[Andrew]: Hello welcome. My name is Andrew Carlberg and I'm one of the Executive Producers of Feeling Through. We’re so glad to have you all join us for this special Q&A session for the film. I’ll shortly turn this over to Doug Roland, the Writer and Director of the film, but I first wanted to introduce everybody that you see on your screen, and that you'll be hearing from throughout the course of this next hour. Doug Roland, the Writer-Director of Feeling Through. Marlee Matlin, Academy Award winner and Executive Producer of Feeling Through. Sue Ruzenski, the CEO of Helen Keller Services and a Producer of Feeling Through. Jack Jason, Executive Producer of Feeling Through and a long time interpreter of Marlee Matlin. Robert Tarango, the first Deaf-Blind actor and co-lead of Feeling Through. And Steven Prescod, the co-lead of Feeling Through. I also want to give a special thank you to Erin and Jamie and Ilissa who will be our interpreters for this hour. And also please, throughout the hour, put questions in the chat box here on YouTube and we’ll get to them throughout and especially at the end of our period. Also just to give a little context before we just start the Q&A, myself, Marlee and Jack, all became fans of this project after seeing it on the festival circuit and throughout its life and that is when we joined the team as Executive Producers so we want to give it our full endorsement and help it get to the widest possible audience. And we're thrilled to be so, just helps with framing some questions, let's go ahead and get started. Doug, why don't you tell us a little bit about the origin of the story.
[Doug]: Sure well thank you for that introduction Andrew, and thank you for all of you who are tuning in right now. It's really such a pleasure and an honor to be joined by the whole team here in our nice little boxes. It really brings me a lot of joy. And you know this has been in many ways a 10 year journey in the making, you know, the inspiration behind this was we literally go back 10 years. I was coming home late one night, when I was still living in New York City, and I saw a man standing on a street corner holding a sign that said I'm Deaf and Blind and need help crossing the street. I approached him and tapped him. He pulled out a notepad and wrote that he needed a bus stop. When I took him over there, a bus wasn't coming for over an hour and I wanted to sit and wait with him. So I just kind of instinctively took his hand and started tracing one letter at a time on his palm. And he understood it. And we ended up having a whole conversation that way, of him writing in his notepad, me tracing letters on his palm. And I realized just in this one interaction I'd gone from seeing this man as- Oh, wow, this is the first Deaf-Blind person I've ever met, which mind you is notable anytime you haven't met a community of people, that's something that stands out. But by the end of the conversation I was thinking- Oh, wow, this is my new friend Artemio who I'm hugging as he gets on the bus and tearing up a little bit thinking I'm going to miss my new friend as he disappears into the New York City night. So it was a moment that really, it was an interaction that really stuck with me and moved me on a number of different levels. And like a lot of writers I immediately got to it and started writing that story, but it lived on my computer for a number of years because I just didn't feel like I was ready to do it in the right way, and it would be about seven years later that I ended up reaching out to the Helen Keller National Center and Helen Keller Services, and that's when Sue Ruzenski and I had our fateful meeting where we, you know, and huge credit to Sue; She really took a big risk kind of stepping outside of the box of what Helen Keller Services normally does and seeing a lot of value in the potential of collaborating to tell this story, so from there, Sue and I have worked really closely together for the last three years now to first cast the film authentically with Robert Tarango, who you've all seen give a beautiful performance in the film, as well as to create fully accessible screening events first in-person before COVID and now virtually. But just a quick note on that the in-person screenings, we would have as many as 50 interpreters and support staff at a single screening to provide one-to-one accessibility. And now in these virtual modes, you're getting a good taste of it. You can see that we have our interpreter in a box at the top right corner of the screen, as well as live captions on the bottom. So that's been a huge part of our journey is not only making telling the best story we can tell, but also making sure that everyone can participate in it, and experience that story, and obviously doing it in the right way alongside the community, making sure that it's something that ultimately serves the community as much as it serves people's entertainment. So that's kind of like a quick summary of about a 10 year journey to be here today.
[Andrew]: Amazing, thanks, and then do we want to start- but after that, just before we get to all the other questions, if anybody else wants to just chime in with a little bit of a story or a further introduction regarding your involvement, or just your experience with the film.
[Doug]: Yeah and you know, actually, I'd love to, just being that I've had the distinct pleasure of speaking with all of you a bunch. Now I'd love to actually give each one of you a quick prompt before we hop into those questions, and Robert, I'd love to start with you. And I mean, I think first and foremost, I'd love to know what it's like to be a movie star now.
[Robert]: This is Robert speaking. I still can't believe that I'm the first time Deaf-Blind actor and a movie star. It's just so inspirational and to really be able to see myself on screen is just amazing. I'll never forget that experience of watching myself for the first time. And it really, I actually felt shy and a little awkward with watching myself on screen, but again, I can't emphasize enough how inspiring it is to really be able to show the world that, you know, Deaf-Blind can and how good that makes me feel and the impact I'll have on the future. And I'm hoping that I can make more movies moving forward.
