THE BULLY PROJECT

a year in the life of America’s bullying crisis

The Bully Project: a year in the life of America’s bullying crisis

This year, over 5 million American kids will be bullied at school,

online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the
streets of their towns—making it the most common form of vio-
lence young people in this country experience.

The Bully Project is the first feature documentary film to show how
we’ve all been affected by bullying—whether we’ve been victims,
perpetrators or stood in silent witness.
“WE ARE ALL EITHER BULLIES,
BULLIED, OR BYSTANDERS.”
Richard L. Gross, MD
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
THE BULLY PROJECT
The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. The Bully Project opens on the first day
of school. For the more than 5 million kids who’ll be bullied this year in the United States, it’s a
day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses
across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of
raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown. For a lot of kids, the only thing that’s certain is
that this year, like every other, bullying will be a big part of whatever meets them at their school’s
front doors.

Every school in the U.S. is grappling with bullying—each day more than 160,000 kids across the
country are absent because they’re afraid of being bullied—but for many districts it’s just one
more problem that gets swept under the rug. With unprecedented access to elementary, middle
and high schools across Sioux City, Iowa, The Bully Project will follow from the first day of school
through the last, as students, teachers, coaches, principles and parents battle bullying in their
district. In hallways, classrooms, busses, football practice and band rehearsals we’ll see where
prevention programs end and the tough work of leadership begins. At West High, where no one is
left on the sidelines during dances and the homecoming royalty challenge stereotypes of popular-
ity, insisting, “Here, it’s cool to be nice,” we’ll show how a school’s culture can be transformed into
a place where bullying isn’t tolerated, offering hope and a real model of change to schools who say
it cannot be surmounted.
 THE BULLY PROJECT

But what does bullying look like? The Bully Project brings us into the everyday lives of sev-
eral young people who are on the receiving end of daily beatings, taunts, made the subject
of Facebook hate groups, excluded from their peers and sent threatening text messages—to
name just a few items on the never-ending list of torment kids dole out. From Fort Worth,
Texas, where 6th-grader Caine Smith has been pushed around and called homophobic slurs
practically every day of school since kindergarten, to Tuttle, Oklahoma, where 16-year-old
Kelby Johnson has been hit by a car, beat-up and made the subject of bathroom graffiti by
her classmates since she came out of the closet, The Bully Project will be the first film to
document the real face of bullying—and its consequences.

Every week, there’s another story in the news that grabs the nation’s attention and brings
into focus the devastating toll bullying can have on children, families and communities. While
these suicides, school shootings and other acts of violence may appear as 30-second seg-
ments on CNN, the lessons they offer are all too quickly forgotten. The Bully Project will take
a much deeper look into these tragedies and how they could have been prevented, starting
in Yazoo County, Mississippi, where this September, Aisha Lalor brought a loaded handgun
on her school bus in an attempt to scare off the kids who picked on her to and from school
every day—after adults failed to protect her.
 THE BULLY PROJECT

As fall turns to winter, yet another suicide takes us into the home of David and Tina
Long, who lost their son Tyler this October, after years of relentless bullying. Despite
the Long’s numerous visits to Murray County’s schools to gain protection for their
son, the bullying continued unchecked, even after Tyler’s death, when the bullies
showed up in school wearing nooses and circulated pictures of Tyler in his casket.
With nothing left to lose, the Longs are taking Tyler’s suicide as a call to action, bring-
ing this small Georgia community’s bullying problem to the forefront, and taking to
task a school system that denies any culpability in their failure to prevent this tragedy.

Combining verité footage with interviews, The Bully Project will give a never-before-
seen perspective on bullying and its costs, not only on children, but in the workplace
and its impact on our national identity and global politics, speaking with bullying
prevention activists, educators, world leaders and experts in the field.

