Amazing films, more content. Thank you. The easterseals disability film challenge was your project. What is the contest . Guest thank you for having me on. The easterseals disability film challenge is a weekend film competition were over the course of a weekend, participants create films that have somebody with a productty or camera. These are narrative films. This year, because of the coronavirus, we ultimately made a documentary short film competition where they can make it from the safety of their home. We have the most film submitted this year. I am really excited. Host how did the contest get started . Guest background on me. Littletting, but i am a person. 310. Ee for 10 i went to Business School and i continued to do standup and acting and i learned early in my career that i have to be in charge and all facets of my career. Trading my own content. And ultimately that led to work for me. I am lucky that i have been in tv shows and movies, but ultimately a lot of my work has been through me creating my own content. Work leads to work. Andbeen with over over 40 tv shows and movies. I have worked with martin scorsese, the safdie brothers. I created the disability films challenge as a way to jumpstart other people with disabilities to create their own content and ultimately change the way the world views and defines disability. I have been honored i partnered with easterseals in 2017. ssterseals is the Nation LargestDisability Service organization. They have been around for 100 years and together we have taken this challenge to the next level. It has created jobs for people, but ultimately, what is great about the film challenge is that ryone is aware of problem the problem. There is a lack of opportunity for people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera. The easterseals disability film challenge is a tangible solution where people can get involved. It has been amazing. To see the growth of it, but ultimately it has been which continues to make amazing films year after year and ultimately spread this inclusion. How did the partnership with easterseals come about . Guest i started the disabilities film challenge in 2013. 2014 was our first film challenge, and it was small the first year. What i got out of that first year was the impact that it had on all the people with disabilities that took part. They asked, when is the next one . Ultimately iw, and saw there was something here. Farley. Mentor in peter mentor in board to 2015. It continued to grow and got bigger and bigger. Easterseals, their mission is to change the way the world views and defines disability. I have been lucky that i have been able to speak on many inclusion summits and i have been a disability rights activist since i was a kid, speaking at the 11th anniversary of the disability act. I came across easterseals and it was a perfect fit. The fact that their mission is to change the way the world views and finds disability, it is really what this film challenge is doing and they pingly got on board with hel create opportunities for people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera. It has been amazing because not only is easterseals of Southern California the largest Disabilities Organization in Southern California, they serve 13,000 individuals with disabilities, but ultimately, easterseals has 65 different affiliates around the country. The fact that i have been able to tap into that network of people who care about this inclusion because we are doing screenings around the country at film festivals, we have a virtual screening, an Academy Award for example, when i go there. Thishis year, but because is a virtual year. When i go there, typically, i am able to harness that easterseals affiliate and pack out the theater with people that they care about and want to see these great films. There is a real lack of authentic Disability Inclusion in the Entertainment Industry. Im honored that the easterseals disability film challenge has been there to fill that void. Host why is inclusion in the communication fulfillment industry important . Guest we want to see ourselves represented. Everyone does. Inclusion has become a hot topic. Historically, people with disabilities have not been included in these inclusion conversations. I am not sure if you are familiar, but the cdc put out a study that one in four americans, 61 million americans have some form of disability. Yet, we are in less than 3 of movies and tv shows and the majority of those roles are portrayed by nondisabled doctors. Actors. We want to see ourselves represented because ultimately, not only are we seeing ourselves represented, but it is going to help destigmatize disability. General getsn in society used to everybody. It makes the world a more inclusive place. The fact that people with disabilities are so underrepresented, we have we are but optimistic going to continue to grow and get more opportunities. The percentages right now are so low, but through the easterseals disability film challenge, i am honored that we are changing those percentages. Guest host what brings that many people together as a community . Guest 61 million americans what is interesting about that is that the intersectionality of disability, that includes people of all different races, genders, ethnicities, religion. We are talking about a huge percentage of people with disabilities. What brings all that group together, i would say the Entertainment Industry. What better platform than to be whereo have film and tv you could have the lead in a title role on a tv show. If you have cerebral palsy, differentrsects all races, genders, ethnicities. If you have it and you see him on nbc, then you are able to see yourself. I feel like it is the media that ultimately has an amazing what of gettingtform behind the disabilities community. Beyond that beyond that, embracing these roles and these portrayals. Are can you tell me what two specific stories that you know have come about in the results of your film challenge . That there honored have been hundreds of films created