Original Educational Series

A new cancer diagnosis brings an overwhelming flood of information, much of it unreliable. For the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, we produced an educational series helping patients separate trustworthy guidance from the noise, a project close to our hearts.


Client

Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Industry

Healthcare, Non-Profit Organization

Type

Documentary

Platform

Web & Social Media

Audience

Patients and Doctors

About this project

For people who have recently been diagnosed with cancer, one of the first challenges is overcoming the amount of information that exists when it comes to care and treatment options. In the digital age, opinions are everywhere, and sorting through them to discover which are accurate and which are bunk can be an overwhelming task.

At Double Barrel, we’ve all lost loved ones to cancer. So when Wayne MacPhail of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer approached us with an innovative way of educating patients about how to separate the wheat from the chaff we were thrilled.

This was a unique project as Wayne came to us with concept in hand. CPAC wanted to create an online educational series that was dramatic, comedic – and demanding. In fact, the entire piece depended on a pitch-perfect embodiment of our two leads, Franny & Zooey, two 12-year-old budding scientists. Knowing that we needed rock-solid talent, we decided to reach out to ACTRA. For web series this can seem daunting, but their fantastic industry liasons walked us through the process effortlessly. Our two actresses – Chelsea Okyere and Zoe McGarry came in prepared and ready, doing such an amazing job in the audition that we ended up using their second rehearsal take in the completed video.

The final piece is everything we had hoped to achieve, and definitely goes into the Double Barrel vault as one of the most original concepts we’ve executed. Says MacPhail, “It was a pleasure (as always) working with Double Barrel on this project. From our first conversation about the unusual concept they got it and brought a ton of creative value to the end product. This is the type of idea, as we said in the meetings “that had a hundred ways to fail”. But, through casting, direction, animation and post-production, they didn’t let any of them happen. The result is delightful.”

We’re excited to see where this goes. Thanks for inviting us along, Wayne!

It was a pleasure (as always) working with Double Barrel on this project. From our first conversation about the unusual concept they got it and brought a ton of creative value to the end product. This is the type of idea, as we said in the meetings “that had a hundred ways to fail”. But, through casting, direction, animation and post-production, they didn’t let any of them happen. The result is delightful.

Wayne MacPhail
Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Franny & Zooey Explain: EVIDENCE Transcript

Hi, I'm Franny. And I'm Zooey. One day, we're both going to be scientists, but right now, we're going to exp… Do you have a cold, Franny? I think I'm allergic to something. What? Well, for the past ten days, different kids in homeroom have worn a red shirt. So? So, for the past ten days, I've been sniffing and sneezing.

I think I'm allergic to red shirts. Hmm. For the past ten days, you've been listening to Katy Perry songs on your phone. And? So I guess you're also allergic to Katy Perry. That's silly. Yep, it is. Just because two things happen at the same time, doesn't mean one causes the other. So, you mean, coincidence isn't causality?

Exactly. But Aunt Shelia says that when there's a full moon, the emergency room is crazy town. Yeah, but when there's a full moon and nobody acts weird, Auntie Shelia forgets about it. But when everyone's nutsos and it's a full moon, she blames a moon. So, it's like she's cherry picking data points that match her hypothesis.

You got it. See? You're going to be a great scientist. I knew that. But I want to go back to my sneezing. It could be red shirts, right? Have you ever heard of anyone ever being allergic to red shirts? It is pretty weird, eh? Extraordinary. Just like me. So, you're saying because it's an extraordinary claim. It requires extraordinary proof.

And if you're making the claim, it's up to me to provide the extraordinary proof. Exactly. Say I told you a UFO landed in my backyard last night. Cool. That's pretty extraordinary. And totally awesome. So, I need to provide some pretty extraordinary proof to support that claim, right? Like radioactive ectoplasm of non-terrestrial origin.

You got it. Have any? Nope. Okay. So, no UFO. Dang. No what? What? I've changed my mind. I'm not allergic to red shirts. I'm allergic to you. And I'm allergic to you. I'm more allergic. I'm more extraordinary.

Franny & Zooey Explain: EVIDENCE
Franny & Zooey Explain: EVIDENCE

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