FROM SFLA NEWS

SFLA Hildegard Fellow Uses Entertainment to Take Back the Narrative on Teen Parenthood 

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Jordan Estabrook - 13 Mar 2024

Christian Alan is a filmmaker from the number one public university in America, University of California Los Angeles, and part of the new class of Hildegard Art Fellows with Students for Life of America. While he’s worked in many production spaces ranging from theater to television, his proudest piece of work has been creating the teen-parenthood drama, now known as AUM.   

AUM refers to the collection of seasons, including An Unplanned Miracle (2020), An Unplanned Mishap (2022), An Unplanned Melody (2023), and An Unplanned Milestone (2024), follows the fictional couple Miles and Olivia as they navigate the challenges of teen parenthood. From navigating prenatal options, to learning how to sacrifice for their new child, and to softening the hearts of the community around them, AUM embodies the messages it espouses: embracing the unplanned and finding miracles in the ordinary.  

An Unplanned Miracle was born from a phone and passion for dignifying parents of unplanned pregnancies. Coming from a wide Latino family where teen pregnancy was not usual, Christian Alan knew the importance of changing the narrative on unplanned parenthood. Like Miles and Olivia, he knew he had a big calling and taught himself everything he needed to know about filming a miniseries. In a matter of months, An Unplanned Miracle was released and used the 2020 lockdowns to his advantage, setting the series during the COVID crisis.  

This one and done series resonated with women and parents everywhere. Young adults came forward sharing how they were in Miles and Olivia’s shoes. Even other pro-life organizations gave the series a seal of approval and helped promote it. With praise it received and the interest it attracted from other like-minded entertainers; An Unplanned Miracle was just the beginning. 

In later seasons, AUM would go on to integrate themes of class, sexism, and foster care. It asked even broader questions, such as “when it is okay to place your own convenience above someone else’s?” 

By its third season, An Unplanned Melody, AUM had become an international production and received participation from Unplanned director, Cary Solomon.  

Now for his Hildegard Art Project, Christian Alan is bringing the story of AUM full circle with its final season, An Unplanned Milestone. Adapted into a professional streaming series and shot completely in Los Angeles, An Unplanned Milestone finds Olivia in her senior year of college, four years after the events of An Unplanned Miracle.  

After receiving a highly coveted acting role, Olivia Naraki must decide between playing a female character shamed into having an abortion or stand up to Hollywood for mothers like herself. Along the way, Olivia must learn that mothers are not the only women that Hollywood paints as burdensome.  

Christian Alan hopes that AUM will be only the first of many young adult series on embracing the unplanned, standing up for pro-life values, and creating a blueprint for other filmmakers to go against the grain in telling similar stories. 

An Unplanned Milestone currently has a distribution deal with Chicano Hollywood TV set for spring 2024, however, for it to reach an even wider audience it needs your help. Consider becoming a sponsor by donating to its marketing fund. Or bring AUM to your school by signing up for the virtual tour, where AUM cast and creatives will screen the first two episodes of the show, share the change they hope it brings, and what they hope to do next.  

The first three seasons of AUM can be streamed accessibly on Instagram and YouTube. Media influences public opinion and behavior. So why not support a show that dignifies mothers, families, and an embrace for lives unplanned? 

DONATE HERE.

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