RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2023
Brian Koukol
Brian Koukol is an award-winning author, prose writer, poet, and screenwriter. Raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, he now makes his home amongst the salt breezes and open spaces of California’s Central Coast, where he somehow finds the time to write between soaking up the rays and eating his weight in homegrown avocados. A lifelong battle with muscular dystrophy has informed the majority of his work, which is written with the aid of voice recognition and eye gaze technology out of physical necessity.
His prose collection, Handicapsules: Short Stories of Speculative Crip Lit, has been taught at UMass Amherst. His Young Adult novel, All the Idle Weeds That Grow, has been lauded by disability advocates as “rollicking, subversive, hilarious, and brilliant.” His forthcoming poetry chapbook, To Be, Conjugated, has been praised by DeafBlind poet John Lee Clark as “wicked” and “sharp as a razor’s edge.” His 30-minute TV comedy pilot, Crips, is a Screencraft and WeScreenplay winner, a bronze medalist at the Titan Awards, winner of the Yes, And… Laughter Lab competitive incubator, and the #2 Overall project at Coverfly. His Western feature, Museum Piece, a Shore Scripts finalist, has been recognized by both the PAGE Awards and the Austin Film Festival.
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After an extensive search and interview process, 20 individuals were invited to participate in the Virtual Cohort of RespectAbility’s 2023 Entertainment Lab taking place August 14 – September 21, 2023. This 6-week Lab aims to develop and elevate the talent pipeline of disabled entertainment professionals working behind-the-scenes in television, film, and streaming, while connecting them with industry professionals and creatives. Participants include people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health, other disabilities, and multiple disabilities ranging in age from the 20s through the 50s. The Lab is a recipient of The Roddenberry Foundation Impact Award and is made possible with support from The Harnisch Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Charitable Trust.
