♪ Opening theme music ♪
Hello, and welcome to this episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation.
My name is Diane Kolin.
This series presents artists, academics, and project leaders
who dedicate their time and energy to a better accessibility
for people with disabilities in the arts.
You can find more of these conversations on our website, artsably.com,
which is spelled A-R-T-S-A-B-L-Y dot com.
♪ Theme music ♪
Today, ArtsAbly is in conversation
with Emily Schooley, an award-winning actor
and filmmaker and the founder of Laughing Cat Productions, based in Toronto.
You can find the resources mentioned by Emily Schooley during this episode
on ArtsAbly's website in the blog section.
♪ Tense music played by strings ♪
Think of how many people love you.
Think of how many hearts you're going to break if you go
through with this right now. Look at how many people care about you.
Look at how many people think that you are going overseas for work.
Think of how many people think that you are off to something better.
I am.
You're what?
♪ Tense music continues until it fades. ♪
♪ TV Generic music with guitar and drum ♪
Welcome back to Broadstrokes,
your local arts program for the tri-state area.
If you're just joining us now, I'm here in the studio with Kris Preston,
the frontman for the American punk band, The Flareups, joined via Zoom.
They just released their third album, Pharmaceutical Cocktail,
and started their national tour.
Kris, it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
Likewise, Bill.
Could you tell our viewers a little bit about your band?
Yeah. So we are a Cripple Punk band.
And yeah, I know some audience members might cringe at the use of that particular
C-word, but it is a specific movement.
Cripple Punk is all about refusing to conform to able-bodied standards.
So what's next on the horizon for the Flare-ups?
Well, once we recover from this tour, whenever that'll be,
we're going to get back in the studio and record our next album.
Right now, the working title is Not Covered By Insurance,
and we've got a bunch of great disability-related cover tracks.
We've got Shiny Flappy People, Can't Stop the Peeing, Pills, Pills, Pills.
There's a lot that we're excited to go in and record.
You feel like this will sell a lot of copies?
Well, we would love to make a lot of money, but Uncle Sam capped our savings
at $2,000, which is not enough to live in today's day
and age, especially when we are the only ones looking after each other.
Look, before the interview, I thought we agreed that
you weren't going to get political here.
Yeah, news flash for you, buddy.
When you're disabled, everything is political.
That $2,000 cap means that we are living in poverty, especially
with all the rapid inflation.
Oh, and then there's the pharmaceutical companies which keep jacking up the price
of the medication that we literally need to survive.
Not to mention the political parties, where the one side has a major disdain
for any minority, to say the least, and the other side,
they just shrug and do nothing.
So yeah, there is a lot to be angry about, and that is the whole point, you f###
♪ Beep sound ♪
Welcome to this new episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation.
Today, I am with Emily Schooley, who is an award-winning actor
and filmmaker, and also the founder of Laughing Cat Productions,
which is based in Toronto. Welcome, Emily.
Thank you. And thank you for having me, Diane.
So you are right now in Toronto, but you didn't grow up in Toronto, right?
That's correct.
I grew up in the Niagara region, which is about 2 hours just
a little bit south of Toronto on Lake Erie.
And then from there, I end up going to university.
I went to the University of Waterloo.
So I've moved around the Southwestern end of our province a fair bit.
But since then, I've been in Toronto officially since 2010.
And I work here, and then I also tend to travel and work
regionally and internationally as well.
Based in Toronto now, but I think of myself as somebody who is
both very globally inspired, and I love traveling outside
of the city to work as well.
But you attended a school for the arts over the Niagara region?
or what happens to your first artistic practices
that led you to where you are today?
So for me, it's interesting because my journey as a creative artist has really
evolved over the years, where I originally went to university thinking,
Okay, well, I'm going to I'm specifically train as an actor for theater.
And that's what I went into university doing.
I did a lot of drama and theater when I was in high school as well.
So that's really what led me to want to be a performer.
But from there, what happened was after I had shortly graduated university,
I ended up getting a lot of auditions for film rather than for theater stuff.
So I immediately went, okay, well, I've trained as a theater actor,
but now I'm going to try out film.
And then from there, what happened was one of the first directors who cast me
in a film project, he and I ended up working quite
closely together for a number of years.
