Oklahoma Christian Alumni Releases "What Rhymes with Reason"

Oklahoma Christian alumni Kyle Roberts directed “What Rhymes with Reason”, a film about mental health. Oklahoma Christian will host a screening Nov. 10 following the nationwide release on Oct. 10.

OKLAHOMAN: Oklahoma film about teen depression and suicide to be released on World Mental Health Day

Brandy McDonnell

The Oklahoman

Kyle William Roberts spent the better part of a decade working on his sophomore feature film “What Rhymes with Reason.”

Now, the Oklahoma City moviemaker is watching the teen drama get its national release on the perfect day: Oct. 10, which is World Mental Health Day.

“For me, it’s like it’s been God’s plan this whole time to be releasing this film on World Mental Health Day,” said Roberts, the founder and creative director of OKC’s Reckless Abandonment Pictures.

“I just can’t wait. … I know we have a very real chance at helping a lot of people.”

How is the Oklahoma-made movie ‘What Rhymes with Reason’ addressing teen suicide and depression?

After shooting “What Rhymes with Reason” across his home state in 2022 — filming took place atop Mount Scott, at Collings Castle in Turner Falls Park, at Robbers Cave State Park near Wilburton, inside Jones High School and at Green Pastures Studio in Spencer — Roberts debuted the movie earlier this year at the 23rd Annual deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City.

Written by Roberts’ nephew and longtime collaborator Sean Thiessen, the film follows Jesse Brandt (Gattlin Griffith, “The Boys”), a high-school senior who tumbles into depression after a tragedy. In an attempt to find meaning and direction, Jesse, his sister (Katie Burgess) and his friends embark on a quest to find a legendary landmark hidden in the Oklahoma wilderness.

Made in partnership with Oklahoma’s 988 Mental Health Lifeline, the movie deals with real-life issues troubling contemporary teens, including suicide, depression and anxiety. Along with its one-night-only Oct. 10 release in movie theaters nationwide through Fathom Events, the Faith Content Network is offering opportunities for churches, schools and youth organizations to host screenings of “What Rhymes with Reason” for groups as small as 10 people Oct. 10-24.

Roberts recently talked to The Oklahoman about earning the right to be heard by teenagers, making a meaningful outdoor adventure and working with youth counselors to craft his new film:

Q: You’ve called this a mental health-focused, faith-adjacent teen adventure story, so can you talk about trying to cover a lot of ground in one movie?

Roberts: The challenge from Day 1 is making a film that connects with a youth audience that is real and is honest but also is family friendly … that’s also not cheesy. So, that was the hard part of this whole thing was really crafting this story to do that.

Q: So, it sounds like that started with the writing process?

Roberts: Yeah. That was five years of this time. It was a ton of research, of interviewing counselors and youth pastors and students and parents. The No. 1 feedback we got during that time was ‘please, please, please do not show an attempt at suicide’ — and that was in some of our earlier drafts in various stages.

So, we had to very carefully craft this thing to be — and this isn’t sexy — a safe space that allows for these conversations to open up. … It is a challenge because you want you want to be entertaining — and it needs to be entertaining — but you also don’t want to glorify (suicide). So, I think, at the heart of it, that was the challenge. And that’s why we had to keep coming back to it, keep going back and forth, massaging this thing and cutting out certain things, adding other things. It was this whole journey to try to get this right.

Q: Why was it important for you to make a teen movie that addressed mental health issues?

Roberts: It was put on my heart because I was a (Christian ministry) Young Life leader with (my wife) Sarah, and we were seeing a massive rise of anxiety and depression. … When we started this thing a long time ago, we talked to potential investors, and I don’t want to say they thought we were lying. But they just didn’t understand what we were even talking about, that this was a problem. …

There’s this crazy stat that the No. 2 cause of death in the United States starting at 10 years old is suicide. Five years ago, the CDC has shared that it was the No. 10 cause of death. … Another one of the crazy stats that we share is that one in 10 teenagers are suffering from depression — and sometimes even thoughts of suicide — at any given time. … We wanted to normalize, to break the stigma, just encourage more conversation. We just have to talk, all the way around.

Don’t be afraid to talk about something — and I’m tearing up as we’re talking about this. … It doesn’t matter what it is, we can’t bottle things in, because ultimately, that can, unfortunately, lead to a much deeper, darker thing, possibly.

Q: Why did you decide to make this an adventure movie?

Roberts: Well, we do know a little bit about that at Reckless Abandonment. Whether it’s stop-motion (animation) or stop-motion mixed with live action … a lot of the stuff that we produce has some action to it or adventure to it.

One of the reasons it took a long time is that we knew we needed a certain budget that was bigger — about 10 times bigger than anything we’ve ever done before. We still really had to crunch our budget: We only had 18 days to shoot in 16 different locations, we were moving all over Oklahoma, but we did finally have the budget that we actually deserved and actually needed.

Q: You recently had a virtual screening of your movie for youth pastors. What was the reaction?

Roberts: Like 500 or 600 pastors streamed this thing together, and the chat was just incredible. Essentially, parents and youth workers, that’s who we made this film for, so they can use it as a tool to encourage these conversations. It’s hard to get teenagers to talk about anything, let alone something very serious like this.

The overwhelming response from youth workers and youth pastors was incredible, with a lot of them just thanking us for making this movie, and a lot of them sharing that they can’t wait to take their groups. … When we’re getting that kind of response from our target audience, it just makes us feel like we did our job in this calling for eight years.

Q: Although your film has no bad language or sexual content and little violence, it still got a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association. What does that tell you about the stigma in this country about mental health?

Roberts: Yeah, this was a first experience for me. There were 12 people that screened it at MPA, and they all rated it PG-13. … The descriptor is for ‘conversations surrounding mental health’ and ‘fighting.’ … Some people on our team were really hoping for a PG. We produced this thing to appeal to everybody, so you could watch with your whole family. And when we received the PG-13 rating, I think that was frustrating for some members on our team, because that might throw people off guard.

There are youth workers that have to watch this film before they can share it. We’re releasing this on one night, and so if they don’t have a chance to watch this beforehand, they can’t bring their youth group. They have an obligation to do that, to make sure to check it out, because if it’s rated PG-13, they just don’t know (if it’s appropriate).

So, I think we’re just not there yet, of them understanding that 10-year-olds are going through this. There’s still kind of a stigma … so I think the timing is perfect for this release with what’s going on in the world and culture that we’re currently in.

To host a group screening: https://faithcontentnetwork.com/host/what-rhymes-with-reason.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline which provides confidential 24/7 support by dialing 988, or visit 988lifeline.org.

Crisis Text Line also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.