The Dragon on Set Was the Easiest Part
How 30 veterans came together to create the most-watched video in VA history.
Behind the scenes on the Face Your Dragon set in Los Angeles
On a Los Angeles soundstage in early 2025, a 20-foot dragon loomed over USMC Recon Veteran Rudy Reyes. But the real weight in the room had nothing to do with the creature. More than 30 veterans from every branch and era stood behind the cameras and in front of them, many carrying the kind of loss that doesn’t show up on a call sheet.
They were there to make Face Your Dragon, a PSA for the VA and DoD’s Keep It Secure campaign. The mission: encourage veterans and their families to securely store firearms, creating time and space between a moment of crisis and a lethal means. It’s a simple act, locking up a weapon, that research shows saves lives. But telling that story without lecturing, without reducing it to a statistic, required something most production teams can’t offer.
It required people who’ve lived it.
A Story Only Veterans Could Tell
The VA Office of Suicide Prevention and the Defense Suicide Prevention Office came to Gig Line Media because the message demanded authenticity. Director Ryan Curtis, a U.S. Army veteran, shaped the creative vision. Executive producers Chase Millsap, who served in both the Marine Corps and the Army, and Mark Harper, a U.S. Air Force veteran, led the production. Reyes, known for HBO’s Generation Kill and FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, brought a presence that only someone who has faced real battles could deliver.
The PSA uses a symbolic dragon to represent the unseen struggles that follow service, the thing you can’t outrun but can learn to confront. Reyes’ confrontation with the creature isn’t about defeating it. It’s about taking one step to stay safe. That distinction mattered to everyone on set.
Everybody on set understood the assignment. A lot of us have lost friends. A lot of us have carried things we don’t talk about much. That changes how you approach a story like this. Nobody was trying to make a commercial. We were trying to make something honest enough that another veteran might actually hear.
Beyond the 60 Seconds
Gig Line didn’t just produce a PSA. They built the campaign around it. The team developed 15-, 30-, and 60-second cuts distributed across broadcast, CTV, OTT, programmatic, and social platforms. They redesigned KeepItSecure.net to extend the message into a digital resource. They created print materials, display ads, social assets, and internal toolkits for VA staff. Everything carried one consistent, veteran-centered voice.
The campaign launched on September 1, 2025, the start of Suicide Prevention Month, and the results exceeded every major goal. Face Your Dragon became the #1 most-watched VA video on YouTube, reaching over 24 million views. The campaign delivered 350 million impressions, 243% of its target.
But the number that matters most came from the client: “The campaign consistently surpassed expectations and the work we did saved Veterans’ lives.”
Why This Work Matters Now
Veteran suicide remains one of the most urgent public health challenges in the country. Secure firearm storage is one of the most effective, and least talked about, interventions. Face Your Dragon found a way to make that conversation feel like courage instead of restriction.
Veterans don’t need another lecture. They need messages that respect them enough to speak plainly. If we can use storytelling to create even a few seconds of time and space between someone and a permanent decision, then this project mattered.
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About Gig Line Media
Gig Line Media, Inc. is an SDVOSB and full-service commercial and brand video production company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with hubs in Washington, D.C and Austin, TX. With our sister company, We Are The Mighty, and our years of unique insights, guidance and project leadership we provide distinct value to brands, businesses, and anyone looking to authentically connect with our nation’s Military-Veteran community. For more information go to www.giglinemedia.com or We Are The Mighty, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Veterans Health Administration
The VHA is our nation's largest health care system employing more than 400K full-time health care professionals and support staff at 1,255 health care facilities, including 170 VA Medical Centers and 1,074 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics). Learn more about the VA here www.va.gov.
Media Contacts:
Mark Harper · click for email here