In 95% of public schools in the United States, lockdown drills are as common as math and science. Students learn terrifying lessons like how to barricade doors with tables and how to balance on toilet seats so that gunmen can’t see their feet. March For Our Lives — the student-led organization that emerged in the tragic wake of the shooting in Parkland, Florida — believes politicians have shifted the responsibility of preventing mass shooting to kids — forcing millions of them to become experts in their own survival instead of tackling any meaningful gun reform. Our objective is to change that. March For Our Lives has created this film to rally support for a real solution — the S. 42 Background Check Expansion Act, which closes loopholes in gun laws and stops people with a criminal or mental health history from purchasing guns.

We created an online film that centers around a lockdown drill conducted at a real workplace in National City, California. However, when staff gather expecting to see an experienced drill instructor, they see an 11-year-old girl who recites the instructions she learned at school in disturbing detail. The adults in the room, and the millions who watched the film online, were exposed to the grim realities of being a student in the school shooting era. The film gave an entire generation who grew up learning these drills a voice for the first time — the generation was dubbed #GenerationLockdown. Their combined voices, created a wave of urgency for meaningful gun reform.

We created the film to ignite a generation of students to share their stories online and amplify a simple message — children should not be forced to become experts in their own survival because politicians can’t agree on sensible gun laws. No tricks. Nothing exaggerated. We simply presented the truth and asked a real student to take the terrifying lessons she learned at school and share them with adults at their workplace. Since the majority of the voting-public hasn’t experienced these traumatic drills firsthand, or even realize it’s now a reality for school children, with the power of Twitter and Facebook opened their eyes and made it clear that these terrifying lockdown drills are far from normal. The politicians on Twitter heard us and responded to our film by finally promising to create a real solution to gun violence.

The launch aligned with the 20th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting — one of the first and most highly publicized shootings in American history. It was this shooting that started the spread of school lockdown drills. Influential leaders of March For Our Lives launched the film on their Twitter and Facebook pages, exposing millions of their young followers on social media to Kayleigh’s words. Those followers instantly took up the cry and shared the film and their own lockdown drill stories under the banner #GenerationLockdown creating a wave of conversation on the lack of real gun reform. Within hours of the launch, news channels picked up the story and spread the message of #GenerationLockdown. Their coverage was shared and retweeted by March For Our Lives leaders drawing the attention of state Senators and members of Congress who responded to the film and committed to a solution to school shootings.

The film was picked up by all major television news networks including CNN, FOX, CBS and NBC. In seven days, the film had 22.9M views on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/YouTube. One post by news site ‘Now This’ has generated 16M views alone as of May 16 2019 (three weeks after launch) and the film was shared by Twitter’s trending handle @TwitterMoments. Combined viewership to date is 54M+ with total impressions 105M+ —$15 million earned media estimate. Most critically, this has created a 396% increase in lockdown conversation across social media. With #GenerationLockdown we were able to focus conversation online and capture the attention of political leaders. Senator Kamala Harris, U.S Senator Murphy, Congress Woman Gifford, Rachel Maddow and several other prominent figures shared the film and committed to a real solution to school shootings. Before a critical presidential election, students too young to vote shaped the agenda of their nation’s leaders.