Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

(Hollywood, CA) Paramount Pictures, Participant Media and Walden Media announced the addition of two new partners in the online "Take the Pledge" campaign supporting the national release of the award-winning documentary film WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN" this fall. DonorsChoose.org and Chicago-based office supply retailer OfficeMax® have joined the WaitingforSuperman.com "Pledge Progress Meter" at the 30,000 and 40,000 levels, respectively.

When 30,000 people pledge to see WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN," thanks to the generosity of its funders, DonorsChoose.org will donate $5 gift cards to every person who pledges to see the film by September 15th. The gift cards can be used to fulfill requests made by public school teachers from every corner of America who post classroom project needs on DonorsChoose.org. The mission of DonorsChoose.org is to improve public education by empowering every teacher to be a change-maker and enabling any citizen to be a philanthropist.

The efforts to reach a milestone of 40,000 people pledging to see this important documentary film will get an additional boost with OfficeMax aligning their "A Day Made Better" program with the movie campaign. Now in it's 4th year, the OfficeMax program helps defray the out-of-pocket expenditures on school supplies by dedicated teachers by awarding 1,000 outstanding teachers with $1,000 in school supplies. To help build awareness of the new film, the retail giant will now boost the annual award to include 40 additional deserving U.S. teachers when the pledge level reaches 40,000.

"I made this film for and about kids and their parents, struggling to get a quality education in the United States, and it is inspiring to see the momentum pick up as people really begin to rally behind it," said Director Davis Guggenheim. "Organizations like First Book, and now DonorsChoose.org and OfficeMax, are generating innovative ways to join the conversation. My hope is that people continue to pledge, demonstrating to teachers, parents and children that they have support and real change is coming to the public school system."

WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN" directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") will be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national conversation, the movie and corresponding "Take the Pledge" campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term solutions to help change the course of our kids' lives for the better. The "Pledge Progress Meter" launched in May as a way for non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both students and public schools. First Book was the first organization to take the pledge, by agreeing to donate 250,000 new books to schools and programs in low-income communities across the country once the pledge meter reaches 50,000 pledges.

People who have pledged are encouraged to see the film when it opens in their area beginning September 24.

About the Film

From AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH director Davis Guggenheim comes WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN," a provocative and cogent examination of the crisis of public education in the United States told through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. Tackling such politically radioactive topics as the power of teachers' unions and the entrenchment of school bureaucracies, Guggenheim reveals the invisible forces that have held true education reform back for decades.

The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media's Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.

Resources:

http://www.WaitingForSuperman.com