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Bio – Mid-Career 2020

Alexandra Grossi

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Alexandra Grossi headshot smiling in front of a wall that says Stage C

Alexandra Grossi

Alexandra Dean Grossi is a writer, designer and disability activist. Her work incorporates a multi-dimensional approach to inclusivity and accessibility, which utilizes storytelling, emphasizes user empowerment and seeks real-world solutions through Inclusive Design. Grossi began her writing career under the tutelage of television NYPD Blue creator David Milch on HBO’s Deadwood and John From Cincinnati.

Born profoundly deaf, Grossi wears bilateral Cochlear Implants. Attending mainstream schools, she followed the Oral Education route. On the margins of the Deaf Community because she didn’t use sign language, she found that she didn’t have any identifiable role models. This lack of representation of “her kind of deafness” in pop culture inspired Alexandra to write Oral, a loosely autobiographical comedic show concept around her experiences as a millennial deaf woman learning to “adult.” Grossi wants to be part of the fight for a more equitable representation of persons with disabilities in Hollywood telling their stories first-hand. Her goal is to executive produce Oral and serve as a head writer.

As an advocate for inclusivity, Grossi spearheaded several successful social media campaigns. Her work with Shane Bitney Crone launched his career as an LGBTQ+ activist and filmmaker. This campaign resulted in a viral YouTube video with more than five-million views, a successful Kickstarter campaign, and a feature-length documentary, Bridegroom. Bridegroom was introduced by President Bill Clinton at the Tribeca Film Festival where it won the 2013 Audience Award.

As an Inclusive Design Activist, Grossi works as a User Experience Designer for IBM Accessibility and is the Director of Inclusive Design for AIGA Raleigh (AIGA is a national graphic design association). She served on the leadership team of IDATA, a project funded by a $2.5 million NSF grant to make astronomy software accessible to blind and low-vision users. Grossi often gives lectures and serves on panels around disability and Inclusive Design. She writes about disability topics, and she is active in the disability space on social media.

Grossi is a graduate of Vassar College where she majored in English and Italian with a minor in Film. She completed her Master of Graphic Design from the College of Design at North Carolina State University. Her Master’s thesis centered on the design for an improved Cochlear Implant User Interface.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Andrew Reid

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Andrew Reid headshot in front of a tall building

Andrew Reid

Andrew Reid was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a DGA Award winning director and recent graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

At the age of 21, he became paralyzed from the chest down. A malformation of his blood vessels (AVM) resulted in a rupture which compressed his spine while he was sleeping, leaving him completely paralyzed. He was told by doctors he would never walk again but with dedication and perseverance he regained movement. Today, he walks with a cane and continues to progress in strength and health. He became an advocate for the disability community and expanded his film production skills from Miami to Los Angeles.

His USC thesis film ASIA A won the Jury Award at the 2018 DGA Student Awards. Also, it was a semi-finalist for the 45th Student Academy Awards and has screened at LA Shorts, HollyShorts, CAA Moebius, Paramount Pictures and more than 40 other film festivals. It is being developed into a feature and was a recipient of the 2019 Tribeca Film Institute Sloan Filmmaker Fund. Learn more about the film at www.WhatisASIAA.com.

Recently, Reid finished the short Road to Zion, which is being developed into a limited series. The Road to Zion pilot script was a finalist for the 2020 Cinequest Screenwriting Competition and was featured at IFP Week 2019.

Reid is a director in the 2020 class of Film Independent’s Project Involve and is the recipient of the Easterseals Disability Services Fellowship. He currently is represented at APA.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Diana Romero

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Diana Romero smiling headshot

Diana Romero

Award-winning producer/writer, Diana Romero, had worked in physical film production as Producer, UPM and Line Producer for more than 15 years until her mobility was challenged in 2018. Multiple Sclerosis had finally reared its ugly head by attacking her legs, which caused her to rely on a wheelchair. Realizing that sets are rarely wheelchair accessible, she had to reinvent herself and her role in the entertainment industry. One day she would love to consult with productions on how to create safe and accessible sets for crew and talent with and without disabilities. After much deliberation, she set out to accomplish two other dreams she always had in the film industry: to act and to write for television and ultimately become a showrunner.

