Young Hollywood Bands Together To Stand Up To Cancer

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Change the Odds' PSA to air on Stand Up To Cancer broadcast on September 10th

Watch Now on Stand Up To Cancer's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwC87ZKF1dQ

(Full Embed Code at End of Release)

More than a dozen of Hollywood's young stars – a cast including Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Andrew Garfield, Vanessa Hudgens, Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, Jon Heder, Aubrey Plaza, Zachary Levi, Sofia Vassilieva, Clark Duke, Olivia Munn, Naya Rivera, Donald Faison, Aaron Yoo and William Moseley – have joined together for a new public service campaign called "Change The Odds," in support of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), an initiative raising critical funds for innovative cancer research. The SU2C "Change the Odds" PSA launched online today and will be featured on the upcoming SU2C broadcast event on September 10th. To access the video, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwC87ZKF1dQ

Co-directed by Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer, Untitled Spider Man Reboot) and Rich Lee and produced by Laura Ziskin and Pam Williams, the "Change The Odds" PSA calls on younger audiences to join the SU2C movement for those they love and the future of their generation.

"Change the Odds" puts cancer into perspective as a disease everyone must stand up to.  Through eight vignettes, the odds of several scenarios that are quite low, like becoming an astronaut (1 in 13,200,000) or getting trapped in an elevator (1 in 24,528), are contrasted with those of being diagnosed with cancer. In the United States, one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes.  

"It is important for young people to be aware of the scope of the problem and the odds that they may face, both for their own future and for their loved ones," said Ziskin, co-founder and executive producer of the Stand Up To Cancer telecast. "This piece is about how it is never too soon to take a stand against these devastating and epidemic diseases. Theirs may be the generation that gets us to the finish line. We are so grateful to all the young stars and to Marc Webb and Rich Lee for joining our cause so brilliantly."

The PSA sends viewers to standup2cancer.org/changetheodds, where compelling content from featured talent and important facts about cancer will educate young people about ways they can reduce their cancer risks, including wearing sunscreen, quitting smoking and adding anti-cancer foods to their diets.

"We want to communicate that each and every one of us can play a part in changing the odds of getting cancer in our lifetimes, especially the younger generation," said Webb. "Seeing these young stars get involved makes me so proud to be a part of the Stand Up To Cancer movement."

Stand Up To Cancer will return to primetime TV on September 10, 2010, at 8PM EDT & PDT / 7PM CT. The one-hour fundraising event will be simulcast live and commercial-free on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network, The Style Network, VH1, HBO Latino, Showtime, TV One, G4 and hosted by network news anchors Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams.

The primary goal of SU2C is to raise funds for groundbreaking translational research to accelerate the delivery of new therapies to patients, getting them from the "bench to the bedside" as quickly as possible. SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across various institutions to work collaboratively, rather than competitively, at a critical time in the field of cancer research.

As in the landmark 2008 broadcast, this year's SU2C telecast will feature live performances by legendary recording artists and stars from film, television and sports, presenting content that provides viewers with insights into cancer.  The star-studded SU2C television special builds continuing public support and donations for cutting-edge cancer research that translates at a rapid pace from the laboratory to treatments and technologies benefiting patients. One hundred percent of all donations received from the public will go directly to cancer research.

The 2008 telecast was viewed in more than 170 countries and helped raise over $100 million. More than $83 million has since been committed to five multi-disciplinary "Dream Teams" of researchers from more than 50 institutions, as well as to 13 young innovative scientists who are undertaking high-risk yet potentially high-reward projects to end the reign of cancer as a leading cause of death in the world today.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Stand Up To Cancer's scientific partner, is responsible for administering the grants and providing scientific oversight in conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., institute professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

CHANGE THE ODDS EMBED CODE – cut and paste in browser to share video on your website:

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About the Stand Up To Cancer Initiative

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) -- a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)3 charitable organization -- raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. In the fall of 2007, a group of women whose lives have all been affected by cancer in profound ways began working together to marshal the resources of the media and entertainment industries in the fight against this disease.

Stand Up To Cancer will return to primetime TV on September 10, 2010, at 8PM EST & PST / 7PM CT. The one-hour fundraising event will be simulcast live and commercial-free on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network, The Style Network, VH1, HBO Latino, Showtime, TV One and G4.

The SU2C founding members include Laura Ziskin, executive producer of the Sept. 5, 2008 broadcast and the upcoming one, who is a cancer survivor; Sherry Lansing, chairperson of the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Board of Directors and founder of the Sherry Lansing Foundation; EIF President and CEO Lisa Paulsen; Katie Couric; EIF Senior Vice President Kathleen Lobb; Rusty Robertson and Sue Schwartz of the Robertson Schwartz Agency;  nonprofit executive Ellen Ziffren; and Noreen Fraser, founder of the Noreen Fraser Foundation (NFF) and a cancer survivor. SU2C was formally launched on May 27, 2008.

Major League Baseball was the founding donor to contribute to Stand Up To Cancer. Other major SU2C supporters include Sidney Kimmel, the country's largest individual supporter of cancer research, Amgen, Bloomberg Philanthropies, GlaxoSmithKline, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Wallis Annenberg & The Annenberg Foundation, Alliance for Global Good, Milken Family Foundation, Philips Electronics, Steve Tisch, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Comcast and many others. In addition to ABC, CBS and NBC, SU2C major media partners include AOL, Condé Nast Media Group, eBay Inc., Facebook, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Hearst Corporation, Los Angeles Times, Meredith Corporation, The New York Times Company, Time Inc and WebMD.

About the Entertainment Industry Foundation

Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that serves as the collective philanthropy for the television and film businesses. EIF has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues.

SOURCE Stand Up To Cancer