually, feature films are considered 40
minutes or longer. So you'reright on, right, but at the same
time, our films are three to 12minutes max, like we we really
try to make these bite sizesuspense pieces from Tom's
thrillers that are just likereal quick, you dive right in

(13:17):
the immersive fast, becauselike, you know, what, what we
recognize is that it's not aboutlike, we know that the power of
movies, right, all you got to dois one one time, but we're
inundated with, right. But theproblem is like just going to a
theater and watching a movie isnot going to have the impact
that that we know it could have.
So we're doing it of substanceis where we're recognizing that

(13:41):
it's less about content than ismen, it is about context. And
it's about the mode of delivery.
So we're trying to turn moviesfrom our greatest tool for
distraction and escapism intoour most powerful tool for
healing and growth by creatingthese bite size films that we
consider tools, right, that gointo the beginning of class that

(14:03):
go at the beginning of grouptherapy, or or a discussion or
training in HR. So because itcreates an inescapable emotional
experience, right, which is howwe learn best and create the
intrinsic motivation. Right? Sothat's, that's what we're doing
where we've what we've figuredout we've cracked the code of

(14:26):
not using movies in thesesituations we've been trying to
use and forever like rehabshave, we've been watching 28
days over and over and over andrehabs, right? Everybody knows
it. But watching that movie overand over, it loses everything we
need more, we need them shorterand we need to do that. But like
movies, even short ones. So it'sa it's a really, really high

(14:51):
value, expensive product. So wedo is we're a nonprofit that
engages the community andvolunteer filmmakers to donate a
day of your time on set with usas you would Habitat for
Humanity. But coming on set andbeing part of a community, with
no ego, with no nothing tocreating connection and

(15:12):
relationships, but also workingon something that you know, is
going to have exponential andscalable impact in the future,
while schools and treatment withwith your family and your
friends. So that's, that's howwe figured out how we utilize
altruism and a sense of purposeand service and community to

(15:32):
make a high value product, sothat it can go into these
systems and actually make somechange. And we know that. Yeah,

Carl Fessenden (15:39):
that's, that's excellent man. And, you know,
and, and the idea that we canuse these movies as a starting
point to engage people inconversation about a topic, a
starting point to educatesomebody who might be afraid to
bring up a topic, or maybethey're even struggling with
that idea. In the start of yourgroup, as a clinician, myself, I

(16:02):
love showing movies, I lovedoing meditations, I love
pulling people outside of theircomfort zone in a short manner,
to start a group, because now,we are now taking them and
they've had a visual experiencehave had an audio experience.
And they've had all of thesesenses that are now being

(16:22):
triggered inside of them. Andnow we can take that and say,
how do you guys feel about that?
What, what came up for you whenyou saw that? Can you relate to
that? And so, you know, this isa fantastic tool that you guys
are starting to do and are doingfor the recovery community, but
also the clinical community aswell. Because this is a tool

(16:44):
that can that can bridge gaps.
You know,

Alex Kaplen (16:51):
that's exactly the vision, right? Like, I mean, we
were we're nonprofit, and wewant to always have at least 20%
of our films and our resourcesfree on our site for anybody to
use anytime they need. But it'salso like, the vision is a self
sustaining nonprofit, where wewere able to create revenue
streams and offerings andproducts to put into the markets

(17:12):
to help as tools for cliniciansas tools for educators as tools
for trainers. So that whateverrevenue comes in, goes into the
nonprofit, so that we can makemore films, we can make more
stories, we can tell morethings, we can bring more people
together. So it's just thislike, ecosystem, but but the
idea is a tool to offer toprofessionals and facilitators,

(17:34):
to help enhance and expedite theoutcomes that you can have in
the work that you're alreadydoing. And we, it's really, it's
so cool. We have gotten so muchfun feedback from clinicians and
therapists and professionals.
They're just like, our job is tosit and spend hour after hour in
session upon session, right?

