Latest news with #Novicki
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a day ago
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‘Stories Don't Have to Be About Disability' to Feature Actors with a Disability: A Call for Change
'Over 70 million Americans and 1.3 billion globally have disabilities,' Nancy Weintraub said at the 'Reimagining Hollywood: A New Lens on Disability,' panel at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival. Weintraub is the Chief Advancement Officer at Easterseals Southern California. For over a century has been the leading disability support and advocacy organization in the U.S. Easterseals works heavily to increase opportunities for disabled performers in the film and TV industry, and Weintraub was joined by actor, writer, producer, and founder of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, Nic Novicki, for a lively conversation about the state of disability inclusion in entertainment — and the importance of authentic representation. More from IndieWire 'In Your Dreams' Teaser: The Search for the Sandman Powers Netflix's New Animated Sibling Fantasy Sam Rockwell Says 'Sinners' Success Is 'Encouraging' for Hollywood: 'It's a Big Swing' 'One in four of the population has a disability, yet we're in less than 3 percent of film and TV shows,' Novicki, who's appeared in 'The Sopranos' and 'Boardwalk Empire,' said. The time is right for inclusive change. So Novicki founded the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, 'an annual film competition where you make a one-to-five-minute film that has somebody with a disability involved in front of or behind the camera. The films don't have to be about disability, it's just about including people with disabilities.' The Challenge winners then receive coveted access to already established entertainment industry professionals as a prize. Earlier in the year at Sundance, Easterseals launched a new report on the subject of representing disability onscreen that Weintraub explained looks 'at how far we've come with disability inclusion, but also recognizes there are more opportunities to grow together. Over 50 talented individuals with disabilities helped curate it. We held a national survey in October of 800 adults with disabilities.' Novicki, who has been in over 40 television shows and films, revealed that the Film Challenge had resulted in 135 films being created this year from around the world. Easterseals' report from earlier this year featured an important point from Novicki: 'A lot of times, accessibility does not requiremore money, it requires more planning — strategically planning ahead and integrating accessibility from the very beginning.' Money need not be a barrier. Both Weintraub and Novicki love celebrating successes alongside their ongoing work to increase inclusion. 'There have been some amazing success stories recently,' Novicki said. ''Wicked'! Marissa Bode is a wheelchair user. The future is bright. 'Coda,' winning the Oscars, an all-deaf cast.' 'The buying power, the disposable income of the disability community in the United States is $490 billion, and that translates to over $1.3 trillion globally,' Weintraub said. 'Not only do we have a critical mass of people who want to see themselves represented, but they're a large part of the market. Authentic disability representation has financial incentives.' The report showed the audience wants more representation, and wants networks and studios to fix the lack of representation. 'I wondered why more people with disabilities weren't creating their own content. I wanted to play a gangster. So, I started shooting it myself,' Novicki said. 'I started creating my own opportunities. I created the Disability Film Challenge and it started small. We had 5 films that first year. I partnered with Easterseals in 2017. Now we have had 850 films created from around the world over the last 12 years. These become working databases. The Casting Society of America shares these films. With the challenge, it's not talking about the problem of the lack of representation, it's about being part of the solution.' 'Amazon MGM Studios is a partner of the challenge,' Novicki said. 'They reached out to us looking for an actor on the autism spectrum. We were able to send dozens of talented actors from the challenge. Nic Sanchez ended up booking a role in that film, which was 'The Accountant' sequel, and worked with Ben Affleck. It's a challenging landscape, but I'm optimistic because it's a global population of people with disabilities that hasn't been tapped into.' 'Stories don't have to be about disability,' Weintraub noted. 'A lot of the stories that come out of the challenge are seeing people with disabilities being moms, dads, lawyers, doctors, gangsters, bad guys, and being in romantic relationships too. The studios can see them in roles outside of roles that are just about their disability.' 'People with disabilities have largely not been given the same amount of auditions and opportunities,' Novicki said. Weintraub added, 'There are a lot of background crowd shots in movies. Always consider putting people with disabilities in those. Again, it's one in four, so they should be represented everywhere as well.' 'When you talk about one in four of the population,' Novicki continued, 'You're also talking about your neighbor, your son, your father, your uncle. Everybody has their own connection to disability. It's just about how do you meet them? That happens here (at Cannes). This is the largest film market in the world.' 'The disability community wants to see themselves represented. There's so much pride in our community,' Novicki said. 'I'm proud to have a disability, to be a little person, to be a part of this community. With 1.7 billion, there's a lot more room for awareness. There are a lot of success stories. We have a lot of our own within the challenge, but there's still room to grow.' Watch the video above to find out how to submit films to the Disability Film Challenge, and learn more about Easterseals' disability inclusion work. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Easterseals Study Shows Stagnation in Disability Representation Despite $490 Billion Market
The entertainment industry may be missing out on a significant market opportunity, with the latest research from Easterseals showing that representation of disabilities in media has stagnated despite a U.S. audience commanding $490 billion in spending power. 'There's trillions of dollars of buying power within the disability community. We're one in four of the population. So that is a huge market that has been underserved,' actor, comedian and producer Nic Novicki told CEO Sharon Waxman at TheWrap's Reimagining Hollywood: A New Lens on Disability Inclusion panel presented by Easterseals Disability Services at Sundance on Friday. The nationwide survey of 800 adults with disabilities found that 51% reported seeing fewer characters with disabilities recently, while 83% emphasized the importance of representation on screen. The research comes as Easterseals announced 'thriller and suspense' as the genre for its 12th Annual Disability Film Challenge. 'I think one of the other things, the key findings, too, is that when we talk about jobs, it's both this is one of the key points, is that it's not just jobs in front of the camera. It's also behind the camera,' Nancy Weintraub, Chief Advancement Officer for Easterseals Southern California, said. The Disability Film Challenge, which has produced 750 films over the past 11 years, requires participants to create 1-5 minute films featuring talent with disabilities in front of or behind the camera. According to Novicki, winners receive $2,000 cash grants and $5,000 production grants from Adobe, Dell computers, IMDb Pro mentor meetings with executives from NBC Universal, Netflix, and Paramount Global. 'We get emails all the time, I mean, on a weekly and monthly basis, from studios, from networks that are actively trying to authentically cast people with disabilities and bring people in for roles that aren't written for disabled actors,' Novicki said. The competition has led to opportunities, including film challenge participant Nik Sanchez landing a role alongside Ben Affleck in 'The Accountant 2.' Filmmakers can register through March 31 at Watch the full interview with Weintraub and Novicki in the embed above. The post Easterseals Study Shows Stagnation in Disability Representation Despite $490 Billion Market | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
