Physical Production

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab 2024

Jeff Beachnau

Jeff Beachnau is a filmmaker and a film nerd. Originally from Michigan, after graduating from Michigan State University in 2007, he soon moved to Los Angeles to live his dream of working in the film industry. Starting out as a Production Assistant on countless student films (mainly USC, NYFA, and AFI), he gradually moved to working as a grip on those productions and found that position to be his calling. Along with working on the many student short films, he also worked on several music videos, commercial, and feature films, including the horror spoof Dude Bro Party Massacre 3, created by the comedy team 5 Second Films.

Beachnau loves being on set and meeting new people. Every day of filmmaking is a new story and memorable time. It’s always great to meet the new people, learn new things, and to be a part of creating entertainment for everyone to see.

When not trying to find his next set to work on, Beachnau is either riding his bike around Los Angeles or he’s watching movies. Beware getting too close to him; he’s been known to talk forever about movies.

Learn More

After an extensive search and interview process, 5 individuals were invited to participate in an intensive session for disabled creatives working in physical production, taking place May 21-24, with additional virtual sessions taking place in partnership with the virtual cohort, May – September 2024. Participants include people with a variety of disabilities ranging in age from the 20s through the 60s. This intensive elevates disabled creatives, focusing on building community, networking, and career advancement. This intensive is in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Panavision.

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab 2024

Maggie Whittum

Maggie Whittum is a filmmaker, theatre artist, disability advocate, public speaker, and stroke survivor at age 33. She recently acted in the acclaimed world-premiere immersive experience Theater of the Mind, co-created by David Byrne and produced by the Denver Center.  She often performs with the ‘disability-affirmative’ Phamaly Theatre Co., which exclusively casts disabled actors. Previous theatre directing and producing credits include All in the Timing, The Zoo Story, Into the Woods, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has directed and produced plays, musicals, and improv comedy in the U.S. and abroad. She also assistant-directed under Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman and Peabody Award winner Emily Mann at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, where she was the Charles Evans Fellow (2012). Commercial acting credits include MapQuest, Samsung, and Starz/Encore.

Whittum speaks at conferences, universities, hospitals, and medical schools about her story of stroke, disability, and identity. She has spoken at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Georgetown Hospital, Craig Hospital and the ACCAC ‘One World One Family’ Conference and Cultural Festival, among others. Whittum is a proud member of FWD-DOC (Documentary Filmmakers With Disabilities) and The D-Word (an online community for documentary professionals). Whittum is executive producing and co-writing the feature length documentary The Great Now What, about resilience in the aftermath of a major health crisis. The Great Now What is an empowering and life-affirming film that humanizes the experience of stroke, disability and chronic pain. It is in production and planned to be released in 2026.

Whittum endeavors to generate more empathy and compassion in American society for people with disabilities. She is keen to create more visibility for disabled talent and more projects helmed by disabled people.

Whittum is a RespectAbility Fellow and a graduate of Colorado College.

Learn More

After an extensive search and interview process, 5 individuals were invited to participate in an intensive session for disabled creatives working in physical production, taking place May 21-24, with additional virtual sessions taking place in partnership with the virtual cohort, May – September 2024. Participants include people with a variety of disabilities ranging in age from the 20s through the 60s. This intensive elevates disabled creatives, focusing on building community, networking, and career advancement. This intensive is in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Panavision.

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab 2024

Nandi Bowe

Storytelling is Nandi Bowe’s passion. After the devastating diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, Bowe moved with her husband and sons to Mumbai, India for three years where she wrote her memoir, Hollywood to Bollywood. She currently is developing a television series based on that story. Bowe wants to utilize her global experiences of living in the USA, England, Africa, and India to tell universal stories that inspire and highlight audiences’ shared humanity.

Bowe began her professional career as a Production Assistant on a film directed by Sidney Poitier. She moved to Africa and worked on five films in Zimbabwe including Mandela and Cry Freedom.

Back home in the U.S., Bowe went on to work as an Assistant Director on Do The Right Thing, Daughters of The Dust, Sister Act 2, House Party, Hocus Pocus, Sneakers, Frankie and Johnny, To Wong Foo, Thanks…, Just Jordan, and many more films and television shows. Bowe was a Staff Writer on The Lone Gunmen, an X-Files spin-off.

Bowe was a DGA/Disney Directing Fellow and attended AFI as a Directing Fellow. She has written and directed eight short films. Statistically Speaking, starring Alfre Woodard and Garry Marshall, aired on Showtime, and was featured in a nationwide HBO screening tour. In February 2023, Bowe was awarded a DGA Award for her work as the 1st Assistant Director on the Apple+ show, Best Foot Forward.

Bowe has been a member of the DGA and WGA for more than 25 years and is a proud mother of three adult sons. She continues to take definitive steps toward realizing her lifelong goal of being an extraordinary storyteller who writes, directs, creates, and works on powerful stories that entertain, inspire, and uplift.

Learn More

After an extensive search and interview process, 5 individuals were invited to participate in an intensive session for disabled creatives working in physical production, taking place May 21-24, with additional virtual sessions taking place in partnership with the virtual cohort, May – September 2024. Participants include people with a variety of disabilities ranging in age from the 20s through the 60s. This intensive elevates disabled creatives, focusing on building community, networking, and career advancement. This intensive is in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Panavision.

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab 2024

Robert Burns

Robert Burns is a recent MFA graduate from Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts with a concentration in Directing. Quiet and reserved during his adolescence, Burns enrolled in a four-year film production program during his time in high school. Here, he forged a deep love for filmmaking and using the medium to convey personal stories based on his life growing up with autism. He aims to tell stories about people grappling with loss, isolation, and neurological conditions who work through these challenges to achieve their ambitions and connect with others on a deeper level. He garners inspiration from directors and films who cover similar themes and tones, such as Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), and Krzysztof Kieslowski (the Three Colors trilogy).

Learn More

After an extensive search and interview process, 5 individuals were invited to participate in an intensive session for disabled creatives working in physical production, taking place May 21-24, with additional virtual sessions taking place in partnership with the virtual cohort, May – September 2024. Participants include people with a variety of disabilities ranging in age from the 20s through the 60s. This intensive elevates disabled creatives, focusing on building community, networking, and career advancement. This intensive is in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Panavision.