Interested in combining nursing with film, any thoughts?

pinoynars · Mar 30, 2008

Hello all
I am a CCU nurse and I love my job (at least now I do :)
But I have always been interested in film/television too. Anyone have ideas on how to combine the two? I have been trying to brainstorm but I thought I would put it out here too.
Thanks so much!
Jamie

i have always thought of that and wondered when will tv introduce a series with nurses as the lead characters. it's always about the doctors -- grays anatomy, house md, er, etc.. don't u think? i wonder when will be our turn? we rightly deserve the attention. we're first in line compared to doctors and we really take CARE of our patients hands-on. perhaps, the opportunity is waiting for you.. :) maybe u should try making a script... who knows? maybe someday we'll see your name as the creator of series about a nurse's life! :) Good luck and God bless! :yeah:

Jeffthenurse · Mar 30, 2008

I'm glad you asked your question. I've been trying to combine nursing education with broadcasting and have decided to return to school. I'm going to a broadcasting school to learn about radio, tv, copywriting, newswriting, anchoring, production, and ad sales. By the time I'm finished (4 months) I could, among many things, have my own talk show, become a disc jockey, news reporter, or become a better nursing instructor/educator. I already have my master's degree in nursing. For film or TV shows, you'll need to write a short synopsis of your script and get an agent. It's not easy but can be done. There are many books on this subject--look in your library and local bookstores. Believe in yourself and don't let anyone take away your dreams! Go for it!

kristenncrn · Mar 30, 2008

About Grays Anatomy, etc.... has anyone see http://www.nursingadvocacy.org and their campaign to change media's portrayal of nurses? Brilliant!

What about training videos? Too boring?

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2008

Find a good writer and put together a presentation to some producers about a nurse oriented movie with a series suggested. The nurse characters should be a basic 3 to 5 nurses with a rotating of about 20 other characters to round out personalities in the field. A stepdown unit would be a good home base for the movie as those staff members get pulled to ICU, CCU, med/surg and occasionally PACU and patients come from all those units along with the ER. Patients are discharged from a stepdown unit fairly often too so it would be a well rounded base. As the drug companies are not supposed to financially reward medical staff anymore, maybe you could approach two or three of them to support this as an educational media potential.

I like you idea, good luck.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2008

What about patient education videos?

Metots · Mar 31, 2008

Anyone know anything about Contracting yourself to work on TV shows/movie sets/commercials etc.. stage scenes, teaching lay people etc in order to help the actors make things look realistic

heartlover07, RN · Apr 1, 2008

:yeahthat:

I was wondering the same thing!!

bassandtea · Apr 1, 2008

I´d personally love to see more accurate portrayals of nursing in film/television. If you know of somebody who is a good writer you could forward a treatment to a production company, however that generally won´t allow you to do the film work.

Another option is to do some shorts or low/no-budget projects. If you went the low/no route you could look at doing some shorts as series on youtube or for public access television...

There´s always the above mentioned training videos - but you would need to have a portfolio prepared and ensure that you weren´t taken advantage of by employers trying to get something for nothing.

Or perhaps skill training videos aimed at students, that they could buy to review their skills? As a student at the moment it would be great if there was something I could watch at home to review skills against.

That´s about all I can think of off the top of my head, but if I think of something else I´ll PM you or post here.

Ronnie (former actress turned nursing student)