So through him, I got my feet wet with producing,
directing, writing, all of that at a more indie level.
So it ended up that with one of the projects
that I worked on with him, I started as, "just the lead actor,"
and I went from that to helping co-write the series, helping production manage,
as you do with indie arts, and then helping direct as well, because I also...
One of my side hobbies is still photography.
So I have a bit of an eye as well when it comes to cinematography,
setting up the shot, what am I looking for?
And then as well as a director being able to work with other
actors and helping them reach an emotional place, helping them
choreograph or the story that we want to tell when we're working on a project.
So I went into that project that I was working on
with the director who had hired me, going, okay, well,
I'm mostly just an actor. And I came out of that one.
We had actually produced a half an hour series with a double length pilot.
So it was about 13 episodes total.
And through that, that was really my boot camp in terms of learning
the behind the camera skills.
And then since then in my career, I've done a lot of both,
sometimes at the same time, but any time I get to be just an actor
these days, it feels like a vacation.
So yeah, I still perform, I still direct.
Those are my two favorite things to do.
But I also produce my own work, which is what led me to founding laughing Cat Productions.
When did you found this company?
So I produce smaller work, casually, off and on for years under the name,
but we ended up incorporating officially at the end of 2020.
Before that, you did a lot of acting and you were recognized internationally, too.
You were saying you were doing both at the same time.
What's the feeling between both?
You say when you are an actor, it feels more like a holiday today than...
[Laughs.]
Than producing, which I understand.
But can you explain to us what are both
sides of your your position, basically?
Yeah, absolutely. So for me, I'm somebody with ADHD, which I didn't know for years.
I always thought I was just a slightly quieter than some of the other theater
kids' theater kid, Because anybody
who comes from that performing space, we're all a little bit chaotic.
We're all a little bit like, energy, go, go, go.
And for me, for years, it's always like, Oh, I can do one more thing.
I can learn this other skill. I can do this other thing.
And a lot of that fed into my acting practice.
But what I've ended up doing is that because I like to challenge myself,
sometimes on my own projects, I was like, Okay, well, I'm both the lead
actor and the director.
And then just with the way that film tends to work, unless you have millions
of dollars, you're wearing a lot of hats yourself.
So I've also like, I've learned to produce as well.
And then that's actually what I did on a few of my short films.
But for me, I think for me, too, part of it was always
trying to find a ceiling and what I could actually successfully accomplish.
And then I finally hit that point last year, the year before, where I went,
okay, well, I'm only one person.
I can accomplish one substantial project at a time where
I'm doing these things, and that's about it.
I can't do multiple projects.
I can't be working at a seven-figure budget level if it's just me.
So I hit a point where I found the ceiling layer where I'm like, Okay,
well, if I'm producing and directing, sometimes maybe acting,
I can do this much.
So it was nice to find being like, Okay, well, now that I know that, now I can
specialize down a little bit more again.
And then so I've always relied on that neuro-spiciness,
that ADHD to be like, okay, I can do this and this and this.
And then it all blends together in my mind, where
I always say, I feel like I'm a little mushroom, where you see a little mushroom
above the soil, and that's the part that you see.
But the part that you don't see is the mycelial network underneath, where
it's so interconnected to everything.
To me, that's very much how I've always drawn on creativity and how I build
my creative work, where everything is that yes and.
But knowing what I can do successfully, for me now, it's nice to take a I step
back and go, Okay, well, I just want to act in this project,
so I'm going to audition for somebody else's piece,
and then collaborate with them, or be like, Okay, well,
I'm going to produce and direct this project, but I'm not going
to act on this one this time.
And then that's being able to take a hat off in a way.
But for me, I found starting with my training as an actor,
it really fed into the other disciplines because I could go, Okay, well,
I know what works for me to get me emotional emotionally present or deeper
into a scene or being able to achieve a genuine reaction
on camera, things like that.
So that's fed into my directing.
And then I would say as well, probably a lot of it is anxiety,
where I'm like, I like to know what's going on and have things organized.
And on some indie productions, that's not always the way it goes.
So I think that's how I learned to produce for better or
worse was my anxiety just wanted everything to be organized.
But I've also realized, too, it's in the world film,
I'm really good at being a creative or logistical producer.
