By Megan Alley
Sun Staff
The Bethel filmmaker who started his documentary series on addiction recovery three years ago has reached one million views on YouTube.
Shane Reinert started his “Addiction” series with hopes to highlight individuals who have overcome substance addiction.
Throughout the past three years, Reinert has produced and uploaded 53 videos that tell the recovery stories of people from across 10 states.
“It’s been amazing,” Reinert said. “The series has changed my life. I didn’t have any idea the impact it would have on me, or the amount of attention it was going to get.”
Reinert studied videography at the Ohio Media School in Cincinnati, and he’s maintained a full-time career in video production, all while producing the “Addiction” series.
Reinert is also married with a family.
Reinert got his idea for the series on addiction recovery while he was watching the news.
“Everyone was doing stories on heroin, but no one was telling any stories about recovery,” he said as he was developing the series. “They were just covering death and overdoses.”
The “Addiction” series has focused on people who have recovered from heroin, methadone, Oxycontin or alcohol.
In looking for his first interview subject for the series, Reinert researched some newspaper stories and reached out to a recovering addict who was quoted in one of the articles.
Now, Reinert has a somewhat steady stream of people who are interested in sharing their addiction recovery stories.
“It seems like once I got started, everybody would know somebody else,” he said, noting that he also works with local addiction recovery groups.
Reinert has even had the “privilege” of interviewing some high-profile people, such as Brandon Novak, a professional skateboarder who has appeared on the shows “Jackass” and “Viva la Bam.”
While Reinert’s “Addiction” series has been a success, it still runs on a shoestring budget.
When he was first developing the series, Reinert launched an online fundraising campaign through the Kickstarter web portal, and all the video equipment he uses to to produce the series has been donated.
Looking ahead, Reinert plans to get as many people on-camera as possible, all while promoting hope and optimism, values that have always been at the project’s core.
“The message is that people can recover. They can turn their lives around. I’ll double-down on the idea that there’s no throwaway people,” he said.
“These are people who I think a lot of people would give up on, where rehab might not have worked the first time, the second time, or even the third time, but then when they did get clean, they stayed clean.”
The “Addiction” series has had a positive impact in a lot of peoples’ lives.
“I know that I’m affecting people; I’ve had people call me and say, ‘Hey, you saved my life,’” Reinert said.
He explained that some of his viewers live in parts of the country that don’t have addiction recovery centers nearby, and so the “Addiction” series acts as a road map to help them through their recovery.
“It’s amazing. I’ve had people watch in 217 countries, and I get contacted by people from all over the world almost every day,” Reinert said. “Whenever they feel like there’s nobody out there that’s experienced the same thing that they have, they can go to these videos, and they can find a story that’s relatable.”
He’s also received calls from addiction recovery specialists who have shown the videos as part of their treatment programs.
“That has just blown me away,” Reinert said. “I mean, I wanted it to be used that way, but I had no idea it was going to take off the way it did.”
Family members of addicts and recovering addicts also watch the series to gain a better understanding of what the recovery process is like.
Some of Reinert’s viewers binge watch the program and say they need more.
“It’s hard because I have a lot of people say that they need more … they’re addicted to the series, which is good in a way; another way there’s times when it’s really overwhelming,” he said. “I may not have anybody come in for a month or two, or we’re having to reschedule a lot, and that can be some pressure.”
Looking ahead, Reinert hopes to take the show on the road, as he’s received requests from people in New York, and South Dakota, for example, who want to share their addiction recovery stories.
“To continue to do this is going to take some funding,” he said. “As time has gone on, funding is a big part of it, unfortunately, to maintain the quality and make sure I’m able to get to these people, and to record and spend time doing this.”
Reinert spoke on the things he’s learned throughout the process of producing the “Addiction” series.
He said, “Everybody’s story is so different; how they got started, how they got into recovery. It’s phenomenal how wide a range that it reaches, and it’s not just here in the United States, it’s worldwide … it’s a worldwide problem, it’s not just here.”
To watch Reinert’s “Addiction” series, visit his YouTube channel.
Anyone interested in sharing their story on the “Addiction” series, or who wants to reach out to Reinert, may do so via email at shane8109@gmail.com.