(17:57):
Having conversations to finallypierce that armor to get to that
vulnerable place where thehealing conversation happens,
right of substance films allowsus to get there in an instant,
right? And there's manydifferent reasons why is like,
if you watch, if I'm a if I'm apatient, and I'm watching and we
watch something in therapytogether, and I, I might not be

(18:19):
ready to say like my feelingsabout something, but I'm going
to project my experiences and myopinions on to what I just saw.
So I might say, Oh, this is whathappened there, which is totally
revealing to the professionaland the clinician to say, that's
what they that's how they seethe world. Yeah, so it allows
for that, while also just like,if it's not that hard, and it's

(18:42):
just like, oh my god, thisreminds me of like my brother,
this relationship haseverything. And it's just like
easy. And so these tools, we'vecreated these tools to help you
guys as much as possible toimprove and enhance the impact
that you can have at a quickerrate. So yeah, we're in it with

(19:02):
you, we're right here with you.

Carl Fessenden (19:04):
And you know, in a while you were saying that I
was envisioning doing a groupand showing a movie. And you
know, as a clinician, we usemovies sparingly because a lot
of movies aren't considered tobe a evidence based approach
unless we have material thatgoes along with it. But the
great thing about this is thatwe can show a very short, you

(19:27):
know, three to you said eightminutes or 12 minutes long as
students Oh, you know, yeah. So,you know, this is a really good
tool to spark conversation. Andit also allows the clients to
relax a little bit. It allowsthem to feel a little more
comfortable in the setting.
Because as a clinician when Isay, Hey, we're doing a movie
today, man, it's like everybodyjust relaxes. Right? All right.

(19:47):
Yeah, man, you know, and it's soit's so good for them to to just
know that recovery is fun. Itdoesn't have to be the same
boring materials that we do inall of our groups. And you know,
and dude, I'm serious, becausethere are so many materials out
there that are just so dry, thateven as a trained clinician to

(20:10):
do the materials, sometimes it'slike pulling nails, when we
have, you know, clients thataren't ready for that approach
yet. And so we have to findthese different ways to try to
engage them. So I'm reallyencouraged by this. And I really
think that this is going to be afantastic tool for for so many
different groups in the recoverycommunity to use on both sides

(20:35):
of the scale.

Alex Kaplen (20:39):
Thanks, Carl, thank you so much. That's, that's the
ideas, just some, we're alreadycreating clinical guides that we
are that are like, it's a it's areally fun and comprehensive
thing that we have. We'veengaged a lot of clinicians in
designing, because we're justlike, how can we make this even
fun for you guys, rightclinicians to activate, right?

(21:02):
So just, if we have a collectionof 12 films, each film can touch
on 10 to 15 topics. And you justgo into the beginning of our of
our guide, and you're just like,oh, today I want to work on
forgiveness, patience, likerecovery, early recovery,
relapse, whatever, you go downthe list, and it's just like,
oh, relapse. Okay, here's atraps day 94 This that go to

(21:25):
page 68. Okay, so day 94 aboutforgiveness. Here are the
objectives. Here's the synopsis.
Here's how it's two minuteslong. Here are the 10 guiding
questions to help you and likedive in, if you want some help.
On the back, there's teachingmoments, it might be like,
alcohol, myopia, right? Likedifferent, like things that are
just Stockholm Syndrome, it'slike to think a little bit

(21:47):
differently. And then we alsoinclude creative activities that
engage everybody. So it's just alittle bit more fun. And
usually, that's just like, takethis topic from this film. We
encourage you to journal aboutit, but don't journal about it
in any way. We want you torespond to the film today, or
the theme of today or theconversation. Do it how you one

(22:08):
creatively, write raw paint,sculpt, sketch, write some
music, write prose, breakpoetry, don't do a photo series,
we, we believe that, thatartistic expression, and
storytelling is one of the bestforms of self discovery that we
have. Absolutely. So we work toengage people in constantly

(22:32):
finding more fun, watch a movieand then paint, right. And so
the other thing about it is likewe've designed this company, so
that it's just like, we madeeight films in eight months, six
of which we shot to a day, thiswas before we have funding, this
is just us using to figure outlike what we can do. And so it's
about constantly giving you moreand more and more content. So

(22:53):
you guys don't get bored, sothat you guys feel fresh,
because that's hard to do thesame thing day in, day out. So
we're thinking about you too,all the time.