But for me, the business skills are not really my favorite thing,
to be doing a lot of paperwork or being trying to find the funding.
So one of the things I'm working on right now is because we've already raised
substantial funding for a couple of Laughing Cat Productions projects,
is looking for another producer to bring on board to help finally share
that workload so that our projects can continue to grow and be successful.
As a producer, the nice thing is that you can choose your subjects and choose
the scripts and choose the scenarios, whatever, the authors.
How do you choose the productions you want to bring life?
Bring to life, sorry.
It's okay.
So for me, the way I choose things to bring to life is that
I'm very personally passionate about creating queer woman-led media, specifically.
And we have quite a gap in that market where
we're finally getting shows like Yellowjackets or films like Backspot,
where there's just normalized queer women-led stories.
But when you look at what's out there for men, gay men, straight men, whatever,
they outnumber what's out there for women, two to one, three to one, five to one.
So for me, it's always like, is there an underheard or underrepresented
woman's voice in the story?
That's one of the big draws for me as well.
And then also, is there something in here that provokes
social change or more inclusive thought or bringing to life,
bringing to screen somebody's life who we don't really hear or see a lot of stories
from somebody from that demographic.
So for example, it's like we do get the occasional
large scale feature film done by a really big no name, where it'll touch on something like
poverty or disability or even fat phobia, things like that.
But a lot of those films tend to be produced from more privileged voices.
So for me, as someone who grew up working class, as someone who grew up
in a mid-sized body, especially in the '90s and 2000s,
where people wanted you to be super slim, I also experienced a lot of exclusion
in the film industry just because I was not not
essentially what they were looking for.
So for me, I'm now drawn to tell those stories,
the stories that we don't hear, the people we still don't see enough of on screen.
So that's really what I look for, where it's like, who is this character?
How are they different from mainstream media out there?
How is the story different? How does this better society?
Because the other thing I look for as well, where it's like we have a lot of
what I'm going to call content showing, where a lot of stuff is getting made.
People will watch something on streaming, but they won't remember
that series six months later.
It's like I like to make things that get into people and hook them,
stick with them, where they'll come back and think about the film in a year from now.
It'll go, and go, Oh, I am seeing this play out in society.
Funnily enough, Emily was right.
Things like that.
Sometimes even a shorter film, I saw one of your movies called
Crip Metal Interview, and this one was really awesome.
In that movie, there is the typical reaction, or in that short film,
there's a typical reaction of the interviewer that says,
Oh, I thought we would agree that we won't talk about politics.
And your character says, Everything in disability is political,
so how can I not talk about it? Yeah.
So Crip Metal Interview.
So that was a sketch done with Sick Bae, which is a disability-focused
sketch troupe that I work with.
The people that benefit from the silence of those being oppressed are the ones
that will try to keep perpetuating that silence or
try to keep that power dynamic in play.
Whereas I'm someone very much where
I believe that none of us are going to thrive until everyone can thrive.
So a lot of the work I do is ultimately about creating a world
where that can happen.
And also breaking assumptions, right?
Yeah, exactly.
That's very nice.
In your recent projects, you have one interesting
upcoming project that is coming.
Can you talk about that?
Absolutely. I made a short film.
We actually shot back in 2022, and then it's been on the festival
circuit for about a year now.
But it's a short film about a chronically ill woman who chooses MAID.
And the film is about her best friend finding out the 11th hour
and then confronting her about her choice, where,
yeah, we've been on the festival circuit for about a year.
And coming up in May, we actually have two screenings here
in Ontario, We're going to have one May 15th
in Alliston at the Circle Theater as part of a collective of independent filmmakers.
And then I don't quite have the date yet because they're still
finalizing the schedule.
But the film will also be part of the Grand River Film Festival
at the end of May happening in Kitchener Waterloo, Cambridge area.
So for me, in a way, the project feels a little bit full circle,
where, having been a U Waterloo student,
where we filmed the film was actually literally along the Grand River,
where the Airbnb that we shot at, it's a property managed by a friend of mine.
The Grand River literally went through the backyard.
So being able to screen there, especially as someone who
grew up in Waterloo region, was there for a number of years.
