May 15, 2020 Content Success
Creating a Broadcast Special to Honor Graduates During COVID-19
ViacomCBS joins fellow broadcast networks for a virtual graduation celebration with the “Graduate Together” special.
For many students ending their high school careers this spring, the coronavirus crisis has stripped them of a once-in-a-lifetime moment: graduation. To give graduating seniors an experience they could remember during these challenging times, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) teamed up with CBS and the three other major U.S. broadcast networks to create a celebratory moment for the Class of 2020.
On Saturday, May 16, Graduate Together, a virtual graduation celebration, aired on CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox, featuring commencement addresses from Barack Obama, LeBron James, and Malala Yousafzai, and performances from Bad Bunny, The Jonas Brothers, Pharrell Williams, and many more.
“I hope the students are able to forget the stress of the last two months for just the second,” said Nicole Sexton, president and CEO of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, ahead of the event. “I hope that people take away some really beautiful messages from this special and have fun.”
The XQ Institute—an organization dedicated to rethinking the high school experience to ensure every graduate is ready to succeed in life—approached EIF with the remote-ceremony concept. The initial idea came from a New Jersey teacher who works closely with XQ and was one of countless educators to reach out since schools were shuttered around the country in March.
EIF, which serves the intersection between philanthropy and the entertainment industry, was the perfect partner to pull off this type of event—and they did it all in less than a month.
“We reached out to the networks on March 30 and they immediately all said ‘yes,’” Sexton said, adding that LeBron James’ production company joined on April 28.
“Education is so much more than academics. It’s about a shared experience, a journey we’re all on together,” James said in a press release. “With that not being possible right now, we’ve been working to find ways to help families get through this really difficult time. These students have worked incredibly hard for this and there’s no way we can let that go unrecognized. While this won’t be the graduation experience they were supposed to get, we hope we can still give them something special because they deserve it.”
Jack Sussman, evp, specials, music and live events for CBS, sits on the EIF board and made the decision to air the special on CBS.
“Airing the special across all of the major networks just shows that although we can be competitive, we can all be aligned on important issues,” he said. “This allows it to be seen by more people than it would normally be seen if it was only on one network.”
"This is a big deal for a huge segment of our population right now and their families. We just felt it was a great idea to come up with Graduate Together, honoring this high school Class of 2020."
Sussman’s role was to ensure the production went smoothly and met all the standards for a CBS broadcast. He also recommended the production company, Done + Dusted, which put the entire celebration together remotely.
“I think people will be really blown away by the production quality of this special, especially when we think back to the first at-home music shows, where people were clearly using their phones to create content,” Sexton explained. “This is going to look very different. When you combine the fact that our production company has never done anything like this before with the very condensed time frame, I think those who understand what it takes to produce something like this will really be in awe.”
Done + Dusted worked with Sexton and EIF, as well as James and his connections, to book talent. No one asked for anything in exchange for their involvement in the special—a sentiment that further underscores that we’re all in this together, according to Sexton.
Graduate Together partnered with corporate and philanthropic partners to support DonorsChoose and America’s Food Fund in order to provide resources, materials, and school lunches for educators and students in underserved communities.
In addition to the celebrity appearances, several soon-to-be graduates were also involved, and shared their stories and experiences amid COVID-19. The special was also livestreamed on Complex Networks, Facebook App, Instagram, PeopleTV, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
“It's definitely important to have this special at a time like this. For the last 18 years, these kids have had a goal. And that goal, although it will be obtained, the celebration of it has been put on the back burner,” Sussman said. “That rug's been pulled out from under them, and granted there are more serious immediate consequences that are going on in the world right now, but this is a big deal for a huge segment of our population right now and their families. We just felt it was a great idea to come up with Graduate Together, honoring this high school Class of 2020.”
