A PROMPT, A TIME CRUNCH, AND LIMITED SPOONS - MAKING THE HEIST WITH SPACE DREAM PRODUCTIONS | FEATURED FILMMAKER SERIES
The Heist; Based on An Almost True Story - MADE FOR THE EASTERSEALS DISABILITY FILM CHALLeNGE 2024
The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge was launched by actor, comedian and producer Nic Novicki in 2013 in response to the under-representation of talent with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera. The challenge provides both disabled and non-disabled creators the opportunity to collaborate on a project with prizes like state-of-the-art equipment and access to industry mentors giving these filmmakers a foot in the door of an already difficult industry to break into. Director and CEO of Space Dream Productions Koura Linda jumped at the opportunity to participate in this year’s challenge, which gave participants 5 days to write, shoot, and edit a film centred on the theme of Buddy Comedy. The film they created was The Heist. Struggling under the weight of her hospital bills, Lilly is overwhelmed but her BFF, Star, has a brilliant plan: pull off a heist worth millions of dollars, despite Star being Deaf and Lilly being an occasional wheelchair user with mixed mobility levels and limited spoons (energy levels). Watch the film HERE.
Still image from The Heist. Star (Stevie Collins), Queenie (Sarah Pennington), and Lily (Koura Linda) sitting in a kitchen discussing their plan.
“It is such an awesome way to tell stories by people with disabilities without having to have someone, kind of, trying to check demographic boxes or trying to appease an algorithm. We just got to be filmmakers who happen to have disabilities.” Koura said when I asked her why she wanted to participate in the challenge. Along with her for the ride was close friend Stevie Collins who flew out to Florida to co-write and star in the film. “I really love the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and I had never been involved in it before,” Stevie said when I asked what prompted her to get involved, “It was an awesome way to represent different types of disabilities and different types of each disability too. Because for example, all wheelchair users are not the same. All people who use service dogs are not the same. All deaf and hard-of-hearing people are not the same. We’re all different people, just like normal everyday human beings because we are.”
Part of the challenge is to develop an original story concept based on this year’s theme of buddy comedy. A genre that immediately made Koura think of Stevie and bring her on as a collaborator; the initial idea for their film coming from a personal place. “Developing the story of The Heist was based on the fact that I was unfortunately in hospital last November and I was joking around that I was going to need to rob a bank to pay the medical bills that I was getting," Koura said when I asked where the idea for the story came from. Something the pair also wanted to do was highlight the various types of communication between the different characters including ASL (American Sign Language) and SimCom, which is a combination of speaking and signing, to represent the reality of this communication in real life. “We wanted to make sure we were really representing accurately, fairly, and in a way that anyone could watch and understand,” Stevie said.
This is a film challenge so I was curious to know how the production team was affected by the time constraints and what some of the highlights of the process were. “On the one hand this was a time crunch, on the other I’ve done some of the 48 hour film projects and my body just can’t really withstand continuing to do that, so I was really thankful we had a little bit more time,” Koura said, “Because of the volume of films I’ve directed and produced I was fortunate in that I have my routine that I know all the boxes that have to get checked along the way. It meant planning the shoot in a way where we had time to go through the post-production process but we also didn’t have time to overthink things and question our choices. So having that extra pressure of the timeline I kind of liked it cause it forces my brain to make a decision.” Stevie then added, “I mean, it’s still stressful because it’s a short amount of time, and working with disabilities can be a challenge for us. Needing extra accommodations sometimes can take more time, which is fine...it is what it is. But this team, almost our whole team was a person with disabilities or is a family member of someone with disabilities, [and] because accommodations are not new for this production company (Space Dream Productions) it really was an easy way for us to work all together very easily.” Some of the highlights for both filmmakers were getting to work with the amazing team pulled together for the challenge, which again was almost exclusively made up of those with varying disabilities, and having the opportunity to tell their story and represent themselves on screen. “It was really important to me to do that because I know how talented and amazing the people are that I get to work with and I really wanted to showcase what they can do without “help”. We are telling our story and having that space was a definite highlight for me,” Koura said.