Romero is represented by Gail Williamson at KMR’s Diversity Department and landed her first big co-star role in 2018 as Joanna on Octavia Spencer’s TRUTH BE TOLD series for Apple TV +. Diana also wrote a pilot, SOLD, based on her award-winning short NIÑA QUEBRADA (writer/producer), which got her into the Producers Guild Power of Diversity Workshop in 2019. Through the workshop, SOLD was picked up by an Academy Award winning producer and has landed on a very prominent actress’s desk. During the workshop, Diana met fellow participant Delbert Whetter who introduced her to the organization RespectAbility, where he is a board member. Through RespectAbility, Romero has participated in panels focusing on working in entertainment as a person with a disability). She is honored to have been accepted to the 2020 RespectAbility Summer Lab Program. Romero has an MFA in producing from the American Film Institute and a BA from Columbia College Chicago. She also has a degree in Social Work from Whittier College.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Ali MacLean

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Ali McLean smiling with her hand on her chin

Ali McLean

Ali MacLean is an award-winning writer, actor, and mental health advocate in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the Miami University Actor’s Program and the LaJolla Playhouse Acting Conservatory, and has worked on comedies such as THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW, CAN’T HARDLY WAIT, HBO’s MR. SHOW, and Showtime’s THE GREEN ROOM.

Her short films have won and screened at Atlanta, Palm Springs, Method Fest, Slamdance, Gen Art, Toronto Int’l Film Festival, and more. Her screenplays have been a Stowe Story Labs fellowship recipient, a Writer For Writer Fellowship recipient, Top Ten Comedy at Table Read My Screenplay, an Honorable Mention and Fellowship recipient from Sidewalk Films, a finalist at WeScreenplay Diverse Voices the Orchard Project, IFP Filmmakers Program, and a semi-finalist at Chesterfield, Screencraft, Scriptapalooza, and the LA Int’t Film Festival. She is an alumni of the Women In Film Mentor Program, the RespectAbility Lab, and is a Coverfly Endorsed Writer, whose scripts have placed in the Top 3% overall on their Red List.

MacLean has written for various networks, including MTV, VH-1, FOX and POP TV. After almost 20 years of writing comedy, MacLean decided to return to her first love, the theater. She is a multi-award winning playwright whose work has been seen in LA, New York, Boston, and London, and is published by Applause Books and Smith & Kraus. Most of her work examines adversity, depression, violence, and trauma using humor as a Trojan horse. As a mental health and anti-violence advocate, she is committed to representing those voices. Recently she created The Cathartic Company. TCC’s creative model is to partner with nonprofits, pair performances and screenings with talk backs, and provide resources for the community.

She is currently a member of the Sundance Collective, Imagine Impact, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Antaeus Theatre Playwrights Lab, The Cloud Factory, The Resident Artist at the Citadel of Playwrights, The Greenlight Women International Writer’s Group, and the Dramatists Guild. [continue reading…]

Gisselle Legere

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Giselle Legere headshot

Giselle Legere

Gisselle grew up in a garment factory in Hialeah among Miami’s Cuban exile community. Her family’s tumultuous history as political refugees led to an interest in politics and human rights. Gisselle lost most of her hearing to a childhood vaccine. Growing up deaf in a hearing world gave her many opportunities to hone her observational skills, which helped her as she moved through various careers…as a ballerina, then as a judo competitor on her college women’s team, and eventually, as a scientist.

As a field epidemiologist, she spent a decade working in biodefense and chasing dis- ease outbreaks across the globe before transitioning into writing. As a writer, she draws a lot of inspiration from the conflicts she wrestled with in her previous line of work. She brings sleuthing skills to procedurals but writes character driven drama and morally ambiguous female leads. She’s staffed on ABC’s QUANTICO, where her episode “No Place is Home” was nominated for a Women’s Image Award, and written for Moonbug’s MY GO 2.0. She’s currently staffed on NBC’s NEW AMSTERDAM. [continue reading…]

Zilvinas Paludnevicius

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Zilvinas Paludnevicius headshot

Zilvinas Paludnevicius

Zilvinas Paludnevicius is a filmmaker with extensive experience producing, filming and editing films in American Sign Language. He was an instructor at Gallaudet University teaching film production courses to both undergraduate and graduate students. Paludnevicus, who is Deaf, currently works as a studio producer at Sorenson Communciations based in Salt Lake City.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Ashley Eakin

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Ashley Eakin headshot smiling

Ashley Eakin

Born in California and raised in Nebraska, Ashley Eakin is a writer-director with a physical disability. This year she was one of eight women selected for the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and her project SINGLE was selected for the SXSW 2020 Film Festival and received the Special Jury Recognition Award. Eakin was also the recipient of the New York Women in Film Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant.

In 2019 Eakin worked for and shadowed Mark Pellington on the Quibi series SURVIVE, filmed in the Italian Alps starring Sophie Turner. Prior to this, Eakin was the assistant to film director Jon M. Chu. In 2017 she spent 5 months in Malaysia and Singapore working on his critically acclaimed box-office hit CRAZY RICH ASIANS.