Carl Fessenden (23:05):
Yeah, and that's, that's so, so good to
hear, man. Because, you know,this is a common thing, when
when we have people that go intoa treatment program, the the
educational materials that wehave for them to utilize our
program to utilize, you haveyour Hazleton, which is a large

(23:25):
corporation that has multipledifferent types of material for
clinicians to use in group and,you know, evidence based
processes and stuff like that.
And then you also have yourCincinnati curriculum, and
there's just so many other moreout, there's so many out there,
that, you know, it's it would betoo long to list now. But the

(23:46):
problem that we run into,especially here in California is
that you might have somebodythat is incarcerated, that has
already done these programs. Andnow they're coming in to a
treatment center. And thetreatment center is like hey,
man, great. I'm we're so gladyou're here, you're going to
have a great experience here. Wewant to help you stay sober, we
want to help you get back ontrack with your life, we want to
teach you these pro socialskills. And this is a curriculum

(24:07):
that we're going to be doingwith you. And I can't tell you
how many times I've had somebodysit across from me and say, Hey,
man, I've already done this. Youknow, but, but that also was on
the other side of the coin,we're now as a clinician, we
have to say, well, you know, howcan we approach it differently
with you, so that you can getsomething different out of it?
Or you can expand on what you'vealready received out of it. So

(24:30):
you know, I'm not saying thatit's bad that we have them going
through the same material, butit's very common to have that
where they are going through thesame material. So I think that
having these approaches, andanother program that I want to
get you hooked on man is our onelearning and yeah, dude r1
learning is amazing. And I'vetalked about them a bunch. Alex

(24:55):
is looking for a pen and a pieceof Paper, Tom Carl over r1
learning, I'll get to his hisinformation, he's going to be on
the podcast here in a couple ofdays doing an interview. And he
has a program that isinteractive, that is evidence
based, that works in coincidewith these other evidence based

(25:16):
programs. So like your programwhere you're talking about, you
know, you're engaging theclients, and you're having them
go out and do artwork, you'rehaving them engage in different
in different factors, you'reraking them into diets, and, you
know, and all of these otherways that we get the clients to
engage outside inside of group,other than just filling out a

(25:37):
piece of paper, you know, withintalking about it, right? Because
if we can engage all these othersenses with them, and we can
engage a full, you know, a fullaspect of their sight, sense,
sound, smell, and all theseother things, it's going to
start to rebuild these processesinside of our brain, that we're
going to start triggeringfaster. And we're going to see

(25:59):
connection faster, because weare engaging the brain forcing
it to get back into shape byputting it through its paces.

Alex Kaplen (26:09):
Exactly. That was so well said. I think that's
exactly the point is just like,we're not trying to flip the
script. We're not trying to likewipe anything out. We're just we
we feel like there's justsomething that's missing. And
that's, that's a regular class,right? That's an any training.
That's any that's anything.
What's missing is the emotionalconnection, the emotional

(26:30):
engagement to start us off,which expedites that interest,
then, whatever, whatever wewhatever program we dive into
afterward, I guarantee we're allgoing to be a little bit more
engaged. So, so that's so funny.
You were say, Nope, I lost whatI was gonna

Carl Fessenden (26:52):
say, that's all right, man. It happens all the
time. All the time. So you know,but it's, it's so good to see
this because now we are takingsomething we're we're engaging
them. And as a clinician, on theflip end of that, when I do my
notes for the end of the group,now I can say, well, this client
engaged, and this is how theydemonstrated using the skill.

(27:13):
And they were able to do this inthis in this. So now we're
showing measurable growth, whichthen correlates over to their
treatment plan, right, their,their, their progress notes in
their treatment plan. And nowwe're seeing a measurement
progress and growth for thatclient for their overall goals,
which is clinically sound.

Alex Kaplen (27:33):
It's brilliant, right? And that's like, that's
the other thing is the thesefilms as tools, they're tools
that prime viewers emotionally,right, that's That's it? And
like, they're so simple, andthey're so small, and they're so
easy to use, that they're all atonce. Preventative, yes,
proactive, reactive andsupportive. You can use them as

(27:56):
you want, you can use them withthis program with that program,
you can just like show them atthe beginning of a group,
because it's going to just lightup your groups, even if you
don't do much more than justlike hash things out in your
your regular like group. Yeah,by having this film at the
beginning of it. Everybody hasthe same context. Everybody's
already engaged in story,everybody something else, it's

(28:17):
going to lift your groupsexponentially, just engagement
interest in and also for theclinicians, right. But like, at
the same time, these films wherewe're trying to build a platform
as well. So like, it's importantto us that these are always a
portion of our films are alwaysfree online. I was I was living

