Ashleigh C. interviews Nic Novicki about the Disability Film Challenge
1Nic Novicki is an actor, known for his role as Lego Spiderman in Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse, comedian, producer, and disability advocate. Nic is a board member of Easterseals Southern California and founder and director of the Film Challenge.
The 2024 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (EDFC) opened for registration Jan. 20, with the competition to be held April 2-- April 7. The awards ceremony will be held May 9 at Sony Pictures Studios. This year—in addition to the traditional Film Challenge awards of cash, goods, subscriptions, mentorships and screening opportunities—the EDFC will be awarding ten (10) $15,000 seed fund/film finishing grants. Made possible by a grant provided by the Adobe Foundation, as part of the Adobe Film & TV Fund, the EDFC grants will be presented to the winners of Best Film, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actor and Best Editor to further develop the winning short film and/or to accelerate the development of their projects into feature films or episodic series.
Additionally, grants will be made available to five past EDFC participants who may submit their previous Film Challenge submissions for consideration by a review committee, with winners announced at the EDFC awards ceremony.
The featured genre for the 11th annual Film Challenge is “Buddy Comedy,” which was revealed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Since the Film Challenge was first launched in 2013, aspiring filmmakers have created and submitted more than 600 short films from nearly every state and from around the globe.
According to the CDC, 25% of U.S. residents, more than 61 million people, have a disability, making it today’s largest minority population. Yet, according to a study released last summer by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the number of speaking characters with a disability in a major film was a mere 1.9% in 2022. GLAAD also published a report in 2022 which found that only 2.8% of series regulars on primetime broadcast TV (22 of 775) were characters with disabilities. Per the most-recent Ruderman Family Foundation study, about 95% of characters with disabilities in Hollywood’s top films and TV shows are played by able-bodied actors.
“As we continue to strive to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace in Hollywood, we have made advancements, but there is still much work to be done,” said Novicki, who was most recently seen in Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation’s award-winning film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. “Disability continues to be frequently overlooked in D&I discussions and we need to be part of that conversation. I created the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge to help accelerate change and to showcase talented filmmakers and actors, providing them with an opportunity to overcome barriers and to achieve their dreams. We are proud of the outstanding films produced over the past 11 years and I am grateful that the Challenge has provided a high-profile platform that has enabled many of our participants to go on to such prominent success.”
Challenge films have gone on to win awards at an array of other film festivals; and participants have earned accolades and grants from prestigious organizations around the world, given Ted Talks and lectured about the experience. “Saying yes to my first Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and facing my fear of the unknown literally put me on the path that I was meant to be on,” said actor Danny Gomez, a wheelchair user who will be participating in the Film Challenge for the seventh time this year. “It showed me that anything is possible for disabled actors. There is a place for us in this industry. It also led to me signing with my first agent and to my first guest star on NBC’s New Amsterdam. It was life changing.”
Winners receive invaluable access to entertainment leaders and resources, opening the door to an industry notoriously difficult to enter, as well receive as a variety of prizes to help them achieve their career goals. https://youtu.be/4g6TccCL5-8
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