Disability Belongs™ Entertainment Lab 2025
Cat Youell and Brad Crowe
Born in Canada, but growing up in Singapore attending an American school, Brad has no idea where he’s from, and wouldn’t have it any other way. His resilience, ingrained in him from his WWII work camp-surviving grandparents, has seen him through being hit by lightning, having a tumor rupture in his digestive tract, and becoming suddenly disabled with long covid (like reeealllly long covid) to remain an optimist able to find the funny in any situation. A talented theater actor and musician (alto sax for life!), he attended UBC in Vancouver before ditching the rain for sunny California, where he got his MFA at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Cat, on the other hand, was born in South Carolina but moved to Orlando, Florida after Hurricane Hugo made her family’s house beachfront property. A shy only child, homeschooled in a super religious household (her dad quit his medical practice to go to seminary…NBD), she escaped her solitude, anxiety, and fibromyalgia by gluing herself to Turner Classic Movies and secretly writing her own stories. After majoring in English at Davidson College and studying abroad in Australia and England, Cat also migrated to USC’s film program where she met her partner-in-all-things: Brad.
After graduation, they eloped in Vegas and formed their company Minx Pictures. Fully embracing their love of comedies, unconventional families, and outsiders, they’ve placed in the Nicholl, AFF, Final Draft, Page Awards, Launch Pad, BlueCat, etc as well as participated in the Black List/WIF’s Feature Screenwriting Lab. They’ve also produced and directed several award-winning short films, the most recent being a 9th century period piece shot in Japan.
Now living in a space age bachelor pad in Hollywood and serving up craft cocktails with their chihuahua named Elvis, Brad and Cat love to build pillow forts when they’re not travelling the world, hunting down famous filming locations, and photographing soon to be demolished LA architectural gems.