I remember when Ken Nakamura started that festival in 2007,
I'm almost more excited to screen there than if we got him to TIFF,
just based on the connections I have and the way the film came about,
who I made it with, where we made it.
So yeah, I'm really looking forward to both those meetings.
So this movie, is it a production with multiple actors
or is it just story of this person?
So it's two actors.
And with this film, I did the thing we were talking about
earlier, where I wrote it, I was in front of the camera as a lead actor.
I directed with my cinematographer, and then I did about 80 to 90 %
of the actual producing labor.
So it was a lot.
But basically, the story is a two-hander drama.
So it's myself playing the character Clara, who is the one that's
choosing to undergo MAID, and then her best friend Skye,
who played by Salma Dharsee, who's another very talented Toronto actor.
Well, congratulations because it's a big achievement.
We're going to post all the details on ArtsAbly's website so that people can
have a look and know more about the dates and everything.
Yeah, so that's great.
After this movie is streamed
and after this movie is featured in festivals,
do you have other things that are coming in the next few months
that you're working on?
I do.
So I've got a few things that are in earlier development right now.
And then with The Sweetest Goodbye as well, we're hoping to still screen
at a few more festivals before we wrap up and then move on to VOD.
But in the short term, I actually just got my first paid literary submission.
So I'm going to be part of an anthology that's coming out later this year.
We're still waiting on a release date for that, but that should be, I think,
probably summer or fall.
And that was done in collaboration with Workman Arts here in Toronto.
As well, I've got some Canada Council funding for a short film, so
that's going to be in production later this fall.
We're still getting some details together for that, but
I'm really looking forward to that.
It's funny.
I've actually become a little bit superstitious where I
don't talk a lot about projects unless they're finally done and ready to screen.
But outside of that, I'm developing some feature film content.
We actually had a really good reception for The Sweetest Goodbye
in Brazil last year.
So because of that, I've made a lot of really good connections
in the São Paulo and Virginia areas.
So I'm developing a feature film with one of the filmmakers I met there.
I'm developing some other feature length work as well.
And then I'm also developing a genre series that
we're hoping to be able to release an interactive digital prequel for that.
And then there would also be a one hour streaming or broadcast component as well.
I'm very much right now, I'm looking for the right people,
the right partnerships to help elevate mine and Laughing Cat Productions' work
to the next level and then help bring these projects to life.
You mentioned international connections through this production company,
but also as an actress, right?
You also performed in international projects.
Yeah. So for better or worse, because I've been so heads down in
grant writing, trying to get funding, trying to develop some of my own work.
I've had to take...
Like acting has had to take a little bit of a back seat over the last couple of years for me.
But I'm at a point now where I've realized how much I miss doing
that element of the creativity, because, not necessarily the downside,
but it's the necessary evil that comes with running a production company, where
90 % of my days these days are admin, and paperwork, and strategy,
and looking for grants, and writing grants, and
looking for funding, and trying to build partnerships.
And so much of it has been the business and logistics side
of it, where, yeah, it's been over the last couple
of years where I haven't really done much on screen.
I shouldn't say that.
It's not nothing, but I did the sketch stuff with Sick Bae.
I shot my film.
Selma and I actually worked together on another project just a few months ago.
So that was her first time producing.
But yeah, I'm at a point where I am looking to start doing more acting again, and
I've just got to get some new head shots done,
but looking for more projects to audition for and be part of.
And then we're still nailing all the details, but I'm supposed to be
shooting a film this summer as well with a filmmaker I've known for over
a decade who's out of Montreal.
So there's a few irons in the fire, but especially for me who likes to be busy
and on the go, there's not quite as much as I would like of the creative.
And then as well, it's been a few years since I've been represented
by an acting agent.
So I'm also on the look out for another agent as well who
also understands the multidimensionality, the multi-passionate that I do, but
also supports my work as an actor.
So we'll see where that hunt goes, and we'll see who ends up
being the best fit there.
Did you work - With the production company,
did you work with the project called the Squeaky Wheel?
I did, yeah.
Funnily enough, the segment I was in was also about MAID.
That's been a theme over the last couple of years.
And then they're actually nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards right now.
So that's been very exciting.
