Hollywood Inclusion

Los Angeles, August 26 – For the low vision and blind communities, audio description (AD) is the equivalent to captions for the Hard of Hearing and Deaf communities. It is often the most misunderstood and underutilized accessibility asset in the broadcast TV, cable, digital media, gaming and film industries. Professionals and advocates within the audio description industry are far from scarce, however, and participants of RespectAbility’s Summer Lab for Entertainment Professionals with Disabilities were lucky enough to speak to some of the best: Michele Spitz and Alex Howard.

Michele Spitz of Woman of Her Word is a voiceover artist, audio description (AD) consultant and educator, public speaker, and philanthropist dedicated to selectively funding AD and post-production accessibility grants to ensure that media content is equally accessible to low vision and blind audiences. With more than 8 years of experience across multiple cities, film festivals, and industry platforms, Spitz’s AD work can be heard in Emmy and the Academy Award nominated films to museums and award-winning independent films like Best Summer Ever. Spitz encouraged all Lab participants to have a common base knowledge of media accessibility overall. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, August 26 – During a recent session of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Joel Camarena made his second appearance of the summer to share important insight on what it is like to work for an established studio like Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). Joel also shared his journey on how he arrived at this current position as a Senior Manager of Global Talent Acquisition after starting out as a Campus Recruitment Intern. Joel was joined by a panel of SPE executives including Frank Ochoa, Executive Director Comedy Development; Amanda Richards, Director of Talent and Casting (Television); and Keleigh Slaight, Manager of Physical Production (Television). [continue reading…]

Free Resources for People Who Want to Make Their Dreams Come True

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Los Angeles, August 24 – The disability advocacy nonprofit RespectAbility has released its free Disability Entrepreneurship Toolkit. The new toolkit provides an inventory of existing materials, advice and guides for jobseekers with disabilities who want to start their own enterprise, or develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Many highly successful entrepreneurs have disabilities, including Richard Branson and most of the Sharks on Shark Tank.

RespectAbility’s Disability Entrepreneurship Toolkit launch was timed to meet the heightened interest of people with disabilities and others who are watching the groundbreaking new docuseries Born For Business, which ison Peacock (USA) and CRAVE (Canada). Born For Business focuses on the talents, innovations and impact of entrepreneurs with varying disabilities. Born For Business shines the spotlight on four emerging entrepreneurs: Chris Triebes, Qiana Allen, Collette Divitto and Lexi Zanghi. [continue reading…]

Starts streaming for free today on Peacock and CRAVE

Los Angeles, August 23 – A powerful docuseries that spotlights the untold stories of four entrepreneurs with disabilities, Born For Business gives viewers an insider’s look at what it takes to launch and run a thriving small business. Just as each entrepreneur is on the brink of success, they must navigate the complications that the COVID-19 pandemic presents.

The series features four talented entrepreneurs with disabilities:

• Qiana Allen is a fashionista with lupus who creates clothing for women with curves.
• Collette Divitto is a baker with Down syndrome who owns a cookie brand on a mission to create change.
• Chris Triebes is a driven single dad with spinal muscular atrophy (type III) making waves in the music industry.
• Lexi Zanghi is a millennial entrepreneur with anxiety who runs a fashion-forward brand.

“For too long, people with disabilities have been shut out of the workplace,” said Jonathan Murray, Bunim/Murray Productions. “With Born For Business, we are showing how people with disabilities have long been using entrepreneurship to create an economic livelihood for themselves.”

Watch On Peacock

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Photo credit: Arthur Marroquin

New York, August 19 – Deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank has joined NBC’s “New Amsterdam” as Dr. Elizabeth Wilder.

It is important to note that Frank is being added as a doctor, as many medical shows feature disabled actors as patients, but not as people who are helping others. Actors Rachel Handler, who is an amputee, and Matthew Jeffers, who is a little person, previously have been cast in roles as medical professionals. New Amsterdam overwhelmingly has been an example of best practices since Season 1, through casting authentically, including Lauren Ridloff and Eileen Grubba; working with consultants to ensure accurate storylines; and including conversations about diverse topics within the disability community.

Frank is a trained stage and film actor. Ever since she made her mark in Deaf West’s “Spring Awakening” on Broadway, she has been doing various projects from music videos, theater productions, films, and TV. She is also the production manager of Deaf Austin Theatre, a nonprofit theater company in Austin, Texas. Most recently Frank was featured on NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, performing a song in ASL. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, Aug 19 – During a recent session of the RespectAbility Summer Lab for Entertainment Professionals, the cohort was joined by the folks at Bunim/Murray Productions to get the inside scoop on how to tell an authentic story through the unscripted genre.

Since the release of the popular reality TV series The Real World in 1992, followed by the equally popular series The Challenge in 1998, Bunim/Murray has paved the way for the rise of unscripted content fromKeeping Up with the Kardashians to The Simple Life with Paris Hilton. Founder Jonathan Murray was joined by Megan Sleeper, Senior VP of Casting; Myeia Coy, VP of Development; Jacob Lane, VP of Post Creative; and Alexandria Seidel, Director of People and Culture, to enlighten the class on what it takes to let the story organically unfold without a script. [continue reading…]

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Los Angeles, August 18 – Chris Triebes is an entrepreneur based in the Chicago area specializing in booking and event planning for music acts. Chris was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and is one of the subjects of Peacock and CRAVE’s upcoming unscripted show Born For Business. The show will highlight individuals with disabilities who own and operate their own businesses, showcasing their success accompanied by some of the challenges involved with entrepreneurship.

Chris says his main motivation for becoming an entrepreneur was his ambition along with the need to provide for his daughter as a single father. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” proclaimed Chris as he describes his hustle in an interview with the disability nonprofit RespectAbility. His hustle is apparent when he describes how he initially got into the business of booking musical acts. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, August 18 – On July 29, participants of RespectAbility’s 2021 Summer Lab for Entertainment Professionals with Disabilities were welcomed to a full day of sessions hosted by Bunim-Murray Productions. A special supporter of the Lab program and whose founder, Jonathan Murray, sits on the board at RespectAbility, Bunim-Murray Productions was able to offer a unique look into the world of unscripted TV and a peek inside the post-production process.

Jacob Lane, Vice President of Post Creative at Bunim-Murray Productions, spoke to participants about post-production story construction, editing for unscripted and documentary content, and the numerous pivotal jobs that bring that process of storytelling to life. Lane, who started his career in television news and documentaries before moving into unscripted television, has been editing for more than 20 years. His credits include long-running and industry changing shows like The Amazing Race, The Real World, Born This Way, Deaf Out Loud, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and The Challenge. [continue reading…]