[Doug]: And I think it's a perfect segue to ask you Marlee as someone who's certainly, you know, broken boundaries in the film world yourself, and have continued that work beyond being an actor and also being a real activist and advocate for not just the Deaf community, but the disability community in Hollywood. I'm just curious in your personal kind of thoughts why Robert's achievement is important and how you kind of extrapolate that to disability and film as a whole.
[Marlee]: Oh, first of all, thank you for having me on board. It really is a great honor. If only I had four hours to be able to tell you all the various experiences, which unfortunately I don't have, I would be able to tell you, but I think to be as brief as I can be here, the first time I was introduced to that film, to Feeling Through, was through Jack, my interpreter and producing partner who runs my company. And we've been together for 35 years since I won the Oscar. And it was just last month, a few months ago. And he said, this is a film you have to see. It's just something you have to see. So I had a chance to take a look at it. And this 18 minutes is probably the best 18 minutes I've ever spent watching a film. I know for myself, if and when I get excited about a project, then I know that it really is unique, and this certainly stands there as a unique project. It's a testimony to a story that has to be told. It's at the same time a very simple story and has so many levels. It's so deep. It's so lovely and naturally it's authentic. And that's the word that we really want to focus on. It's authentic. I am really proud that Doug, you did not shy away in casting. And you believed in the story enough and being in the fact that you've experienced the story yourself, you know, and understand what it's like and how important it is for individuals who are Deaf and Blind and people who are hearing to be able to work collaboratively, or regardless of whether there are barriers having to do with disability, you in this film and with the authentic casting have proven that there are stories out there, human stories that we can tell. And I know that this will reach as many people as possible because you've told it authentically.
[Doug]: Well thank you Marlee, that is unbelievably kind words you've shared there. And I really appreciate that, and it makes me think of how important it was for Sue on the end of this of being somewhat the first person that I connected with at Helen Keller Services and someone who believed in this from the start, you know, how important it was for you to think outside of the box and really see the value in this. And I'm just wondering, you know, if you'd like to share kind of your perspective on, you know, maybe the journey from what you thought from our initial conversation and now having had this whole journey together, what you think about the importance of, you know, the larger ramifications of this film, both for Helen Keller Services and the Deaf-Blind community at large.
[Sue]: Thank you, Doug. This is Sue. It Has been a tremendous, really rewarding journey with you. And initially my contact was with Doug. He, I was fortunate enough to be in a position that he reached out to me in the organization. And I have to say it's out of the realm of my everyday experience. So I was not quite convinced that this was real. Then I had a great opportunity to meet Doug in a hotel lobby in California with his team and knew instantly that this is something big. And Doug is, as you said, the word authentic and real committed. And there was no turning back at that point. So, being a partner through this process, I've learned so much, but Doug has invested his creativity and ingenuity, his heart and his spirit. And because he immersed himself in the Deaf-Blind community, coming to New York to Helen Keller national center, time and time again, I'm working with the community. He really was able to gain so much just natural knowledge and ability to really portray and create this film in such a way that we could never imagine how wonderful- As time has gone on, it has just grown exponentially, the impact of this film, never having seen it, you know, of course, but knowing that it had this potential and having, you know, worked with Doug over this period of time and with Robert and everyone on the team, being able to have some mutual goals that really can change things in our society and giving someone like Robert an opportunity to show his talents, to have more people following his pathway to be part of and represent, represent themselves in the, you know, the mainstream media. There's just so many positive things; bringing attention to accessibility and so many other things, but the connection has been extremely enjoyable. And I'm so grateful.
[Doug]: Well, I thank you Sue, and I certainly don't put this lightly, but getting to collaborate with you has been one of the great joys of my life, not just my career, but personally. And I would also like to say, because in a true character Sue would never say this herself, but she's one of the most selfless people who's like committed to a cause that I've ever met and that inspires me on a daily basis. So thank you Sue for that. And, you know, I just, I think I just want to let everyone know we have- we see all of your amazing questions you're asking. We're going to get to them really, really shortly. Just want to quickly, also get to Jack and Steven before we get to your great questions so far. But Jack, just to continue this thread here, cause I think we're, we're on a good thread here. I know we've gotten to talk a bunch now and you have had some really insightful and pointed things to say about representation in film and not just kind of where we've come, but where we still need to go. And kind of what you see that still happening. I'm wondering if you'd like to share anything on that note.
[Jack]: Well, as someone who's worked with Marlee for 35 years and seeing the journey that she's gone through and how Hollywood has evolved in terms of representation, I think the most important thing at the end of the day and what I seek out for Marlee, when I'm looking for material, when I'm looking for scripts is a story that deserves to be told. In the past they, you know, they said- Oh, this is a movie about somebody who's Deaf. And I say, that's great, we've seen that story. We've seen Marlee in Children of a Lesser God. We've seen Marlene on television in the West Wing, but I like a good story, and in 18 minutes you did that. And to make the story even better, you put in the character that happens to be Deaf and Blind. So often you'll see in scripts, you know, what we call exposition, where they have to write out, you know, I was born this, you know, you'll see a character or something turn to the camera and say, you know, when I was four and- you okay, but if you put a character in there who's real and authentic, like somebody like Robert who is Deaf and Blind, you know, instantly there's a story there, you know the audience creates a story in their head for this character, so you don't have to go through it. And then you could just watch the story. So when I saw the film for the first time and brought it to Marlee's attention, I said Marlee, this is a good story. And everybody loves to see a good story. So it's important to be able to find that first and then to bring in a character who was authentic to bring in a character who might be Deaf or might be Deaf-Blind is just like the icing on the cake. And now you have a slice of life, as Marlee has said that you've never seen before, but that you can share and just enjoy a story. So again, I just was fascinated with the film because you guys did it so well. It was told authentically and it's entertaining and that's, at the end of the day, it just leaves us with Marlee and myself it gave us two big smiles on our faces, with some tears too.
