Host 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 disability with a product or camera. These are narrative films. This year, because of the coronavirus, we ultimately made it a documentary short film competition where they can make it from the safety of their home. We have the most film submitted ever submitted this year. I am really excited. Host how did the contest get started . Guest background on me. I am sitting, but i am a little person. I am 310. Im an actor, comedian, producer. Ultimately, it was my dream to act. 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 of all facets of my career. Trading my own content. 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. I have been in over 40 tv shows and movies. I have worked with martin scorsese, the safdie brothers. I looked around and wondered, why arent more people with disabilities making content . 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. Easterseals is the nations largest Disability Service organization. They have been around for 100 years, changing the way the world views disability, 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 everyone is aware of 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 with disabilities 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. Host how did the partnership with easterseals come about . What did they bring to the table, that enhanced what you had been doing as an individual . 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 . I was like wow, and ultimately i saw there was something here. We had a mentor in year two, with peter farley. He came on board to mentor the best filmmaker in 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 defines disability, it is really what this film challenge is doing and they really got on board with helping 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 Disability Inclusion because we are doing screenings around the country at film festivals, we have a virtual screening, an Academy Award qualifying festival in indiana. For example, when i go there. Not this year, but because this 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. Because ultimately, 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 Film 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 said one in four americans, 61 million americans have some form of disability. Yet, we are in less than 3 of film and tv shows and the majority of those roles are portrayed by nondisabled actors. Disability,with a we want to see ourselves represented because ultimately, not only are we seeing ourselves represented, but it is going to help destigmatize disability. Representation in general gets society used to everybody. It makes the world a more inclusive place. The fact that people with disabilities are so underrepresented, we have nothing but optimistic we are 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. People0 plus million is a huge tent. 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. In terms of what brings all that group together, i would say the Entertainment Industry. What better platform than to be able to have film and tv where speechless,ow like where you have the title role in a tv show. If you have cerebral palsy, which intersects all different races, genders, ethnicities. If you have it and you see him on abc, then you are able to see yourself. I feel like it is the media that ultimately has an amazing what form platform of getting behind the disabilities community. Beyond that, embracing these roles and these portrayals. Host can you tell me what are two specific stories that you know have come about in the as a result of your film challenge . Guest i am honored that there have been hundreds of films created for the easterseals disability film challenge and it has led to countless opportunities for people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera. I would like to give one specific example. We give amazing prizes each year. We have grants, we have sony cameras. Have adobee crea creative clouds we are giving away. 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 approached us and said, nic, we have an amazing role. It is a recurring role in a tv show and it is for a little person actress. Do you know anybody that would be good for this . We were able to take over 10 films and he was able to watch all these films and see that an see them in 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 people another is a deaf filmmaker. He used his film and ultimately he used it to submit to hbos project greenlight, which ended up winning. These are just some examples. 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. This actress was a teenager, ifnt have an agent, and 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. Host you and easterseals have given us the right to show the awardwinning films this year. I want to go through some of the mecahnics mechanics of the contest. 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 timed film competition. What i know through my career is that it is much easier to get volunteers because this is all volunteer driven to take part in ultimately making a film and volunteer for a short period of time rather than months. 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. We allowed people to use home footage, footage that we had rights to, and we gave people five days to make a film that could not be longer than five minutes. Extra give people an minute 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 and really heartfelt films that you see with this years competition. You are about to see the winning films from this years film challenge, which will screen around the world. I highly encourage you all to go to our Youtube Channel and search easterseals disability film challenge. Films. 87 amazing these are personal, entertaining, heartfelt, and they deserve more eyeballs. Host the judges who sits in judgment of these films . Who do you bring to the table to ensure 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 with disabilities, but also without. We have danny woodburn, a little person actor activist, rj mitte from breaking bad. We also have a director directing a giant Jennifer Lopez owen wilson movie, who has created opportunities for actors with disabilities. Film festival judges, the founder and ceo of imdb, one of our judges this year. As well as Hollywood Reporter critics. We have a wide variety of judges. It is judges with and without disabilities. Ultimately, 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 we had best Awareness Campaign. The best Awareness Campaign is a 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 views disability and the best way to do that is through 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 editor category because we usually have best actor and best director. There are no best actors in documentary films, so we decided, this is a documentary competition from home. So we decided to make the best editor category to really honor those individuals that are doing a lot of the hard labor in documentary films. We were proud that we had so many disabled editors, including some of the nominated editors. Host lets watch the montage of the finalists. [video clip] the situation does not define me. Blindness for me means strength and power because anybody i have met with the disability has always been so strong. We are the great life hackers and so when something does not work, we problem solve, come up with solutions. I just called the Social Security administration to see how close i am to 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. Nobody believes that you have significant challenges. In my case, people found out i was not the pretty porcelain doll i looked like 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 . Work hard. Focus. Focus. That was my second time having to start over. 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 tickets. One of my coworkers said you policemess with the are you going, disabled a girl . And that was the first time that someone as an adult had called me disabled. She kind of reminds me 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. Did you happen to notice she was using a wheelchair . No. She is a child and has the same wants and needs and desires as other kids. Her brain and her body are a but the wayrent, 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. We 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 americans with 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. 61 million americans have some form of disability. Forssibility has been huge the film challenge, and its a bit unique in the sense that many of the Movie Theaters around the country that we screen are fully accessible and have handicap seating. Americansw the with disabilities act. Contest, weve packed the house with people with disabilities. At times, we showed up at a Movie Theater with 70 wheelchairs in small Movie Theaters and so, the Movie Theaters are like whoa, wait a minute, we have three handicap seats here. We have been strategic and ultimately thinking about entrepreneurship in how we can 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 the filmmakers and the casting crew at the bottom of the Movie Theater right by the screening. Few Movie Theaters have a seats or 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 about it, or the individuals in the wheelchairs will make a joke about it. Ultimately, we want to be there and there is nothing that is going to stop us from our mission of creating more opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Ultimately to have more exposure. In terms of acceptability, we make sure that all of our content is open captioned. 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 in what we do. Host how do the people who create the software create more accessibility tools for filmmakers . Guest adobe is really leading the way in innovative technology. I 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. Making 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 all involved, having logos, zooming in our finalists and winners so that they can appear live. During this virtual year, i called this the virtual year because i am doing so many zooms and video chats, but this year has been amazing because it has 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 an