Pair’s Videos Pull at the Heartstrings of Viewers

David Blanchard and Chris Wagner have never met one another, nor did they ever intend to work in film. But both found the medium a perfect vehicle for their crusades and decided to make a mark in educational videos.

Blanchard, a real estate developer and management consultant, founded Team Entertainment, a production company, two years ago and is working on his third video. He said his first film, “Reach Out,” an anti-alcohol and drug abuse music video, is one of the most popular movies used in San Diego junior high and high schools to educate students about drunk driving.

Wagner, a social worker, recently won first place in the National Retirement Research Foundation’s National Media Owl Awards for his video “SRO: San Diego’s Threatened Elderly.”

Though Wagner said he has quenched his artistic urge for the time being, Blanchard would like to turn his hobby into a profit-making, full-time occupation.

“I’m an artsy kind of guy,” Blanchard, garbed in business attire, said while leaning back in his leather chair. “One day I decided to do something positive. For years, I have been writing songs, some of which are in the videos.”

Blanchard’s current endeavor, a film about child abuse, will be used at the San Diego Police Department and in schools. “Come in From the Storm” explores emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

The film looks at three homes in which abuse is affecting the child. In the first segment, a horrified child watches as her hysterical mother smashes a glass on the kitchen floor and screams at the daughter. After a series of outbreaks by the mother, the audience begins to feel the little girl’s emotional tension.

The second scene shows another young girl telling her father about a girlfriend at school who is being molested by her father. While the friend doesn’t want to tell the victim’s secret, she feels compelled to help her classmate.

The third vignette takes place in the future, where a spaceship lands and a young boy appears in the home of his father. Reminiscent of “A Christmas Carol,” the little boy tells the father what his future will be if he continues to abuse his children.

Blanchard, a father of seven children, said this project is especially important to him because one of his children was abused by a baby sitter.

“Almost everyone that responded to our two other films said we should do a film about child abuse,” he said. “Our second film was about rape, so after researching for that video we found there was a high correlation between rape victims sexually abusing their children.

“Most child abuse films are about stranger danger, but we jump right into the home. The film is entertaining but shouldn’t be used for television. We think it should be shown in a controlled environment.”

The movie--written, directed and produced by Blanchard--was researched through the National Parent Teachers Assn., several child-abuse experts and Christina Crawford, the daughter of actress Joan Crawford and author of “Mommie Dearest.”

Blanchard also hired such television celebrities as Gordon Jump from “WKRP in Cincinnati”; Tiffany Brissette, who plays Vicki in “Small Wonder”; Emmanuel Lewis from “Webster,” and Bumper Robinson of “Night Court.”

Blanchard’s 6-year-old daughter, Tobi, also plays a role in the film, which he said cost more than $300,000 to produce. The project was financed by the film maker and his friend, an El Centro physician, and is distributed through World Research Inc.

“I never ask anyone to do anything for free,” Blanchard said. “These actors and actresses are professional people with very little time. They’re taking a lot less money than they usually get, but they are getting paid.

“We want every school in the nation to have this film. We’re only selling it for $150 because we want every child to know that, if they are being abused, it is important that they tell someone and get help.”

Blanchard’s drunk-driving film is now used by all the Students Against Drunk Driving chapters and the Safe Ride chapters in San Diego and North County, said Nancy Siemers, social-concerns education coordinator for the San Diego Unified School District.

Wagner’s documentary cost $4,500 to make and was financed by a grant from the Foundation for Community Service Cable Television. Wagner and his partner, Doug Bishop, a San Diego film maker, will be awarded $5,000 by the Retirement Research Foundation.

After working for the Senior Citizen Community Center, Wagner became aware of the lack of housing downtown for the elderly who live on low incomes. The social worker said 1,200 single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotels have been lost in San Diego to redevelopment since 1976, and rents are rising on existing units.

“After working with seniors, I became attached to them,” Wagner said. “I decided I wanted to educate people and clear up the misconceptions people have. I wanted to show the world that people who live in SROs are not transients or drunks. People think that the elderly residents of downtown SROs are less than human. They’re just like you and me. They’re a very colorful group of people.”

Wagner and Bishop, who acted as technical adviser, cameraman, director and producer, interview three elderly downtown denizens. The half-hour video, which will air on KPBS (Channel 15) on Wednesday, documents these peoples’ daily lives. The camera follows them from the time they wake up in the morning to dinner time.

“These people often don’t have enough money from their Social Security checks to make it to the end of the month,” Wagner said. “They just have enough to pay their rent, and many of them can’t even do that.

“For this reason, I became involved with the film. I wanted to get people to realize the social issue here. This is going on in every city. If these people aren’t provided with low-income housing, they will wind up on the street, and then it will be everybody’s problem. I’m trying to get people away from the ‘Me Decade’ and educate them.”

Wagner said he is not interested in making films, but his mission is to make the city aware of a growing problem. Both he and Blanchard use film in hopes of tugging on the viewers’ heartstrings and making them take a stand.

“I hope our documentary goes national, not so Doug and I will get recognition, but so people will see what’s going on,” Wagner said.