[Doug]: Yeah, we love both of those things, so I'm glad both of those emotions came up and that leads me to you, Steven, and you know, Steven, something that has been every time I've shown this film and it's been many many times now, it's consistent across the board that people rave about your brilliant performance. And, you know, I know that there are a lot of firsts as a part of this film. And I know that this was a unique experience for you and working with Robert I'd love if you could just kind of share what your experience was like working with Robert.
[Steven]: Yeah, thank you guys for having me here. Thank you, Doug. It was an incredible experience. I know, I think you did great by casting. I think you knew what you were doing when you just matched us together. Cause as soon as I met Robert, I felt like we hit it off. It was a vibe, you know, walking in, I did have like these preconceived notions, you know, on how would it be on set and things like that. But, you know, when I was with Robert, Robert, it was like, wow, this was just a guy who, you know, he works day-to-day job and all of that stuff, we hit it off offset and I feel like it showed on camera, but like, you know, our experience together offset was something that was like, I couldn't, I wouldn't change. Yeah, it was, it was great.
[Doug]: Well, I'd love to get to some of the great questions that, that you've all asked, who are watching right now. And I'm going to start with one that's for Robert. So Robert, this question comes from Lindsay and she asks, what advice would you give to other Deaf-Blind people who want to work in film and what do you hope for the future?
[Robert]: Well, in terms of my future I want to be involved with more movies and have a stronger presence of Deaf-Blind individuals acting. And I want to give advice to the Deaf-Blind community that it doesn't matter what disability that you have. You can still do it and succeed, whether it be you’re a signer, you're a tactile signer, whatever your vision is, you can do it if you put your mind and heart into it. And again, you know, just breaking those communication barriers. It doesn't matter if you know sign language or you don't know, sign language. There's always a way that you can communicate. And to just break down those barriers of that, we are all the same. We are all equal.
[Marlee]: Marlee says- If I may interject, I love Roberts mentioning the fact that a person who is Deaf and Blind and the Deaf community can totally jump into this industry if they set their mind to it. One shouldn't feel afraid to be creative, to be able to write your own story, write your own script. But at the end of the day, I always say that disability is not a costume. We shouldn't be able to think about actors wearing disability, like a costume, but to do authentic representation. And that includes whether you're talking about Deaf or Deaf-Blind, we should let them be able to tell their stories because there are plenty of people out there who could represent authentically stories, both Deaf and Deaf-Blind, and who can be apt in terms of being actors, just like hearing people can. So disability, again, we have to remember it is not a costume to be worn by somebody who's not the same.
[Doug]: So this next question comes from Carolyn and she asks me, she's asking about the scene in which Tereek covers his ears and closes his eyes. And she asks, how did you determine the length of time and why not make the silence and darkness last longer? That's a great, I love that specific question because as any filmmaker can note, and I did also edit this film, it's details like that you spend many, many hours on, probably far too many, in my case, I'm a real, as an editor, I'm painstakingly detailed, but you know, ultimately, you know, I always cut each scene individually and then get a real feel of how it works in the flow of the whole story, and ultimately I just, it was a decision that was made so that you were able to sit with it long enough for it to evoke a certain feeling or thoughts, but also still flow within what is ultimately a short film and have something, you know, also move at a certain type of pace. And, you know, the pacing of this film was something that really took a while to fine tune because on the one hand, it's so important to create this environment where it's this very quiet stillness, you know, those kind of couple hours, very late night, early morning in New York, which are kind of the only couple where things slow down and get kind of quiet. So to really evoke that feeling of like time slowing down and the intimacy between these two people, but also not have it start to feel like it was dragging too much. So that kind of push and pull ultimately informed a lot of the decisions around that. And that kind of is why we ended up with the length that we did there. And I see that Carolyn had a follow-up question about that same moment for Steven, and she asks you, what was it like for you to experience that brief moment of sensory deprivation sitting next to Robert and being surrounded by the crew on set?
[Steven]: It was a moment of vulnerability, you know, just putting myself and Robert shoes, even, you know, the notes that were written in the pad that he had, the things that were said in there, it was like, you know, it's easy for someone to take something like that for granted. So to put myself in his shoes, it was, it was a moment of vulnerability. Yeah.