Whether we’ve been the kid thrown against a locker or the witness who overheard a
classmate being called a fag or the organizer of a negative Facebook group, bullying
is something we’ve all experienced—and all have a stake in stopping. The Bully Proj-
ect seeks to be a catalyst for change and to turn the tide on an epidemic of violence
that has touched every community in the United States—and far beyond.
 THE BULLY PROJECT
CHARACTERS

The Bully Project is a character-driven film. At its heart are those

with the most at stake and whose stories each represent a dif-
ferent facet of this crisis. From the first day of school through the
last, The Bully Project will intimately explore the lives of a few of
the many courageous people bullying will touch this year.
ALEX MOODY
PERRY, GEORGIA

You can hear the rage in 15-year-old Alex Moody’s

still-childlike voice in her Youtube posting entitled
Bullying, where she reports, “I’m so sick and tired of
people picking on me and picking on my friends.”
However, Alex is adamant bullying won’t keep her
from doing anything. Into anime, playing trumpet and
with a creative personality that can’t be categorized,
as Alex begins her freshman year, she’s looking
forward to fulfilling her dream of starting ROTC and
joining the army so that she can get a scholarship to
go to college, which her family can’t afford.
ALEX HOPKINS
SIOUX CITY, IOWA

Alex Hopkins has spent the summer trying not to

think about what might happen when he returns to
Sioux City’s East Middle School, where for years,
he’s been punched, strangled, sat on and tripped by
a group of bigger, tougher, ‘cooler’ boys in his grade.
Of slight build and donning glasses, Alex, who has
Asperger’s syndrome, reflects on the bullying that
has trailed him through life like a shadow, confessing,
“Sometimes they push me so far, it makes me want to
be the bully.”
KELBY JOHNSON
TUTTLE, OKLAHOMA

Until a few years ago, 16-year-old Kelby Johnson

was like a lot of other girls in town, throwing herself
into sports, getting good grades, going to church
where her parents were Sunday school teachers.
But everything changed when she came out of the
closet. While teachers and administrators turned a
blind eye, Kelby was sexually assaulted by a group
of football players, beat up by boys in between
classes and run down by a carful of classmates—
puncturing the windshield with her head. While her
parents have offered to move to another town, Kelby
returns to school this fall filled with determination
to be the victor of the faceoff with Tuttle High—and
graduate with honors.
AISHA LALOR
PICKENS, MISSISSIPPI

On the morning of September 1st,

14-year-old Aisha Lalor finally had
enough. Picked on every morn-
ing and afternoon of her hour-long
bus ride though rural and largely
impoverished Yazoo County, Aisha
took out the gun she’d found in
her mother’s closet, loaded it and
confronted her bullies. After be-
ing swiftly tackled by the school’s
football star, Aisha is arrested and
charged with 45 felony accounts,
enough to send her to prison for
a hundred years. Inside the Yazoo
County Juvenile Detention Center,
Aisha awaits her fate, lamenting,
“I feel like everyone has turned
against me.”
TINA AND DAVID LONG
CHATTSWORTH, GEORGIA

Tyler Long, diagnosed with Asperger’s, was bullied since the fifth
grade. A role model to his younger twin brother and sister, sensitive,
handsome and about to earn his black belt in karate, by the time he
was seventeen, the bullying hadn’t stopped and dying seemed easier
than living through another day. On October 17th, 2009, he was found
hanging in his closet. While the Murray County Schools have refused
to so much as have a moment of silence in Tyler’s honor, denying
bullying takes place in their schools, they have threatened to fire any
teacher who dares to come forward. As Tina and David Long mourn
the loss of a son they tried to protect, and win justice from the school
that failed him so miserably, his death has sparked a war in a commu-
nity forced to face its bullying demons.
THE BULLY PROJECT
Director’s Statement

The Bully Project is a deeply personal film for me: I was bullied throughout middle school and
much of my childhood. In many ways, those experiences and struggles helped shape my world
view and the types of films I’ve endeavored to make.

