GENRE: RomanceThe films entered into the challenge must be in the genre of Romance. These films can be comedic, romantic and or dramatic. Keep in mind most romantic movies have comedy, and most comedies have a great love story. Don’t be afraid to also be vulnerable.Some examples include: There’s Something About Mary, The Note Book, Marriage Story, [...]
After being nominated for best actor in the 2022 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge I landed a role as Emma Wheemer in Lucky Hank with Bob Odenkirk. The show produced by Sony will be on AMC this year. I’m so grateful to be given a platform that provides me the agency to showcase my voice and talent. My film opened [...]
After we made our film "Expectations", which was a 2020 finalist of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, I got an e-mail from an executive at a production company that was producing Brie Larson's Disney+ series "Growing Up". They wanted to feature a disabled person's story and were looking for a disabled director to helm the [...]
Genre: SuperheroAs we get back to normal times, does the world still needs Superheroes? And how do you define "superhero" anyway? Does it require heroism, being an anti-hero, or both? This year's Easterseals Disability Film Challenge genre lets participants enter the world of Superheroes via narrative short film, documentary or animation. Not all Superheroes wear capes.Some examples of typical Superhero Films and TV [...]
Mockumentary or documentary style short film. The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is a narrative short film competition but many of our film challenge participants are currently staying home and safe due to the COVID-19 pandemic the genre of the assignment of the 2021 EDFC: Home Edition is Mockumentray or documentary style. Some examples of mockumentary, [...]
Danny J Gomez guest starred in CBS's NCIS: Hawai'i. He credits the the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge for helping to kick-start his acting career, starring in film challenge winning films Check Mate in 2018 and in I/O in 2019. At the 2018 film challenge awards ceremony he was spotted by his current talent agent Gail Willimson [...]
Emily Hopper (star of our 2019 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge “Best Film” winner- Parents, Inc.) booked a major role as a disabled teenager in the Amy Poehler-directed Netflix film, MOXIE. The casting director Allison Jones and the producers of "Moxie" discovered Emily through her work on her film Parents Inc.
Nicole Lynn Evans won the Best Actor award at the 2019 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. After her win, Nicole booked a recurring role on NBC's Superstore. Nicole thanks the film challenge, saying, “It has led to so many opportunities to put my work forward both as an actor and writer. I’m very grateful to the Easterseals [...]
Sofiya Cheyenne credits the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge for leading to her first recurring role on TV. Now in its third season, she continues her role of Louise on the hit comedy “Loudermilk.” A long-time participant, it was her 2018 film challenge submission, “You’re Up,” that caught the attention of Oscar-winning Director Peter Farrelly for the role. At the time, [...]
A filmmaker and USC MFA graduate was a finalist in the 2019 Easterseals Disability FIlm Challenge. As a finalist she was invited to attend a special workshop put on by the Sundance Institute for all finalists. The workshop encouraged our participants to apply to the Sundance labs and let them know about all the grants [...]