Overview

“Just Yell Fire is Hot” Vancouver Columbian

Just Yell Fire is a 46 minute instructional film, created for girls 11 to 19, which demonstrates 10 street fighting techniques to get away from attack and date rape situations, shares a Dating Bill of Rights, and includes stay-safe strategies from law enforcement agencies. The film was created by volunteers to keep girls safe and to teach them to fight back against assault or abduction. It is Free online and was one of the most downloaded production-length films of 2007. Schools, law enforcement agencies, shelters, and other groups are using it to keep their girls safe in 37 countries.

Inspiration

“A great film - will make a difference in young girls' lives” Hallmark Channel

The film’s inspiration came when Dallas Jessup, then a 13-year old who had just gotten her black belt, saw 11 year old Carlie Brucia’s abduction caught on a security videotape and played on the news around the country. A predator twice her size simply grabbed her arm and pulled her away. He raped and then murdered her. At the same time there were two abductions, a rape, and some attempted kidnappings of teen girls in Dallas’ community.

Girls at her school asked her for martial arts tips for getting away if they should be attacked. Dallas worked with her street-fighting coach, Chad Von Dette, to see if some of what he teaches elite military operatives could work for teen girls. They found that a scared and angry 12 year old, can stop an attacker of any size in his tracks if she gouges his eye, whip-slaps his ear, bites his face or any of another seven techniques.

The original idea was for Dallas and her mother to create a home video to teach her friends at school these get-away strategies. From that simple beginning came an amazing result.

Film Production

“Teenage girls turning the tables and taking aim at predators and rapists” Ed Hill, Fox News Live

Dallas wrote a script for the video, enlisted some friends including Matt Wadzita who co-stars in the film, and took the script to a professor at Clackamas College for review. He in turn shared it with some friends in the film community who all loved the concept of teaching teenage girls to fight back against predators.

The word spread and within two weeks a professional crew of 30, including award winning director Takafumi Uehara, stepped up as volunteers to create the film. 100 volunteer extras from several high schools joined in as the Portland and Vancouver communities donated equipment, services, locations, and money to produce Just Yell Fire.

There is a new kind of enemy out there preying on the most vulnerable members of our communities, girls 11 to 19. Just Yell Fire puts these predators out of business.

Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly of television’s hit show, LOST lent their celebrity to the project by making cameo appearances in the production while Vancouver Police Chief Brian Martinek assisted to develop stay-safe advice which he then presented during his appearance in the film.

After a five day shoot and endless hours of post-production and editing, Just Yell Fire was complete.

Film Distribution

Just Yell Fire is on the www.justyellfire.com website as a Free download and DVDs are mailed free to any teenage girl without Internet access. Unlimited bandwidth for these downloads is provided as a donation from Integra Telecom. This film has been downloaded and DVDs have been mailed to 37 countries on six continents. The free distribution of the film relies entirely on donations from concerned people and companies.

Results

“Almost eight years ago my husband’s sister was kidnapped and later found murdered, the killer still remains unknown. This DVD brings us comfort in knowing that if faced with a dangerous situation our children will have a better advantage of getting away safely! Thank you and God bless you for sharing this with the nation.” Georgia

Hundreds of thousands of teen girls have seen the film Just Yell Fire, since it went online for free. Over 325,000 free DVDs have been given out, mailed, or downloaded. From 20 to hundreds of emails and letters arrive daily applauding the effort and telling us that parents, police, teachers, coaches, doctors, group leaders of all sorts, and others are using the film to make sure their girls won’t become a statistic.

The Title

The first get-away strategy for teens is to first and always yell “FIRE”! The reason for “Fire” is when a teen yells “Help” most people think they are playing and do nothing; when a teen yells “Rape” most people are fearful or complacent and do nothing. Yelling “Fire” immediately captures everyone’s self interest and they rush to see what is happening. Attention is the last thing predators want, and often this strategy alone will stop an abduction.