Learn more about Gideon's Promise and their work. This New York Times article shines a light on some of the serious issues public defenders and their clients face.

REFERENCE VIDEOS:

Watch Jonathan Rapping's Ted Talk about the importance of the work Gideon's Promise is doing.

And the trailer for the documentary Gideon's Army.

These episodes of tv, while fictional, touched on the absolute need for qualified, compassionate, and courageous public defenders:

Gideon's Promise was founded as a nonprofit in 2007 by Jonathan Rapping as the Southern Public Defender Training Center (SPDTC) with a fellowship from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to answer the need for training and mentorship for public defenders working in under-resourced communities in the South. Rapping's 10 year tenure as a public defender in Washington, D.C. gave him first-hand knowledge of the importance of peer relationships to provide professional and emotional support to the attorneys and combat the high turnover rate that plagues public defender offices. The Gideon's Promise program model is based on client- and community-focused values that serve as the foundation for the training, mentoring, and leadership development public defenders receive from the organization.

In 2010, the SPDTC received its 501(c)(3) non-profit designation under the name Gideon's Promise. The organization's name was taken from the 1963 landmark case Gideon v Wainwright in which the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that every person accused of a crime in America must be provided with a lawyer, regardless of their economic status or ability to pay.

Gideon's Promise has since grown from a singular training program for 16 attorneys in two public defender offices in Georgia and Louisiana to a national organization with over 1,000 participants from 104 partner, statewide, and affiliate offices across 29 states and the US Virgin Islands. Initially a three-year program for new public defenders, Gideon's Promise has expanded into a comprehensive program model that supports public defenders at all levels of their careers. The organization also serves as a critical pipeline between 22 distinguished law schools and its partner public defense offices, ensuring the next generation of public defenders. Twice a year, new lawyers, supervisors, chief defenders, trainers, and law students participate in the clinical instructor-led curriculum of Gideon's Promise.

Objectives

Let's be blunt: the American justice system is, largely speaking, not very just. And the people most marginalized by the system – most at the mercy of its power – know it. As a result, the families who are most in need of reliable, trustworthy legal representation are the ones who are least likely to trust that anyone in the criminal legal system, least of all their court-appointed lawyer, is there to help them. If you were in a legal fight for your life – for your freedom – would you be willing to trust a total stranger, who at best is overworked, and at worst may be in the prosecution's pocket?

This is the upward battle so many public defenders, and their clients, are up against every day in the American criminal justice system. And it's terrifying. As a client, your public defender has a huge impact on your life, maybe bigger than anyone else, and whether you trust your defender or not, the fight for your rights or freedom is in their hands. In return, most public defenders actually do care deeply about their clients, and want the best possible legal outcome for them, but are handling more cases – more people – than they have time for. For both public defenders and their clients, too often the cards are stacked against them before they even enter the game.

Time. Trust. And awareness. These are the first things we need more of, immediately, if we want to transform our criminal legal system.

Gideon's Promise believes we can – and should – do better. Their mission is to transform public defense and ensure equal justice for all by empowering public defenders nationwide through mentorship, training, and community-focused values, across all levels of their careers. Especially as America grapples with the inherent inequities of our criminal legal system, public defenders need to be seen as a powerful force for change from within, ultimately serving as the conscience of our criminal justice system. And to do that, we need your help to get people to understand the very real issues public defenders and their clients face every single day, and inspire them to fight for a better criminal legal system for all.

Your :60–:90 PSA should portray both the critical work Gideon's Promise does for public defenders (see more in the Executional Mandatories and Background sections) as well as portray the client-public defender relationship with honesty and integrity, and show that the American criminal legal system needs all three – Gideon's Promise, public defenders, and their clients – working together in harmony to create a better and more just system for all.

Gideon's Promise is interested in seeing your creative takes on how you'd bring these core objectives to life through skillful, creative executions. You may pitch your own creative take or you can build off the theme of Promises: between the client and their family; the public defender and their client; and Gideon's Promise and their public defenders. Stylistically, Gideon's Promise is open to all forms and formats for your video, from motion graphics to kinetic text, 2D animation to papercraft, licensable stock footage to full live action, and anything in between.

Check out more information in the Background / Additional Details, and for any questions or other project updates, check out the Project Forum.

DELIVERABLES:

One :60-:90 video (16x9)
One :30 cutdown (1x1)

TIMELINE: For the full project timeline please see the Assets section.

EXPOSURE:

Broadcast, Gideon's Promise social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), direct share with potential donors and sponsors.
Be sure to check out the platform best practices page.

TARGET AUDIENCE: This video is intended to hit the widest possible audience; your execution should therefore feel broadly accessible and impactful, including to those most apathetic to the critical role of public defenders, as well as to potential donors and sponsors.

TONE: Informative, educational, empathetic, passionate, inspiring, heartfelt; not sappy or sympathetic. While your video should be informative it should also be inspirational, heartfelt, and inspire passion; viewers should take away the understanding that the criminal legal system not only should, but can be better.

EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES:

Your video must create awareness of both the challenges facing public defenders in our current criminal legal system, as well as the impact public defenders can make when they are properly supported, and tie both together through Gideon's Promise's mission.
Your video must humanize both public defenders and the clients they represent.
Your video must clearly establish what Gideon's Promise offers for public defenders and that it is not a law firm. Key messaging around Gideon's Promise must show:
- Gideon's Promise is a non-profit organization with a mission to transform the criminal legal system by empowering, supporting, and training public defenders.
- Gideon's Promise provides and facilitates peer relationships for professional and emotional support; mentorship; and leadership development for public defenders at all levels of their careers.
- Gideon's Promise exists to support public defenders in providing their clients with the defense they deserve, and to help keep communities intact.
- Gideon's Promise not only provides training and resources to public defenders but also serves as an ongoing network and community to support public defenders throughout the duration of their careers.
Your video must make clear that public defenders are the only line of defense for the vast majority of people charged with a crime in America.
Move and inspire audiences to support Gideon's Promise and their mission.
Your video must be targeted to an American audience, be in American English and any on-screen or VO talent must speak American-accented English.
Your video should build off of the Gideon's Promise tagline: Strengthening Public Defenders. Transforming Public Defense.
Gideon's Promise also considers the following to be mandatory/preferred language, and words/language to avoid:
- Mandatory/Preferred:
  - Dignity, Humane/Humanity, The Client/The Accused, Criminal Legal System, New/Next Generation, Economically Disadvantaged
- Avoid:
  - The Defendant, Training Program, Criminal Justice System, Poor, Indigent

OPEN BID:

This is an open bid project, so you will get to set your own budget proposal, up to $15,000. The Sponsor is interested in seeing tiered pricing options, so please feel free to submit various versions of your pitch at budget, target, and reach price points within that price range.
By participating in this open bid project, creators acknowledge that the Sponsor is under no obligation to greenlight a bid. Though most open bid projects on our platform do move forward with a greenlit bid, we will notify you in the event the Sponsor decides not to fund any bids via the project forum. Regardless of the result, all open bid submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by the Sponsor and the project team.

Shooting live action or stop motion? Please review our COVID-19 Production Safety Guide and check federal, state, and local rules before and during your shoot to make sure your on-set protocols are up to date. We're working hard to keep people working during this extraordinary time, and you should ensure your submission is executable within the anticipated timeline and budget, while also ensuring everyone's safety.

Details

In order to be considered for this project, you must include the below materials in your pitch submission. For examples of effective pitches, check out this gallery.

TEXT (REQUIRED): 500 or fewer characters synopsizing how you plan to approach and execute this video.
TREATMENT (REQUIRED): A detailed narrative description of what's going to happen in the video. If it's helpful to you, we've provided a treatment template, which you can find here.
LINKS (REQUIRED): To your previous video work. Please specify your role (producer, director, cinematography, etc.) and DO NOT INCLUDE LINKS TO YOUR SHOWREEL. Please link to individual videos.
BID (REQUIRED): This is an open bid project, so you’ll get to set your overall budget proposal. The Sponsor would like each producer to create all of the videos listed in the Deliverables section within a total budget up to $15,000. Please ensure that your budget factors in appropriate COVID safety protocols (i.e. testing, PPE, cleaning supplies, backup talent, etc.).
COVID PROTOCOL (REQUIRED): Please let us know your team’s COVID safety protocols for the hero shoot production. At the very minimum, your safety plan must include information about:
- What city and state you plan to film in
- Whether you are filming interiors or exteriors
- Approximately how many people you plan to have on set
- How you’ll account for testing, PPE, and distancing on set
- How you’ll handle talent and backup talent, including any hair, make-up, and wardrobe needs
- Whether you’ll have a dedicated compliance officer on set
SCRIPT (Optional): This should include dialogue from the video you intend to create.
HEADSHOTS/CASTING BOARDS (Optional): Casting notes or concepts, headshots of actors, etc.
STORYBOARDS (Optional): Additional concept art, storyboards, shot list, anything that helps get your point across. You can download the Tongal storyboard template here.
PITCH VIDEO (Optional): This is your opportunity to be face-to-face with the Sponsor and show them what you're capable of. Consider submitting a pitch video in which you tell the Sponsor what they can expect should they choose your pitch. Also, test videos, animatics, etc. are welcome. For some examples of effective Pitch videos, check out this gallery. All Pitches will remain private until after the Sponsor gives creator(s) the green light to move forward.

Requirements

Preferred format for upload to the Tongal website is HD 720p 16x9. Acceptable file formats are .mov, .avi, .mp4, .wmv. Acceptable codecs are H.264 (MP4), MPEG-4, H.263, MPGV, WMV, DivX. Should your submission be greenlit, you will also be required to provide a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec.
Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.
In the event you utilize any third-party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider not provided by Tongal, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third-party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.
BY SUBMITTING A VIDEO ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES THE SOLE PROPERTY OF TONGAL OR ITS ASSIGNEES – SEE OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES. YOU MAY NOT PUBLICLY SHARE OR PUBLISH YOUR SUBMISSION IN ANY MANNER AND YOU MAY NOT POST OR UPLOAD YOUR SUBMISSION TO ANY WEBSITE OR VIDEO HOSTING SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE OR VIMEO), WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TONGAL. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF YOUR ENTRY IN THE PROJECT.
You may not contact any employees or members of the Sponsor’s organization, their affiliates, or any of their partners. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disqualification of your entry in the project.
Submissions cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Sponsor.
Submissions must not portray Sponsor in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Sponsor.
By submitting to this project, you acknowledge that your work may become subject to public voting on the Tongal site. Public voting may be used to help the project sponsor determine the final rank order.
Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.
Limit 5 submissions per member, per Phase.
You must be at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.
The Sponsor reserves the right to repost the contest.
In addition to the judging criteria stated in the OFFICIAL RULES, Pitches will also be evaluated on that member's ability to execute the final Video based on their prior work and experience as a filmmaker.
The Sponsor will be entitled to reasonable revisions on the finished Videos without providing additional compensation. Remember it's easier to re-edit than re-shoot so try to get as much coverage as possible.
In addition to the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment, greenlit Video creators MUST also provide Talent, Location, Music (or other) Releases for all assets appearing in their Videos, as well as a photograph/headshot OR copy of a photo ID for all On-camera Talent releases. You must also provide all project files, editing sequences and a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec to claim your earnings.
See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.