(28:38):
in Philly, I moved to LA, threeweeks before COVID, actually.
And I was I was living inPhilly. And we my co founder and
I had this idea. And we werejust like, we need to make a
couple of films to show peoplethat have this. This looks as a
proof of concept. And one of ourfilms traps is our like, go to
film, it's about a woman in abar, who is doing great. She's

(29:01):
recently out of treatment, seesher brother, everything's good.
She's leaving the bar on herown. And she sees the bar and
she she decides she's not goingto drank and she goes to leave.
And she hits a white wall. Likeshe hits this metaphorical white
wall, but it's real in her headin her face. And she is trapped.
And so I I handed this two pagescript to my mother. Well, a

(29:25):
woman I lived with for fiveyears while trying to get off
off of booze and stop drinkingand following every day. And,
and she read it and she looks atme and she says is this really
what it's like for you? I saidYes, Mom. This is what it's like
for me. And we we spent the next25 minutes holding each other
tightly as we cried our eyes outbecause for the first time she

(29:47):
identify because it wasn't aboutthis woman who couldn't stop
drinking. It was about theuniversally relatable emotional
human In the experience oftrying and failing at something
of a growth of failure ofadversity, right, like that's,

(30:08):
that's the thing about thesemovies is movies are never about
the circumstance they seem to beabout. They're not about Thor
fighting Thanos. That's not whatit's about. It's about that
underlying human experience thatwe can all relate to. And so
that's, that's the thing aboutus. Our work is not about
getting people to get and staysober. It's not about just

(30:30):
understanding alcoholism, it isabout helping all people feel
seen, heard and loved, to bettersee, hear and love the people we
care about. And to recognizethat you are already always
enough. And that's, that's whatour messages, that's a world
we're working toward. Becausewhen I was getting sober, I
finally recognized that my issuewas far less about using

(30:52):
substances and was about why Iuse substances. Shame, it's
about a fear of not belonging,it's about a fear of not good
enough, all leading toisolation, and none of which is
unique to addiction. That's justbeing it's just being a fucking
person. Right, right. And solike, that's what that's what
we're able to do with our filmsis we're able to look past the

(31:12):
drinking pass, the drugging, haseverything that is so
superficial, and see the human,the human, we can all identify.
And that's the power of thesefilms. So it was in that moment
with my mom, that we werefinally able to move the
conversation past, why can't youstop drinking? And to I see you,
I love you, I'm with you. Well,that's the magic of what we're

(31:33):
doing. So we make sure that wetell stories from the loved ones
perspective as much as fromthose addicted, because what we
can do is the mom can share afilm with me that's like,
hopefully one day Ridley Scottsci fi, it's just about, from
her perspective, every time Ifall off the wagon, and I can
watch and be like, Oh, shit,that was awesome. I never
realized how much I was burningdown your world. Right? Now. We

(31:57):
have expedited a bridge ofcommunication connection, now
I'm in it with you from fromacross the like, aisle, right.
And so that's what we're reallyworking towards. That's what
we're really doing. Yeah,

Carl Fessenden (32:12):
that's, that's so awesome to hear. Because, you
know, I've had those moments inrecovery, where it is that kind
of that aha moment where Iconnected with somebody else.
And I was there. And I realizedall the shit that I had done to
them. And, and I had this visionof like, holy fuck this, this is

(32:37):
their experience. And this ishow they viewed me. And it
really brought me brought thishumanistic feel to the whole
relationship and theconversation that I was having
with that person in that moment.
And it takes all of thosebarriers for me down. And it
really wants me made me want toappreciate what they were

(33:04):
feeling, make me want tounderstand better, you know, how
I affected them, so that I couldgrow from that as well. Along
with an amends process, right?
Because that's, for mycommunity. That's a part of our

(33:26):
process. You talked about thehumanistic effect. And a movie
that comes to mind that reallybrings well two movies, one that
I just watched recently, thatyou might not have seen. It's an
unknown film, or what kind ofunknown it's called Ruby. And

(33:48):
it's about this Rhode IslandState Trooper, and he is at his
last chance to apply for thecanine unit. He's he's aged out
29 years old. And he goes intothis whole thing, presuming to
think what this instructor islooking for out of him. And so

(34:11):
he walks into the office and hesays, Hey, I know that you
probably think that I'm not goodenough. Well, maybe I shouldn't
say that, you know, and startingto do all these things. And it's
this whole process of himfinding a rescue dog, and that
connection with a serviceanimal, and them going through
this whole process together tobetter themselves through trials