for the easterseals disability film challenge and has led to countless opportunities for people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera. I would like to give one specific example. Yearve amazing prizes each. , we have sony cameras. But we are also giving big mental readings. Peter farley has really been a mentor and supporter of the easterseals disability film challenge since the beginning. And so, two years ago, he weroached us and said, nic, have an amazing role. It is a recurring role in a tv show and it is for a little person actors. Dino anybody that would be good for this . We were able to take over 10 watchand he was able to all these films and see that an action. Ultimately, a major recurring role went to sophia cheyenne, a little person from new york city who has been a theater actress who has not had the opportunity to really showcase herself up until she randomly makes the film for the easterseals disability film challenge and then cut to her being now in her second year recurring on the tv show shot in canada. A major career defining role. Thats one example. We also have so many examples of deaf another is a filmmaker, he used his film and ultimately he used it to submit to hbos project greenlight, which ended up winning. We have another participant that is going to be in another major starring role in a netflix film next year. They found out about her through the film challenge. She did not have an agent and if she had not made a film for the film challenge, she would not have been discovered or had this amazing opportunity to be in a netflix film. Easterseals have given us the right to show the awardwinning films this year. First of all, how many submissions did you get this year . Guest this year, we had a recordbreaking 87 amazing films that were created. As i said earlier, this is a time what i know through my career is that it is much easier to get volunteers because this is all volunteer driven to take filmin ultimately making a and volunteer for a short period of time rather than among. Typically, you have one weekend to make a film. This year, because of the coronavirus, we changed everything so that it was safe for all of our participants. The safety of our participants was the main priority. People to use home footage that we had rights to, and we gave people five days to make a film that could not be longer than five minutes. Sure fiveople and i minutes with credits. An extra five minutes with credits. People had five days to create a film and it had to be authentically portraying people with disabilities and this year was a documentary short film competition. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the meaningful thateally heartfelt films you see with this years competition. You are about to see the winning film from this years film challenge. I highly encourage you all to go to our Youtube Channel and search easterseals disability film challenge. These are personal, entertaining, heartfelt, and they deserve more eyeballs. Who sits indges judgment of these films . Could you bring to the table to make sure there is quality . Guest we are honored that we have an amazing jury of judges on board with the easterseals disability film challenge. Some of these individuals are really the top actors, directors, producers with his abilities, but also without with disabilities, but also without. A little person actor activist, bad, we from breaking director directing haswen wilson movie, who created opportunities for actors with disabilities. Film festival judges, the ofnder and ceo of imdb, one our judges this year. Hollywood reporter critics. We have a wide variety of edges judges. , this film challenge is all about authenticity. The Disability Community as a part of every aspect of this film challenge. Host the first video i am going to show our audience is a montage of the finalists. How many categories of winners do you have . Guest great question. We had three this year. This year, we had best film, the oscar for best film. We had best editor. And best Awareness Campaign. Ae best Awareness Campaign is campaign where each of the individuals are trying to get as many likes, views, and shares of their film. Ultimately, the most important thing is about us changing the way the world use disability views disability and the best ways their exposure. Many of our participants were getting thousands and thousands of lights, views, and shares their instagram, facebook, and youtube postings of the films. We actually had this best wetor category because usually have best actor and best director. There are no best actors in these documentary films, so we decided, this is a documentary competition from home. So we decided to make the best editor category to really honor individualss that are doing a lot of the hard labor and documentary films. In documentary films. Host lets watch the montage of the finalists. [video clip] blindness for me means strength and power because anybody i have met with the disability has always been so strong. We are the great light hackers and so when something does not work, problem solved, come up with solutions. The socialalled Security Administration to see how was i am losing my caregiver. They do not answer the phone, and they do not let you leave a message. I do not know what i am supposed to do. I am patrick and when i was in full when i was 14 months old, i was in an accident. I think an invisible illness makes you feel so alone for so many reasons. You havelieves that significant challenges. In my case, quick people found out i was not the pretty porcelain doll i was on the outside. I lost friends because i was too intense or was not available for social events because i was going through a rough period. Let me describe for a second what adhd is like. I might be talking to you right now about filmmaking and in the back of my mind, there is a voice telling me did you walk the dog, did you return that phone call, or did you have for dinner . What is your problem . You should be able to figure this out. Did you pay the