Andrew, the lead producer of that, I had met
actually through the Disability Screen Office a couple of years ago,
and then they had me come out to be part of one of the episodes,
which is really nice, where I think I had actually missed the main
auditions for the core casting, but it was nice to be able to step in for an episode.
And then, yeah, very supportive set, very, very collaborative.
And then, yeah, there are a lot of talented folks working on the show,
and that is all disability-centric comedy, which is...
It's really nice to see how how far people will push things.
It's very almost reminiscent of a little bit of that '90s, 2000s SNL vibe
as well, has made its way in there.
People can watch this on AMI TV online also.
If you want to discover that, that's a very funny show that has very
short episodes and always by disabled,
with topics that are frequently
mentioned and in a very fun way.
I recommend watching that.
Funnily enough, the sketch I did was a lot more funny than - a lot more of a humorous
take on MAID than my film, and I'll share as well, too,
just a brief anecdote where the genesis of my film,
The Sweetest Goodbye, was very much because of Bill C-7 passing here in Canada,
where MAID has now opened up to people
that are not terminally ill, but,
"decreased quality of life."
And as I'm sure you know, what we're seeing is that
people have applied for MAID because they can't get safe housing, which is...
I understand why, to some degree, it's not being made as much of a big deal
in the news as it should be, but what I think a lot of people who only
consume mainstream news or who aren't a part of any equity or community
don't realize is just how dangerous it is essentially,
where people are not being provided with the supports
they need to live a thriving life,
and then they're choosing to end their life because they don't have that support.
Whereas a lot of this could be mitigated if we had a UBI
or If people living with disabilities had adequate financial, adequate medical,
adequate housing, other levels of support, they need to thrive.
And I think this is something systemic, too, where in Canada, abroad,
we're seeing more and more of a disparity between the ultra wealthy and everybody else.
And that's ultimately what's underneath this.
But for me, and this is like I was saying earlier, where I like to include
social impact themes in work.
I thought it was very timely to address this and address it's not just,
Oh, I'm sick and I want to die.
It's I want to die because I'm so sick of being made to feel
less than or othered or unsupported by society that I feel I have no other choice.
I don't want to take things too dark or too bleak here, but
I think a lot of people don't think about or realize how much social exclusion,
how much living in poverty, living without adequate resources that you see
other people getting contribute to the mindset that can lead up to that as well.
Where I think it's an important topic to address and think about going,
if we made more of an effort to create equity in society,
to reduce income inequality, to make things more accessible,
a lot of people wouldn't be having the struggles they're having
simply because they're under-resourced.
It's true. And by making movies about it, in a way,
people can see an aspect of life
that they didn't really think of.
And it also ties to my other question
about what you think of
the impact of the art in the disability community or working in
disability culture or creating more accessibility in the arts.
Can you tell us what you think the role of art is in the disability culture?
Well, I think overall, arts and disability culture,
or arts in any culture, is a way of both expressing yourself, learning
about yourself, telling your stories.
But then as well, it goes back to the Paleothic times
with the handprint on the wall. It's a way of saying, I was here.
This is my story. This is what I experienced.
But especially in terms of accessibility, this is the hill that I will die on.
Part of accessibility to me is adequate funding and adequate inclusion,
where even with, say, Ontario Arts Council,
disabled artists can only get up to $10,000,
but a media artist who does not apply under the disability category
can get up to $40,000 to make their work.
So something like that to me, there's still a weird inequity there,
where if I apply to Ontario Arts Council as a filmmaker
versus a disabled filmmaker, I'm treated a little differently.
And so that's even within an arts body within Canada,
where that discrepancy still exists.
And again, this just goes back to - there's an inherent,
in some areas, I will say an inherent elitism or exclusionaryism that
comes with certain areas of mainstream media, mainstream arts, where
we're told we need to look a certain way, behave a certain way,
have a certain set of ideals that we blend in, and we don't rock the boat
on politics, or genocide, or income and equality, or any number of topics.
But it's going back to what you mentioned earlier, where you watched
the Crip Metal sketch, and everything is political because it's had to be.
But in terms of accessibility in the arts, a lot of it, too, I think,
is being made to feel safe, seen, and included in spaces where
a lot of the times it's clear that people don't...
