--
As part of its ongoing mission to Change the Way We View Disability, Easterseals Southern California (ESSC) has partnered with Gold Pictures to raise awareness within the entertainment industry to be more inclusive and create opportunities in front of and behind the camera for people with disabilities.
Gold Pictures is the production shingle of Jenni Gold, one of only two members of the Directors Guild of America who identifies as having a disability and director of the award-winning documentary CinemAbility, which - with levity and insight - traces the history of disability portrayals from the silent era to today and the impact these portrayals have had on the public. Called Eye opening and An arresting look at disability by the Los Angeles Times, CinemAbility features interviews with Ben Affleck, Michael Apted, Paris Barkley, Geena Davis, Peter Farrelly, Jamie Foxx, Vince Gilligan, Taylor Hackford, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Marlee Matlin, Jane Seymour, Gary Siniseand more.
CinemAbility and participate in other promotional opportunities. Gold Pictures will showcase ESSC's logo in all marketing efforts, highlight the nonprofit on its social media platforms and build relationships on behalf of ESSC with Hollywood leaders and celebrity influencers to further efforts to raise awareness within the entertainment industry.
Said Mark Whitley, president & CEO of ESSC, Jenni's passion for storytelling and entertaining an audience is clearly evident in her work and achievements. We welcome the opportunity to work with her to effect change and promote inclusion.
Commented Gold, who has muscular dystrophy, has used a wheelchair since the age of seven and jokes that since her director's chair goes 12-miles-an-hour, she is the first to arrive on set, I'm thrilled to have my film CinemAbilitypartner with Easterseals, which shares my mission of bringing inclusion to Hollywood and the world. I am excited about these new opportunities and what the future has in store.
Shares Affleck, one of the many prominent actors who appear in the film, There's virtually no people with disabilities present in the fabric of the entertainment world. And that wallpaper is really our collective social wallpaper. It's how we see ourselves. Adds Macy, I think we want to get to this point in the world where it's what you do that counts, it's what you can accomplish that counts and we're not so concerned with how you look or how you get there.
ESSC first aligned with Gold when she served as a judge for the organization's Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. Now in its fifth year, registration is open for the 2018competition to be held April 13-15. For moreinformation or to sign up: www.DisabilityFilmChallenge.com
One-in-five Americans is living with a disability, making it today's largest minority population, yet far too often their important and varied stories go untold. Per the GLAAD report Where We Are on TV, 1.7% of TV roles feature a character with a disability and of those roles, more than 95% of the characters are portrayed by actors without a disability (Ruderman Family Foundation). Of the top 900 films since 2007, just 2.7% of characters were portrayed as having a disability, according to the USC Annenberg report, Inequality in 900 Popular Films. The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge addresses this underrepresentation by giving filmmakers - with and without disabilities - the platform to collaborate, tell unique stories that showcase disability in its many forms and support Easterseals' goal to change the way disability is viewed. CinemAbility, which has enjoyed a successful film festival run, takes a detailed look at the evolution of disability portrayals in entertainment by going behind the scenes - interviewing celebrities, filmmakers, studio executives and film historians - and by utilizing vivid clips from Hollywood's most beloved motion pictures and television programs to focus attention on the powerful impact that entertainment and the media can have on society.
# # #
About the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge
During the Challenge, registered filmmakers are given a span of 55 hours over the designated weekend to write and produce short films (three-to-five minutes) that Help Change the Way We View Disability. Submitted films are judged in four award categories - Best Film, Best Filmmaker, Best Actor and Best Awareness Campaign - by a noted and diverse group of entertainment industry talent. Finalists will be announced and screened at the Bentonville Film Festival(May 1-6), which champions inclusion in all form of media; will be invited to an exclusive roundtable discussion with agents at United Talent Agency;and will receive a one-year subscription to Variety Magazine. Winners, who will be announced at a red-carpet event May 10, hosted by United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, are awarded industry mentorships; the opportunity to screen their film at the Los Angeles-based HollyShorts Film Festival (August 9-18), an Academy Award-qualifying competition; $1,000 grants provided by Universal Filmed Entertainment Group towards their next production; Dell computers; a full, one-year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud-the entire collection of 20+ creative desktop and mobile apps including Premiere Pro CC, After Effects CC and Photoshop CC; and a Nike gift bag with assorted products, including a pair of shoes from the new FlyEase line. Since the Challenge launched in 2013, aspiring filmmakers from around the world have created more than 150 short films - 35 submitted last year - which have been viewed online and at festivals. Winners have included Jamie Brewer, who won Best Actor in 2017 for Whitney's Wedding, has been acclaimed for her role on American Horror Storyand was the first model with Down Syndrome to walk the
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
21/10/2025
As Amazon's Prime Video prepares to launch its coverage of NBA basketball under a major new deal, Grup Mediapro has announced that it is working with the st...
21/10/2025
ATLANTA Good news for consumers using an Atlanta DTH receiver to watch ATSC 3.0: with a new software update, they will be able to blanket their homes with Wi-Fi...
21/10/2025
While recent news has been heavily focused on Hispanic migration into the U.S., The 2025 Hispanic Market Report from Claritas highlights the fact that this gr...
21/10/2025
MAIDENHEAD, UK RWS has hired Michael Wayne as its head of media and entertainment in Los Angeles where he will lead the company's media localization busines...
21/10/2025
Imagine Communications and Rohde & Schwarz today announced a definitive agreement under which Imagine will acquire Pixel Power Limited, a wholly owned subsidiar...
21/10/2025
Atlanta DTH (ADTH) today announced a major update that will expand the functionality of its NEXTGEN TV receiver by enabling gateway capabilities allowing viewer...
21/10/2025
Heartland Video Systems, Inc. (HVS), a premier video systems integration, consulting, and expert ATSC 3.0 implementation firm announces that it has partnered wi...
21/10/2025
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, today announced the appointment of Austin Hinton as it...
21/10/2025
nternet connectivity startup Miri Technologies Inc. will use this week's NAB Show New York as the launch pad for its latest ground-breaking innovation, the ...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
-- 