[Doug]: And, you know, I will say, you know, Steven, I think your vulnerability is really what your ability to access your vulnerability is what makes you a brilliant actor as it would for any, but I think that's something that particularly in a film where there's so few words spoken, I think what you were able to really encapsulate, and what really comes through in your eyes throughout is really what makes your performance, such a brilliant one, but, you know, I'd love to just pivot for a second because we so often talk about, you know, Robert's character Artie, but I would also like to say that, you know, there are some very interesting issues being explored with Tereek's character, some of which, you know, I think you, as we got to know each other through pre-production and production, you mentioned to me being really resonant, bringing up things from your own personal life that really resonated in that role. In really brief terms, could you, because I'd love to almost, we could have a whole conversation with each and every one of you on this panel, but, you know, Steven, if you could kind of give like some of the primary elements of your life that ended up being so crucial in the role of Tereek, I think people would be really, really interested to hear about that.
[Steven]: Again, putting myself in other people's shoes. There was a kid that I met that was similar to Tereek's character, who is in the street, asked me for $2 and he was a young kid and I asked him, you know, where are your parents? And he didn't have his mom died, and he told me a whole bunch of things, and I welcomed him into my home for the night and, you know, we spoke, so it really resonated with the character. It was so crazy that I was reading about this character that was so similar to what this young man was going through. So that was something that I took with me.
[Doug]: Okay. And to kind of build off that too, I think, you know, something that's been so integral to you as an artist, that you ended up, you know, representing through your art was some personal moments that happened to you in your own personal life. That ended up really actually I think, kind of leading to you being an actor. Can you share some of that experience because I think it's really integral as I've gotten to know you as a person and an artist, I feel like it's so integral to both sides of you.
[Steven]: Thank you. Yeah. I mean, well, I was, despite me being, wanting to be an actor started when I was 14, there was a director who, you know, wanted the kids to addition for an independent film. And I was like the first project that I did that I did that gave me like my acting spark. And from their tried to get into schools that was like pretty difficult to stay in because of the funds that my Mom had trouble keeping up with. So I kind of lost ambition and found myself incarcerated at the age of 16 because I was hanging around with kids, you know, we were bored. We didn't have any type of phones or iPads or any things to kind of keep us occupied. But thankful I was given a second chance and the judge sentenced me to a six months case program that gave these paid internships. And I had an opportunity to intern at a not-for-profit organization that had a performing arts in there. And so the arts is something that I can say, like, I can say really saved me
[Doug]: Continuing here, this next question is for Robert, it's from Paul. And I guess it's actually for both Robert and Steven, but let's start with Robert. So Robert, Paul is referring to the scene in the movie where you and Steven are walking together and your cane hits the barrier and you trip, and Paul's asking, he says that must've been tough. How did you reach that point of trust, to do that scene and also, Paul notes that he's the parent of a child with Deaf-Blindness, just, something that he also noted in his comment as well, but again, the question for you, Robert, is how did you and Steven cultivate a level of trust to be able to do that scene where you trip?
[Robert]: So prior to filming that scene Doug and I, well, Doug really explained to me exactly what was going to happen. So there was a lot of pre-conferencing that happened beforehand that we talked about it. We really talked about what we wanted to show within that scene as well. And again, the point of that was really for that moment where Steven and I really connected, link our arms for the first time. And again, you know, this is, you know, a movie about two people that happened to meet by chance. And in that moment, that's when you really developed the trust between two people. And you can then depend on one another.
[Doug]: I'm going to do a quick pause for an interpreter switch. Continuing here. So I actually think that's just noting that that last question was from a parent with Deaf-Blindness I realize Sue, we haven't really mentioned for those who maybe aren't familiar with Helen Keller Services, could you maybe just tell people a little bit about, you know, who Helen Keller Services is and what you do.
[Sue]: Surely this is Sue and thank you for that opportunity. So Helen Keller services is an organization that provides an array of services and programs. They're rooted deep in Brooklyn. They've been there for 127 years. But one division of Helen Keller services, the Helen Keller National Center, and that is a program that's really the only kind that exists in the country. It's national in scope. We have a residential vocational training program that is located on Long Island. People come from around country to gain skills to be independent and also to succeed with employment. So people will learn skills and adaptive technology, orientation and mobility, independent living communication, braille, tactile sign language, many, many different things, but with the ultimate goal, for them to have the best life that they can have, which could be becoming an actor maybe, but could also include many aspirations, to really live a full life in the community. And we have regional offices throughout the country, and also boots on the ground in States from far West as California, really all throughout the United States, we partner with other organizations to really build capacity so that services can be available closer to home for many, if that is their choice, so that they can receive the services that they need. And we also do research and professional development, many other, types of services, but that's it in nutshell.