They don't think about including other people because they've never had to,
because the world has always catered to them in some way, or they've never felt
unwelcome or excluded in a room, or somebody's never had to think about,
Okay, well, how am I going to get in there?
Or watching films, how do I understand what's on screen
if I can't see, hear, whatever?
People that have more privilege, people that have more access,
they've never had to make room, or they never think about making room
because they've never had to, essentially.
Whereas, yeah, I think too,
Part of it, too, I think, and this goes back to the whole financial equity, but also
being paid equally for equal work.
Whereas one of our most pervasive attitudes in society is, oh,
everybody has to earn a living, which I think is one of the most messed up
things, where the system that we're under,
we're told we need to function under capitalism, where we have to produce
a certain way to be successful.
We have to look a certain way to be successful.
And I think the arts in general, but especially disability arts, is so
countercultured to that in a very beautiful way,
where you can produce amazing works of art that the financial value is
really, really irrelevant.
And I think to me, too, accessibility is also...
Just even having the support you need to be able to thrive in the same way
that somebody who's not disabled can.
Whereas, for example, I have one of my filmmaker friends.
They always shoot on iPhone or they shoot on a small camera
just because the weight of a physical cinema camera is 20, 30 pounds.
And not everybody can lift that.
To me, if I was hauling that around for days at a time, I'd be very sore as well.
So even thinking about that, too, where it's adapting tools to
what can I use that suits me
versus, Oh, you have to fit with this standard to be taken seriously.
But today, fortunately, to our advantage, we live in a society that
grows very fast and evolves.
One of the things that I always found amazing is the possibility of finding
a new tool that is smaller that is more efficient.
I'm thinking of this advertisement
that Apple did with their phone filming.
The filmmaker was someone with
vision impairment, and he was able
to film a whole movie with an iPhone.
It was the story of how he was
managing the limitation of
the way he could see the whole scene
and the way he adapted with the new tools.
I find it hopeful in a way to think of,
Okay, so we have more and more tools
that are built for everybody.
Like the universal design concept, right?
It's built for everybody.
Everybody can use the last iPhone, but it helps some artists
to be able to create in another way.
It helps with visual descriptions and it helps with...
I don't know, it connects with hearing aids.
The evolution today is better and better.
I wonder if you feel this impact in your industry.
I think we're definitely in a very interesting time when it comes
to the intersection of technology, art making, what the future is,
and even the future of humanity itself.
But I think any tool that we have
should be able to serve us and serve all of us.
So even for example, while there's described video,
there's also ways of even making dialog, making on-screen content more accessible,
where if somebody says, Oh, I can't believe you're wearing
that ugly pink sweater, for example.
Even something like that in a line of dialog
in a film can make visual descriptions
or conveying that a little bit easier
for people that are hard of sight, blind, things like that, where it's...
There's both technological ways, and there's also just intuitive ways that
maybe we haven't thought about before.
But, yeah, I think because we're living
in the age that we are, people, regardless of
financial background, whatever, should be able to access the same tools
that the ultra wealthy can access.
And I think there's a lot of ways
to incorporate that into making performance, making films,
even creating visual arts, where for me,
I'm someone that I just ethically,
I can't really deal with a lot of AI use, especially because knowing what
it does for the environment.
But even just on my iPhone, there's so many accessibility tools
built in where it'll do it automatically.
It can describe something to you.
It can read things back.
Like, it's just...
Everybody should have access to these.
I do work in a accessibility assessments of buildings.
This iPhone has a tool.
It's been there forever, but people barely know it.
It's a tool that can not only measure the distance between two points,
but it can also measure the inclination of a ramp, for example, things like that.
It's so easy now compared to the time where we were using tools
with wood and whatever.
Calculation.
It's almost getting the stone and chisel to make sure the ramp is...
[Laughs.]
I'm grateful for these tools.
I know totally what you mean by including more, for example, captions.
There are fun ways to include captions in an artistic project,
and that's something to think about.
What can I do with these boring caption that are helpful
for following and reading?
But is there a way I can include that in the artistic project?
Yeah, or even a way to, you know: Oh, she grumbles, or she like...
I have to admit, I'm not that good.
I need to work with some people because my captions, I do captions with these
episodes, but it would be text captions.