rent . Or hard. Focus. Focus. Back to zero. This time, i had half of myself. I had to relearn how to dress, use the bathroom, wash my clothes, relearn how to cook. I was going through phases of life that i had already gone through. I remember the first time i was called disabled. We were on a warner bros. Lot and we got in trouble because we were all parking and we all got. Ickets and that was the first time that someone as an adult had called me disabled. Me kind of reminds i knew she was going to be nice because of the way she looks. She has a wonderful sense of humor. It was refreshing to see people form an opinion about me that had nothing to do with my disability. She is a child and has the same wants and needs and desires as other kids. The way she operates in the world is not the same. Feel happy . Im happy too. She is on her very own singular path. Host that is a look at some of the people participating in this years easterseals disability film challenge. Are talking with nic novicki, the creator of the film challenge in its seventh year. Over those seven years, what has happened with accessibility of production tools that your contestants need to make these films . Guest that is a great point. The accessibility is really something that is important to us in the Disability Community. Luckily, we have that legislation that celebrated its 37th anniversary of the disabilities act. Ultimately, accessibility is the law. We really encourage all individuals, all business owners, to follow the law and be thoughtful of consumers that have disabilities. Six the one million americans have some form of disability 61 million americans have some form of disability. It is a bit unique in the sense that many of the Movie Theaters around the country that we anden are fully accessible have handicaps eating handicap seating. We packed the house with people with disabilities. At times, we showed up at a Movie Theater with wheelchairs in small Movie Theaters and so, the Movie Theaters are like whoa, wait a minute, we have here. Handicap seatings we have been strategic and ultimately thinking about canepreneurship in how we make these screenings fully accessible. There have been times that we have gone to Movie Theaters and typically, you will do a q a with filmmakers and the casting of the movieottom theater right by the screening. Have a couplers stairs so if you have a wheelchair, you cannot get down there. What we will do is we will do our q a in the middle. We just say, everybody in the front, go in the back so you can see the q a. Sometimes well make a joke individuals ine the wheelchairs will make a joke about it. Ultimately, we want to be there and there is nothing that is going to stop up from our mission stop us from our mission of creating opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Acceptability, we make sure that all of our content is open caption. We are making our films open caption so that the Deaf Community can fully enjoy these films. That is for all of our films and every thing we post on our facebook, youtube, and instagram challenge. Accessibility is very important and what did in what we do. How do the people who create the software create more accessibility tools for filmmakers . Guest adobe is really leading the way in innovative technology. Spoke at a ucla conference with one of their team members at adobe. We had a real indepth discussion about all these accessibility tools and how they are continually innovating. Ultimately, they are saying this is a market there is a Business Case for us being fully inclusive. Dell has been a sponsor since year one of the film challenge, offering computers and there every step of the way. Sure we can continue to have our awards ceremony this year even though we had to do a virtual awards ceremony. There was so Much Technology and involved, having logos, zooming in our finalists and winners so that they can appear live. , iing this virtual year called this the virtual year because i am doing so many zooms and video chats, but this year it hasn amazing because eliminated the accessibility barriers for people with disabilities. If it was hard for me or somebody else in a wheelchair or somebody else with difficulty walking, they can work from home and in fact everybody is working from home. Now is the time where these companies are seeing the importance of innovation and i think the Disability Community is going to read the benefits and i am honored reap the benefits and i am honored to have been there as a resource is a case study. I cannot thank our sponsors enough. There are so many. The website, you can see our list of sponsors and we cannot thank you enough for your support. Host we will get to some of the winning films. Am i worth . Is the winner for best awareness. Campaigne awareness has numerous factors involved, including how many lights, views, and shares the film got. That is ultimately Awareness Campaigns. Had views on youtube, facebook, and instagram. This is a shortened period of time where these participants are trying to get as many likes and shares for their phone, but it becomes a Snowball Effect because you have a smaller network in iowa for instance and exampleot a good because we have a participant from my weather gets a lot of support each year, but ultimately, when one film has a great Awareness Campaign, it alternately helps to get more views for all the films. When you watch one film, you say, wait a minute, what is that . Youtube plays the next video on the playlist. Leads to work and use lead to to views. Views lead [video clip] ok. Thats fine, i understand. I do not need help with anything else. Thank you. I am rachel. I lost my leg in a car accident eight years ago. Bill inrgery and got a the mail. Right after i lost my job. They were for my anesthesiologist. Adid not realize that i had choice to either stay awake for painful surgery or to pay my rent next month. It made me feel like i did something wrong when all i did was have a lifechanging surgery that allows me to walk again. For 1106 andbill five doll