Can a series about teen addicts entertain without romanticizing its subjects?16 and Recoveringhopes so.
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She doesnt get what everybody doesnt get.
God as my witness, I really thought that everybody does this!
And now Im learning: They dont.
Why dont people just go 110 percent and do whats right for these children?
For me, its intuitive.
Its what needs to get done and you get it done.
But I really dont want to be sober.
Im an addict, she says later.
But I wanna not kill myself and learn how to be alive.
The show is a kind of experiment, too.
Its stars faces could frequently be seen on salacious tabloid covers.
Were very careful behind the scenes to show these stories with a lot of intention.
These findings linked16 and Pregnantto a 5.7 percent reduction in teen births, one-third of the total decline.
Thats not how creative people approach social-justice issues, he said.
It was done incredibly tastefully, and the students felt heard.
Parents, staff, and students were all onboard, too.
And I had no interest in that.
We still treat it like a moral failure.
Lipinski trusted Liss enough to give him full reign of my school, she said.
I had no idea what he was filming all the day long.
But we did have this trust between us that he wasnt going to exploit the children.
And that is abigtrust.
Its so easy to have that salacious story.
Theres probably footage of every single one of my students in a really bad place.
These kids arent a cast of characters.
This isnt a reality show.
This is a piece of journalism.
I know the impact that MTV has had, particularly with young people.
He was impressed with MTVs plans for the website that would make the show into a campaign.
This was about being a catalyst for discussion, and thats what MTV does, Liss said.
I wanted someplace that would be provocative, in the most positive sense of that word.
And why arent thereotherplaces like this?
The name was a source of concern.
Eventually they settled on four episodes to air during September 2020, to coincide with National Recovery Month.
The third episode airs tonight.
Liss obviously didnt bring it to us as a16 and, Hurvitz said.
It wasnt something he would have thought of as a documentary filmmaker.
Liss was initially apprehensive about his work being folded into the16 andextended universe.
At first, the name was a source of concern to me, he said.
But then I realized, we will live or die by our own merits, and our own content.
For the Recovery High community, the news that MTV was interested was a major plot twist.
I was shocked in the beginning, said Lipinski.
For the reach, this is where it should be.
Overall, I have mixed feelings toward it [being on MTV], Faith said.
I know MTV is 50/50 good/bad, [and] it depends on the person.
The magnitude of attention the show will inevitably bring is a little frightening, Faith said.
But shes at a point where that level of exposure doesnt rattle her too much.
As long as it makes at least one person realize theyre worthy of sobriety, Im okay.
Most of the instances where we took something out was becausewewere uncomfortable with it.
I cant say enough how much we thought about that.
We really arent trying to glamorize these kids.
This isnt pretend, said Joe, who was a senior during filming.
This is breaking new ground for reality television, I feel like.
This is the realest reality show there can be.
Its a whole new way of looking at addiction itself.
That is my normal.
It was the worst year of my life, that year, Lipinski said.
Just so you know.
You couldnt have picked a worse or better year to have filmed exactly what happened in my school.
By the eighth death, we were like, Oh my God, you cant put this out there.
And I should know better.
I know the system is problematic.
But to see it happen before my eyes, that was a surprise.
It wasnt the drugs that killed him.
It was the system that killed him.
I think13 Reasons Whyfell into that a little bit.
I told him to turn the camera off, and he didnt listen in that moment.
I think he really wanted to get the emotion of it, she said.
Its so weird, Faith reflected.
Because the majority of my high-school experience, there was a camera in my face.
But I wasnt going to get the normal high-school experience anyway, because I went to Recovery High School.
For me, that is my normal.