[Doug]: This next question is from David, and David asks, what was the casting process like for this film? How did you find a Deaf-Blind actor or an actor with a disability that could perform the role without quote wearing a costume? And that is a great question. And I guess I'll hop in on that one, but, you know, I think the biggest thing, I also want to note that I believe this went out with the invitation for today, but if anyone who's watching has not seen the supporting documentary that goes along with Feeling Through called Connecting the Dots, we'd be more than happy to share that with people as well. That's a 24 minute documentary that follows the process of both- We had cameras there the whole time as we were searching for our actor for Artie. We have cameras in the room the first time we met Robert and it also tracks the journey of the year long search for Artemio who was the man who inspired all this, that I met 10 years ago. So we'd be more than happy to share that, and it goes into a lot of great detail on this, but in short, as we were starting to mention at the top of this conversation, one of the beautiful parts of partnering with Helen Keller services and Helen Keller National Center to make this, is that it just so happens that Helen Keller National Center has about the largest database of people who are Deaf-Blind anywhere in the country. So, you know, the first step was to work with very closely with the National Center and specifically Chris Woodfill, who's the Associate Executive Director there who is Deaf-Blind himself really led the casting process for the character of Artie. He reached out to people who are Deaf-Blind all across the country. Basically saying- Hey, this guy wants to make this movie, does that interest you, do you want to audition for it? And started to get a sense of who might be interested. And then from there we held a casting session, like, you know, multiple casting sessions like you would for any role. We did half of the auditions in person at the center. For those who we were auditioning remotely we did it through a video chat and had a series of interpreters to facilitate those auditions. And you know, it was one of those moments that, you know, you hear a director say a lot, but it couldn't be more true to this case, which is the moment Robert walked in the room, just his energy and his smile. And he was cracking jokes and I was like- This is our guy. Like we got him, we found him. So Robert, I think notably two was not on our casting list. Let me walk this back a second. Robert at the time was working in the kitchen at Helen Keller National Center. He was not on our casting list that day. And I believe it was actually Erin who's interpreting on the screen here during a break in our casting mentioned- Hey, what about, what about Robert? I feel like he might be good for this. So Robert was pulled out of the kitchen, not really fully explained as to what was happening. I think initially he thought he might be in trouble, walks into a room with a stranger, sitting with a couple of cameras around and all of a sudden finds out he's auditioning for a movie. And we, again, caught this all on camera, it's a really special part of the documentary, which I encourage all of you to watch if you're interested. And again, Robert was just from the moment we found him just cracking jokes and just had the life and heart and warmth that was so important to this role. And, you know, Robert, I'd love to turn it to you for a moment, if you can just kind of recall what that day was like for you getting pulled out of the kitchen into a casting session.
[Robert]: So, like Doug said, I was working in the kitchen. I didn't really know what was going on. I was just doing my job in the kitchen in a different building. And my supervisor called me out of the kitchen and said, come with me, you know, I thought there was someone on the phone and he said, no, no, you have to go into the other building. I had no idea why I was being called into the other building. I walked over thinking the whole time, what it could possibly be. And the second I walked in the room, my eyes went a huge, I was so confused. There were so many people in the room and everyone just said, have a seat. And they started to explain what was going on. And the more they started explaining the more inspired and the more excited I got. And I started to say to them, are you serious? You really think that I could be in a movie? You know, growing up, I had wanted to be an actor. I'd wanted to be an actor for a very long time, but I thinking that, you know, I was Deaf, I couldn't be an actor and then especially losing my vision. I really couldn't be an actor. So I got so excited that they were doing this and I was more than willing, but yes, Doug and I joked around a lot. We had a great meeting and then, you know, I left the room, I went back to my job and a couple of days later, my supervisor answered the phone and said, Doug picked you. And I couldn't believe it. I was jumping up and down. I was so happy. You know, they had interviewed a bunch of people for the role, but that Doug decided to pick me. I was absolutely thrilled. And that started the whole process of making the movie. And I felt like, Oh my God, I made it, finally, it all opened up for me and I could not have been more excited. And I want to say, thank you very much to Doug for making that movie and for making it happen.
[Marlee]: And Marlee wants to interject- I can't imagine Robert and Steven, not, you know, melding, I mean these two, these two just seem made for the roles for this beautiful film. And they just see me for the role.
[Doug]: And Marlee you hit the nail on the head because I will say just as much as I had that recognition the moment Robert came in the room as this is our guy, it was the same exact thing with Steven. And I will say, when I went into this process and I think this is actually a really good metaphor for, you know, what we're dealing, a lot of topics right now about authentic casting of people with disabilities. There's maybe this assumption that it's going to be so much harder, or, you know, we're not gonna be able to find the right person. I personally had a much easier time finding in casting Robert than I did finding Steven for the role of Tereek. So I think that's something that stands out a lot. I saw a ton of young actors in New York for the role of Tereek. A lot of them were very great actors, but none of them just encapsulated that kind of like energy that you can't quite put your finger on, but you know when you see it and, you know, to the point where I was really badgering our Casting Director going like, no, we don't, we can't do callbacks yet because we don't, he's not in this mix of people. We don't have him yet. So we did this last reach out. Steven sent in a self-tape that was- not trying to call you out Steven, but like the quality of the camera wasn't so great. So I couldn't quite see it. So I'm like, I feel like there's something here. And then Steven was the first one up that day and this like, literally the second he opened his mouth. I don't even know if a sound came out yet. I was like, he's the guy like done, we got him. And it's just like, that's that magic that you have happen sometimes in casting where you just, I mean, you just know when the energy of the person walks in the room and you're like, I don't even, like, I'm obviously I want to see him, and I want to see all the other actors that have shown up today, but I just like, know in my heart of hearts, like this is our guy and we were so fortunate to have that for him, both Steven and Robert.
