The Brief
PopShift partnered with the Mental Health Storytelling Initiative (MHSI) to design an immersive convening that would bring storytellers, mental health experts, and cultural thinkers into direct contact with the inner lives of boys today. At a moment of growing concern around loneliness, radicalization, and mental health among boys and young men, the goal was not to host another panel about masculinity, but to create an experience that could be felt.
We wanted writers to remember what it feels like to be fourteen, and to grapple with how identity, belonging, and masculinity are being shaped in an always-on media landscape.
PopShift partnered with the Mental Health Storytelling Initiative (MHSI) to design an immersive convening that would bring storytellers, mental health experts, and cultural thinkers into direct contact with the inner lives of boys today. At a moment of growing concern around loneliness, radicalization, and mental health among boys and young men, the goal was not to host another panel about masculinity, but to create an experience that could be felt.
We wanted writers to remember what it feels like to be fourteen, and to grapple with how identity, belonging, and masculinity are being shaped in an always-on media landscape.
The Concept
Rather than telling participants about the research, we invited them to experience it.
The experience was set inside Hollywood High School, chosen deliberately as a space where most of us first learn who we think we're supposed to be. From there, participants were guided through the fictional world of “Jackson Reid,” a 14-year-old boy navigating school, friendship, the internet, and his own emotional interiority.
Using a custom-built interactive website, live performers guided guests on an orientation tour through the school, and prompted them to connect with their "Hollywood High Learning platform" which directed them into Jackson’s digital and internal world. Here they scrolled his phone, encountered the media influencing him, and witnessed the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures shaping his sense of self.
The phone became the central narrative device: not just a prop, but the primary site where identity is tried on, reinforced, and contested for this generation.
Rather than telling participants about the research, we invited them to experience it.
The experience was set inside Hollywood High School, chosen deliberately as a space where most of us first learn who we think we're supposed to be. From there, participants were guided through the fictional world of “Jackson Reid,” a 14-year-old boy navigating school, friendship, the internet, and his own emotional interiority.
Using a custom-built interactive website, live performers guided guests on an orientation tour through the school, and prompted them to connect with their "Hollywood High Learning platform" which directed them into Jackson’s digital and internal world. Here they scrolled his phone, encountered the media influencing him, and witnessed the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures shaping his sense of self.
The phone became the central narrative device: not just a prop, but the primary site where identity is tried on, reinforced, and contested for this generation.
The Experience
Upon arrival, participants were given a lanyard bearing the photo of a 14-year-old boy and told that, for the evening, they were now Jackson Reid, a transfer student from Florida on his first day at Hollywood High.
They entered through the cafeteria, picked up their lunch (gourmet mac and cheese or a PB&J), and were directed to sit at tables marked with familiar high-school labels: Jocks, Nerds, Athletes, Drama Kids. Before anyone quite had time to settle, student body reps (played by actors) stepped in and began guiding them through the school in small groups, initiating an orientation tour.
They moved through classrooms and corridors, encountering a sequence of experiential “chapters” that built on one another. Between locations, they paused in classrooms where expert facilitators including Gary Barker, Jordan Calhoun, and Vera Papisova, offered provocations designed to unpack what they had just experienced, allowing moments of recognition, discomfort, humor, and reflection to surface. The experience intentionally avoided the feel of a traditional industry convening. There were no panels, no podiums, and no public recording.
Upon arrival, participants were given a lanyard bearing the photo of a 14-year-old boy and told that, for the evening, they were now Jackson Reid, a transfer student from Florida on his first day at Hollywood High.
They entered through the cafeteria, picked up their lunch (gourmet mac and cheese or a PB&J), and were directed to sit at tables marked with familiar high-school labels: Jocks, Nerds, Athletes, Drama Kids. Before anyone quite had time to settle, student body reps (played by actors) stepped in and began guiding them through the school in small groups, initiating an orientation tour.
They moved through classrooms and corridors, encountering a sequence of experiential “chapters” that built on one another. Between locations, they paused in classrooms where expert facilitators including Gary Barker, Jordan Calhoun, and Vera Papisova, offered provocations designed to unpack what they had just experienced, allowing moments of recognition, discomfort, humor, and reflection to surface. The experience intentionally avoided the feel of a traditional industry convening. There were no panels, no podiums, and no public recording.
The Outcomes
Assembly brought together TV writers, filmmakers, content creators, mental health researchers, funders, gamers, and social impact leaders in a single shared narrative container and deserved high praise from our community:
"I’m still gobsmacked and buzzing!!! One of the hardest things to do in the world is create something wholly singular and unique, that also brings people together to inspire change, and that’s what you DID. And man what a group. I took 12 names and numbers and am going to follow up with all of them. Honestly just floored. Thank you thank you thank you. You guys are my new heroes…."
"it was so cool to go to Hollywood High last week - thank you to you and the team for putting it all together! I ended up having a longer chat with Vera and I'm noodling on how I can incorporate some of these themes into future stories."
MHSI’s Accelerator Fund disbursed content funding specifically to applicants who attended the event. And continued events between all partners are in discussion.
Key outputs from the project included:
Assembly brought together TV writers, filmmakers, content creators, mental health researchers, funders, gamers, and social impact leaders in a single shared narrative container and deserved high praise from our community:
"I’m still gobsmacked and buzzing!!! One of the hardest things to do in the world is create something wholly singular and unique, that also brings people together to inspire change, and that’s what you DID. And man what a group. I took 12 names and numbers and am going to follow up with all of them. Honestly just floored. Thank you thank you thank you. You guys are my new heroes…."
"it was so cool to go to Hollywood High last week - thank you to you and the team for putting it all together! I ended up having a longer chat with Vera and I'm noodling on how I can incorporate some of these themes into future stories."
MHSI’s Accelerator Fund disbursed content funding specifically to applicants who attended the event. And continued events between all partners are in discussion.
Key outputs from the project included:
- A Yearbook featuring participant bios, prompts and space for reflection
- A bespoke interactive website that is now a MHSI asset to be used in future events
- Video and photo documentation capturing the experience for future use and iteration