Eakin’s short documentary THE DETAILS, featuring Henry Golding and Awkwafina, was selected for the 2018 Hamilton Film Festival and her short film BLUE premiered at the 2019 LA Shorts Fest. Eakin is represented by United Talent Agency and Artists First Management.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment 

Shea Mirzai

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Shea Mirzai headshot looking out a window

Shea Mirzai

First generation Iranian-American, LGBTQ+ writer/producer, and Person Who Stutters, Shea Mirzai is a four-time honoree of Franklin Leonard’s annual Black List and Co-Chair of the WGA’s Disabled Writers Committee. Mr. Mirzai has written features for Overbrook Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tooley Entertainment, AGC Studios, and Universal Studios. He is also Executive Producer of Nat Geo’s ORIGINS: THE JOURNEY OF HUMANKIND. In 2019, after selling action-drama feature spec RUTH and being hired to write the latest installment of the AMERICAN PIE franchise, Shea launched Space Coyote Productions, a full service production company of which he is the founder & CEO. A graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Film & Media Studies and African-American Studies, Shea combined the two into a unique program emphasizing Race & Representation. He cut his teeth in glorious Hollywood, USA working for mini-major studio Relativity Media as Head of the Story Department from 2008-2015. A collector of books, movie soundtracks, and (too many) Funko Pops!, Shea has written across multiple genres and formats including comedy, drama, and action-thrillers. He spends his free time over-analyzing every situation and rooting for the LA Clippers. Mirzai is repped by Zero Gravity Management and Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson. [continue reading…]

Faith Strongheart

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Faith Strongheart headshot smiling

Faith Strongheart

Faith Strongheart is an award-winning writer/director with a unique and visionary style. She received her MFA in directing from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television in 2018.

Strongheart has written, produced and directed several short films which have gone on to receive prestigious awards and has participated in numerous directing workshops, including Directing the Actor with Sundance Institute creative advisor Joan Darling. In addition, she has written three feature-length screenplays and a dramatic television series pilot. Prior to graduate school, Strongheart worked as a production coordinator and assistant director on studio feature films for more than fifteen years.

Strongheart is a two-time recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America Award and was a finalist for a science-based script for the Sloan Foundation Fellowship. In 2016 she received the Women in Film Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship, the Bill Lee Memorial award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award for Directing and the Carroll Sax Award in Motion Picture and Television Production. In 2018, she received the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Scholarship and the Mary Pickford Award for Documentary Filmmaking for a feature documentary that she is making about her non-traditional hippie upbringing. She currently is in development on her first narrative feature.

Strongheart is the mother of two small children and she is doing her best to raise kind humans in this crazy world.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Jay De La Jara

RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2020

Jay De La Jara smiling headshot

Jay De La Jara

Jay De La Jara is an award-winning independent film and TV producer who has worked in the industry for eight years. An early career in automotive tech and construction as a laborer and eventually job supervisor strengthened his innate analytical, managerial, and logistical skills. But what he craved was storytelling and the creativity of making stories come to life. He started making his own films to gain on-set experience, and learned as much as he could through masterclasses/webinars on nights and weekends while also working full-time. When he made the leap into filmmaking, his acquired skill sets proved invaluable, as the producer is, in many ways, like the general contractor of a film set. Three years into his career, he was diagnosed with a rare genetic blindness, but he has not lost his passion for and love of filmmaking.

Since his diagnosis, he has lost most of his central vision and is now legally blind. While he has found it difficult to continue with his additional work in post production as editor and color grader, he has devoted all of his energy into producing. His blindness has proved challenging in every aspect of his life, but he has learned how to adapt and excel. His “greeny-nominated” short film, “Whiskey Boys”, was an HBO’s Project Greenlight semi-finalist, and was released on HBO’s network. He went on to produce the 2015 Lionsgate National Storytellers Competition wildcard winning short film, “Masque”, which had over 3 million views, and secured an award at the 2015 Crystal and Lucy’s. His latest short, “Of Mine”, premiered at Disney Animation Studios and screened at festivals like Dances with Films.

In addition to producing, Jay works with his creative partner, Cate Carson, under Sensorium Pictures. They’ve made short films, music videos, and other digital content – including one of the most successfully funded projects on Seed & Spark – “PURE” the series, which is currently in post-production. As a co-creator, he has developed “PURE” into a longer form series, and has an anthology series (“The Absolute”) which placed in several screenwriting competitions. He continues to develop future projects, including dark dramedy, whimsical fantasy, and suspense feature films, and a proof of concept for a dark comedy set to shoot as soon as safe to do so.

Adapting in life has bled over into his projects, creating a strength for problem-solving, and being able to work on-the-fly. And he has a knack for assembling the right team, which he believes is 50% of filmmaking. Ultimately, Jay continues working toward collaborative visions that audiences respond to in the same way he did with some of his beloved childhood films.

LEARN MORE

After an extensive search and interview process, 30 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2020 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, 15-session virtual summer Lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, will take place June 16 – July 16, 2020. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.

This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by:

  • Platinum Sponsors: Murray/Reese Foundation and The Walt Disney Company
  • Gold Sponsors: Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal and Final Draft
  • Silver Sponsors: Fox Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment 
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