Impaired Driving is a short film by Anthony Tucker that was commissioned by a small town fire department, located in the heart of America, to capture the life altering impacts of impaired driving through their facilitation of a 2-day mock accident exercise at their local high school.
While the scenes were staged across the American hometown community of just over 3,000 people, real first responders, high school students, and adult actors were used to portray a realistic perspective to the scenes and emotions of those impacted by the actions of the impaired driver, including the driver themselves.
This short film provides viewers the heart pounding perspective of the unimaginable moments of the families who deal with the grief and next steps after losing a loved one. To further elevate the perspective of the family dealing with the immediate and long lasting impacts of losing their loved one, we conclude the short film by visiting with a real life mother who lost her 14 year old daughter in 2009 to an impaired driver in western Oklahoma.
The Impaired Driving short film is being distributed in the hope that it garners and inspires additional opportunities to educate youth and those important role models within their respective ecosystems to take intentional action to prevent impaired driving deaths.
Additionally, the short film seeks to challenge the social stigma encompassing planning for impaired moments. Society relentlessly discusses the enticing nature and subsequent lifestyle of using alcohol and drugs, but society avoids the same openness when discussing the life saving measures of making a plan when impaired or when you're with someone impaired who is seeking to get behind the wheel. There are no lifestyle choices without a life or with a life behind bars, make the pledge and make a plan for your impaired moments.
The short film was filmed in an Oklahoma Film Friendly Certified Community, Nowata, Oklahoma and was commissioned by the Volunteer Firefighters of the Nowata Fire Department.
The content below provides behind the scenes access to the short film, the impact of the short film and the associated mock accident program, and the latest news surrounding the short film.
Behind the scenes series
The Impaired Driving behind the scenes video series details the project's impact on the students, first responders, local actors, and educators who participated in the project.
Episode 1 - Caleb Parrish - DUI Actor
Episode 2 - Adrian O'Dell - DUI Victim Actor
Episode 3 - Amy Yirsa - Real Life Mother of DUI Victim
Director's Cut of Photos from the Short Film Production
Click to enlarge each photo. Available for personal and commercial use with appropriate attribution to the short film and Tucker Digital (the production company).
Let's Chat: Would you like to chat with the short film's director about the project and its impact? Reach out and let's connect.
Let's Host a Showing: Opportunities are available to show the short film with the director on-site or via remote video to discuss the project and the challenge for youth and adults to have a plan for impaired moments.
Let's Collaborate & Inspire Positive Change: Opportunities are also available to commission an impact driven short film, video series, and/or podcast series for your community or organization that is built around local actors and stakeholders to intensify the impact for your targeted audience. Intentional storytelling with clearly identifiable impact messaging can have lasting impacts long after any associated programming.
My name is Anthony Tucker, director of the Impaired Driving short film, and I am proud to be a storyteller.
For the last 15 years I have had the absolute privilege of engaging with amazing humans across the globe and elevating their stories through short films, video series, podcasts, partnerships, and other mediums.
What I've learned through my travels, my professional roles, and the connections that followed these activities, is that no matter where I go or who I meet, a good story always wins the day. In a world filled with constant meaningless notifications that catapult your attention from one battlefield to another, humans love to be empowered by the raw moments of intentional storytelling.
Whether it's elevating the stories of entrepreneurs in the medical science space in Tel Aviv, Israel to elevating the importance of women working on the frontlines of the service industry on the Valentine's Day holiday in rural Oklahoma, people deserve to been seen and have their stories be accurately told.
No matter the mission, commercial or cause related, my life is the result of the people who give me guidance and who entrust me with their story.
As a proud father of two young girls who will one day be young adults undoubtedly facing the life altering impacts of impaired driving, I hope that this short film can inspire you to have a conversation with your child or your student to make a plan for their impaired moments.
A special thanks to the heroes at the Nowata Fire Department for commissioning myself and my agency to produce and distribute this advocacy short film.
Please reach out to me with any questions. I hope that we can collaborate for positive change in the near future.