Making of The Heist. A man holds a boom pole over Koura as another man show her something on a phone.
The film itself has a comedic tone, some fun special effects, and even a stunt person! But at its core, The Heist is a poignant story about real people and their struggles living with disabilities that are not often portrayed on screen. This issue of representation also reaches behind the camera into an industry that is not set up to accommodate those with differing needs to non-disabled people in the filmmaking process. Sarah Pennington who edited the film and also plays Queenie in The Heist says her dreams of becoming a filmmaker were nearly crushed when the fact that she had a service dog became a barrier to working on set. Not only this but the incredibly long hours crews are expected to work on set can also be a huge barrier. “Our industry is not currently set up to be accessible,” she said. “Even for those who don’t have disabilities some of the hours are just really unrealistic and very taxing on the individual’s body.” Sarah is hopeful that the industry is changing and that once we realise how these long days are negatively affecting film crews sets will naturally become more inclusive as a whole. One of the biggest struggles for Koura has been trying to escape the label often placed on her by others despite her long list of film credits. The Easterseals disability film challenge itself over the last 11 years has proven time and time again that disabled filmmakers can make movies very successfully. “We are not people that need to be hidden, that need to be done by someone else,” Stevie said, “We’re fully capable of making movies, as we have shown with the contest having over 130 different films submitted.”
Koura, Stevie and Sarah also play the three main cast of the film portraying their real lived experience as disabled people; a fact they have all expressed was very liberating. So I asked why it was important that the industry hire disabled actors to play disabled parts. “I could go on a whole tangent about it but the truth of the matter is being disabled is a unique experience and it’s not something that you’re going to be able to fully comprehend without going through it,” Sarah said. “As someone who is autistic, it’s especially important because I have seen where someone is playing an autistic character and they themselves are neurotypical and it has actually caused harmful portrayals or stereotypes to be pushed onto the autistic community.” This is something we have seen not only in portrayals of characters with disabilities but those from the LGBTQIA+ community as well. “In order to accurately represent a community, a culture, a disability it needs to be represented by people from that - of that group,” Stevie said, “We want to represent ourselves using ourselves. We can do that but we’re not always given opportunities. The doors aren’t always open to us. But we’re trying to change that. Things like this challenge are here to change that.” For Koura having film roles offered that limit their criteria when casting is a big barrier to authentic diversity on our screens. “When we can start just casting talent based on the best person for the role and not checking diversity boxes or arbitrarily assigning race, or gender, or age to characters that it doesn’t matter it has nothing to do with their story. They’re the shopping market checkout person and they have Down syndrome. Okay? The Down syndrome doesn’t matter they’re the shopping market checkout person and that type of authentic representation is what I’m hoping for,” she said.
Challenges like this act as a reminder to the rest of the industry how easy it is to be genuinely inclusive. Space Dream Productions is already set up to accommodate cast and crew with disabilities and has never hindered the company's success. Just check out the long list of accolades on their website if you need any reassurance. “All we want as people with disabilities is communication” Stevie explains, “Make the accommodation if you already know it, if you don’t know it ask so that you can learn. You might have to change things around to make sure accommodations work out, we have to do that in our everyday lives all the time anyway.” Some simple things production companies can look at adding are interpreters for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, providing key information for cast and crew in different ways, or making lighting changes or adjusting setups on set for better accessibility. “But the number one way you can accommodate for someone with a disability is to ask them what they need,” Stevie said.
The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge had over 130 different films submitted this year all partially or fully made up of disabled crews and casts. “I absolutely think people with disabilities should do this challenge,” Koura said, “It’s just a really great process and as someone who has a company that has had lots of interns come through…there’s nothing that’s going to give you an education like just making a movie and this is a really great opportunity for people to do that and to just get their story made, get it out there, step back, what worked what didn’t work. Yeah, I can’t recommend it more.”