A common course activity used by emergency management faculty is the screening of Hollywood disaster films to provide students an opportunity to apply key disaster concepts learned in lecture. When college courses were abruptly moved online in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States, emergency management faculty had to quickly modify this assignment to meet the needs of the online format. This paper reports the experience of several faculty in modifying this pedagogical technique, as well as identifies unintended benefits including the opportunity for professional networking, science communication, and public engagement.