The start of a dream

Everyone has a story. It’s what makes life interesting. But for a long time, those we see on screen, in particular, seem to share a lot of similarities. Which can be dull. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes. But worse, this constant similarity ostracises a large portion of the population who don’t fit that mould.

This brings me to Otto Vs. Emma. I grew up with a brother who’s deaf. Even my grandad requires hearing aids in his later years. And they’re two of the most interesting people I know. My Scottish grandad was a radio operator during WW2 before becoming a police officer in Liverpool and eventually moving to Somerset to raise his family. While my brother played for the England Deaf Rugby team and created a great family. Even today, I have to watch films and shows with subtitles on! Just feels like I’d miss something without them. Yet people like grandad and my brother are rarely on screen. And that’s a massive, missed opportunity. Usually, when deaf people or those with other disabilities are on screen, they’re not the main characters. Instead shunted off to make bit-part appearances. And it’s not good enough. Sure, it’s got a little better in recent years, but there’s still much to do.

I got into filmmaking back in 2010. At the time, I was on my way to university to study Counselling Psychology. Yet during a football/soccer match, just before my A Level exams, I was badly injured from a tackle. My right leg was in the air to knock the ball away from another player. They stamped on my leg and forced it into the ground which hyperextended the joint. I dislocated my knee joint, tore all the ligaments, and destroyed half of the cartilage. Which is apparently pretty impressive according to the many osteopathic doctors I’ve seen over the years! Surgery repaired the ligaments by taking pieces of my hamstring and using artificial ligaments as well. But the damage caused chronic pain ever since. I also stopped playing football. I’ve gone through pretty much every treatment available to help with pain. Osteopathy, physiotherapy, medication, acupuncture, PRP therapy, and so on. At one point, I signed up to a pain management course where I, along with other people, spent a couple of weeks learning coping mechanisms. This gave me the chance to learn from other people that also have the condition and learn how they got to where they are. This is the kind of representation that’s needed. The only time you see people with chronic pain on TV and film is those that are hooked on pain medication (looking at you, House! (I really love the show)).

After being injured, I decided that I wanted to do something that meant more to me than counselling. Ever since I was a child, I would entertain/bore my parents with stories about what the Power Rangers were up to that week. So, I signed up to a local college near the family home and studied Media Production. From there, I met great people and was encouraged by the programme head to lead productions. In the end, I ended up making a small production company. At the same time, I was involved with a youth theatre. I did some producing and acting for the group. At one point helping to teach improvisational skills to others. But I still felt like I had more to learn about filmmaking and storytelling. So, I went to university, a little bit older than the other newer students, to study Film. Due to this, the production company was put on permanent hiatus. But at uni I specialised in screenwriting and ended up getting my degree. After working for media companies and later writing for YouTube channels for a couple of years, the chance to work with Atypical Pictures came up. I was instantly drawn in due to the emphasis on telling more diverse stories. And the team all come from different backgrounds and are spread all over the globe. Giving us a smorgasbord of interesting narratives and perspectives to explore.

Storytelling is vital for us as people. It helps us learn about the world and understand our place in it. It’s only right that kids, especially, can see people on screen that they can relate to and look up to. This means characters with different nationalities, genders, races, disabilities, sexualities, and more should be making a mark in TV and films. And with Otto Vs. Emma and The World Is Telling Stories, that’s the goal. If one person can walk away after watching either of these shows and feel like we’ve been able to achieve some kind of representation for them, then we’ve succeeded.