Film, book thrust Tworkowski, group in the spotlight
- TWLOHA hosts %22HEAVY AND LIGHT%2C%22 an evening of songs%2C conversation and hope%2C every January in Orlando and California.
- %22We are the chasers of the light%22 is one of the quotes featured on a TWLOHA T-shirt.
- Other merch includes a calendar%2C slouch beanie%2C prints%2C coffee mugs and a %22purpose for the pain%22 book.
- Tworkowski wrote his %22To Write Love On Her Arms%22 essay in 2006. It started a global movement.
At 35, Jamie Tworkowski is at the top of his game. To sum up the self-described basketball nerd's life in free-throw shots:
•The To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) founder and Melbourne native has a book release May 19. Swoosh
•The movie about his charity, "To Write Love On Her Arms," comes out on DVD on March 3. Swoosh
•Living the life he's meant to live. Slam dunk
Viewers will get a chance to hear — and see — his story unfold this weekend at a red carpet premiere at Premiere Theaters Oaks Stadium 10 in Melbourne. The tagline for the film states: "Based on the true story that started a global movement." TWLOHA's goal is to find help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.
Actor Chad Michael Murray of TV's "One Tree Hill" and "Marvel's Agent Carter" plays Tworkowski in the film.
"I always joke, he's super handsome," Tworkowski said.
"I think it's something everyone likes to daydream about," he said about the actor cast to portray him onscreen. "It's a fun question. Parts of it are supercool and parts of it you're like, uh, that's not me.
"My sister had a big crush on (Chad Michael Murray) growing up," Tworkowski said, laughing. "She was a big 'One Tree Hill' fan, so I told him that the day I met him."
But the Satellite High grad with 32,000-plus Twitter followers gave props to Murray, who occasionally would leave a scene to get insight from his doppelganger.
In all seriousness, "that meant a lot to me that he seemed to care about the integrity of the story," Tworkowski said. "He had a lot of respect for what really happened."
Back in the day
Before TWLOHA the organization, there was a girl.
In 2006, Tworkowski's friend Renee Yohe "had struggled with drug addiction, depression, self-injury and attempted suicide," he said, adding she was denied entry into a treatment facility. So he wrote an essay about the five days that followed and ... It. Went. Viral.
"TWLOHA was born out of the response to that story," Tworkowski explained. He'd called his essay "To Write Love On Her Arms."
"He started it to help a girl, and he got some shirts made" that he had planned to sell to raise funds for her treatment, said Mark Codgen, Tworkowski's best friend.
Codgen, who's known Tworkowski for 25 years, is director of sales at TWLOHA, which continues to make T-shirts with inspirational messages on them. Many of the messages are quotes by Tworkowski. "Eight or nine years later, we sell a lot more products and are able to help a lot more people with those funds," Codgen said.
Filming took place in downtown Orlando — the setting for the real-life events — in 2012 with the central focus on Renee Yohe, played by Kat Dennings of TV's "Two Broke Girls" and the "Thor" movies.
Yohe also will perform at the Oaks 10 movie premieres, and Tworkowski will host a Q&A session (see box).
"The movie's about Renee, which is the main focal point of how this all started," Codgen said, "but, really, it all started because (Jamie) wrote about her."
The book — called "If You Feel Too Much: Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For" — and the movie "are happening because of him and because of his unique ability to deliver a message that's so compelling to people," Codgen added.
School tales
Tworkowski's other bestie, Ian Soto of Melbourne Beach, agreed and then some. "Everybody gets to see this foundation side of Jamie, but he's had those qualities even in middle school," he said.
He described a young Tworkowski attending Satellite High. Calling him intuitively smart, Soto said, "Jamie had Spanish classes at 7 in the morning on Saturdays. He had the worst schedule ever! ... I'd go to class, I'd go to school everyday, take notes. He'd come out of nowhere, take the same test and do better. I was always like, how? To this day, I hate him for that," he joked.
Fortuitous events like that followed Tworkowski after high school.
Soto recalls how he had his heart set on attending Flagler College, but moved to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida and become college roommates with Tworkowski. Tworkowski left after the first semester, and Soto said he felt miffed. For a short while, anyway ... "I was stuck in Orlando, which was the last place I wanted to be," he explained, "but I ended up staying in Orlando and met my wife. So we always laugh about it."
His proudest achievement, however, occurred in December 2011.
"The night we won $1 million at the 'American Giving Awards,' I had 60 seconds to give a speech," Tworkowski said. "That's the thing I'm most proud of. I had an opportunity to say something on national television ... I really wanted to focus on the heart of the matter and speak to the people who might be struggling."
What's next for Jamie
After the movie premiere and DVD release, Tworkowski will focus on his book, which is being published by Tarcher Penguin.
A letter that Tworkowski shared with FLORIDA TODAY from Tarcher Penguin said $1 for every book purchased and pre-ordered through May 19 will go to TWLOHA as part of the Tarcher Cares initiative.
When he's not hanging out with his family and friends, surfing, shooting hoops and drinking his beloved iced coffee, Tworkowski's busy reaching out and responding to his legion of #TWLOHA fans. Mainly, the Twitter fiend and social networking guru helps connect people to resources.
"The social media audience is over 2 million," he said. "We've responded to over 200,000 messages and those messages have come in from 100 different countries."
He gets feedback via emails, letters and conversations on the road.
"We literally see people and meet people who say they're still alive because of the project. I can't imagine a better thing to be a part of," he said. "We really believe in the story that I got to live and the story that's being told again through the film. Hopefully, it leads to people getting help."
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Contact Sangalang at 321-242-3630
or jsangalang@floridatoday.com.
Twitter: @byjensangalang
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The details
What: Hometown screenings of "To Write Love On Her Arms"
When: 7 and 8 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday
•For the 7 p.m. Sunday screening: Red carpet event starts at 5:45 p.m., with the theater open at 6:15 p.m. Renee Yohe will perform.
•For the 8 p.m. Sunday screening: Red carpet event starts at 6:45 p.m., with Yohe performing at 7:15 p.m.
•For the 7 p.m. Monday screening: Red carpet event starts at 5:45 p.m., with Yohe performing at 6:15 p.m. At 9 p.m., there's a Q&A with TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski, Yohe and Josh Loveless, a co-producer and music supervisor, according to a blog entry on twloha.com.
Where: Premiere Theaters Oaks Stadium 10, 1800 W. Hibiscus Ave., Melbourne
Cost: Tickets are $15.
Info: Call 321-953-3388 or visit oaks10.com. For more on TWLOHA, visit twloha.com or send a Tweet to @twloha and @jamietworkowski
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About the film
"To Write Love On Her Arms": A drama centered around Renee Yohe (Kat Dennings) and her battle with drugs, depression, and other life issues that ultimately leads to the founding of charity group To Write Love On Her Arms. PG-13, 118 minutes. Starring Chad Michael Murray, Rupert Friend and Corbin Bleu. Directed by Nathan Frankowski