Tuthill Corporation, “the company with heart”, is taking a journey outside of manufacturing to explore what it means to be alive. Tuthill’s summit is to Wake the World, which is a movement of discovery: discovering that you can create the life that you want to live.
In their first documentary series, The Search for Aliveness, Tuthill’s creative team – made up of Tuthill’s Sherpa of Purpose, Chad Gabriel (host and narrator), Awareness Activator, Erica Magda (director of photography), and Explorer, Vito Pellicano (director and editor) - will travel the world to interview individuals from different backgrounds, races, cultures, etc. to see if there is commonality in aliveness.
CEM spoke with Chad Gabriel, host and narrator about the upcoming docu-series, “The Search for Aliveness”
Tell us what is “The Search for Aliveness” about? “The Search for Aliveness” is a documentary series that explores aliveness through a globally diverse mix of interviews with regular people and thought leaders. The goal is to see what aliveness means, discover human truths, and to see what people do to feel alive so we can share these as a recipe for aliveness. We think about aliveness as a mix of purpose, connection, being present and engaged, energy, and experiencing the full range of human emotions: sad, angry, scared, happy, excited, and tender (SASHET). If you're interested in volunteering for an interview to share your story, please visit www.thesearchforaliveness.com/casting
Tell us a bit about your background and how did you get involved with this project? I’m currently Tuthill’s Sherpa of Purpose. At Tuthill our purpose is to Wake the World, which is a rally cry for aliveness. We felt it was time to take our efforts beyond the four walls of the business. We’ve done a lot internally to teach aliveness to our employees and wanted to create awareness and space for people to slow down and think about what makes them feel alive. The idea came from a member of my team, Vito Pellicano, who is the director of this series.
What is the main goal you want to accomplish with this documentary? The main goal of the documentary is to gather a collection of actionable things people do to feel alive and share them with the world. We’re calling these things ingredients in the recipe for aliveness. We want to inspire people to do the things that make them feel most alive through the stories of what others have done, as well as who they’ve been as unique individuals.
You have established a casting call for participants, what is the criteria to be selected? We’re actively seeking regular people and thought leaders who are willing to share their stories of aliveness. Although “regular people” may seem to downplay the importance of the role, it emphasizes that we want to hear stories from people that our audience can connect with. We want people to be inspired by these stories and believe that will be a lot more likely if they can see themselves in the film rather than someone they cannot relate to. Particularly, we have several roles we’re seeking including:
The busy mom who doesn’t have enough time to take care of herself
The burly man who doesn’t like talking about the mushy stuff
The adrenaline junkie
The combat veteran
The person who lives alone, but is deeply involved in community
The person with a disability that won’t stop them
The stereotypical uber millennial
The elderly person (90+) who wants to share their reflections on life
The person who’s chosen to live in isolation
The young person with a terminal illness
The person who is missing at least one of their senses
The a-list celebrity who can’t live a normal life because of their fame
The career volunteer
The person who has lost a loved one and experience deep loss
We want a diverse set of interviewees for these roles including, race, gender, income level, age, and geography. You can apply or recommend someone you know of online at www.thesearchforaliveness.com/casting
Please feel free to contact us even if you did not find a role that you fit in but feel that you have a compelling story to share. We’re also seeking thought leaders who are willing to volunteer their time to share their expertise in areas that are tangential to aliveness. This may be scientists, doctors, wellness advisors, meditation specialists, religious leaders, nutritionists, and anyone else who feels their professions impacts aliveness.
How has the fan reaction been so far? Since the launch of the casting call we’ve had a very welcoming reception to the idea. People want to be involved and to help promote it because they feel it’s important. That said, we’d love to have more conversations with people who want to share their ideas about this project. We’ve done radio interviews, podcasts, and have even participated in an online discussion at AMAFeed.com Feel free to share suggestions you have to promote this film with us. We welcome the help.
Are there any challenges you have encountered thus far? Believe it or not the biggest challenge has been working this tremendous effort into our already busy schedules. We have full-time jobs that this is a part of, but we also have other responsibilities. The fact of the matter is this project has so much passion and energy behind it, the extra time it’s taking to move it along has been no problem committing. We want to continue promoting the notion of aliveness, and although reaching 7.6 billion people in the world is a challenging goal, one that won’t likely be met in our lifetime, we want to continue promoting it and inviting others to take time away from their busy, and often distracted, lives to pause and think about how they can create more aliveness for themselves.
What have been some of the best parts about making this documentary? The immersion into individual stories with people willing to share vulnerably. It’s such an honor to be with people who are so willing to let us into their lives and share their very personal details of why they are who they are. The opportunity to travel the world in search of basic human truths around aliveness is another amazing part of this experience. I’m looking forward to seeing how other cultures are thinking about it.
During your time working on this documentary, has there been anything you learned that surprised you? Yes! We setup these interviews thinking that the person we’re interviewing may be sharing aliveness in the context of a specific story. We’ve found that this story is really just a starting point for other stories that need to be told. Stories that are authentic and often lead to other areas for us to explore in the realm of aliveness. I’d like to explore further the way different cultures look at the purpose-specific facet of aliveness. My theory is that people in the West think about it a lot different than people elsewhere in the world. It may be that we’ve lost our way because of the constant hustle and bustle, distraction, and desire for more, more, more. I wonder if people from cultures who are more disconnected from technology, materialism, and have simpler ways are more in tune with their individual purpose.
When can we expect this to be released? Our goal is to release two episodes this year and at least four more in 2019. We’re constantly molding this amazing ball of clay and re-calibrating as we go. I’m very excited about the things we’re going to discover and be able to share with people all over the world.
Is there anything that you wanted to add that I didn’t ask? Think about the last time you thought about what makes you feel most alive. It’s likely been a long, long time… if ever. This is an important exploration because we only get one life and it’s up to each of us to create the life we want to live. It’s up to you. Not mom and dad. Not your teacher. Not your coach. Not your priest. You. What choices can you start making right now to feel more alive? What will you do? Who will you share it with? Here’s a good place to start: www.thesearchforaliveness.com/recipe. We can’t wait to hear from you! Follow along on whatever social media platforms you’re on. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
Please visit The Search for Aliveness links to submit yourself and be considered to be part of the documentary series.
Website: www.thesearchforaliveness.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheSearchForAliveness
Twitter: www.twitter.com/AlivenessSeries
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesearchforaliveness