The Shriver Report Initiative Continues With A Powerful New Film "PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE & TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT"

LOS ANGELES, March 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The phenomenal success of Maria Shriver's groundbreaking multi-platform "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back From The Brink"-- which has garnered more than 1 billion media impressions so far-- and built a social media movement around #WhatWomenNeed -- continues with the release of a powerful new film spotlighting one of the most important stories of our time:  the fact that 42 million American women and the 28 million children who depend on them are living on or over the brink of poverty.  The Shriver Report comes to life in the story of one woman, working full-time, supporting three kids, trying to go to college, and still teetering on the brink of financial disaster.   The emotionally inspiring trailer can be viewed and shared here (http://bit.ly/1l8P6RJ).

The film PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE & TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT, executive produced by HBO's Sheila Nevins and Maria Shriver in association with The Shriver Report, offers the deeply personal, emotionally harrowing, and unvarnished true story of Katrina Gilbert, a single mom in Chattanooga, Tennessee, struggling to get ahead, but constantly knocked back by an out-of-date system that seems to prevent her from being able to push back from the brink.

The film debuts MONDAY, MARCH 17^th (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO. To broaden the impact of this important project, HBO is also making the film available for free online from March 17^th through March 25^th at www.HBO.COM, www.ShriverReport.org and
www.YouTube.com/HBODocs. As of today, nearly 500 individuals and organizations have registered through Eventbrite to host gatherings around the country during the week of free streaming.   Organizations who have signed on to host include The California Endowment, Planned Parenthood, who is inviting its affiliates and campus groups nationwide to participate in screenings, Half in Ten, Nine to Five, Caring Across Generations, the National Women's Law Center and Moms Rising who are using the screening to continue the national conversation about what government, business, other cultural institutions, and women themselves can do to adapt to the modern reality of the American family.   Screening guides can be downloaded to aid in discussion at www.shriverreport.org.   Social media users are encouraged to connect and discuss the film using #PaycheckToPaycheck.   

PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE & TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT is a new and compelling element of Shriver's groundbreaking multi-platform initiative, "The Shriver Report: A Women's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink," produced in partnership with the Center for American Progress.   This is the third in her series of award-winning reports chronicling and exploring seismic shifts in American culture and society affecting women today.  This most recent report, released in January, examines the widespread financial insecurity among American women and their children, assessing its impact on our nation's institutions and economic future, while promoting modern solutions – public, private, and personal – that can help strengthen women's financial security, which will strengthen the nation's economy. Produced in partnership with the Center for American Progress, the Shriver Report has sparked debate and attention around the globe, including discussion in President Obama's 2014 State of the Union.  Katrina Gilbert and another Shriver Report participant, Julie Kaas, stood with the President while he signed a Presidential Executive Order raising the minimum wage for some federal workers.

The Shriver Report is available as an eBook on www.amazon.com and a hardcopy of the report will be available everywhere on March 11^th.    Portions of The Shriver Report can be viewed today on www.shriverreport.org.  ShriverReport.org is a dynamic digital platform where women and men "report" from the front lines of their changing lives.  It is becoming the go-to destination for inspiring information that moves us all forward in our changing world.  The site features daily original content from everyday people and thought leaders, and focuses on issues and institutions that define women's lives: work, family, education, money, health and men. The previous and current Special Reports serve as the cornerstones of the site, providing compelling data, research and analysis that validate the storytelling of our citizen reporters. 

The Shriver Report is a multi-platform project of A Woman's Nation ™ -- a nonprofit media initiative that informs, inspires and imagines new way forward for women and men. 

"PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK" was Directed by Shari Cookson and Nick Doob, whose combined previous HBO credits include the Emmy® Award-winning "The Memory Loss Tapes" (part of "The Alzheimer's Project"), "The Weight of the Nation for Kids: The Great Cafeteria Takeover", "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise," and "Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen".  The film's Coordinating Producer is Karen Skelton, Editor-in-Chief of the Shriver Report.

Maria Shriver is a six-time New York Times best-selling author and NBC News Special Anchor.  She previously co-executive produced the award-winning four-part HBO series "The Alzheimer's Project" and appeared in one of its films, "Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?" based on her best-selling book "What's Happening to Grandpa?" Shriver also executive produced the PBS documentary "American Idealist".

To interview the filmmakers or Katrina Gilbert, please contact Kate Azar at 323-892-2080, [email protected] or Jessica Berger at 212 691-2800, [email protected].

Advanced Praise for "Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert"

"Paycheck to Paycheck is a powerful and emotional documentary film that captures the never-ending struggles millions of American women face today. Katrina Gilbert's story is one so many single mothers share, as they work to provide for a family on a minimum wage income. This is a must-see, thought-provoking film."

- Eva Longoria, Actress 

"This film, and Katrina Gilbert's story, shows the critical need for our society to begin valuing caregiving.  Women are at the center of our economy and our family, and "Paycheck to Paycheck" captures the daily challenges faced by the millions of women balancing caregiving roles in both the home and in the workforce.  Until our society learns to respect and value this work, women like Katrina will be forced to continue living on the brink."

-Anne-Marie Slaughter, president of the New America Foundation

"Paycheck to Paycheck offers a harrowing glimpse into the challenges facing women like Katrina Gilbert, a single mother doing everything possible to provide and care for her children on an impossibly low wage. This is an emotional and powerful film that illustrates how seriously our society neglects its most vulnerable families."  

- Barbara Ehrenreich, Social Critic, Journalist, Author, Activist

"Paycheck to Paycheck is a wake-up call, and an emotional look into the real lives and struggles for women and care providers in every corner of our economy. This impressive documentary should serve as a call to action for all of us that we have the opportunity to work towards strengthening women, our families, and our nation as a whole by changing how we value care and women's economic opportunity in the United States."

-Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance 

"Paycheck to Paycheck is a critical reminder that our nation must do more to support women like Katrina, single mothers who serving as breadwinners and caregivers standing on shaky economic ground for the most part alone. It's time that we as a society, both men and women truly pay attention and take action to end the emotional, economical, and physical challenges faced by so many single mothers and their children."

- Tony Porter, Co-founder, A Call to Men

"This film is really the story of millions of women who are mothers, students, caregivers and more. How we as a nation recognize and respect their lives will affect countless families, communities and our entire nation in the years to come."

-Eduardo J. Padron, President, Miami Dade College

"Once again Maria Shriver and HBO bring us a captivating documentary film about the realities facing American families.  Paycheck to Paycheck paints a vital portrait of the struggles millions of single mothers like Katrina Gilbert face every single day.  This film is a tremendous addition to the national conversation on what women need to survive and thrive in our modern economy." 

-Dr. Carol Gilligan, Author, Psychologist

"Maria Shriver and Sheila Nevins present a moving and accurate glimpse into the life of a single mother trying to do it all and barely getting by.  Millions of women across the country walk in Katrina Gilbert's shoes.  This is a must-see film about the plight of working families in America today."

-Jennifer Garner, Actress

Further Information About The Shriver Report Initiative:

The first Shriver Report, published in 2009 in partnership with The Center For American Progress, examined a huge transformation in U.S. history: For the first time, women had become fully half the workforce, and even more momentously, were about two-thirds of the primary and co-breadwinners in American families—truly the engine driving the economy. We called this new state of American affairs A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, as the explosion of women becoming breadwinners changed not just the economy, but marriage, families, schools, the workplace, government, health care—everything, including men. The following year, A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's produced in partnership with the Alzheimer's Association, was the largest study ever to examine the cultural, social, and economic impact of the Alzheimer's epidemic, just as the nation's 78 million Baby Boomers were aging into their mid-60s—Alzheimer's territory. We reported that women were not only half the people living with the disease but also more than half of the country's unpaid caregivers. A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink, once again produced in partnership with The Center For American Progress, is the third in the series. For more information, please visit www.ShriverReport.org.

SOURCE The Shriver Report