Hollywood Inclusion

Site showcases RespectAbility’s expanding network of consultants, as their work in the space of disability representation in film and TV also continues to grow

Los Angeles, April 22 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit focused on fighting stigmas of people with disabilities in media and advocating for more authentic representation, is proud to announce the launch of their Entertainment Media Consulting Team website. The site currently features 27 consultants, although the number continues to expand as the consultation requests to RespectAbility from studios, production companies and independent filmmakers continue to roll in. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, April 22 – Being original is never easy. Whether it’s trying to find new life in the seven original stories or creating another hero with 1000 faces, finding something new and interesting in storytelling is the challenge every writer faces on a daily basis. As writers, we hope to subvert expectations and give our audiences new experiences with familiar undertones.

It’s even harder to find something new in genre work that defines itself by its tropes. And if there’s one genre everyone knows well, it is zombie horror films. They vary from piece to piece, but overall, when you sit down to watch a zombie movie, there are things you expect to see. It is hard to break free from those expectations and create something original.

What makes the short film Dead End Drive – directed by Alexander Yellen and written by Tobias Forrest – so impressive is its originality. As a person with a spinal cord injury, Forestt thought to himself, “How can I take the zombie apocalypse, disability, Hansel and Gretel, and a really bad joke and put them all together?” Thus born, Dead End Drive, a film that walks the line of familiar while providing a new perspective on the zombie genre. [continue reading…]

Leah Romond. Photo by Liz Bretz

Los Angeles, CA, April 15 – Since its premiere at SXSW 2021, the feature film Best Summer Ever has been making waves in the entertainment industry for its authentic representation and inclusion of people with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera, all wrapped up in an energetic and joy-filled musical. RespectAbility recently had the chance to interview one of the film’s producers, Leah Romond, who is also a current Senior Production Advisor at RespectAbility. Romond speaks openly about her experiences with traumatic brain injury, pivoting from law to producing in entertainment, and working at RespectAbility.

In 2012 Romond had mononucleosis, which turned into viral encephalitis that resulted in a brain injury due to brain inflammation. She explained her experience as living with one brain for part of her life and after the injury, being given a completely different brain. Before the injury, “my brain was like a super computer, very detail oriented. As an attorney, I had to keep a lot of facts in my brain and be able to recall them at a moment’s notice,” Romond said. [continue reading…]

Shannon DeVido

Los Angeles, CA, April 14 – Shannon DeVido, a multi-hyphenated talent, is an actress, comedian and writer. Her body of work spans several mediums, but the connective tissue coalescing her diverse pursuits is her wicked, introspective sense of humor. Most recently, DeVido showcases her wide range of talents with a starring role in the new feature film, Best Summer Ever—a musical with a majority of talent with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera.

Hailing from Philadelphia, DeVido was born with spinal muscular atrophy. Disappointed by her prospects of becoming a famous athlete, DeVido found theatre at an early age, introducing her to the world of performance and entertainment. [continue reading…]

RespectAbility’s testimony suggests that the NEA can dramatically strengthen their work by including more people with disabilities and ensuring that all grantees’ work is fully accessible to people with disabilities

Read the full testimony (PDF)

Los Angeles, CA, April 14 – As the conversations around diversity and inclusion continue to circulate throughout the entertainment industry, RespectAbility is urging the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to make a bigger effort toward including more people with disabilities in their programs, as well as ensuring that all grantees’ work will be full accessible to people with disabilities.

“With a relatively small amount of additional work, the NEA could make a much larger difference in our nation on behalf of the 61 million people with disabilities,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Vice President of Communications at RespectAbility. “What we see and hear in the arts and entertainment media impacts our thoughts and feelings. Positive, accurate representation could remove stigmas that have long held people with disabilities back.” [continue reading…]

Max’s character will offer an authentic representation of Autism for children and adult audiences alike

Washington, D.C., April 1 – 13-year-old Israel Thomas-Bruce has not had the opportunity to see himself represented on TV in the way that many other children may have. That is changing with the addition of a new neighbor in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood – Max, Teacher Harriet’s autistic nephew.

The show authentically cast Thomas-Bruce, who was diagnosed with autism when he was four years old, as Max. Thomas-Bruce said this experience gave him “an extra boost of confidence.” [continue reading…]

Hottle’s character Jia is the emotional heart of this movie

Los Angeles, April 1 – A Warner Bros. blockbuster film starring CGI monsters of mayhem and destruction is now being streamed across the world in living rooms, dorms, and select doomsday bunkers that just so happen to have Wi-Fi, as Godzilla vs. Kong goes live on their streaming service, HBO Max.

Godzilla vs. Kong is exactly what you want from a giant monster movie. It has a fast-moving story, a couple of funny moments, and most importantly, epic monster fights that show just how tiny humans are by comparison to their skyscraper-like sizes. Overall, it’s a pretty by-the-books monster movie. One where you can just sit back and enjoy the destruction and be thankful you don’t live in a coastal city.

There aren’t a lot of surprises in this movie, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Not every film has to have twists and turns that keep you guessing throughout the duration of the movie. Sometimes two monsters just throwing hands in order to determine who the most powerful being on Earth is, is enough. However, there is one pleasant surprise in this film, and it is the performance given by Kaylee Hottle, who was just 9 years old when she filmed Godzilla vs. Kong. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, April 1 – The theme of this year’s Easterseals Disability Film Challenge was “mockumentary,” and RespectAbility 2020 Summer Lab alumna Rachel Handler and Catriona Rubenis-Stevens’s comedic satire balanced with an inspired message truly champions their short film, So You Wanna Be an Actor, as a vehicle to promote authentic disability inclusion in entertainment. As director, writer, producer and lead actress of the film, Handler’s creative direction helped her filmmaking team highlight how limiting the casting process in Hollywood can often be for people with disabilities, all in under five minutes.

During one of the film’s opening scenes, the camera angle is focused only on a prosthetic leg of an aspiring young actress, to which this rising star responds, “Hey, my eyes are up here.” Not only is this a hilarious juxtaposition of dialogue because of the phrase’s more adult connotations, it also is a satirical metaphor that shows how cinematic objectification is truly intersectional and isn’t exclusive to sexualization. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, April 1 – The 2021 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge has provided some fantastic short films again this year, and as always, gives great examples of best practices when it comes to disability representation in entertainment. For those unaware, the Easterseals Film Challenge is a filmmaking competition where competitors are given a topic along with a series of other elements to include, and must write, direct and edit a short film all in a single weekend, while involving people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera.

This year, 2019 RespectAbility Lab Alumna Natalie Trevonne created a short mockumentary called NayNay Too Bomb. Trevonne wrote and stars as the title character in this hilarious short film. [continue reading…]