(34:36):
and tribulations. And in theend, it's a beautiful picture.
The other movie that comes tomind is Forrest Gump. I think
Forrest Gump is probably thebiggest movie to hit and I say
this, maybe you you willdisagree, but to bring a
humanistic approach towardslife. Understanding and all of

(35:01):
the things that, that thatcharacter had to go through the
Tom Hanks portrayed from thetime that he was born to
bullying, through, you know, the60s of war, the 70s. And all of
the things that he had toendure, and just this, this
whole process of that movie wasthis humanistic approach to

(35:25):
humanity, and how we haveapproached things, and how he
approaches a relationship withJenny, and how he approaches a
relationship with himself andhis mom, and overcoming all of
these, you know, all theseobstacles that were placed in
front of him. And for him to sitat the end, and to talk to

(35:45):
people and to just think andsay, you know, life is like a
box of chocolates, you neverknow what you're going to get. I
mean, who fucking comes up witha line like that? I mean,
really, but it's so fuckingtrue, man. You know, like, Well,
damn, you don't know what you'regonna get in the box of
chocolates. You know, what shegot, but it's how we approach

(36:10):
things, right. And that's how wehave to approach recovery, and
sobriety.

Alex Kaplen (36:15):
It's funny that you say that, like, who comes up
with a line like that. So we,the, we source our stories from
real people. That's, that's whatis really important about
everything we do in everythingwe do, we create a sense of
community connection, belonging,and empowerment. And so if you

(36:35):
watch one of our films, intreatment, or online, and
inspires you to share yourstory, or that thing that like
you hold on to that got yousober, we encourage you to
submit it and send it to us.
Yeah, sometimes those are lines,sometimes those are ideas,
sometimes those are full fledgedstories. But if it clicks with
us, we connect you with a filmprofessional, we engage you in
helping to craft your story intoour next five minute rom com.

(36:59):
That's and then once it's done,we invite you to come to set
with some friends and familymembers and mingle with the
volunteer film professionals whocome and work with us and be
part of breathing life into yourstory. And then when it's done,
it goes into the system andinspires the next door to come
in. Like yeah, so many of thelines that we have in our films
are from groups, we've been indifferent people, whenever I

(37:21):
hear something great, I write itdown, and I put that person's
name next to it because I want,I want to use it in the film.
And I want to give them credit,if they want to credit,
somebody, we've got a filmcoming up that we're making
about a firefighter, we'reworking with first responders.
And, and one of the lines in itis, you know, it was a, it was
the journey of 1000 steps Ididn't realize I was on. And

(37:44):
that came out of a collegestudent in a group that I was I
was part of. And just like thatis brilliant. Right? Like, and
so I'm constantly looking forthose lines, because they come
from everywhere, all of us havethose lines. And so we we want
to bring all of us together tomake those movies that have all

(38:07):
of our lines in them. Becauselife is like a box of chocolates
is a miracle and I can't come upwith a good.

Carl Fessenden (38:19):
Wow. Well, you know, Alex, it is just been an
absolute treat to have you ontoday. This has been I've been
really looking forward to thisinterview because you and I
talked a few weeks, maybe even amonth ago. And you know, I
invited you on to my show. Andwhen we set it up and everything
and now we're doing therecording. And when this goes

(38:41):
out, it'll it'll be a few weekspast the time that we've done
the recording. But I you know,I'm really looking forward to
learning more about ofsubstance. I think the idea that
you take some middles frompeople for short film ideas,
based off of their own personalexperiences, I think that's
tremendous. And I think thewhole idea is, is going to be so

(39:07):
revolutionary to the treatmentprocess and to help people
understand and make thosebridges and connections. And and
I want to commend you for thework that you've already done in
your team has done and thank youfor everything that you're doing
for the recovery community.

Alex Kaplen (39:25):
Thank you, Carl, I I couldn't reciprocate that more
the work you do with yourpodcasts and as a clinician, I
mean, the advocacy and the spacethat you create, to bring us all
together and to speak and beheard, and also give people a
place to come and listen andfeel seen heard and loved. And
less alone is tremendous. Icouldn't admire it more. Thank

(39:47):
you for what you're doing whenthanks for having me.