I firmly believe that there is a need for an honest, gutsy film which gives voice to the kids who
deal with such torments on a daily basis. Through this unflinching look, we will make a differ-
ence for other young people across our communities and improve our collective response to this
crisis.

Moving away from the silence, shame and attitude of “kids will be kids,” I intend that this film
not only reach those who have been the victims of bullying, but more importantly, those who still
need an “empathy push.” Viewers will be left with a clear sense of how they can step into a bully-
ing situation and make a positve impact.

Everyone has a story when it comes to bullying, what’s yours?

WHAT IS BULLYING?

- aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions

- involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time
- involves an imbalance of power or strength
 


WHAT DOES BULLYING LOOK-SOUND-FEEL LIKE?

- hitting, kicking, shoving, choking and spitting

- name-calling and derogatory comments
- social exclusion or isolation
- spreading of lies and false rumors
- having money or other things taken or damaged
- being threatened or being forced to do things
- cyber bullying with cell phones or internet
 BULLYING STATISTICS
• Bullying is the most common form of violence: more than 5 million kids are victims annually.
(American Medical Association, 2002)

• Almost 30% of youth in the United States (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying
as either a bully, a target of bullying, or both.
(Bullying Behaviors Among US Youth: Prevalence and Association With Psychosocial Adjustment)

• Over 160,000 children in the United States miss school every day out of fear of attack or intimidation by
other students. (National Education Association, 1995)

• More than 2/3rds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying and believe adult help is
infrequent and ineffective. (American Medical Association, 2002)

• 42% of children have been bullied while online. 1 in 4 have had it happen more than once.
(2004 iSafe Survey)

• 37% of Americans (54 million people) have been bullied at work. (Workplace Bullying Institute and Zogby
International U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, 2007)
THE BULLY PROJECT
LEE HIRSCH - Director/Producer

A documentary filmmaker, Lee Hirsch’s debut feature film, “Amandla! a Revolution in Four Part
Harmony,” chronicles the history of the South African anti-apartheid struggle through a celebra-
tion of its musical heroes. This film was released to acclaim, winning the Audience and Freedom
of Expression Awards at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as one of the five Emmy awards it
was nominated for, among many other honors.

Recently, Hirsch directed and produced for the Discovery Channel’s series, “Next World,” a
multi-part series that examines what the world will look like in 30 years. During the 2008 election,
Hirsch also created, directed and produced the award-winning commercial series, “Local Voices
for Obama.” In 2007, Hirsch directed and produced the History Channel special, “Act of Honor,”
which paints an intimate portrait of a Mexican-American family dealing with the tragic death of
their son, Rafael Peralta, who threw himself on a live grenade and saved the lives of several Ma-
rines in his unit during the battle of Fallujah.

Lee Hirsch was born and raised on Long Island, New York, and attended the Putney School in
Vermont, Hampshire College and the New York Film Academy. He currently lives in Brooklyn.
THE BULLY PROJECT
THE BULLY PROJECT: A CALL TO ACTION

Documentary films have the power to create profound change. NOW is the time
for The Bully Project to inspire kids, schools, families and communities across
the United States to sit up, take notice and ACT.

Get involved.
- Financially support this production and our outreach efforts
- Become a corporate or educational partner
- Place a donate now button on your website
- Provide in-kind services
- Spread the word!

For more information on how you can help, please contact Cynthia Lowen,
producer, at (646) 251 0300 or via email at info@thebullyproject.com.
THE BULLY PROJECT
A film by Lee Hirsch

Feature length, full high definition 1080 x 1920

shot on the Canon 5d Mark II

177 Adelphi Street

Brooklyn, NY 11205
Ph : 917 655 3514
lee.hirsch@verizon.net
www.thebullyproject.com

View a few clips at: http://www.youtube.com/user/thebullyproject

With support from:

The Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention

http://wivp.waittinstitute.org

Cinereach
www.cinereach.org

Copyright © 2010 The Bully Project