[Andrew]: Doug, can you talk a little bit about your directing process as well? Like just, we were talking about the casting of them, but just what the process is and how it differs obviously. Not all directors, I mean, and Marlee can interject as well. Not all directors know ASL obviously, and so the process is different in communication and Jack feel free to chime in as well, but just how does that work on a set?
[Doug]: Yeah, sure. Well, yeah, I'd love to, I'll start on that real quick and then I'd love to hear from Jack and Marlee about your experiences of that too, and obviously Robert as well, but just real quick on that note, I mean, look the first, again, you know, huge, huge, thanks to Sue and Helen Keller services and the National Center for, you know, always making their amazing interpreting team available throughout this process. Erin and Jamie who you've seen on this were a huge part of it. There's a third interpreter, Ilissa, who's also on this, but not seeing all three of them in many other people played a huge role in providing the interpreting team that we needed to make this happen. But again, it was, you know, it's ultimately people, I love this question so much because the answer that I give now is Doug in 2021 is very different than what I would have imagined prior to this process. But I would say, you know, first and foremost, obviously having a great interpreting team is necessary because I, unfortunately, my ASL skills are still quite poor, and I really need to fix that. And we'll get on that and more concertedly coming up. But, you know, beyond that, people always say, what was it like working with a Deaf-Blind actor? And I say, I think the more appropriate question was, what's it like working with a first time actor, because I thought his first time actor, and this was probably more of a thing to address than him being a person who is Deaf-Blind, because with an interpreting team that I also had the great privilege to build a rapport with, the actual communication part wasn't necessarily the most challenging. It's like, you know, Robert obviously kudos to him because he ends up having a great performance. But when you're working with the first time actor, there's a lot of other hurdles to get over as far as getting someone comfortable with taking ownership of the role, knowing that ultimately me as the director, I'm here to help steer the ship, but like, you are the ship. Like you, you have to take this role and know that it's yours and own that. But yeah, you know, it was really honestly in a lot of ways, simple with an interpreting team and a really supportive organization behind it, like HKS and HKNC, and you know, again, like I'd love to go to Jack maybe to give us a little bit of the interpreting side of it on set. Maybe if you'd like to, anything that stands out as like notable things from your experience.
[Jack]: Absolutely, again, talking about that 35 year span of working with Marlee, you know, in her initial foray into the film business where it was Marlee is the only actor on set who was Deaf, and therefore I was serving as Marlee's interpreter by her choice. And oftentimes that meant too, that they would ask me questions about sign language and so forth and not being clued into all this I know, would help teach or whatever it may be. Flash forward to a movie that's coming out in a couple of weeks at the Sundance film festival that Marlee has called CODA where we have three Deaf actors, each one working with a team of interpreters. And what you have to understand is when you have Deaf actors, you don't have to worry about, Oh my gosh, how are we going to make this work? The interpreters will help make it work because they're there to communicate. And they work as a team, whether they work at the video village with the script supervisor, to make sure that what the script supervisor is seeing is, is authentic to the script and is following the lines, whether they're working with the actor when they go to hair and makeup, whether they go to wardrobe or whatever it may be, but that it's important to have that actor there, but also to understand you need that interpreter there during the casting process, I have often heard stories of Deaf actors going into auditions, and there is no interpreter there. And the Casting Director says, well, where's your interpreter? Well, it's not up to them. It's just like the way you provide access to somebody who happens to need a wheelchair to provide access. You need to provide that as well for an actor who might be Deaf or Deaf-Blind. But yes, the role of the interpreter is very important in these situations. But at the same time, you need to also be aware of, to bring in like Helen Keller Services, a Deaf consultant, a Deaf instructor whatever it may be, to get the real experience of a performance on screen with the person who is Deaf or Deaf and Blind, and it's evolved, and it's still evolving. But yeah, one actor now, three actors let's have a whole film full of actors who are Deaf or Deaf-Blind. Let's see what you get there. You're going to get a good story. I think.
[Doug]: Well perfect segue to Marlee, you know, as someone who, you know, has been in the industry for so long, what if any evolution have you seen from your first role to, I mean, obviously Jack just described CODA, which sounds like, you know, obviously a very well considered set in that sense, but what have you seen over your career, and I'm sure you could write eight books about this, but in a shorter answer, what have you seen over time?
