Oct 5, 2021
Today, longtime film collaborators Jeff Reilly and Greg Williams will unveil High Watch Media – a newly formed production company dedicated to developing and producing content inspired by recovery from addiction, mental health, and trauma. A sneak preview trailer of the first two projects in production is part of the Recover Out Loud concert event streaming globally in partnership with iHeart Radio, Google, Variety, and YouTube in celebration of International Recovery Day that Williams is also producing.
High Watch Media is a new division of the 82-year-old non-profit, High Watch Recovery Center, the world's first treatment center founded by Marty Mann, the visionary to first publicly share her own recovery story broadly, and whose pioneering public relations efforts laid the foundation for all modern-day stigma-reduction efforts surrounding addiction.
"Marty Mann cared deeply about the importance of carrying the message of recovery not just on a one-to-one basis, but one-to-many on the community-level," said Jerry Schwab, President and CEO, High Watch Recovery Center. "High Watch Media is our modern-day tribute to the life and spirit of one of the most influential people of the 20th century most people have never heard about."
As the overdose, suicide, and mental health challenges in communities continue to be compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, raising the profile of recovery found through unique access to compelling and sensational stories of the over 20 million Americans living in recovery is more urgent than ever.
"As a person in long-term recovery myself, I am incredibly grateful to have an opportunity to continue to produce socially-impactful films in collaboration with the immensely-talented Jeff Reilly from this new platform," said Greg Williams, High Watch Media's Executive Producer and Filmmaker of The Anonymous People. "It is our goal and belief that High Watch Media will become the go-to production company for recovery-oriented content that is not only entertaining, but solution focused, and ultimately culture-shifting for how our communities respond to the addiction crisis."
High Watch Media is currently in production on two feature length projects with several other projects in development:
- Born to Serve – A character-driven feature documentary about the life of tennis Grand-Slam Doubles Champion, Murphy Jensen. Featuring appearances from many of Tennis' royalty including, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Luke Jensen, and many others, this film explores the cultural impact to the world of tennis of the Jensen brothers during the 1990's, and how addiction recovery took Murphy in a direction beyond his wildest dreams.
- Meccas of Recovery – A four-part docuseries weaving the history of the 12-step movement between its' key meccas, founders, and the dramatic current pilgrimages still taking place more than 80 years later. Meccas of Recovery will dig deep unraveling the stories of the people who came together to create Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), as well as the places the founders came from and how historically and spiritually those places contributed to AA's foundation and the overall 12-step movement.
"Having worked across many genres in television and film production, the projects that have function and purpose in the lives of the hundreds of millions of people directly impacted by mental health, addiction, and trauma have been the most rewarding," said Jeff Reilly, High Watch Media's Director and Producer, two-time Emmy-Winning Editor, and Filmmaker of Generation Found and Tipping The Pain Scale. "The north star of this new effort will be to reach and touch as many people as possible with inspiring and compelling feature-length stories providing insight into the sensational power of human resiliency."
About High Watch Media
High Watch Media is an independent production company organized to develop and produce feature-length stories with depth and weight. Addiction and mental health are the most pressing challenge of our time, and High Watch Media is the first-of-its kind production company dedicated to the power of human stories of resilience and recovery without a profit motive. Led by two-time EMMY winning Director, Producer, and Editor Jeff Reilly and the widely accomplished addiction recovery storyteller and producer Greg Williams. Together, they have partnered to create The Anonymous People, Generation Found, The Concert to Face Addiction, and Tipping The Pain Scale. High Watch Media's first projects are slated to be completed in 2022 and will explore the power of recovery and its intersection with sports, comedy, and history. Learn more by visiting www.HighWatchMedia.com.
