Greg Berlanti accepts the Social Impact Award at the Teens and Screens Summit
Greg Berlanti received the first Greg Berlanti Social Impact Award on Thursday at the UCLA Center for Scholars and Storytellers’ annual Teens and Screens Summit in Los Angeles. The writer, director, producer and showrunner behind films and shows like ‘Love, Simon,’ ‘Dawsons Creek,’ ‘Riverdale,’ ‘You’ and multiple series on the CW’s ‘Arrowverse’ gave a heartfelt acceptance speech reflecting on his journey to self-acceptance, which led him to create shows that make audiences feel represented, seen and loved.
“As storytellers in Hollywood, we can heal our own old stories, create new stories that are honest and vulnerable, and those stories can in turn change hearts and minds and remind audiences how much more universal the human experience is than usual,” a dewy Berlanti explained, “We all still want to connect. We all still want to be seen and understood. We all want love.”
Berlanti shared some of those “old stories” that he has been able to heal and expand on throughout his illustrious career. He started with his own childhood, reminiscing about his boyish love of television, while also realizing that “there was still a big void. I was a closeted gay teen and there were only a few LGBTQ characters on TV.”
He reflected on how a chance encounter at an AIDS march in New York City gave him his first positive representation of queer people, but when one of the protesters reached out to him, he rejected it. “He waited for me to grab him, but I didn’t. I didn’t have the courage. I was afraid that my parents or someone would discover my secret if I grabbed that hand, so I just looked away,” he said. “I spent much of my childhood running from that outstretched hand, afraid at first, but over time I found the strength to come out and ultimately love myself.”
Things came full circle decades later, when Berlanti screened “Love, Simon” in Olathe, Kansas, in 2018. After the screening, a 14-year-old boy came out publicly and thanked Berlanti for providing shows and movies that made him feel a little less alone. “As he extended his hand to shake mine,” Berlanti recalled, “it was not lost on me that I was receiving a second injection to make up for the hand I had not taken so many years ago.”
Berlanti’s writing partners Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson introduced the award and its namesake. “When you work with Greg, you cry a lot, and that’s not by accident. There’s always a great, genuine emotion at the heart of Greg’s work, because that’s what Greg is,” said Williamson, while Plec added: “He’s given us some of the most heartfelt, diverse, ambitious stories and television, whether it’s a superhero in a cave, a teenager falling in love for the first time, or a family finding its way, his shows aren’t just entertaining us. They see us.”
Molly Ringwald, who starred in “Riverdale,” also submitted a video comparing Berlanti to John Hughes. She said her iconic YA collaborations with Hughes from the 1980s “have stood the test of time, but are also of their time,” adding, “Greg Berlanti has built on this legacy and shaped our modern depiction of adolescence in much the same way, but with more representation of our diverse society.”
The ceremony’s focus on Berlanti’s contributions to the YA space was a fitting emphasis for the Summit, which follows the Center for Scholars and Storytellers’ annual Teens and Screens report. The report provides insight into the media tastes and consumption habits of Gen-Z Americans. The findings showed, among other things, that young Americans still appreciate traditional films and television, even though they are often consumed in small bites on TikTok and YouTube. They have a notable preference for animation, don’t care for over-sexualized love stories, and crave content that offers authentic representations of lives like their own.
During the summit, these findings were presented in multiple panels and discussions with media executives, content creators and academics. Perhaps the most memorable panel was the “Ask The Teens” panel, where four teens took the stage for a conversation about their tastes, moderated by Roblox Youth Engagement Program Manager Andres Cuervo. The young panellists confirmed much of what the research suggested, drawing on teenagers’ aversion to “trend-chasing” media that feels artificial and out of reach in lieu of more serious stories. As 14-year-old Hollyn Alpert said, “Teens, like adults, are not monoliths. They all have different opinions. They all have different views, beliefs, races, sexualities, religions. Just explore that and embrace that.” A room full of seasoned Hollywood professionals listened attentively.
Berlanti summed up the importance of listening to these young voices by saying, “What a gift it is to positively impact the young lives of the public by reminding them of these things and giving them a sense of connection, empathy and self-worth. In return, they give us hope. I get the greatest hope from young people today. No matter how dark things seem today or how rocky the journey to our future may be, I believe that the future will be here. brighter thanks to our young people.”