Carl Fessenden (39:49):
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So we we
always do a little fun bit rightat the end, Alex and right now
we are going into our questionsand trivia section. So, are you
ready, sir? Oh God, I don'tknow. Oh, these are easy ones.
These are Would You Ratherquestions? Okay, so first

(40:09):
question, would you rather havean office dog or cat? Dog? Would
you rather attend an officeparty or office barbecue?
Barbecue? Would you rather havedinner with your team or lunch?
Dinner? Would you rather sing infront of your co workers or
dance? Already? Would you ratherbe the only person in the office

(40:35):
of monkeys? Or the online monkeyof the Office of people?

Alex Kaplen (40:41):
The only only person

Carl Fessenden (40:42):
only person the only person to be the only
person Is that your finalanswer? Yes, it is. Yes. Okay.
Very good. Very good. Would yourather play baseball with your
co workers or do trivia? Triviaalready? Would you rather come
in early or leave late? comingearly? Would you rather be a
leader or be a follower? Later?
Alright. Would you rather be ona small team or a large one?

(41:05):
Large one. All right. And wouldyou rather do team building
online or in person? In person?
I think that everybody wouldprobably agree with that one.
All right. Would you rather walkor would you rather drive you're
in LA so I'm guessing you'reprobably gonna say drive? I love

(41:27):
Okay, man. Me, too. Alright, andwe're gonna jump over to some
other ones here. Okay, if youhad to pick between an aisle
seat or a window seat on anairplane, what would your choice
be? Aisle? Alrighty. What isyour favorite store? Oh, man.
Oh, I Oh, I don't like that.
Dude, too many to choose from.
All righty. All right. Oh,here's a good one. What is your

(41:52):
favorite movie genre? comedy?
Comedy? Okay. What were youafraid of as a child?

Alex Kaplen (42:01):
I'm jelly.

Carl Fessenden (42:03):
Who is your best friend? Zach once described your
style and one word.

Alex Kaplen (42:11):
Spilling already?

Carl Fessenden (42:13):
What is your favorite type of stationery?
apron. Okay, very good. And ourlast question that we asked all
of our guests on the drunkenwarm podcast. Who is your
favorite Disney character?

Alex Kaplen (42:28):
And a blue.

Carl Fessenden (42:30):
A Latin such as yours? Well, no. A Boo is from a
Latin, right? Yes, he is. Yeah,yes. Yeah. Now are you are we
talking about the the one thathad? The animated one? Oh, okay.
Good. Good, good. Good. Becausethe other one that just came out
a few years ago was good, but itdidn't have Robin Williams on
it. So

Alex Kaplen (42:51):
yeah, I mean, that's tough. But also like, I I
think they could have done alittle bit. Yeah, I think was
Will Smith was was pretty great.
I didn't, I didn't expect him toreally pull it off. And I think
he did a pretty great job.

Carl Fessenden (43:05):
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely, man. Allright. Well, it's yeah. Thank
you, man. Thank you. It's justmy little website that I found
that generates a ton ofquestions for me. And I love
using it. So. Alright, I willAlex Well, again, it's been a
pleasure having you on the show.
And if people would like to findof substance, where can they go
to find your work? Where canthey go to get in contact with

(43:27):
you?

Alex Kaplen (43:28):
Yeah. Hi, please, please go check us out at of
substance.org. That's o fsubstance.org. You can watch our
films there. You can get intouch with us. Subscribe to our
email. We're on Facebook. We'reon Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn.
We're posting all the time. Andjust just so you know, we have

(43:49):
another film coming up. That's ahorror rom com that is a award
winning scripted one killershorts and cover fly great best
or short film. And we arefilming over Mental Health
Action Week MTS Mental HealthAction Week in May. We are
raising money right now for thatfilm. And we're inviting people
to for the first time ever todonate directly to a film to

(44:11):
really be part of it. So ifyou're interested, we've got
posts everywhere. We're onIndiegogo. It is called Hide
your crazy. Hide your crazyfilm.com Go check it out. Thank
you. Alright,

Carl Fessenden (44:25):
and today's guest has been Alex and if you
guys would like any informationon the topics that were
discussed today and any of theinformation on how to get a hold
of Alex or find of substance, itwill be listed in the show notes
below. And I hope that all ofyou have had a wonderful time on
this week's episode of thedrunken Warren podcast.
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