Crips Not Creeps Upload Anniversary
Today(January 30th) is the one year anniversary of the day “Crips Not Creeps” was uploaded to youtube! “Crips Not Creeps” now has 541 views on youtube as of this post. Spoiler alert for anybody who has not watched “Crips Not Creeps” . This post may also contain spoilers for anybody who has not seen our other 2 films. Please scroll down on this blog or go to the “Films” section of our website to watch the films.
Crip Video Productions has really come a long way. I guess it started when I met people within the disabled community. Meeting my disabled friends and disabled mentors inspired me in many ways. For the first time, I became interested in the lives of other people with disabilities. I originally wanted to write plays about my experience of being a disabled person. I heard about a playwriting contest in Bay Ridge Brooklyn called “A Playwright Grows in Brooklyn” when my mom took me to see one of their performances. Thomas Kane, the artistic director, suggested that I write a play for the contest. I wasn’t even sure if I could write a play. My mom, who is also a playwright, promised to help me write the play. I decided to base the play called “Drama Sighted” on a little of myself plus other people I knew, creating a fictional story. I ended up winning the contest which was a huge surprise. A few months after that another friend of mine with CP(who saw “Drama Sighted” performed as a play at BrooklynOne) told me to join a group called “DISLABELEDtv” which made videos about people with disabilities. One day during a meeting at a cafe with DISLABELEDtv one of the other members, Walei Sabry who is blind and has always been a fan of “Drama Sighted”, suggested I turn “Drama Sighted” into a short film. I agreed to the idea. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had to learn the process of filmmaking from scratch. As I have said many times it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I had to cast the film myself, direct it, and eventually find someone to edit the film. I found an editor named Rich Brotman. The person who Lisa was roughly based on was kind enough to describe her blind spot to me so that Rich and I could make a special effect that looked like a real blind spot. Thomas unfortunately died before we finished editing “Drama Sighted”. “Drama Sighted” was uploaded to youtube on October 12 2011. Drama Sighted still gets positive feedback to this day! After that DISLABELED told me to make a special trailer for Drama Sighted to be shown at their first film screening in 2012 with their brand new name DISLABELED Film Series.
Once DISLABELEDtv changed their name to DISLABELED Film Series and decided to screen other people’s work instead of making their own films and media I had to branch out on my own with the name Crip Video Productions as soon as I had decided to go ahead and make “Only Those Who Limp Allowed”. I decided to make this blog and, much later on, my official website to keep all news and events related to Crip Video Productions in one central easy-to-access place. I had to take on a lot more responsibility with “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” compared to “Drama Sighted” like learning how to manage scheduling. I had to find my own voice a lot more with “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” Then I decided to make “Crips Not Creeps”. “Crips Not Creeps” is the first Crip Video Productions film that did not start out as a one act play with a play writing style or format. That’s why “Crips Not Creeps” experiments with visuals more.
I started developing “Crips Not Creeps” just days after I uploaded “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” I knew I wanted to write a fictional mystery plot. I wanted to explore the idea of morals. I wanted to try to have the disability be part of the plot without the disability being the main point of the plot. Frank is a guy who has let his pride and jealously towards Brandon turn him evil. He is smart in a manipulative way and stops at nothing to get what he wants. He feels that his position in the world of disabled performers is threatened by Brandon’s presence. Before Brandon came along Frank would get a lot of attention and had a reputation for being a great actor. Now Frank and Brandon and often compete for similar roles in stage plays. Frank knows that Brandon is more talented than he is, so he feels he has to go to drastic measures to get Brandon out of the way. I wanted it to be clear in this film that Frank is NOT jealous of Brandon over physical abilities. Frank is not bitter over being disabled. Frank just has an intense fear of being replaced. I absolutely hate being falsely accused so I wanted to explore the idea of what would happened to Brandon if he was falsely accused by his able bodied ex girlfriend due to a misunderstanding. “Crips Not Creeps” involved a lot more planning in regards to locations and visuals. I was honored to work with all of the cast and crew. “Crips Not Creeps” quickly became the fan favorite.
Since “Crips Not Creeps” has been uploaded, my films have been getting a lot of attention in the form of good feedback,interviews, reviews, and successful screenings in Santa Fe New Mexico,Kingsborough Community College and through various outreach events. October 2015 was CVP film outreach month. The New Mexico screenings were special bittersweet experiences because I got to see some very old friends who I have not seen in years. I would advise anyone reading this not to take anyone they love in their life for granted. In terms of the reviews, I was able to teach an able bodied girl that CP comes in many forms, not just the most severe forms commonly seen in media and teach her about visual impairments.
Although I did not mention this in the pervious posts, I met someone who injured himself in such a way that it caused his body to tense up tremendously. His alignment was actually a lot like a person with CP after this happened. He ended up asking me about my physical therapy experiences after seeing my films and I hope I was able to assist him in this area. Like many people I know, he found physical therapy to be incredibly boring. This person was able to look at the films and be encouraged in his road to recovery. Hopefully his bout with spasticity will not be permeant but even if he has continued muscle issues he knows tight muscles and loss of some balancing ability is not the end of the world. Life goes on either way. I think something people have to remember is unlike a person with CP like myself, who are born with a disability, people who become disabled later in life need to adapt to the new disability and may need that extra encouragement that some other disabled people don’t want or find patronizing. I happened to do a talk about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cerebral Palsy where I met people with types of brain damage that I had never even heard of before, such as brain damage that effects sleep patterns and sensory processing. These types of brain damage are almost completely invisible. I see from meeting these people that these types of brain injury are a night and day difference from my own. These people had to adjust to doing things differently which was emotionally difficult for them because the disabilities happened instantly but they accepted it as just part of life, just as the characters in the films do. I got to meet people with conditions that I hardly understood like diabetes and epilepsy. For whatever reason these people felt that they could share the details of their conditions with me after seeing the films. The person with diabetes told me what low blood sugar episodes felt like. The person with epilepsy told me what a seizure felt like. I’m honored that these people were effected by the films in such a way where they would trust me without even really knowing me. It was a very brave thing for them to do. I also got a message online from somebody all the way in Italy who saw Crips Not Creeps. I don’t know how this person got around the language barrier since my film is in english on youtube but it sounds like he was somehow able to read the open captions in english or translate the open captions to Italian. He said he appreciated my work since he had been disabled through polio. Fans have told me that our films, particularly “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” and “Crips Not Creeps” seem to have the ability to break racial and language barriers. I have been contacted multiple times by both disabled and able bodied film students for advice. One of our actors, Dustin Jones, who plays Frank in “Crips Not Creeps” has also gotten a lot of attention when he appeared in various Uber related TV ads after the films release. You can view these ads on our google plus page. I have built connections through the films that I never knew were even possible! I hope this continues! I hope to do more films one day in the future and make them even more accessible if possible.
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