NEW YORK CITY — Howard Bowler, the founder of audio post house HOBO (www.hoboaudio.com), has announced the launch of HOBO Films, a long-form original content development company. Bowler is also the founder and president of Green Point Creative, a marijuana advocacy branding agency. In conjunction with the launch of the company, and last weekend’s 420 day, he has released the first five-minutes from a new scripted, dramatic, coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the war on drugs. The System was created by Bowler and features actress Lolita Foster from the Netflix show
Orange Is The New Black. HOBO Films is currently pursuing distribution options with both traditional broadcast networks and streaming services.
“This series is based on my personal experience raising mixed race children and how the war on drugs affects them differently than it affected my own life,” Bowler explains. “When I learned how in the 1970s the federal government came to classify marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, I found the key to a much larger story - one that hasn’t been told.”
In 2016, Bowler took his first steps towards drug law reform by launching Green Point Creative, the agency he created along with HOBO vice president Chris Stangroom. The mission was to educate the public on the origin of the “war on drugs.”
In 2017, Green Point Creative scored a viral hit with the PSA, Your Brain On Drug Policy. In this recreation of the classic 1997 anti-drug spot, Your Brain On Drugs, actress Rachael Leigh Cook reprised her iconic role, but with a twist. The Green Point-produced PSA was seen over seven million times and received wide media coverage in publications including Rolling Stone, Slate, Glamour, Essence, Playboy, NY Daily News, CNBC, and New York.
The System pilot was directed by commercial director Michael Cruz and edited by Oliver Parker, who just wrapped two seasons of the critically acclaimed BBC series, London Kills.
“Now that the pilot is complete, our hope is that the audience will relate to the characters in our story and come to understand the hidden dynamics of the war on drugs,” says Bowler. “Releasing it for 4/20 will hopefully serve as a reminder that not everyone gets to party.”
The show, says Bowler, exposes how through traffic stops, tickets, searches and multiple court dates. the war on drugs has expanded from its origins into today’s massive catastrophe. Like alcohol prohibition from the 1930s, The System illustrates what happens when society outlaws a relatively benign and popular substance.
“Marijuana in particular captures the imagination,” he adds. “It impacts everything from history, politics, race, science, health, criminal justice and the arts. All these topics will be woven into the series’ storylines. Given the current climate, we believe the public is ready for this kind of show.”