[Marlee]: It's in all honesty, it's been a wild ride. It's been a wild ride. It's a crazy journey that amazes me every day. I mean, to be able to observe how everything has, has transitioned from knowing to be able to accommodate an actor like myself, who is Deaf, I'm speaking from my own personal experiences as a Deaf person who was an actor. I've seen so many things that have happened. And to be brief, I can give you a very good example. I was found in the stage production of Children of a Lesser God, I was playing a secondary role. And the Casting Director from Paramount happened to see me there. Actually they came to watch the entire cast for Children of a Lesser God the play, because they were casting for the film. And after filming all, each one of us, then it just so happened. And I didn't even know this was going on, is that I was just grateful to be an actor on stage. The next thing I knew is that the director saw me in the background, in her words, in the background and said, who's that, and that girl with the dark hair, I'm blonde now, but don't get into that. But, just pick me out from the background and the rest of it happened, I auditioned and that's how it was discovered. And she and I worked well in tandem, Randa Haines the director, because I had some acting experience, but again, like Robert, I hadn't actually been in a film before. And so, I was directable according to Randa, that I was able to work with her. And we worked in collaboration to create this role. So now there's my career going forward. As far as interpreters on the set in the past back then they would get it. Like Jack said, there was just one and so many other people in the background who happened to be Deaf with, again, it was just one interpreter. And it's a lot different than what we're talking about now, where I think about it, I'm laughing and how we're able, but you know, what bottom line is, we all grow and learn. And I'm so happy that you, Doug, have reached out to Helen Keller Services, because you understand the importance of working in collaboration with people who are the experts. You did your homework, you reached out, it was a no brainer. And you know, so well how Deaf and Blind people work, because as a result of your workingship and partnership with, with Helen Keller services, and again, as an actor who well-known and getting work, it's been, it's not been easy. It's not been easy for me. It doesn't mean that I sit back and I wait for roles. I have to develop, I have to write, I have to network. And I had something happened just recently and I want to share this with you because I think it's important that I was asked to play the first time ever on television, a judge on television, a Deaf judge. And I met with the director, he sent me the script, we looked at it, I did my research as a judge who happened to be Deaf, someone like me, who could play it, who signs and there's nobody out there. I couldn't do my, you know, there's nobody out there to follow. So I had to set the pattern. So finally, the director met with me and he said, okay, wait a minute. You're going to be signing. You need an interpreter. Oh, no, it's not going to work. Even after it was offered to me, even though we explained it in the meeting before, and that happened within the last year. So I think everybody like Doug did, has to do their homework, has to understand how to work with an actor, how to portray them authentically, how to be able to create a character on screen. That tells a good story. Whether you're talking about film or television. So that's major.
[Doug]: I mean, I love both, that was so beautifully put and also kind of combine what you were just saying with Jack to kind of respond to that. There's the homework part of it. Definitely. Obviously, if you're someone like me, who at the start of this process was very new to the community, but beyond that also to your point Jack, about saying, you know, what about a story with that's all Deaf-Blind and Deaf people. And like, that would be a pretty interesting story. You know, the other thing that I've really learned as a storyteller through this process and that I'd certainly encourage other filmmakers and storytellers is like, you're also, whatever is perceived as the like homework or extra effort. One needs to put in your many times rewarded with expanding the breadth of richness of the worlds in which you are representing on screen. And the many dividends that pays in, I think, any great storyteller wants to not only reflect the world that accurately around them, but also show people things that they might not have seen before or thought about in a certain way. And you can really only do that by having a really inclusive, really inclusive storytelling. And that's something that, you know, again, whatever, you know, perceived like extra work, it might be it's such a great thing; the dividends, it pays is-
[Jack]: It's not extra work, this is why I stressed every day with Marlee's case, it's not, and I'm not saying you're saying it's extra work, I hear it all the time. Oh, we got to get an interpreter. Well, we have, but you have a gaffer, you have a, you have lighting people, you have a makeup people here. It's just part of the crew. It's just another level that you add to a film that makes for a better story at the end of the day, I just get annoyed when people just say, Oh, how are we going to get an intern? Oh, no, it's part of the film crew, it's just, I don't know, Marlee is saying the Deaf community and the acting community has work to do. And the work that is that we can provide the opportunity to educate. We can't get angry if you guys don't know about this kind of stuff, we just have to sit down and communicate and educate and talk. That's basically what it is at the end of the day.
