By Judy Shields
Hollywood, California (The Hollywood Times) 11/01/2023 – MTV Documentary Films Presents PAY OR DIE – A Film by Scott Alexander Ruderman and Rachael Dyer.
(Photo Courtesy MTV DOCUMENTARY FILMS)
Opens Theatrically Beginning November 1 in NYC to Kick-Off National Diabetes Month
Los Angeles and Other Cities Will Open on November 10
Streaming on Paramount + On November 14 – World Diabetes Day
Watch trailer here
SYNOPSIS
Today, nearly two-million Americans living with diabetes are being held hostage by the pharmaceutical industry, as many cannot afford insulin. Without this life-sustaining drug, they will be dead in days. Access to this drug has become increasingly more difficult, as the cost to patients in America soars. PAY OR DIE follows families struggling to afford their medications and reveals the harrowing reality of living with a chronic illness in the richest country in the world. From a mother-and-daughter struggling to rebuild their lives after spending their rent money on insulin, to a young adult diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic, to a Minnesota family thrust into the national spotlight when their 26-year-old son dies from rationing his insulin, PAY OR DIE highlights this devastating struggle to survive while living with diabetes.
The Hollywood Times had the great privilege to speak with Scott Alexander Ruderman and Rachael Dyer about making this documentary. Please enjoy our conversation:
PAY OR DIE is executive produced by Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic, Sarah Silverman, Amy Zvi, Regina K. Scully, Lauran Bromley, Douglas Choi, Dawn Bonder, Marci Wiseman, Russell Long, Sarah Lucas and Zak Kilberg. The film is produced by Rachael Dyer, Scott Alexander Ruderman, and Yael Melamede, and directed by Dyer and Ruderman. Ruderman is the cinematographer; Will Rogers is the editor and Toby Shimin is the supervising editor. Music is by T. Griffin.
REVIEW
There are all types of movies I have had the privilege to review, comedies, dramas, action, romance, animation, kids and animal movies, but there is nothing like being able to watch a documentary. I have seen many of them and they all move you, inspire you, make you wonder what is wrong in this world, but this documentary will make you angry, cry and start writing a letter to your politicians to try and make a difference.
[To find out how to help and make a difference, go to this website: https://payordiefilm.com/resources-copy] I had no idea that insulin cost so much and that Americans are being held hostage by the pharmaceutical companies and are dying because they don’t have enough money to buy the one thing that keeps them alive. REALLY…What the heck is wrong with this country, this is one of many! My letter is written and has been mailed. The main reason this documentary will make a difference is because one of the directors lives with Type 1 diabetes, so who better to bring this crisis to life than someone who knows what they are talking about. It took a couple, Nicole and James, who lost their son Alec, who died from rationing his insulin, to get a bill to pass in their home state to control the cost of insulin, which in 1996 cost $21 and in 2019 cost $290…WOW! PLEASE watch this film at the theaters and is you don’t have the chance to go see it at the movie theatre watch it on Paramount+. If you don’t have Paramount+ get it now to watch this moving and amazing documentary. Tell all your friends to watch and to tell all theirs friends to do the same! Judy Shields, The Hollywood Times
Executive Produced by
Sheila Nevins
Trish Adlesic
Sarah Silverman
Amy Zvi
Regina K. Scully
Lauran Bromley
Douglas Choi
Dawn Bonder
Marci Wiseman
Russell Long
Sarah Lucas
Zak Kilberg
75 minutes | Documentary | English | NR
SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: https://payordiefilm.
Facebook: https://www.
Twitter: @PayorDieFilm
About Paramount+
Paramount+, a direct-to-consumer digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, combines live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. The premium streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel. The service is also the streaming home to unmatched sports programming, including every CBS Sports event, from golf to football to basketball and more, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world’s biggest and most popular soccer leagues. Paramount+ also enables subscribers to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. in addition to the ability to stream CBS News Network for 24/7 news and CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis.
For more information about Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com and follow @ParamountPlus on social platforms.
About MTV Documentary Films
In less than four years, MTV Documentary Films has worked with high-profile filmmakers on timely stories that have already garnered three Oscar®-nominations, seven Oscar Shortlisted, a Peabody® Award, two Emmy®-nominations and an Emmy win. The company most recently acquired the deeply moving and profound love story The Eternal Memory after it premiered to rave reviews at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Last year, they released Ondi Timoner’s Last Flight Home, which was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Academy Award and nominated for a Writers Guild Award. Three MTV Documentary Films: Anastasia, Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison and As Far as They Can Run were all shortlisted for Best Documentary Short, and with Ascension, the company received its first Best Documentary Feature Academy Award nomination. The film was also nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary in addition to an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Documentary and five Cinema Eye Honors including Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Debut. MTV Documentary Films’ first film out of the gate was the Oscar®-nominated St. Louis Superman, followed by 76 Days – set deep inside the frontlines of the pandemic in Wuhan – which won the Peabody and Emmy® for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and was Oscar Shortlisted for Best Documentary; the Oscar®-nominated Hunger Ward; Emmy®-nominated Finding Yingying; Beautiful Something Left Behind; American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself; 17 Blocks; A Life Too Short; and My Father The Mover.