About Bridge Entertainment Labs

America faces a historic threat from toxic polarization, with trust in institutions and each other at all-time lows. Bridge Entertainment Labs (BEL) believes we can build a culture of courageous engagement and genuine connection across communities, renewing the promise of a diverse democracy.

We have seen the power of entertainment to catalyze cultural shifts around pressing social issues. BEL leverages this power to repair and transform America’s divides.

BEL serves as an incubator of ideas, a resource for entertainment creatives and executives, and a catalyst for content that promotes new American “stories of us.”

Say, given the opportunity, they would play a part in reducing social division in America.

Of Americans say it is important to reduce divisiveness in the United States, including two-thirds who say it is very important to do so.

Believe Americans have more in common than what divides us.

We activate entertainment media to unite Americans across lines of difference and build an aspirational narrative for civic engagement

Enter the storytellers. Enter the narrative shifters.

Entertainment can offer America a different script.

Bridge Entertainment Labs (BEL) aims to ignite a consciousness of transformational bridge-building, belonging, and civic participation in American culture through popular entertainment. BEL’s theory of change is grounded in three core ideas:

Culture Precedes Politics: Cultural change leads to political change.
Entertainment as a Lever for Change: Entertainment is the most powerful tool for scaling cultural transformation.
The Power of Vision: Americans need to see compelling examples of bridge-building to believe it is possible and worthwhile.

We must tell better “Stories of Us”. Click Here to Learn About Our Values.

We aim to achieve our impact in society through these primary strategies:

CONVENE

Building a community and an ecosystem of culture-changers committed to stories that explore our shared humanity and connect Americans across lines of difference.

CONSULT

Equipping entertainment leaders and creatives with pluralism/democracy expertise and resources to enhance their content slates.

CREATE & CATALYZE

Accelerate the development, completion, and promotion of game-changing entertainment projects that embody BEL’s ethos.

Studios would make more money if they tell the story of America, the American workplace, and American family. America is big loud cacophonous place, and the neighborhood in America is people who live together in relative peace.
Rob Long, Writer & Producer, “Cheers”; Co-Founder, Ricochet, Bridge Entertainment Labs Advisory Council Member, at Hollywood & Storytelling in a Divided America

BEL is breathing oxygen into the embers of Hollywood’s prevailing ambition —to bring people together through storytelling. The community BEL is building and the conversations they’re facilitating are pollinating the value of bridging divides, which is going to impact the industry and public for years to come.
Amanda Farrand, EVP of Business and Brand Development at Imagine Entertainment