[Doug]: Well, I'm going to quickly, rapid fire through a couple other outstanding questions here with like the final five or so minutes we have one comes from Yasmeen, who, a question for me asks, why would Tereek go to great lengths to help Artie after he refused to give a homeless man spare change? That's a great question. And I think ultimately part of how Tereek's journey and character arc is demonstrated. Initially we meet Tereek as someone who is in need of help himself. He doesn't really have the bandwidth to help other people, you know, he he's obviously in whatever situation he's in which we get, you know, some clues as to, but there are a lot of question marks around. We know he's not in a good position. We know he has nowhere to stay that night. He obviously doesn't have a lot of money on him from what we noticed from several points in the film and whatever else he's dealing with. So when he's first encountered by this homeless man, he literally does not have the bandwidth to help in any way or the means when he first encounters Artie, he doesn't help Artie in this, like- Oh, sure, like, open-armed, I'd love to help you kind of way. He really does it because, well, there's no one else around, I guess I have to thinking that he's really just not realizing he's signed up for like a night long journey thinking he's just going to maybe help him for one moment and then it's over. But it's through the circumstances of getting stuck with heavy quotation marks, getting stuck with Artie that they really start to bond heart to heart and what he gets out of opening his life to someone else, which again, we realize he's very closed off to begin with opening his life to someone else who has the capacity to take him in is what ultimately changes Tereek for the better signified by him giving those that money that he took from Artie initially, because he's in a little bit of a desperate situation, but he was transformed by their connection to the point where he's able to pay that forward to that homeless man at the end, because it's supposed to, it's meant to be a symbol of the journey he's been on and what he's gained from connecting with Artie. And there's that real mutuality between the two of the characters, obviously Tereek had something to provide to Artie to help him and Artie. We very much learn had something to give to Tereek as well. So, great question that really illuminates what I think ultimately is kind of the heart of the story. Again, just to get through these last couple of questions here, and thank you for everyone who asks questions, they're really great ones today. Samantha asks -Hi, can you tell me more about Feeling Through Live, which is a series on your YouTube channel; What inspired you to create this series and what do the live streams consist of?- Samantha, thank you so much for asking that, you know, again, Feeling Through is so much more than a film it's really become, I guess you could say a community or maybe some sort of, the rumblings of a movement, so to speak. But something that we realized is that in providing these fully accessible screening events, you know, first in-person before COVID, there was something about bringing communities together, bringing the Deaf-Blind, Deaf, Low-Vision communities together, Blind communities together in one space to have a collective experience, to get to dialogue with each other, learn from each other. We realized that there was a real deep value to that. So when COVID hit and we, you know, very quickly under, you could probably imagine, you know, something that restricts us from being able to be near each other and touch each other, how disproportionately that's affected the community, such as the Deaf-Blind community that often relies on touch to communicate. You know, and again, you know, Marlee, I'm sure you could speak a lot on from the Deaf community, having the masks that cover the face as a, as a whole nother conversation as well. But ultimately we realized there's this need to try to find a way to use technology, to keep people connected. So I created Feeling Through Live, which is a weekly live stream that again, continuing the beautiful partnership with Helen Keller Services to- it's basically the way I describe it is it's a weekly live stream, a weekly accessible live stream with captions and interpreter, that is meant to provide a platform for people who are Deaf-Blind and beyond. So we've talked to all different people in the disability community about topics relevant to everyone. So that might be, Cody Colchado, who is the world's strongest disabled man, speaking about what fitness means to him, and how it's influenced his life and helped him that might be speaking to Doc Francis. Who's a Deaf-Blind preacher who speaks on how his faith has helped him accept his Deaf-Blindness and use it as a gift in sharing his message with other people and a whole host of other people, you know, everyone, Marlee and Jack, I'm going to definitely twist both of your arms to do an episode with me at some point in the future, but it's an amazing opportunity to provide a platform for a lot of people who have amazing things to say that are in the disability community, but we might talk about things that are disability related. We might talk about just other things they're interested in that have nothing to do with disability. It's more just the fact that through this process, I've gotten the chance to connect with so many amazing people and I'm like other people should be hearing from these people. They're such awesome, interesting people let's do our part to be able to provide a platform. So I know we're running a little over time, so I'm going to rapid fire just through the last couple of questions. So we get to all of them, but, Lindsay asks what was the most challenging part of the process? And how do you hope audiences question as a result of watching Feeling Through? So again, could probably do a whole live stream just on that, but the ten second answer is the hardest part. Believe it or not was the fact that it got really cold when we were shooting and we were shooting outside at night. And my New York city blood does well with the cold weather, but Robert's an Arizona boy over here, and he was getting real cold. So we had to warm him up a bunch, and a lot of the crew as well. So that was probably one of the biggest challenges. And then also, I'm just hoping that people understand that the more we include everyone, the better our, our storytelling is, the better our world is as simply put as that. And, again, the last question here is for Steven and Steven, if you can answer this in like 20 seconds, cause I know we're running just a few minutes over here. Lindsay says Steven brought me to tears when he yells at the bus driver to help Artie. What experience did you use for this scene, Steven? Or what, what did you draw upon in that moment?
[Steven]: It was like just one of those moments. You know, you take your real life and everything and you put it into like, into like these moments of, for these scenes. And it was just like for everything, even what Robert represents, you know, Robert doesn't just represent, you know, Blind and Deaf community who represents people who wants to tell their story and wants to be seen. And you know what I mean? And at that moment I felt unheard, unseen. You know what I mean? So it was like a fight for myself as well as, Robert's character.
[Doug]: And thank you, Steven for also pointing out another comment. Cause it's easy to see the differences between Tereek and Artie, but Steven pointed out another commonality, which is two people who in their own respective ways might have times in their life where they feel very unseen and unheard. Certainly something that the Tereek character was going through as well. So, you know, with that said, Andrew please if you want to bring us home here.
[Andrew]: Yeah I want to just interject and say thank you to everybody, but also please follow Feeling Through on social media, we'll be posting upcoming festival screenings, all of which for the most part are virtual now we have one coming up with the Slamdance Film Festival. If you, I mean, word of mouth is so important for a film like this period. So please spread the word to your colleagues, both in the industry and outside of the industry, and share our journey with them. If you have any additional questions or wish to see, as Doug mentioned the documentary, that's a supporting material to the short film, please reach out to us. I want to thank everybody on the panel for giving of their time and talents today. And I wish everybody a great rest of the week. And thank you so much for joining us.
[Doug]: Thank you. Bye.