That's something I would really need advice or a partner to make these
captions more fun, or more useful sometimes.
There's little ways, too, because you can go, Oh,
the music is like a '90s smooth, sexy jam,
or just throwing in those spicy,
fun adjectives there where Little things like that.
But yeah, and I think too, just partnership in general is so helpful.
I think, especially even looping back to the earlier conversation
around accessibility, where having somebody else's energy,
having somebody else's insight, somebody who,
even if you've had very similar lived experiences, will still have somewhat
of a unique lens on the worlds, where I think being able to share
things with each other, share things in community, share things in partnership.
I think that's also crucial for all of us.
Well, thank you.
I have a last question, and it's about people who might have been
able to motivate you or
counted in your career or in life, generally.
Do you have someone to think of who really counted in your career?
Can you tell us who this person is and why?
Absolutely.
I've got a few in mind, actually, but I'll start just very quickly.
I want to mention the Disability Screen Office.
So they're a film and television-focused organization working on bringing more
inclusivity to both how media is produced and as well as reputation on screen.
So that's something else just circling back again to accessibility,
where nothing about us without us, to borrow that slogan.
And I know the DSO is working on bringing better representation
to screen, to writers rooms.
If there are disabled stories being told, we should be in positions of power
as the ones telling that story, not just as a side character
hired here and there for the day.
But in terms of people, specifically, I want to mention Sasha Boersma,
and she's one of the founders of Sticky Brain Studios.
So I had originally met her through WIFT a couple of years ago,
the Women in Film and Television Network.
So she's building up...
Sticky Brain is a video game company.
They have a few different games launched on your Android apps or your iPhone apps,
Rooster's in there, there's also one called Kimono, but basically, both between the way she
runs her company and also just the way that she makes education very accessible.
I have so much love and admiration for Sasha because she's done so much to
build communities, to support community, to help educate, to help make her own workplace accessible.
And I guarantee, like most of us, she's probably only being paid a 10th
of what her knowledge and value actually is worth.
Actually, thinking back, I think she and I originally met in person.
It was through a course that I did with WIFT, where
getting prepared to apply for a certain level of funding and just...
She was teaching budgeting and cash flow and things like that.
And just the way that she approached sharing the information,
teaching, making it accessible, it was such a breath of fresh air.
And just she's brilliant, she works incredibly hard.
And I think even with her studio, even with Sticky Brain,
I'd say they're probably one of the industry leaders in terms of modeling,
building an accessible workplace.
And creating room for caretaking needs, disability-related needs,
mental health time, things like that.
Being able to build and adapt a workflow to actually
support diverse workers and support needed accommodations.
I'm so impressed by everything she does.
And also, she just goes a long way to
reach out and serve a number of communities as well.
So The Women in Gaming Community, Women in Television.
And then as well, she was teaching for a while, too.
So she was also impacting a lot of students.
She was at Centennial for their advanced media and film program.
So, yeah, I'm just so impressed by everything
she does, just how generous she is with her time, her knowledge, her energy.
If anybody of the major funders are listening, definitely give her all the money because she deserves it.
[Laughs.]
Well, thank you so much for sharing part of your career and life with us.
Thank you for having me, Diane.
I think it's really important to have these conversations too, where
in some ways we're told it's like, Oh, well, to be a successful artist, you
have to be making millions of dollars in Hollywood blockbusters,
and this, that, and the other thing. I think that's not the reality that most of us
face, where we're either juggling
an artistic career with a day job to get by, or we're doing the arts full-time,
but we're just like, we're living paycheck to paycheck. We're hanging in there.
It's perpetual freefall, always looking for the next project,
always looking for the next opportunity, and then celebrate the successes.
But it's been an interesting journey for me, too,
because I've been at this for well over a decade now, when that's
something I realized, too, where it's the version of success I was told I could have
may or may not ever happen.
But to me, it's very rewarding for me to meet other people from the community
to collaborate and build up these projects and these
stories one day in one project at a time.
Well, it's an important topic and it's great that it's happening.
We're going to see that in May at your screening.
Thank you again.
I wish you a great day and maybe talk soon in the community.
Absolutely. Thank you, Diane.
I hope you have a good day as well.
Thank you. Bye, Emily.
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