Championing Entertainment-Based Narrative Change

The Opportunity

The Communications Network Conference (ComNet26) brings together senior communications leaders from the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors who are committed to advancing social change through strategic communications and narrative change.

At the same time, interest is growing across philanthropy, journalism, strategic communications, and the creative industries in harnessing the reach of entertainment media to shift public perceptions and challenge harmful narratives.

Synchronicity Collective saw an opportunity to highlight a compelling case study: the award-winning series The Pitt and its collaboration with nonprofit partners to ensure authenticity, accuracy, and measurable audience impact.

The Process

We identified The Pitt as a powerful example of entertainment-based narrative change in action, demonstrating how mainstream storytelling can thoughtfully address complex social and structural issues while engaging broad audiences.

We partnered with Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) and the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center to develop a conference session exploring the show's approach and impact.

HH&S, which works to improve the accuracy of health-related storylines in film and television, shared insights into its collaboration with the show's creative team.

The Norman Lear Center contributed research examining the series' influence on healthcare professionals and public audiences, highlighting the role of entertainment media in shaping understanding, attitudes, and engagement.

Together, we developed and submitted a session proposal to the Communications Network annual conference.

The Result

The session was selected for ComNet26 and featured during one of the conference's highest-attended days. Informal attendee feedback indicated strong interest in entertainment-based approaches to narrative change and the growing role of the entertainment industry as a partner in advancing social impact.