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Slope of the Curve

Sounding the alarm on the U.S. unemployment crisis

The animated short sounds the alarm on a looming U.S. unemployment crisis.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated documentarian Marshall Curry and narrated by “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson, "Slope of the Curve" explains how technology, automation, and globalization are changing the U.S. jobs market faster than ever before and redefining the role, necessity, and longevity of the American worker.
Director: Marshall Curry

The conversation on the ever-changing jobs market has hit a fever pitch in recent years as advancements in technology redefine the role of the American worker.

Recognizing the need for a platform that dives deeper into the issue, venture capitalist Art Bilger formed WorkingNation, a not-for-profit national campaign dedicated to explaining the high stakes of Structural Unemployment and investigating potential solutions to the problem through innovative storytelling.

Armed with two award-winning producers, Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer, the team decided on their first project, an animated short “Slope of the Curve,” tackling the looming unemployment crisis that threatens the jobs of nearly half the American workforce over the next 20 years.

Directed by Academy Award-nominated documentarian Marshall Curry and narrated by “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson, the film explains how the U.S. jobs market is rapidly changing as a result of advances in technology, automation, and other factors, and why it’s so important for everyday Americans to begin preparing now for an uncertain future.

“This massive issue facing the U.S. isn’t being explained to the American public in a way that hits home,” Lynch said. “It took a year to break down a complicated topic into an easily digestible story that hopefully anyone can understand.”

“We believe that ‘Slope of the Curve’ will serve as a great introduction to the issue and its causes and get people to start thinking about whether they are ready for the future of work,” Panzer added.

Written by Curry and co-producer Dan Koehler, the film digs into the factors contributing to the growing employability gap in the United States and illustrates the impact it’s already having — and is poised to have — on millions of middle-class lives.

“I love the challenge of taking complex ideas that might seem dry on the surface and turning them into fun, entertaining, visually-compelling films,” Curry said.

Michael Bonitatis, an animation professor and founder of Animation Libation Studios, served as director of animation for the film and created “Slope’s” constantly morphing animation style.

WorkingNation partnered with Bonitatis, in part, because of his studios’ unique mission to connect newly emerging artists with industry veterans on collaborative projects. Bonitatis recruited recent animation graduates to work on the project who were otherwise out of work or underemployed in the animation field.

For many, it was their first major production and an example of WorkingNation highlighting and working with an organization offering the type of scalable, grassroots skills development and employment solutions that will be required across industries to solve the looming crisis.

Shortly after its release, the film caught the attention of CNNMoney and has been featured in stories related to this issue.

Over the past year, WorkingNation has produced numerous projects for our FutureWork Series, Do Something Awesome series, and social media platforms. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for the latest news and stories that could change your life or the life of someone you know.

FutureProof & Slope of the Curve is our signature digital series that shines the spotlight on the most innovative initiatives helping to train and re-skill Americans for the most in-demand jobs now and in the future.

Slope of the Curve and FutureProof

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.